Difficulty with virtual out Potato

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EdK
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:40 am

Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by EdK »

Hello,

Newbie here. I'm having difficulty understanding how to route an audio signal coming into Potato via Virtual Inputs and routing that to Virtual Outputs (B1, B2, etc). I can see the audio signal with the VU meters in both locations (Virtual Input and Virtual Output) but I am unable capture the Virtual Output in OBS. (My 'source' in OBS is Audio Input Capture).

The VU meters in OBS show no signal being received.

Can someone help me out here?

Thanks! Ed
zapoqx
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Nov 25, 2016 10:25 pm

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by zapoqx »

I will say it is simple honestly.

So, I assume you're trying to route some virtual audio in the Hardware Input section. You then want the audio to come to the VAIO audio (via B1-3 depending on selection). That is no problem.
In the Audio, are you trying to put the audio in there or are you just doing the source capture within a scene? I suppose that shouldn't matter on thinking about it.

In OBS, is the audio source you're trying to grab relating to Voicemeeter VAIO, VAIO AUX, and/or VAIO3?

Did you have any audio input change in the time of starting up from before starting OBS or after? Sometimes you have to reselect by setting something else, save, then setting back to what you wanted, save, and it should work.

Hopefully that gets you started to check into virtual cabling more :)
Andres
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri May 01, 2020 7:25 pm

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by Andres »

EdK wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 5:48 pmI can see the audio signal with the VU meters in both locations (Virtual Input and Virtual Output)
Hi. Apparently you already configured Voicemeeter Potato routing correctly (You are getting signal on the Virtual Output meeters). In OBS you are also using the right type of source (Audio Input Capture). Just make sure that the device selected is Voicemeeter Output when using B1, Voicemeeter Aux Output (B2) or Voicemeeter VAIO Output (B3).

If you want you can share a Voicemeeter screenshot to see if we further investigate this issue.

Best regards.
EdK
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:40 am

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by EdK »

Thanks all for your replies.

Zapoqx- I haven't tried your suggestion yet (making changes then back again with the saves as you described).

Andres- Yes. I'm using Audio Input Capture and pointing to the appropriate VoiceMeeter output.

To Both- I see something peculiar in VoiceMeeters virtual input section but after searching this forum, apparently that's not usual but it can be misleading. (see attached screenshot)
VM Virtual Inputs.jpg
VM Virtual Inputs.jpg (69.87 KiB) Viewed 15200 times
EdK
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:40 am

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by EdK »

Hi all,

I'm using VoiceMeeter Potato (VM) and VB-CABLE.

Making changes in VM, shutting down VM and OBS then started both back up did the trick! Thanks.

Still have the peculiar display as shown in my previous posting but at least I've got things working.

Routing all audio through VM first then feeding that into OBS as one Audio Input Capture does what I need.

My setup is like this-

-Apps/programs/devices that output audio: Multiplay (music track player like QLAB) but for PCs, Microphone Input from external mixer, audio and video from a Zoom session and a video (with audio) from a file played by OBS.

From home, I'm using a website (to simulate audio/video coming from a Zoom session). Don't have any activity right now in Zoom to test it that way.

In VoiceMeeter:
-Microphone/external mixer input VM Channel 1 and sending to A2 only. Channel 2-5 not used.
-Virtual Input 1- Input coming from web (zoom) via VM VAIO and sending to A1 and A2
Virtual Input 2- Input coming from OBS (thats playing a video) via VM AUX and sending to A1 and A2
Virtual Input 3- Input coming from Multiplay via VM VAIO3 and sending to A1 and A2
-VM Output A1 sending all audio to speakers (without VM Channel 1-mics).
Output A2 sending all audio to OBS via VB-Cable

in OBS
-Settings> Audio> Global Audio Devices- All disabled.
-Settings> Audio> Advanced> Monitoring Devices- VM Aux Input (VB-Audio VoiceMeeter AUX VAIO)
-Sources>
Audio Input Capture> Properties> Device- CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)
Audio Input Capture> Advanced Audio Properties> Name: Audio Input Capture Audio Monitoring: Monitor Off
Media Source> Properties> Local File: Video file which also contains audio
Media Source> Advanced Audio Properties> Name: Media Source Audio Monitoring: Monitor and Output
Window Capture> Properties> Capture Method: Windows Graphics Capture

In Windows
-Sound Settings> Output: VM Input VAIO
Input: CABLE Output
-Sound Control Panel> Playback Tab> CABLE Input (set as default)
Recording Tab> CABLE Output (set as default)
Sounds Tab> Sound Scheme: No sounds

In Multiplay
-Sound output: Routed to VM VAIO3

This works for me. Hopefully this will be helpful to others.

To complicate matters further- I use Multiplay to send MIDI commands via OBS-Midi Plug-in to change scenes in OBS when appropriate. Caution: OBS-Midi Plug-in is a bit buggy but it does work. Just backup OBS-Midi folder in Windows AppData folder often. I'm looking for alternatives to OBS-Midi that's more reliable. Have tried Midi2Key. It works but introduces an extra layer of complexity to translate Midi commands into OBS Hotkeys. Looking into an OSC Plug-in but need to study it more.
EdK
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:40 am

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by EdK »

Hello all,

Just discovered something peculiar regarding the virtual input channels displaying the same app in all 3 channels (see my screenshot a couple of posting earlier).

I normally start Potato (non-administrator mode). When I start another app (also in non-administrator mode), that same app can appear in all 3 virtual inputs even though I'm pointing the app to use a specific input (VAIO3). Both in Windows 'App volume and device preferences' and in the app itself. The audio is routed correctly.

However, if I change the app to 'run as administrator', then it doesn't show up at all in Potato. yet the audio from the app continues to work. No other changes.

If I change Potato to 'run as administrator' and the other app also as administrator, the app appears in all 3 virtual inputs again.
xcasxcursex
Posts: 173
Joined: Tue Feb 18, 2020 12:04 am

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by xcasxcursex »

That is normal behaviour. The app appearing in all three devices is a windows bug. The visibility of the administrator's activities being limited to administrators is intentional, to give privacy/security to system administrators.
EdK
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:40 am

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by EdK »

That's unfortunate. I understand what Admin mode is for. I just found it interesting that the way the Apps are displayed is different depending on the modes.

Personally, I think it would be better if the Apps weren't displayed at all in Voicemeeter. It just makes things confusing. After all, the column heading can be changed to display whatever you want. This is what I did when I set it up. But during actual usage, I might not be the person sitting at the computer to tweak levels etc. and with the Apps displayed, it definitely confuses them because their eyes are drawn to it rather than looking at the column heading. I think it would also be helpful if the user defined column heading was a different color or stood out in some way. Currently it blends in with the actual name of the virtual input.
Vincent Burel
Site Admin
Posts: 2008
Joined: Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:01 pm

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by Vincent Burel »

no it's the application itself, openning all devices (so appearing on all mixer), this is the same problem with Discord and probably coming from a shitty common library (e.g. webrtc).
EdK
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2020 11:40 am

Re: Difficulty with virtual out Potato

Post by EdK »

Hmmm...interesting. Thanks.
I will discuss with the developer of one of the Apps I use that show up in all virtual inputs.
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