Question / Help OBS playing back cued tracks (0% volume) when Desktop Audio is set to DJ Controller

[Emul0us]

Exactly what the title says.

So I have a Cue knob on my DJ controller which allows me to hear the cue song when the knob is set to Cue. DJ's use this feature to sync up the incoming song (transition) in their headphones for a clean transition before putting it on the master output.

The issue I'm having is that when I listen to the recordings, OBS is picking up my Cue song, as if the volume was 100%. This is killing me, as the audience hears my attempts to sync up the transition song. I CAN just set the Desktop Audio to my laptop but my laptop's sound card is crap compared to my DJ Controller; I've listened to the recordings - they're horrible.

I've tried setting my DJ controller to Master & Output and Monitor Only in Advanced Audio Properties, to no avail.

Is there no way to handle this? Will enabling/disabling certain Tracks in the Advanced Audio Properties help me?

I've included a log file but I don't think that's going to help much. Also included a screenshot.

 

[Emul0us]

Unreal. I just had to plug my headphones in the Laptop and use the Laptop as the Audio Monitoring device instead of the Controller, since the Controller is already being used by OBS as a Master output.

Make sure within OBS settings, under Audio, that your Desktop Audio is set to your Controller, and Monitoring Device is set to your Laptop's default output (i.e, Speakers/Headphones/Realtek).

The Monitor (headphones) in OBS Audio Mixer can be set to either your Controller or Laptop output; I preferred to have it set to the Laptop output for assurance, because you can see the volume bar in OBS go up when you have the controller set to Cue and down when you have it set to Master. However, your Laptop's system output should be selected as your Laptop default output (Realtek), so you can control the volume of your Cue song from your Laptop when you need to.

The most important thing is to set your Headphone source in OBS to use Speakers/Headphones/Realtek under Properties, and make sure its Audio Monitoring is set to Monitor Only in Advanced Audio Properties. This will ensure the Cue song is not recorded.

Of course some adjustments must be made in the DJ'ing software as well to accommodate the new Cue output (Laptop).
I'm personally using Virtual DJ, so under Audio settings:

1. Create a Master output that uses your Controller, on channels 1/2.
2. Create a Headphone output that uses your default output (Speakers/Headphones/Realtek), on channels 1/2 as well.
   • This isn't mandatory because outputs will most likely be desktop speakers, but I personally like to have the Master song in my headphones as well when I'm transitioning to the Cue song. This is exactly why being able to use the Mix knob on my Controller to go back and forth from the Cue to Master is critical.

I know this setup is BEYOND convoluted and extremely rare, but I spent almost 48 hours trying to figure this out and hope the next house DJ who needs this exact setup finds this article to his or her advantage.

Cheers.