Monitor output of DAW?

[jnki]

I've set up SAR to output from my DAW to OBS Studio. But I'd like to hear what I'm doing in the DAW.

My DAW only allows for one master output, which of course goes to OBS. Meaning I can't hear what I'm doing until I watch the recorded video.

Is there a way to monitor the audio from the DAW so I can hear what I'm doing?

Some kind of "loop back" feature, which sends the recording endpoint to a special playback endpoint, which I can then play back through the DAW to monitor.

I realise in certain situations this could cause unwanted feedback, but it would be useful in this case. Perhaps a special checkbox to enable "loop back" with a warning.

[stkfd]

Are you sure there's no way to have multiple outputs in your DAW? All DAWs I can think of can do that in some way.

Often the way to do it is to create an effect send which can then be set to output to a different ASIO channel. You'd just set the individual sends on the channels to 0db post fader then.

[jnki]

My DAW supports multiple outputs, but I cannot send the Master track to two different outputs at the same time (one to OBS, and one to my ears).

I can do it via send channels, but it is quite tedious. I'd have to add a send for every track, as you say, but this also clutters up the device chain.

It would be neater to have a single track where the output is being fed back to the DAW (which I can then route to a different asio channel so I can hear it) while the main master output is being sent to OBS.

[stkfd]

Seems to me like a more straight forward solution would be to have the ability to link virtual ASIO outputs to outputs in the wrapped ASIO driver, so they appear as one in the DAW. That would avoid the whole "one false click and your speakers explode from feedback" thing.

Not sure which would be easier to implement though and if it's something @eiz would want to do.

[eiz]

I'm curious what DAW you're using. Both proposed solutions are doable, but if possible I'd like to take a look for myself to figure out the best workflow for this.

[jnki]

Hi @eiz! that's good to hear.

I'm using Renoise. Unfortunately the demo doesn't have ASIO support.

[eiz]

I think linking a virtual endpoint to ASIO channels from the underlying device will work slightly better here. Introducing a loopback endpoint type is certainly possible but it would introduce an extra buffer of latency for monitoring and I'd prefer to avoid that.

In any case, I'm going to need to make the channel mapping in the wrapper driver a bit more general to handle this. The ASIO channels for either the physical or virtual output will need to be hidden so that the client application doesn't try to write to the same buffer twice. I'll update this issue when I've implemented a solution.

Meanwhile, I would recommend putting a send at the end of each track's effect chain, set to "Keep Source." It's not pretty but it should work. In my REAPER setup I actually disable master send on all of my tracks and route everything through some dedicated tracks for mixing, with a script to toggle my monitor output between different mixes.

[jnki]

I've set up SAR to output from my DAW to OBS Studio. But I'd like to hear what I'm doing in the DAW.

Just want to update on my situation. With latest update of OBS Studio (18.0) they have added a feature of 'audio monitoring', which means I am now able to monitor my DAW audio while sending it to OBS via SAR for recording!

[theMuzzl3]

Not completely sure if this works in ReNoise, but there is a simple solution that works in REAPER.

This video is good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4txDNr7rBc

Create one channel in your DAW, and treat it like you would the master buss. The channel will have 4 outputs (1-2 to the actual master buss channel, and 3-4 to your normal outputs (that go to your headphones). Master buss routes straight to OBS, and doesn't go directly to your ears. If you are some how unable to get it to endpoints with Jack, the DAW, and OBS (via SAR), then you could send the 3-4 to something like a VB Cable Aux or VAIO channel. You can then route that to OBS. You could go into windows manage audio devices, and within the recording tab, right click whichever VB device you're using, go to properties, and then enable the listen function... that way, you can hear the direct signal, before any leveling or processing that OBS does.

Also, you could even go into App Volume & Device Preferences (on Windows 10), and send audio from OBS back to the DAW (to an AUX return from OBS)... via a similar method (send OBS to VAIO3, then have a channel in the DAW, with VAIO3 as the inputs, and record enable it). That way, you could experiment with parallel processing and feedback loops. You'd also be able to send particular apps directly to OBS, then send the mix from OBS to the DAW (so, whatever routes to OBS & skips the DAW, can come back to the DAW within the mixed/processed out from OBS).

I've read that the VB stuff introduces some latency, though.

Now that SAR is updated, with endpoints to receive the audio, none of this is necessary (unless something is going wrong with SAR... there would be an emergency fix solution).