Mixing two audio sources

2012-06-13 12:23:33 am

TASer

I use xsplit to livestream myself speedrunning.

Here look at my beautifully drawn set-up:
http://i.imgur.com/r9nj1.png

Xsplit can have two audio sources, one from an audio line-in and one from my desktop (whatever the audio card outputs).

If I plug my camera in one of my USB lines, Xsplit somehow plays that audio through desktop so I can have my voice. And I have my game audio through one of my audio line ins (I have 3 line-ins: one has my headphones, one is broken, and one uses my game audio as mentioned).

My question is, can I mix the game audio and the camera audio (the camera audio can possibly be replaced by a microphone with USB or "normal" plug) - either by setting up more cables - which ones do I need? - or through some kind of hack? In other words, can I mix my two audio sources into a single one?

Thread title:

Tranquilite

2012-06-13 02:03:10 am

That hand drawn picture of your setup is pretty awesome.

As for mixing audio, the free-est, and most user friendly way I know of is to use Amamix.

1) Download amarectv
2)Extract zip file somewhere.
3)run and install live_setup115b_en.exe (This will create "AmaRec Audio Capture", use that in fmle, but dont use "Amarec Core Audio Capture as that is like stereo mix, and just plays computer audio).
4)run amamix.exe and config as shown:
Also, you can use the "Tool" menu to config some other stuff to your liking, the settings are fairly straight forward

Attachment:

Amamix-Config.png

MUGG

2012-06-13 10:23:39 pm

TASer

Will this play the mixed audio as stereomix? My wish was to be able to listen to music from my computer while also being able to catch my game audio and voice. Maybe it wasn't wise of me to suggest that it can be helped by a hack/program - because I don't think xsplit can retrieve audio from only a single application. I think it can only be done if I mix the two sources with cables. Or am I wrong?

Tranquilite

2012-06-13 11:01:22 pm

This program will mix up to 4 devices and play it out the "AmaRec Audio Capture" device. So to get this setup to do what you want (Mix mic and game audio without having to use stereo mix), you set the 1st column to your microphone, the second column to your game device, and then set Xsplit to use the "AmaRec Audio Capture" device.

MUGG

2012-06-14 12:29:32 am

TASer

Thanks for clearing that up. I will give it a try soon.

Even if I can't make the program work, I got another idea I'd like to try out - although it would likely end up in my audio consisting of one source left channel, and the other source right channel...

MUGG

Edit history:

MUGG: 2012-06-20 01:08:37 pm

MUGG: 2012-06-20 12:26:55 pm

2012-06-20 12:26:33 pm

TASer

Turns out my camera wasn't true USB but some weird variation of it...
My camera didn't show up in the audio source list in amamix.exe

Maybe I'll have to find a USB mic

E: probably my best bet would be to have my broken line-in repaired.

TheThrillness

2012-07-04 05:53:34 pm

thethrillness.blogspot.com

Has anyone else been able to get the Decklink Audio Capture usable in Amamix? I can get my mic working fine.

MUGG

Edit history:

MUGG: 2012-12-26 04:00:34 am

2012-12-26 03:39:32 am

TASer

http://i.imgur.com/b1QkN.png

I got it like this and the audio comes into the Amarec audio source but the source itself is mute in Debut capture software and xsplit.

EDIT: I fixed my problem. Apparently I had several amarec sources open without noticing and I selected one that was mute.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

MUGG

2013-02-28 02:01:19 am

TASer

Okay, I will explain my situation anew in this post:

- My setup. I use an easycap (USB 2.0 video capture device). I have to split the audio separately because of a driver problem in Windows 7 that makes the audio sound terrible otherwise. That is not a problem though.
- Newer versions of Xsplit, and Virtual audio cable make my computer bluescreen. So I can only use Xsplit beta, OBS (= alternative to Xsplit), Amarec (= alternative to VAC).
- My main goal is that I want to livestream my speedrun attempts and commentate/talk. At the same time I want to capture raw video (without talking). In order to do that I use Debut video capture software and "screen region" the video preview into OBS or Xsplit. But in doing so, the video is delayed. Now here is the problem:
-- If I use Xsplit, I can't fix my video delay. You can hear Mario's jump sound, and then see the jump a split second later. But then I can talk on stream, using Amarec audio source (through so-called Amamix).
-- If I use OBS, I can fix the video delay by shifting the audio behind by 0.35 seconds. Xsplit can do the same in newer versions (which I can't use as said).

But OBS doesn't let me select Amarec audio source in the audio settings. It just isn't listed there. So I cannot talk on stream using OBS.
I could let the game audio be on stereomix (Speakers) and then just use my mic, but then I can't listen to music or other streams so I don't want to do that.

Is there a way that I can use Amarec audio source in OBS?

Okay, I will explain my situation anew in this post:

- [url=http://i.imgur.com/r9nj1.png]My setup[/url]. I use an easycap (USB 2.0 video capture device). I have to split the audio separately because of a driver problem in Windows 7 that makes the audio sound terrible otherwise. That is not a problem though.
- Newer versions of Xsplit, and Virtual audio cable make my computer bluescreen. So I can only use Xsplit beta, OBS (= alternative to Xsplit), Amarec (= alternative to VAC).
- My main goal is that I want to livestream my speedrun attempts and commentate/talk. At the same time I want to capture raw video (without talking). In order to do that I use Debut video capture software and "screen region" the video preview into OBS or Xsplit. But in doing so, the video is delayed. Now here is the problem:
-- If I use Xsplit, I can't fix my video delay. You can hear Mario's jump sound, and then see the jump a split second later. But then I can talk on stream, using Amarec audio source (through so-called Amamix).
-- If I use OBS, I can fix the video delay by shifting the audio behind by 0.35 seconds. Xsplit can do the same in newer versions (which I can't use as said).

But OBS doesn't let me select Amarec audio source in the audio settings. It just isn't listed there. So I cannot talk on stream using OBS.
I could let the game audio be on stereomix (Speakers) and then just use my mic, but then I can't listen to music or other streams so I don't want to do that.

Is there a way that I can use Amarec audio source in OBS?

honorableJay

2013-02-28 10:25:26 am

The Dork Knight himself.

In AmarecTv's Live tab, you should be able to enable the mixer and choose what devices you wish to come through to your streaming program. Set one source to your mic and the other to the line-in you use for game audio. Once that's done, you should be able to set the mic to mute in OBS and add the Amarec Live output as a source for the scene. That should handle the game audio and your mic and still let you listen to other streams/music without coming through to the stream (unless your mic picks up the audio). I gotta run to work, but I'll test it later when I get home.

honorableJay

Edit history:

honorableJay: 2013-02-28 06:15:12 pm

2013-02-28 06:11:43 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

Well, Amamix is a bust for me, as is using the Live mixer option. However, is it possible that you're overthinking the problem? If you want to commentate and get the game audio at the same time, you only need Amarec to capture the game's video/audio and feed that into OBS (32-bit version is required) or Xsplit. As for the mic, just right click on your speaker icon in the lower right corner (next to the clock), then click on Recording devices and choose which mic you want to use as default: either your camera's mic or a regular mic. Whichever mic is set to the default will be the one that your stream program of choice will use. You should be able to listen to music and other streams without it coming through the stream, BUT if you're not wearing headphones your mic will pickup the audio coming from your speakers and possibly ruin the experience.

MUGG

2013-02-28 07:14:54 pm

TASer

http://i.imgur.com/NX023FE.png

Amamix is running, with line-in being source 1, and microphone being source 2.
Amarec live is enabled.
I can select Amamix' audio (Amarec audio source) in Debut video capture software and in Xsplit. But not in OBS as shown in the image above.
"Desktop Audio device" also lists only "default", "speakers", "Realtek HDMI output", "Realtek Digital output". So no Amarec there either.

Or maybe I didn't understand your first post...let me know.

About your second post:
I have windows 7 32bit.
I would use game audio as one source and mic audio as the other but it's not possible. I can only select audio coming from my speakers, and then one additional one (game audio OR mic OR amarec (which is not available)).

If I do what you suggested in your second post it doesn't change anything. I can still only select game audio OR mic audio. I want to mix the two with Amarec but I can't have it in OBS for some reason.

honorableJay

Edit history:

honorableJay: 2013-02-28 07:55:24 pm

2013-02-28 07:51:15 pm

The Dork Knight himself.

Don't force OBS to use a specific audio device. Leave the two options to Default. The desktop audio device is simply what OBS will use to playback the audio it gets from each source you have in your scene. What you're confusing is how OBS is handling the audio when you stream. When you setup Amarec, on the Device tab choose what you want to capture your game video/audio. Then flip over to the Live tab and make sure it's enabled (don't use the Mixer, leave the box blank). Once that's done, your game audio portion is taken care of.

I haven't tried the latest version of OBS yet, so if you have problems getting the audio from Amarec's Live feature then you'll have to install 0.466a. Once you get into OBS, create a default scene like normal, then when you add a source, choose Video Capture Device. On the next window, choose Amarec Video Capture (that's the Live feature) and set the sound to "Output to stream only."

And finally, so long as your audio settings for OBS are at Default, whichever mic you have Windows set to use will be usable to commentate with. The main window for OBS has 2 options: the left option is the slider for your mic, and the second is for the audio from your sources. In this case it should just be the game audio that Amarec is feeding into OBS. If you add in multiple windows the audio from those should be captured as well. Just be warned that OBS *might* still grab your desktop audio so this solution isn't 100% foolproof. Oh, and just make sure you don't accidentally mute your mic in OBS (like I did in the screenshot).

***Edit***
One last thing: You cannot mute the audio playback in Amarec and still get audio from the Live feature. I'm not sure why, but ANYTHING you do to the preview window (deinterlacer, cropping, audio mute, etc) will carry over to the Live output. It might be possible to simply mute the Amarec window with the Windows mixer but again that could cut the audio out of your stream.

Don't force OBS to use a specific audio device. Leave the two options to Default. The desktop audio device is simply what OBS will use to playback the audio it gets from each source you have in your scene. What you're confusing is how OBS is handling the audio when you stream. When you setup Amarec, on the Device tab choose what you want to capture your game video/audio. Then flip over to the Live tab and make sure it's enabled (don't use the Mixer, leave the box blank). Once that's done, your game audio portion is taken care of.

I haven't tried the latest version of OBS yet, so if you have problems getting the audio from Amarec's Live feature then you'll have to install 0.466a. Once you get into OBS, create a default scene like normal, then when you add a source, choose Video Capture Device. On the next window, choose Amarec Video Capture (that's the Live feature) and set the sound to "Output to stream only."

And finally, so long as your audio settings for OBS are at Default, whichever mic you have Windows set to use will be usable to commentate with. The main window for OBS has 2 options: the left option is the slider for your mic, and the second is for the audio from your sources. In this case it should just be the game audio that Amarec is feeding into OBS. If you add in multiple windows the audio from those should be captured as well. Just be warned that OBS *might* still grab your desktop audio so this solution isn't 100% foolproof. Oh, and just make sure you don't accidentally mute your mic in OBS (like I did in the screenshot).

***Edit***
One last thing: You cannot mute the audio playback in Amarec and still get audio from the Live feature. I'm not sure why, but ANYTHING you do to the preview window (deinterlacer, cropping, audio mute, etc) will carry over to the Live output. It might be possible to simply mute the Amarec window with the Windows mixer but again that could cut the audio out of your stream.

Attachments:

2013-03-01 11:13:24 am

TASer

Quote:

Leave the two options to Default. The desktop audio device is simply what OBS will use to playback the audio it gets from each source you have in your scene.

I do not understand. If I do that OBS would use the 'default' playback audio for both of them (which is the desktop audio). It doesn't matter what the 'default' recording audio is (game audio, mic, stereomix...), either of those are not used if both sources in OBS are set to default.

Quote:

I haven't tried the latest version of OBS yet, so if you have problems getting the audio from Amarec's Live feature then you'll have to install 0.466a.

I have 0.472b.
Where can I download 0.466a? I don't find it on OBS' download page. Why do I need that? Just because you use it or because you know it can have the Amarec audio?
That would fix the issue that I had, because all I want is getting Amarec's audio and that's it.

I do not want to use Amarec to capture the video because Amarec sometimes screws up so it is too unreliable for me - this same problem has happened to a lot of other people. I don't want to lose a world record recording to something like that. So what I'm doing is I capture the video in another program (Debut video capture software) and use a screen region of its video preview for my stream.

[quote]Leave the two options to Default. The desktop audio device is simply what OBS will use to playback the audio it gets from each source you have in your scene.[/quote]

I do not understand. If I do that OBS would use the 'default' playback audio for both of them (which is the desktop audio). It doesn't matter what the 'default' recording audio is (game audio, mic, stereomix...), either of those are not used if both sources in OBS are set to default.

[quote]I haven't tried the latest version of OBS yet, so if you have problems getting the audio from Amarec's Live feature then you'll have to install 0.466a.[/quote]

I have 0.472b.
Where can I download 0.466a? I don't find it on OBS' download page. Why do I need that? Just because you use it or because you know it can have the Amarec audio?
That would fix the issue that I had, because all I want is getting Amarec's audio and that's it.

I do not want to use Amarec to capture the video because Amarec sometimes screws up so it is too unreliable for me - this same problem has happened to a lot of other people. I don't want to lose a world record recording to something like that. So what I'm doing is I capture the video in another program (Debut video capture software) and use a screen region of its video preview for my stream.

honorableJay

2013-03-01 11:56:30 am

The Dork Knight himself.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/obsproject/files/?source=navbar

I suggested using 0.466a because I've had audio problems with the newer versions, i.e. they seem to grab audio from some sources but not others (Amarec being the biggest problem for me). As for your solution, there's no way that I know of to do what you want unless you want to use a program like Virtual Audio Cable. If you could get Amarec to run reliably then things would be simple, but Amarec can't grab the video feed from your capture card if another program already is (and if Amarec can't get the video usually it can't get the audio).

I don't have much experience with VAC unfortunately, but from what I've read you should be able to setup the audio output from your capture software as a virtual line-in and be able to use that for OBS's audio. Hopefully someone else with more experience can help with that.

Btw the best version of Amarec that I've used so far is 2.20c. There are newer versions, but the live component doesn't work the same. If you tried getting Amarec from the english download page I believe it still has 2.18 linked.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/obsproject/files/?source=navbar

I suggested using 0.466a because I've had audio problems with the newer versions, i.e. they seem to grab audio from some sources but not others (Amarec being the biggest problem for me). As for your solution, there's no way that I know of to do what you want unless you want to use a program like Virtual Audio Cable. If you could get Amarec to run reliably then things would be simple, but Amarec can't grab the video feed from your capture card if another program already is (and if Amarec can't get the video usually it can't get the audio).

I don't have much experience with VAC unfortunately, but from what I've read you should be able to setup the audio output from your capture software as a virtual line-in and be able to use that for OBS's audio. Hopefully someone else with more experience can help with that.

Btw the best version of Amarec that I've used so far is [url=http://ge.tt/8X1VYzV]2.20c[/url]. There are newer versions, but the live component doesn't work the same. If you tried getting Amarec from the english download page I believe it still has 2.18 linked.

MUGG

Edit history:

MUGG: 2013-03-01 12:28:29 pm

MUGG: 2013-03-01 12:23:49 pm

MUGG: 2013-03-01 12:20:10 pm

MUGG: 2013-03-01 12:17:25 pm

2013-03-01 12:16:51 pm

TASer

I tried 0.466a and it didn't work. Amarec audio still wasn't listed and there were a few additional drawbacks (I can't shift audio around anymore, so I can't fix the video delay). So I switched back to 0.472b.

I cannot and don't want to use VAC.

Here a little chain of events:
I used to use amarectv210b_en. Then I wanted to try amarec video and it didn't work on that version. So I switched to amarectv231_en. Then I noticed the problems with amarec video (lag spike every 3 seconds, crashes sometimes) so I'm not using that anymore.

Maybe I will try 2.20c later.

The best result that I got from trying a ton of things now is that I feed amamix audio to Realtek Digital audio and use that as the audio source in OBS. That way I can have game audio and mic audio just by using 1 source in OBS so I could use the 2nd source for something else if I wanted (stereomix to get audio from my speakers). But the problem with that is my game audio is, due to the way it is set up, right-channel only. Debut and Xsplit can somehow make it mono but amamix can only have 2 channels at mimimum - it cannot convert to mono. I would need to find a way to convert the amamix audio to mono before giving it to Realtek digital audio OR making Realtek digital audio into mono OR I need to re-adjust my cables. I can't really do the latter because I'm short on audio line-ins.

I think I have 2 in the back and 2 in front of my computer. The 2 in the back are used for mic and game audio (right channel only). 1 in front is used for my headphones, and the other 1 is broken.

EDIT:

Wait! I think I got it.

I can feed mic to realtek digital, and then just use game audio as the other source in OBS!
Will try that.

EDIT:

Yes, that works. Problem solved... albeit in a strange way, but that's okay.

I tried 0.466a and it didn't work. Amarec audio still wasn't listed and there were a few additional drawbacks (I can't shift audio around anymore, so I can't fix the video delay). So I switched back to 0.472b.

I cannot and don't want to use VAC.

Here a little chain of events:
I used to use amarectv210b_en. Then I wanted to try amarec video and it didn't work on that version. So I switched to amarectv231_en. Then I noticed the problems with amarec video (lag spike every 3 seconds, crashes sometimes) so I'm not using that anymore.

Maybe I will try 2.20c later.

The best result that I got from trying a ton of things now is that I feed amamix audio to Realtek Digital audio and use that as the audio source in OBS. That way I can have game audio and mic audio just by using 1 source in OBS so I could use the 2nd source for something else if I wanted (stereomix to get audio from my speakers). But the problem with that is my game audio is, due to the way it is set up, right-channel only. Debut and Xsplit can somehow make it mono but amamix can only have 2 channels at mimimum - it cannot convert to mono. I would need to find a way to convert the amamix audio to mono before giving it to Realtek digital audio OR making Realtek digital audio into mono OR I need to re-adjust my cables. I can't really do the latter because I'm short on audio line-ins.

I think I have 2 in the back and 2 in front of my computer. The 2 in the back are used for mic and game audio (right channel only). 1 in front is used for my headphones, and the other 1 is broken.

EDIT:

Wait! I think I got it.

I can feed mic to realtek digital, and then just use game audio as the other source in OBS!
Will try that.

EDIT:

Yes, that works. Problem solved... albeit in a strange way, but that's okay.

MUGG

Edit history:

MUGG: 2013-04-17 05:54:10 am

2013-04-17 05:38:13 am

TASer

I'm trying to find a way to merge two audio sources on a cable level rather than with Amarec or virtual audio cable. With amarec I simply can't find a solution and VAC crashed as soon as I installed it, for the second time so I'm never touching that again..

The problem is as follows:
I'd really like to stream a PC game (GTA Vice city) but I also really want to listen to music while doing so, without the music being audible on stream. I just can't find a way to manage that with Amarec and my 2 sound card outputs (one being my "speakers" which works fine, and one being "Realtek Digital output" which I can't figure out how to listen to..).

So I was thinking I would listen to music from my mobile phone and I could let the game audio come from my speakers (from my actual monitor rather than my headphones; I would use my headphones to listen to my mobile phone).

But I wonder if there's a way to mix the two audio sources so that I can listen to both the game and my music. I don't really have experience with this, I only read using a Y cable could damage my stuff so I want to be sure...

EDIT:

Looks like I'm looking for something like this but I'm not really willing to pay $44...

I'm trying to find a way to merge two audio sources on a cable level rather than with Amarec or virtual audio cable. With amarec I simply can't find a solution and VAC crashed as soon as I installed it, for the second time so I'm never touching that again..

The problem is as follows:
I'd really like to stream a PC game (GTA Vice city) but I also really want to listen to music while doing so, without the music being audible on stream. I just can't find a way to manage that with Amarec and my 2 sound card outputs (one being my "speakers" which works fine, and one being "Realtek Digital output" which I can't figure out how to listen to..).

So I was thinking I would listen to music from my mobile phone and I could let the game audio come from my speakers (from my actual monitor rather than my headphones; I would use my headphones to listen to my mobile phone).

But I wonder if there's a way to mix the two audio sources so that I can listen to both the game and my music. I don't really have experience with this, I only read using a Y cable could damage my stuff so I want to be sure...

EDIT:

Looks like I'm looking for something like [url=http://www.stoweblank.com/tinymix]this[/url] but I'm not really willing to pay $44...

Patrick

2013-04-17 05:53:56 pm

Hi MUGG,
maybe oasiz's answer helps (CTRL+F oasiz). Not being affected I did not look into it.
https://forum.speeddemosarchive.com/post/record_on_pc_while_listening_to_music.html

Patrick

Edit history:

Patrick: 2013-04-26 06:54:45 am

Patrick: 2013-04-26 06:50:51 am

Patrick: 2013-04-26 06:05:20 am

2013-04-26 06:04:07 am

We came to a working solution, with the disadvantage of the game audio being delayed by 200ms or so.