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Old 04-02-2020, 07:03 PM   #1
BerkeleyBernie
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Default Using Reaper as virtual mixer for live streaming (Mac/OBS/Facebook Live)

Hi all,

I'm basically a Reaper newbie, recorded a couple of dozen songs using the DAW. I've run a couple of guitar/vocal Facebook Live streams using the following basic setup for audio (and a DSLR for video):
Zoom H5 as audio interface (built-in stereo condensers and/or 2 connected mics) into a MacBook running Mojave.
OBS streaming software (using Facebook Live key)
This limits control of my audio to basically the gain dials on the Zoom H5. The signal going into OBS is already merged into a single track, so no control there either. I also have a Focusrite Saffire Pro 14 which is my main audio interface. I was just experimenting with the H5 because it's a simpler quicker setup but either will work. The Focusrite certainly has better pres and I've got an LA-610 hooked up to it I can use on the vocal.

What I need is a basic mixer for EQ, panning, compression, and reverb. I was thinking about an inexpensive USB Mixer interface for simplicity. A huge shout-out to Alto Music who I called today asking for recommendations. After hearing the info above, they essentially turned down a sale and said I'd be better off running through my DAW as a virtual mixer. That's great customer service.

I'd considered this. I have BlackHole (Soundflower replacement) installed and have set up an aggregate device. I watched a couple of Kenny's videos on routing so I kinda get the idea.

I could probably trial and error this and get it to work, but any pointers for proper routing/settings setup would be helpful. Better, for instance, to set up a buss track to send to OBS instead of the master mix?

One thing where I suspect I might get hung up: a way to monitor the mix (with eq, comp, reverb, etc) with low enough latency while I'm streaming myself singing/playing? Or am I better off with the dry monitoring of the inputs straight off the audio interface?

I did see where Kenny showed how to setup up a buss track for a headphone mix, for instance.

I'd like to come up with a simple setup that I can just go to whenever I want to go live.

Thanks!

Last edited by BerkeleyBernie; 04-02-2020 at 07:55 PM.
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Old 04-03-2020, 06:51 AM   #2
mschnell
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IMHO:

Just try it. It should work.
-Michael
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Old 04-06-2020, 06:17 AM   #3
Tonegrown
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BerkeleyBernie View Post
Hi all,

The signal going into OBS is already merged into a single track, so no control there either.
I do this same setup. OBS Studio does have effects and vst support to some extent. It is hard to find. Right Click on the source and choose filter. the dialog box that pops up will allow you to do audio and video effects.


Reaper is perfect for a live mixer before OBS, I use this setup myself for live streaming. signal flow for audio would be:

soundcard to Reaper to OBS
Reaper to Headphone Out

so you have 2 outputs from reaper the one to OBS you aren't as concerned about the latency, but the headphone out needs to be low latency so your sound card drivers need to be set so you can monitor in realtime 128 buffer should work. Treat reaper like a normal audio mixer with FX and aux out. also you can record yourself in reaper and playback to tweak your live mix before you go live.

OBS has video and audio delay filters. once you have audio and video arriving in OBS, you will need to make sure that you still have lipsync by adjusting either the audio or video delay to match up. from experience... use the OBS record feature to watch the resulted video in something like VLC. OBS seems to put out audio late if monitoring from within the program.


there are many ways to get audio from reaper to OBS. I use rme interfaces and they have a loopback feature for that. but blackhole which you mentioned looks like it would also work especially since the audio loopback can be a little delayed and resynced in OBS
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Old 04-08-2020, 08:04 PM   #4
BerkeleyBernie
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Thanks for the info.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tonegrown View Post
I do this same setup. OBS Studio does have effects and vst support to some extent. It is hard to find. Right Click on the source and choose filter. the dialog box that pops up will allow you to do audio and video effects.
Thanks. I'd found that, which is fine for an effect on any of the inputs into OBS. But the only way to get effects onto individual mics into OBS is through some other hardware or software mixer. Hence, Reaper.

Quote:
Reaper is perfect for a live mixer before OBS, I use this setup myself for live streaming. signal flow for audio would be:

soundcard to Reaper to OBS
Reaper to Headphone Out
I pretty much got this far. The main thing I had been missing was turning on Record Monitoring on the tracks (and turning off direct monitoring of inputs in the Focusrite MixControl software).

Quote:
so you have 2 outputs from reaper the one to OBS you aren't as concerned about the latency, but the headphone out needs to be low latency so your sound card drivers need to be set so you can monitor in realtime 128 buffer should work.
The output through Blackhole is zero latency, so no problem there. I can get the buffer to work fine at 64 with very low latency through my Firewire interface, but then I get a lot of CPU fan noise. I suspect that's unavoidable even at 128 because OBS also chews up the CPU. I just read about a video setting in OBS that tries to move the video processing to the GPU, so I'll try that.

I was looking at the Presonus Studio 192 today. If I get serious about this, I might upgrade my interface. The advantage there (or perhaps some similar hardware) is it has a DSP chip that handles a channel strip and reverb/delay effects outboard as well as a mixer, so can bypass Reaper (or Studio 1) altogether. Then just do a stereo send directly to OBS.

Quote:
Treat reaper like a normal audio mixer with FX and aux out.
Not sure what you mean by that as I'm not really that experienced with live mixers. Right now, I'm just setting up a Reverb buss track (so my FX send/return?) and sending the guitars and vocals to that, tweak as desired. I already have an LA-610 on the vocal, so the only other effect plugins might be EQ and Comp on the guitar mics (I'm trying stereo micing, but I might just go to a 12th fret single mic). I've got several options for plugins, but I hear the Cockos plugins are essentially zero latency, so I'll start there.

Quote:
also you can record yourself in reaper and playback to tweak your live mix before you go live.
Yep, I thought that was a smart idea. You can't really get a good idea of how your own voice tracks when you're singing and engineering yourself.

Quote:
OBS has video and audio delay filters. once you have audio and video arriving in OBS, you will need to make sure that you still have lipsync by adjusting either the audio or video delay to match up. from experience... use the OBS record feature to watch the resulted video in something like VLC. OBS seems to put out audio late if monitoring from within the program.
Thanks, I'll definitely check out the sync.

Quote:
there are many ways to get audio from reaper to OBS. I use rme interfaces and they have a loopback feature for that. but blackhole which you mentioned looks like it would also work especially since the audio loopback can be a little delayed and resynced in OBS
The Focusrite has a loopback but I think Blackhole eliminates that need.

Thanks again for the suggestions.
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Old 04-10-2020, 05:53 AM   #5
Tonegrown
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BerkeleyBernie View Post
Not sure what you mean by that as I'm not really that experienced with live mixers. Right now, I'm just setting up a Reverb buss track (so my FX send/return?) and sending the guitars and vocals to that, tweak as desired. I already have an LA-610 on the vocal, so the only other effect plugins might be EQ and Comp on the guitar mics (I'm trying stereo micing, but I might just go to a 12th fret single mic). I've got several options for plugins, but I hear the Cockos plugins are essentially zero latency, so I'll start there.
yep you have exactly the idea. Reaper can replicate almost any feature you would find on a live mixer!
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