[0:00] What's up guys?
[0:01] This is going to be an in-depth tutorial on
how to use VoiceMeeter Banana.
[0:04] I struggled to learn how to use this program.
[0:07] I had to watch about ten different YouTube
videos until it finally clicked.
[0:10] The things I know now, if they would have
been explained to me at the beginning, would
[0:14] have made this entire process much easier.
[0:17] By the time we're done with this, you'll be
able to setup all of these programs exactly
[0:21] how you want.
[0:23] From XSplit to OBS Studio, to Discord or Skype.
[0:26] To getting certain audio to your Twitch stream
versus your headphones.
[0:29] You're going to be able to do all of it and
it's going to be easier than it might seem.
[0:37] Remember that you can pause between each of
these steps.
[0:39] I'm going to try and make them short and sweet.
[0:42] Step 1, download and install VoiceMeeter Banana.
[0:47] Step 2, download and install Virtual Audio
Cable.
[0:51] There's a link in the description as well,
it's right on the VoiceMeeter website.
[0:55] Step 3, before we can make changes to VoiceMeeter
Banana's settings, we need to make sure that
[1:00] Windows is properly set.
[1:02] It's playback device must be set for VoiceMeeter
Banana.
[1:07] Find your speaker icon in the bottom menu.
[1:12] Right click it, click on audio devices, and
then at the top of the sound menu you're going
[1:18] to see playback, recording, sounds, and communications.
[1:22] Select playback.
[1:23] You'll notice that my current headset is set
as our default audio device.
[1:29] Scroll down and change this to VoiceMeeter
input.
[1:33] Click on it and click set default.
[1:36] You'll notice it gets the green check mark.
[1:38] Hit okay, you can now close that down.
[1:42] Step 4, the first thing that we want to do
is select our microphone.
[1:47] Under hardware input 1, click on select input
device.
[1:52] This is going to bring up a list of pieces
of hardware that are available on your computer.
[1:56] You'll notice that there are repeats.
[1:59] WDM, KS, and MME all represent the same devices.
[2:03] They are just different drivers that you can
use for the same devices.
[2:08] In our case, because it's guaranteed to work,
we're going to choose either WDM or MME.
[2:14] This difference between the two of them is
that one known to have much lower latency
[2:19] levels than the other.
[2:21] You'll experience less lag with WDM than you
will with MME.
[2:25] However, if you notice any crackling or any
issues, popping sounds, switch to the other
[2:31] driver and that usually fixes the problem.
[2:35] We're going to select in our case WDM because it is a better and more fast option for our microphone.
[2:42] You're microphone will appear as a different
name than mine.
[2:44] I'm using a Focusrite amplifier with a microphone
hooked to it.
[2:49] We're going to select Focusrite USB.
[2:51] However, you're microphone is going to be
the name of whatever microphone you are using.
[2:55] If it's a USB microphone it's likely to show
up right in this list.
[2:59] If it's hooked to an amplifier or sound card
or anything else, then it's very likely going
[3:03] to show up as the name of that device.
[3:05] I'm assuming that you know which one of these
represents your microphone.
[3:09] Click on the one that does, start with WDM
first if it's available.
[3:13] If WDM is not available, choose MME.
[3:16] Step 5, we now need to tell VoiceMeeter Banana
where to send our audio so that we can listen
[3:23] to it.
[3:24] We are going to select our first hardware
out.
[3:27] Under A1, locate the device that you use to
listen to audio.
[3:32] In our case, it's a headset.
[3:35] Use the driver that matches the previous driver
you used for the microphone.
[3:39] In our case we used WDM for our microphone,
so we're going to select our WDM version of
[3:45] our headset, earphone Hyper X 7.1.
[3:49] In your case it could be desktop speakers.
[3:52] It could be a headset, or it could be some
other type of device.
[3:56] Whichever one you are selecting is going to
be the one that you previously used in playback
[4:02] for Windows.
[4:05] Step 6, now that we have our microphone and
our headset hooked up and our microphone can
[4:12] record, we now need understand a little bit
more about the buttons you see in each of
[4:16] these inputs and what they do.
[4:19] You'll notice at the top we have A1, A2, and
A3.
[4:23] You'll see an A1, and A2, and an A3 in each
of these sections.
[4:29] For right now we're going to turn everything
off.
[4:33] When I show you what each one does you'll
know exactly how they're associated.
[4:37] Currently, if we were to try and watch anything
on YouTube, for instance, like this random
[4:44] video by PewDiePie, I can't hear anything
in my headphones.
[4:49] And you watching at home, wherever you have
your audio routed to, you also could not hear
[4:55] this video currently with all of these buttons
deselected.
[4:59] So, how do we get our headphones hooked to
this YouTube video?
[5:04] Well, which one of these inputs is YouTube
coming through?
[5:09] It's coming through this one right here.
[5:12] Notice that we have VoiceMeeter VAIO and VoiceMeeter
auxiliary.
[5:16] If you remember back when we set our playback
device earlier, we set it for VoiceMeeter
[5:25] input.
[5:26] We also have the other option to set it for
auxiliary.
[5:28] So, as A1 and A2 and A3 correspond to A1,
A2, and A3, B1 and B2 correspond to B1 and
[5:37] B2.
[5:39] So you'll notice that this, because it's set
as the default audio device in Windows,is
[5:45] responsible for catching all of the audio
from Windows.
[5:49] That would include a YouTube video, the audio
from a game if it was running, or any system
[5:55] sounds.
[5:57] Anything that can play through Windows, which
is essentially everything.
[6:05] All we have to do to get our sound hooked
to our headphones again is to tell B1, which
[6:11] is currently capturing YouTube, to send the
audio to our headphones.
[6:16] You might have guessed it, all we have to
do is click A1, then suddenly I can hear PewDiePie.
[6:23] If I didn't have a YouTube video on and I
had a game playing, the same thing would be
[6:30] true.
[6:31] I would turn A1 on and it would go to my headphones.
[6:33] I do have a secondary set of speakers and
although you might not at home, I'm going
[6:39] to demonstrate this to you to give you an
idea of how this works.
[6:43] I'm going to click A2 and I'm going to select
my desktop speakers.
[6:48] I have my headphones in A1 and my desktop
speakers in A2.
[6:53] So now if I was to send the Windows audio
to my headphones by clicking A1, I could also
[7:00] send it to my speakers by clicking A2.
[7:05] Now if I go back to YouTube and play that
PewDiePie video, the audio is going to be
[7:10] coming through my headphones as well as coming
through the speakers on my desktop.
[7:18] If I turn off A1, it is now only coming through
the speakers on my desktop and you can probably
[7:24] hear that being picked up through my microphone.
[7:28] Notice that if I turn A2 back off, the video
is still playing, B2 is still picking up the
[7:34] audio from Windows, the video on YouTube is
still playing but I just can't hear it.
[7:41] This works for all of these inputs.
[7:44] For instance, hardware input 1 can be sent
to my speakers or to the headphones.
[7:51] In our case, we are going to send hardware
input 1 over to B1.
[7:59] That way it can be mixed with the audio from
windows from your games, or from anything
[8:04] else you have, and sent as one audio stream
directly to our recording software OBS or
[8:11] XSplit.
[8:13] So here we go.
[8:14] I'm going to send it over B1.
[8:16] I'm also going to send it over to B2.
[8:20] Remember, this is B1 and this is B2.
[8:25] They are identical.
[8:26] They are copies of each other.
[8:28] The reason that there's two is to give us
more control.
[8:31] B1 can be used to manage our headphones and
the audio that we hear locally.
[8:38] And B2 can be connected to OBS or XSplit and
a different set of audio can be sent to your
[8:48] recording, or more importantly, out to your
stream on XSplit or OBS.
[8:54] Step 7, now we just need to add Discord to
the mix so that your Discord chat can be routed
[9:01] directly to your headphones or to your stream,
or both, in the way that you would like so
[9:07] that your setup is complete.
[9:09] This is where we are going to use the virtual
audio cable that we installed earlier.
[9:14] We're going to setup Discord under hardware
input 2.
[9:19] Hit select input device and select cable output.
[9:25] Notice that we're choosing the cable output
option that also matches our microphone cable
[9:30] output option under WDM.
[9:33] Next, open up Skype or Discord or whatever
other chat program that you use.
[9:40] The setup for each of these is going to be
very similar.
[9:44] Now navigate to the section of Discord with
user settings.
[9:49] Find the section that says voice, and look
for your input device.
[9:56] Set your input device to the same device that
you set under hardware input 1.
[10:01] In our case it's the Focusrite USB amplifier.
[10:06] Now we set the output device to match hardware
input 2.
[10:11] VoiceMeeter Banana is looking for this new
source of audio.
[10:17] It's going to think that Discord is an actual
piece of hardware.
[10:21] In reality it's just a piece of software but
the computer doesn't know any better.
[10:26] Setting output device to cable input allows
us to send any of the audio from Discord directly
[10:34] into VoiceMeeter, where it then can be mixed
into the stream and then sent out either to
[10:39] XSplit or OBS for your live streams or recordings,
or specifically just sent out to your headphones.
[10:48] Now we just need to tell VoiceMeeter Banana
what to do with the Discord audio.
[10:53] In this case I'd like to have it in my headphones,
but not going out to my stream.
[10:58] That will be how I'll show you to set it up
in a second.
[11:02] What we're going to do is come to hardware
input 2 and select A1.
[11:08] A1 is our headphones.
[11:10] Anything that's said in Discord is going to
come into here and go directly to our headphones
[11:16] for us to hear, but our stream will be unable
to.
[11:20] If you wanted the stream to hear it, what
you could do is select B2, which would take
[11:27] this audio and send it over to B2, which is
what our OBS and Xsplit will be connected
[11:33] to, and then the entire thing will be mixed
in.
[11:37] Step 8, lastly I'm going to open up OBS and
take a look at the settings to show you how
[11:44] to connect these two together.
[11:46] The same will be similar for XSplit (coming
later).
[11:49] Go to the settings button inside of OBS.
[11:53] Open up the audio section.
[11:55] You'll notice we have five audio inputs.
[11:58] Disable all of them.
[12:00] Because the audio is coming through on a single
stream and recorded by the microphone, we
[12:05] will set the primary microphone device to
the auxiliary output B2 in VoiceMeeter Banana.
[12:14] And not VoiceMeeter VAIO by mistake.
[12:17] Hit apply and then hit OK.
[12:20] Now you'll notice in OBS that as we're talking
the microphone is coming from here, going
[12:27] all the way over to VoiceMeeter Aux, mixing
with the audio from the desktop and the game,
[12:34] then being sent out all the way to OBS where
it's now being picked up right here.
[12:40] When you change the volume level here you're
not just changing the volume level of the
[12:45] microphone in OBS, you're changing the volume
level of the entire thing.
[12:49] When it comes time to adjust how loud each
thing is, you do it individually using these
[12:55] meters.
[12:56] I would suggest to have your microphone always
lowered about one decibel just so it's not
[13:02] at max level.
[13:03] Set your Discord appropriately, you'll have
to do some testing, as well as the desktop
[13:08] and game audio.
[13:10] Keep in mind, inside of the game you are able
to change the volume of the music, so you
[13:15] can always do it there.
[13:16] You can change the volume of the sounds effects.
[13:20] Do some local recordings, see how everything
sounds, adjust and tinker with it until you
[13:26] have it how you like it.
[13:27] Maybe even have some friends come into your
Discord channel and talk so that you can get
[13:31] that mixed in as well, or see how loud that
is in your headphones.
[13:35] Get everything setup, and then once it's setup
to your liking, you can go live, do a little
[13:39] bit more tweaking from there, and that's is
pretty much it.
[13:44] When it comes to getting this to work with
XSplit, the process is almost identical.
[13:50] Open up XSplit.
[13:51] Open the audio settings button.
[13:54] Set system sounds to none, that way it isn't
picking up the same audio steam twice.
[14:00] Set your microphone to the same exact thing,
VoiceMeeter auxiliary.
[14:05] Hit apply, hit OK.
[14:07] Now we have an identical setup.
[14:10] To go over it one last time before we end
this video, and hopefully this has help you
[14:15] guys understand this a little bit more, whatever
you have set here is what you're going to
[14:19] be listening to physically where you are at.
[14:23] Speakers headphones.
[14:24] Our microphone is set here.
[14:26] Our microphone can be sent to our headphones
if we want, or it's sent directly to our virtual
[14:32] inputs, B1 and B2.
[14:34] Our Discord can be sent to our headphones,
turned on and off right here, or sent to our
[14:40] stream, turned on and off right here.
[14:43] This can be adjusted for volume without actually
effecting the in game volume in OBS or XSplit,
[14:49] just inside of our headphones.
[14:52] These volume controls allow you to independently
adjust volume also without affecting the stream
[14:57] you are sending out.
[14:59] Lastly, if you ever mess with one of these
bars and you want to get it exactly back to
[15:03] zero, double clicking it will get it precisely
back to zero.
[15:08] Play around with this a little bit more.
[15:10] The possibilities to add other things to this
are pretty much limitless.
[15:14] You're able to add in compression and a noise
gate using these dials on your microphone.
[15:20] You're even able to change how your microphone
behaves and sounds with echo, lower or higher
[15:25] effects, and again double click here to get
it specifically back to its starting point.
[15:32] Hopefully this made this a little bit easier
for you guys.
[15:34] This turned out be kind of a long video, but
I think if you watch the entire thing form
[15:38] start to finish you'll have a pretty good
idea of how this works.
[15:42] When it comes time to add in new things, such
as YouTube or Spotify, you won't have a hard
[15:48] time figuring it out.
[15:50] Thanks for watching.
[15:51] If you like the video leave a thumbs up and
a comment and subscribe to the channel.
[15:56] Thanks and I'll catch you next time.