VB-Audio's Forums

I'd like to report an issue I'm having with VoiceMeeter Banana's Macro panel combined with assigned Hotkeys.

The background story:
During streaming I find it crucial to be able to mute certain audio inputs though being able to hear them myself, using a dual audio card set-up I've managed to achieve a monitor input going to my headset and a stream input going into OBS. It's a delight being able to mute TeamSpeak on my stream yet still being able to hear what is going on myself. This is super handy during stream start-up when I want to discuss things with people before actually going live with my own microphone and game/Spotify/TeamSpeak audio.

The setup:
The issue I'm having is with the hotkeys once my game is maximised. The hotkeys I assigned, for example, are "Shift or Ctrl + F6" Or really just a combination of either ctrl or shift + F-keys. I've forced the window to always be on top of my second monitor screen so I can quickly scan what audio inputs are turned on and going where. I'm running the hotkeys through my G15 keyboard G-keys for quick access, they emulate the key combination press.

The issue:
Once my game is maximised the Hotkeys become unresponsive. I keep having to tab out of the game and might as well click them with my mouse then, which results in my stream screen freezing until I tab back into the game. Running the game windowed is however also not an option as OBS doesn't recognise it in this form and shows a blank screen. (It's a known issue with ArmA3 and OBS for a while, but I wouldn't consider it an issue...)

I'm having a hard time comprehending why similar hotkeys and key combinations in OBS always respond when switching scenes, yet the Macro panel doesn't respond to hotkeys. Anyone else having this issue? Is there a fix for this? I noticed that I can maximise the Chrome browser and they are still responsive, it seems to be an issue when a different screen goes full-screen.

I hope someone can help me with this. Sincerely, KPJ.

It seems the Hotkeys are only passed to the Fullscreen application.
I think this is a normal behavior.

I don't know "OBS", but i think it really "lies above" the Fullscreen application. Like the Steam-Overlay or any FPS-Counter. So it "catch" Inputs before the game it gets

Did you try to use the "Exclusive Key" - Option in the Button configuration (MacroButtons Settings)?

I used Voicemeeter with an Midi Controller. The Midi Inputs are only passed to Voicemeeter. Only other Midi compatible apps could interfere.

Maybe an other application could help. You need an app that route your hotkey to an Chosen target (MacroButtons in your case).
As far as i remember "VoiceAttack" can route commands to an target window. But i am not sure. Maybe there are far better apps for your case. But this is the only one that comes in my mind. (It was designed for Voice commands, but it also can handle hotkeys)

Shark-2 wrote: I don't know "OBS", but i think it really "lies above" the Fullscreen application. Like the Steam-Overlay or any FPS-Counter. So it "catch" Inputs before the game it gets

Did you try to use the "Exclusive Key" - Option in the Button configuration (MacroButtons Settings)?

I used Voicemeeter with a Midi Controller. The Midi Inputs are only passed to Voicemeeter. Only other Midi compatible apps could interfere.

Could be true...

The exclusive key I did test. Not sure what is was supposed to do, but it didn't fix the issues I had.

Hmm, would that work for Macros? Perhaps a dedicated cheap and tiny midi controller may serve this purpose very well! Any recommendations are appreciated! If I were to find one with turnable knobs or faders I would also be able to control the audio levels from my different inputs, right? That would be a great solution! Being able to control volume levels is a big perk, the most important thing is to be able to mute A1/2/3 on the strips 0 to 4 though.

Edit: Something like this perhaps? https://www.thomann.de/nl/korg_nanokontrol_2_black.htm

pending on how an application get KEYS access... HOOK keyboard uses HOT keys functions and capture keys in exclusive mode (means other application won't receive keyboard event related to this key anymore) ...

MacroButtons let keyboard events go in other applications (except if exclusive mode is activated).
of course it works only if Keys have not been captured in exclusive mode by another application...
(note also the order to run different applications can change the behavior of this exclusive keybaord capture).

To run a MIDI device (like NanoKontrol) is a good way to avoid this problem, Voicemeeter MIDI map will help you to configure it,
and MacroButton will also work according MIDI events (coming from the same MIDI device selected for Voicemeeter MIDI mapping).

So basically the Nanokontrol2 would work for what I want it to do, the question arises if making custom mappings via MacroButton still works when I open my game. It seems that it still loses focus when I open the game, so would a Midi input negate this problem? I guess the only real way is to test this. I will try exclusive mode again soon, perhaps I didn't do it right.

Thanks for the explanation!

KaratePyjamas wrote:So basically the Nanokontrol2 would work for what I want it to do, the question arises if making custom mappings via MacroButton still works when I open my game. It seems that it still loses focus when I open the game, so would a Midi input negate this problem?

I think the Nanokontrol2 would do the Job perfect
The Midi Inputs aren't routet to the foreground application. It connects directly to an chosen application (Voicemeeter in your case).

Cheers, so the Midi controller combined with the solution in the other thread you linked should do exactly what I want. That's great news! I guess it's a bit of a hacky workaround until native button support is inplemented in VM. But atleast it's a great solution on the (fairly) cheap!

Just FYI..

My Macro Vol +, -, and Mute were working fine until I installed Logitech SetPoint app. My keyboard has those and other buttons. And SetPoint was intercepting the keys so the Macro (even in Exclusive mode) didn't see them. Disableing SetPoint fixed the problem..

it can also be a question of startup order.
if you run an application taking the keys in exclusive mode
the second application running won't get it...

So maybe this should have worked if you had check that MacroButtons is launched first.