Question / Help Will a dedicated soundcard improve my situation?

[MechMK1]

I'm trying to record some gameplay footage, and I have TeamSpeak 3 running in the background. Currently, all sounds (Gameplay and TeamSpeak) are all mixed together into one track. This is problematic for me, as I often need to edit what is said on TeamSpeak (remove coughing, irrelevant chit-chat, etc.), but that is impossible for me to do efficiently if TeamSpeak is recorded onto the same track as the gameplay.

In the past, I used Voicemeeter and Virtual Audio Cable to put TeamSpeak onto a virtual audio cable and thus on a separate track, but Voicemeeter changed the output sound somewhat, which I did not appreciate.

I remember reading - although I can't find the source anymore - that a dedicated soundcard might be the solution in this case. My plan would be to use the dedicated soundcard for the gameplay and the on-board soundcard for TeamSpeak.

Does this approach make sense? And if so, will I be able to use the same physical output device (i.e. my headset) for both? Or will I end up having to use Voicemeeter/Virtual Audio Cable anyways in order to output both on the same physical device?

 

[Narcogen]

If TeamSpeak can control its own output device independently of the default, then OBS can capture it separately from default audio.

If it can't, you still need at least one virtual device, and probably Voicemeeter to handle the routing anyway unless you want to listen to delayed monitoring output through OBS.

 

[MechMK1]

If TeamSpeak can control its own output device independently of the default, then OBS can capture it separately from default audio.

If it can't, you still need at least one virtual device, and probably Voicemeeter to handle the routing anyway unless you want to listen to delayed monitoring output through OBS.

Yes, TeamSpeak can control its output device. Do you mean by "OBS can capture it separately from default audio" that that works when I use a dedicated sound card, or is that some functionality from OBS I have not discovered yet?

 

[Narcogen]

You can add multiple audio devices in OBS, either in Settings > Audio or as separate sources in scenes. If those devices contain per-application audio, they will be captured and can be levelled and assigned tracks separately from your other sources (desktop audio and microphone).

 

[MechMK1]

You can add multiple audio devices in OBS, either in Settings > Audio or as separate sources in scenes. If those devices contain per-application audio, they will be captured and can be levelled and assigned tracks separately from your other sources (desktop audio and microphone).

Yes, I was aware of this feature, but thank you for pointing it out.

My question is, if I install a dedicated soundcard, will I be able to use one physical device to play back both the sound on the dedicated card and the internal sound card?

 

[Narcogen]

That's what you would need voicemeeter for (channel routing).

 

[MechMK1]

Alright, that clarifies it. Thank you very much for your help!

 

[carlmmii]

I will mention... if you're going the route of using voicemeeter for channel routing to your own listening device, then what type of sound card you use doesn't matter (since it's not driving anything, it's just being used as an intermediary).

If that's all you need, then I would definitely look at cheap USB sound dongles. $5 usually, no drivers.

 

[MechMK1]

I will mention... if you're going the route of using voicemeeter for channel routing to your own listening device, then what type of sound card you use doesn't matter (since it's not driving anything, it's just being used as an intermediary).

If that's all you need, then I would definitely look at cheap USB sound dongles. $5 usually, no drivers.

Since I had to set up Voicemeeter anyways, I decided to look into the config again and switching from WDM to MME as sound interface solved my problems. It seems Voicemeeter had trouble with non-exclusive WDM outputs.