VOICEMEETER POTATO OVERVIEW & TUTORIAL FOR OBS STREAMING

Single and Dual PC setups

Voicemeeter comes in many flavours and the one with the most options is Voicemeeter Potato, shown above is an example of my current set up that I use for a single computer set up for streaming. On this page I will try my best to break down the best set-up guide for people looking at using the same software and how to get that to work with OBS STUDIO, I currently use OBS with the Stream Elements Live Plugins but this tutorial will work with any version of OBS studio.

“But Voicemeeter looks crazy and confusing…?”

True, but hopefully this guide will help to break down everything into lighter bites and sections.

Shown above here is a basic break down of the different sections for when
I describe how to use Voicemeeter Potato during the set up that I use.

SECTION 1 (Red)
Main/Manual Inputs

This section is for setting up all of the incoming signals, be that from microphones, webcams or digital audio cables etc, in this example I use all of the digital audio cables, so that’s ‘Cables A-D‘ which starts from only about $10 (USD).

SECTION 2 (Blue)
Virtual Only Inputs

This section is for any audio coming from your Desktop referred to as ‘VAIO‘ (Virtual Audio In / Out), the second & third sliders represent ‘Vaio-Aux‘ (Auxiliary) and an additional unused ‘VAIO3‘ audio.

SECTION 3 (Orange)
Outputs and Equalizer

This section represents all volume and audio special effects toggling controls for all the outputs, ‘A‘ channels output to Physical & Digital outputs that are set in ‘Section 5‘ and ‘B‘ channels output to Digital Only.

SECTION 4 (Yellow)
Recorder

If for some reason you need/want to record your audio, this is where you do it by selecting the input channels ‘A1‘ through ‘B3‘ then click record, for the purposes of this tutorial we will not use this.

SECTION 5 (Green)
Manual Outputs

This section is where you can select the different types of hardware outputs such as speakers or a headset, it is very important you keep track of which one you set for which output, such as in my example ‘A1‘ being my Gaming Headset and ‘A2‘ being my desktop speakers.

SECTION 6 (Purple)
Special Effects

In this area are the controls for ‘Reverb‘ & ‘Delay‘, in the purposes of this guide we are not using this.

“Ok cool, got that, but how do I set it up like yours?”

Well in the next section we will talk you through how to do that. Note if you have a Single PC set-up you only need to read Steps 1-11, additionally if you use a Dual PC set-up to stream then you need to read all the steps.

All the software/things you'll need (Clickable Links)

STEP ONE

Now I’m going to presume you are able to download and install the above pieces of software, so we can proceed into the windows software after you’ve installed and restarted your computer.

Locate your ‘Windows Sound Control‘ in your task bar in the bottom right, right click and select the ‘Open Sound Settings‘ test.

STEP TWO

On the ‘Windows Sound‘ options click ‘Sound Control Panel‘, when viewed in full screen it is located in ‘Section 1‘, note it can be down in ‘Section 2‘ if not viewed in full screen.

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STEP THREE

Click the ‘Playback‘ tab and navigate down to find ‘VoiceMeeter Input‘ (A), set it to ‘Default Device‘ then find ‘VoiceMeeter Aux Input‘ (B) and set it to ‘Default Communications Device‘.

When you have done this, Right click the ‘VoiceMeeter Input‘ (A) then click Configure speakers, set it to 7.1 Surround, you may not be using 7.1 but for the majority of people do, if you only use Stereo then set it to exactly that.

STEP FOUR

Click the ‘Recording‘ tab and navigate down to find ‘VoiceMeeter Output‘ (A), set it to ‘Default Device‘ then find ‘VoiceMeeter Aux Output‘ (B) and set it to ‘Default Communications Device‘.

Unlike in Step Three, you do not/can not set the Speaker Configurations.

STEP FIVE

Go back to the sound options found in ‘Step 2‘ and click ‘App Volume Device Preferences‘ found in the ‘Advanced Sound Options‘ found in ‘Section 2‘ at the bottom.

STEP SIX

This is the ‘App Volume device preferences‘, on this screen you are able to set the ‘outputs‘ for any programs running audio on the computer.

In this guide we need to set the following.

  • Browser – Cable A
  • Discord – Cable B
  • Nightbot or other Music apps – Cable C

STEP SEVEN

Going back to the earlier parts of this guide with the coloured sections, navigate to the top of ‘Section 1‘, now we’re going to set the inputs for ‘1‘ through ‘5‘.

STEP EIGHT

Now at bottom of both ‘Section 1‘ and ‘Section 2‘ we’re going to set the outputs for ‘1‘ through ‘8‘, inputs ‘5‘, ‘7‘ & ‘8‘. Note that on all the channels that are muted you do NOT need to lower the level down to -60db that is just something that I find is easier to tell when scanning from a distance.

STEP NINE

Now is where we go over to ‘Section 3‘, this is where we need to set the volume slider controls for all of our Hardware and Digital outputs.

In this example ‘A1′ (Logitech C933 Headset) & ‘A2‘ (Logitech Z906 Speakers) are set to physical hardware outputs that are set in ‘Section 5‘, if you have only a headset, use ‘A1‘. Simply put if you have more then use more.

Note if you have a software based 5.1/7.1 surround sound headset, such as the Logitech G9xx series then you will need to set the ‘Bus Mode‘ to ‘MIX down A‘ that you can see in the zoomed in area, this will enable the surround instead of forced stereo.

So depending how many hardware devices you have, set the volume sliders to ‘0db‘ (They should be by default), Mute the sliders you are not using and again slide them down to ‘-60b‘ to make it visually easier to understand what is being used at not.

The next step is to test the current set up using the test file (link) to check the 5.1 sound, if this has worked then we’re good to use this set up in Step 10 in OBS.

Again as above ‘B1‘ represents ‘VAIO‘, ‘B2‘ represents ‘VAIO AUX‘ & ‘B3‘ represents ‘VAIO3‘, we need to remember this for step 10.

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STEP TEN

In this next part we swap to OBS, the guide can also work with SLOBS. Open up the settings menu in the bottom right, locate the ‘Audio‘ tab then Devices. Set them all as follows.

  • Desktop Audio | Default
  • Desktop Audio 2 | Disabled
  • Mic Audio | VoiceMeeter Output VAIO (B1)
  • Mic Audio 2 | VoiceMeeter Output AUX VAIO (B2)
  • Mic Audio 3 | VoiceMeeter Output VAIO3 (B3)
  • Mic Audio 4 | Disabled
Now that we have all that sorted, my additional tip is to on the ‘Audio Mixer‘ section I set mine to ‘Vertical Layout‘ which I find makes it easier to be able to see the levels as I am streaming or recording.

STEP ELEVEN

Now that you have this all working… SAVE, SAVE AND SAVE AGAIN!! Nothing is more frustrating than having done all that work and then loosing it al, if you’re using a single PC set up for streaming then you’re done, if you are using a dual PC set up then you need to continue through this guide, otherwise stop and go enjoy yourself streaming!! If this guide has been helpful please let me know on my discord or social media 😀

“Excellent, that’s all set up and saved, but I have a dual PC set-up, how do I set it up for that?”

Sections Twelve and forwards will continue to explain this, it’s a little complicated by it’s worth it!!

STEP TWELVE

So this is where the fun begins, we need to set up a few things to be able to send the audio data from the ‘Gaming PC‘ to the ‘Streaming PC‘, to do this we need to work out the Local IP address of them both, this can be done either in the VBAN window found in top right of Section 2 but I have found this can sometimes show the wrong IP address depending on network adapters so doing the old-school way will shown here will give the current active one.

To find out the local IP address of the computer you are on press the ‘Windows Key + R‘ then type ‘CMD‘ which will bring up the command prompt.

When this has loaded, type ‘ipconfig‘ then ‘Enter‘ to run that command, wait a second then look for your IPv4 Address, this is always different between each pc, to make things consistent it is recommended to set a static internal IP address through reservation on the DHCP settings on your router, this will stop your internal IP address from changing and the VBAN not connecting.

STEP THIRTEEN

Open the VBAN menu in top right of Section 2 on the Gaming PC‘ locate the ‘Outgoing Streams‘ section at the bottom, turn on all audio streams and state the source as such, you wish to be sent to the ‘Streaming PC‘, in this example I am sending B1 VAIO, B2 VAIO AUX & B3 VAIO3 through. Insert the ‘IP Address‘ of the ‘Streaming PC‘ which will then start sending those audio streams to that PC which will be represented by a green mark by the IP address.

STEP FOURTEEN

Following the same as in Step Thirteen open the VBAN menu in top right of Section 2 on the Streaming PC‘ locate the ‘Incoming Streams‘ section at the top, turn on all audio streams that you have selected in the outgoing section before, insert the ‘IP Address‘ of the ‘Gaming PCdouble check the ports are the same, which by default they should be, then set the Destination as ‘In #5‘ which will send the audio to Cable D in Section 1 on the ‘Streaming PC‘, if this is set up correctly to B1 it will output to VAIO, which if you set it up correctly in OBS then it should be coming through on the same channel as discord/comms, you will just have to adjust the volume through Voicemeeter itself.

If this is all done correctly, you should have all of your streaming pc & gaming pc set up to send and receive all the audio correctly, microphone input(s) and OBS configured to stream, again if this guide has helped you at all, please feel free to share it and let me know through social media that it was helpful 🙂