How To Easily Setup Playing Guitar Over Discord/Zoom/OBS Etc
Added 2024-02-05 16:00:56 +0000 UTCIt's become clear during our weekly hangouts that a lot of you are keen to be able to play your guitar direct-in over Discord using your plugins. Unfortunately the process of doing this is not super intuitive so I've taken the liberty of making a quick tutorial on how you can set this up! This will work for any DAW and any comms software (not just Reaper and Discord) but please note that you must have a functioning audio interface with at least 2 inputs (1 for guitar and 1 for mic).
Please follow the guide CAREFULLY as I'd prefer this to not just become one giant tech support thread!
1) Download the software VoiceMeeter Banana from the following site -> https://vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/banana.htm
2) Open your DAW and setup a guitar track with your plugin/effects of choice, ensuring that the track is pointing to the correct input and is armed/monitored.
3) Open the audio device settings in your DAW and change the "Audio System" to WASAPI (it was probably ASIO before). Ensure your Input Device is set to Input 1/2 of your audio interface and your Output Device is set to "VoiceMeeter Input" (this is the VoiceMeeter virtual input). Lastly, ensure that the Block Size and Sample Rate match what your audio interface settings are set to. For reference, I set mine to 128 and 48000 for this tutorial.
4) Open VoiceMeeter (it's a standalone application, not a plugin) and check that the Virtual Input is receiving signal when you play guitar.
5) Next to setup your mic! Set Hardware Input 1 in VoiceMeeter to Input 1/2 of your audio interface. When you speaking into your mic you should now see input being received in Hardware Input 1. You can adjust mic volume/processing from with VoiceMeeter.
6) Set Hardware Output in VoiceMeeter to the Ouput of your audio interface if it's not already.
7) Click the "Mono" button in the Hardware Output section on VoiceMeeter to ensure both the guitar and mic get down-mixed to a single mono channel.
8) Open Discord (or whatever other comms/streaming software) and go to the audio settings. Change the Input from your regular mic to "VoiceMeeter Ouput". Everything being routed into VoiceMeeter will now be used as your input!
Good luck and don't forget to share your progress with everyone in the Discord server!
Comments
Hey Bradley! Can you make a similar guide for people who want to do this sort of this with an iPhone? Lots of people only have smartphones and no computer. I’d really like to be able to stream and/or record using my iPhone and an interface, but I haven’t totally figured it out. I think lots of people would appreciate a step by step guide for iPhone like the one you’ve made above for computers. Thanks so much!
🤘🏻🎸😎
2024-11-11 03:40:54 +0000 UTCHmm I don't use Macs so not sure tbh. I'd recommend asking in the Discord server!
Bradley Hall
2024-07-08 07:44:42 +0000 UTCAny advice for Mac users?
Noah Herrera
2024-07-08 01:20:03 +0000 UTCJust saw this as it wasn't a reply to me but the post itself (so I didn't get a notification.) I know you solved your original issue, but no, you do not want your inputs set manually to either of the strips, especially not using WDM. By using "patch ASIO inputs to strips" as I demonstrated, that alone will assign your inputs to strips 1 and 2, and manually setting either of the first two input strips to use "WDM: Analogue 1 + 2" on top of that is not only redundant but would indeed introduce a ton of latency.
Jim
2024-02-14 06:02:18 +0000 UTCSo I ended up just solving my issue of delay by not monitoring my audio through voicemeeter and just opening BiasFX2 on it's own, so I can hear myself without delay and the guitar audio is still going through reaper and discord.
jiantjingerjohn .
2024-02-07 19:39:45 +0000 UTCChanging to int32 helped a bit. I have output A1 matched and 48000khz at 96 buffer. In the system settings I have input as WDM: Analogue 1 + 2 (2- Focusrite USB audio) and it shows buf: 528, is this normal?
jiantjingerjohn .
2024-02-06 17:47:43 +0000 UTCAlso be sure you're using ASIO: Focusrite USB (or Thunderbolt if you're using that) as your A1 output and not WDM or MME as they can introduce additional latency. You will need to set your default output device in Windows sound settings to "Voicemeeter Input" to make use of it.
Jim
2024-02-06 17:39:02 +0000 UTCTry this: make sure in the Voicemeeter "System Settings Options" menu you change the Virtual ASIO type from 'Float32LSB' to 'Int32LSB' and reboot. Then make sure your buffer and sample rate under 'Output A1' match what you have set in the "Focusrite Settings" app. I have my buffer set to 192 in both and get no noticeable delay. You will have to play around with the buffer and find a setting that works for your system and needs, as lower buffers have a risk of introducing crackles and pops when it gets overloaded. Higher buffers give more headroom for more complicated mixes but as such add additional delay.
Jim
2024-02-06 17:29:37 +0000 UTCis it normal for me to have more latency than usual going through voicemeter? It's not terrible, but it's noticeable.
jiantjingerjohn .
2024-02-06 17:24:05 +0000 UTCCorrect, the 'A' buttons mean "send this input directly to my outputs so I can listen to myself". So by default Voicemeeter has A1 enabled which routes them directly to your main output. You can use this as a "direct monitor" mode to test your input or set A2 to use a pair of headphones plugged into the built-in sound card on the computer and enable A2 on those inputs to route them to output device A2 as a monitor.
Jim
2024-02-06 17:20:55 +0000 UTCnevermind, I got it sorted by messing with the A and B buttons until I found a mix that worked.
jiantjingerjohn .
2024-02-06 17:10:44 +0000 UTCI have a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2, so I have followed your instructions here to Patch Asio inputs to strips. Not sure what else to do so that I can't hear myself echo though. Can I disable hearing myself in voicemeter somewhere?
jiantjingerjohn .
2024-02-06 17:03:12 +0000 UTCInteresting! The "Patch ASIO inputs to Strips" seems very useful indeed for audio interfaces with just a single stereo input - will remember that in case people ask. Cheers Jim!
Bradley Hall
2024-02-05 19:46:11 +0000 UTCIn the case of some audio interfaces that combine the combo XLR/TRS inputs 1 and 2 into a single stereo channel (such as Focusrite Scarlett series) it is necessary to set output A1 to use the interface in ASIO mode and in Voicemeeter System Settings, use the "Patch ASIO inputs to Strips" box and set 'IN 1' to 1 and -, and 'IN 2' to 2 and -. This splits the normally "combined" channels into two separate inputs. Then on your Voicemeeter input 1 and 2, set both to Mono since each input is indeed only mono. You can then attach your DAW to Voicemeeter ASIO if you want, and install and use VB-CABLE from the same website you got Voicemeeter from as a virtual looback on Voicemeeter's 'A2' output for use with OBS and other streaming apps that don't understand ASIO. It's a little difficult to demonstrate in text without screenshots due to how complicated and confusing Voicemeeter can be, but if you already have a good handle on how that software works, this setup gives a ton of flexibility. EDIT: Another important change to make in "System Settings Options" is to set the Virtual ASIO type from 'Float32LSB' to 'Int32LSB' and make sure your buffer and sample rate for output A1 match what you have set in the "Focusrite Settings" app. I typically use 192 in both and have no noticeable delay.
Jim
2024-02-05 19:41:17 +0000 UTCCheers John!
Bradley Hall
2024-02-05 19:19:39 +0000 UTCReally appreciate the concise steps listed here. Any youtube guides are so convoluted and they seem to take ages to get to the point and still manage to gloss over the finer details that you would want to hear.
jiantjingerjohn .
2024-02-05 16:04:36 +0000 UTC
