PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 USB - No sound in OBS

[junkratt]

Hello,

I've been struggling with this for some time. I had opened a ticket with PreSonus but they were unable to help in the end. I am unable to get sound into OBS from my StudioLive mixer. It is a PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 USB, running the latest firmware and Universal Control software. The mixer works great when recording with Cubase on the same computer so the USB audio is working as expected.

I understand that OBS will only pick up channels 1 and 2 from the mixer, so in order to capture all of the other channels I have connected a 1/4" cable from the L/R Main Outs to the 1/4" inputs on channels 1 and 2 per the PreSonus documentation for hardpatching, https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-...-0-2-Can-I-Stream-Broadcast-using-the-16-0-2-

I have verified microphone permissions in Windows for OBS

I had seen some latency in the log file so I switch from 48khz to 44.1khz within my PreSonus software as well as Windows and OBS, rebooted and those messages went away. There are still a couple lines which concern me, not sure if related and haven't come up with anything in Google searches,

12:08:00.925: avresample_open failed: error code -22
12:08:00.925: creation of resampler failed
12:12:30.212: adding 23 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 23 milliseconds (source: Desktop Audio)
12:12:30.212:
12:14:36.155: Device 'Line (StudioLive 16.0.2 USB)' invalidated. Retrying


Windows 10 Pro 21H2 19044.1826
OBS 27.2.4 (64 bit)
Universal Control 3.6.4.87069 (64 bit)
StudioLive 16.0.2 USB Firmware x230

Full Log File:

https://obsproject.com/logs/ftj2ogTwPN4aXrK9

I've already attempted the same on my laptop running Windows 11 with the same results. If anyone has run into the same I'd love some feedback. Thanks for your time.

Jar

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Hello, from a Presonus AR12 USB user.
Welcome to Presonus not playing nice with Windows Operating System (OS) (due to WinOS audio-subsystem limitations?) and specifically not accommodating (playing nice with) streaming
In my case, I wanted control of each channel in my livestream, so thought to use Presonus' Studio One software, but apparently it requires the Pro version of Studio One to output to Windows OS Audio system :( The common recommended approach for the StuioOne DAW is to use either loopback adapters (physical or virtual), or Reaper Reastream audio VST plugin

In your case, I'd fall back to my standard advice of troubleshooting all audio and video sources completely outside of OBS (ie OBS not started/running). Make sure audio & video feeds working at OS layer first, then permissions to OBS, then source in OBS.
Have you tested using Windows OS Voice Recorder?

Hopefully you'll get a better response from someone who knows more about your specific setup

 

[Slingshot]

Hello,

I've been struggling with this for some time. I had opened a ticket with PreSonus but they were unable to help in the end. I am unable to get sound into OBS from my StudioLive mixer. It is a PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 USB, running the latest firmware and Universal Control software. The mixer works great when recording with Cubase on the same computer so the USB audio is working as expected.

I understand that OBS will only pick up channels 1 and 2 from the mixer, so in order to capture all of the other channels I have connected a 1/4" cable from the L/R Main Outs to the 1/4" inputs on channels 1 and 2 per the PreSonus documentation for hardpatching, https://support.presonus.com/hc/en-...-0-2-Can-I-Stream-Broadcast-using-the-16-0-2-

I have verified microphone permissions in Windows for OBS

I had seen some latency in the log file so I switch from 48khz to 44.1khz within my PreSonus software as well as Windows and OBS, rebooted and those messages went away. There are still a couple lines which concern me, not sure if related and haven't come up with anything in Google searches,

12:08:00.925: avresample_open failed: error code -22
12:08:00.925: creation of resampler failed
12:12:30.212: adding 23 milliseconds of audio buffering, total audio buffering is now 23 milliseconds (source: Desktop Audio)
12:12:30.212:
12:14:36.155: Device 'Line (StudioLive 16.0.2 USB)' invalidated. Retrying


Windows 10 Pro 21H2 19044.1826
OBS 27.2.4 (64 bit)
Universal Control 3.6.4.87069 (64 bit)
StudioLive 16.0.2 USB Firmware x230

Full Log File:

https://obsproject.com/logs/ftj2ogTwPN4aXrK9

I've already attempted the same on my laptop running Windows 11 with the same results. If anyone has run into the same I'd love some feedback. Thanks for your time.

Jar

Hi @junkratt,

I have exactly the same mixer as you and I've had exactly the same issues; as have countless other people on various forums (although I was able to get desktop audio through to OBS).

My main problem was getting microphone audio into OBS from the mixer.

I've just spent the last 10-12 hours figuring this out (I hate being beaten by tech!)

In short, I've solved the problem.

Here's the long bit...

I followed all online advice, just like your explanation states that you did too. So you're halfway there already. The bit that got me stuck was that when I opened Presonus Universal Control to check for updates, it said that everything was up-to-date. It wasn't.

Version 4 of Universal Control is now available on the Presonus website and I had to manually download it and install. This added a few driver options on Windows 10 (and presumably Win 11). So now, in Windows sound settings, I've got output audio set to use Studiolive CH13/14 and input audio set to use Studiolive CH1/2

On the mixer I've set channel 13/14 to receive USB audio and plugged my mic into channel 1

In OBS Settings>Audio>Global Audio Devices I've set Desktop Audio to Studiolive CH13/14 and Mic/Auxilliary Audio set to Studiolive CH1/2

All other Global Audio Device settings are set to disabled (but I'm assuming I'd be able to plug another mic into channel 2 on the mixer and activate it as a second mic/aux source in OBS)

I've had to add a couple of filters on the Mic/Aux source in OBS... Gain +30dB and Noise Gate (default settings). I'll probably set gain levels properly on the mixer later but right now my brain is just about dead from sorting this out.

Needless to say.... IT IS NOW SORTED! :D

 

[Lawrence_SoCal]

Version 4 of Universal Control is now available on the Presonus website and I had to manually download it and install.

I am so going to check this out.. thank you for posting this!

 

[AaronD]

In OBS Settings>Audio>Global Audio Devices I've set Desktop Audio to Studiolive CH13/14 and Mic/Auxilliary Audio set to Studiolive CH1/2

All other Global Audio Device settings are set to disabled (but I'm assuming I'd be able to plug another mic into channel 2 on the mixer and activate it as a second mic/aux source in OBS)

One of the few major annoyances that I have with OBS is the way it handles audio. Two problems come to mind, from your comment:

1. OBS mixes down the entire device into whatever it's set to globally, and THEN lets you play with the downmix. 32-channel console? OBS set to stereo? OBS treats all of those individual mics as 16 stereo pairs, mixes them all together, and then gives you that mess to try and salvage something from, instead of just the first or last 2 that you probably wanted.
2. It's more difficult than it should be to get dual mono's out of a single 2-channel interface. If OBS is set to mono, you can't. See #1. If OBS is set to stereo, it of course treats the entire device as a single stereo source.
   • In order to separate them, you need two copies of that stereo source (4 processing channels, for those that count stereo as 2), check the Mono box for both, and Pan/Balance them hard left and hard right. Because the Pan/Balance comes *before* the Mono switch (backwards from every audio console that I've used), that gets you a separate center-panned mono signal for each of the 2 input channels of a single device.
   • I haven't tried putting Filters on them yet, but I suspect that they come before the Pan/Balance, which would mean that a Compressor, Limiter, or Gate still responds to both, even though you only hear its effect on one. (put something soft in one channel and something "peaky" in the other, and you'll hear a compressor on the soft channel dropping out for no audible reason)

Both of those problems would be solved if OBS would select both the device AND the channel(s) of the selected device. But no, it only selects the device.

I've had to add a couple of filters on the Mic/Aux source in OBS... Gain +30dB and Noise Gate (default settings). I'll probably set gain levels properly on the mixer later but right now my brain is just about dead from sorting this out.

Needless to say.... IT IS NOW SORTED! :D

I believe that OBS's audio is all 16-bit. I could be mistaken on that, but if I'm right, then you really don't have a lot of headroom to play with. -30dBFS is pretty close to 5 bits of lost headroom, which leaves you with practically 11 bits of useful dynamic range. Given the practicalities of most streams that I've seen, that's probably enough anyway, and a lot of cassette tapes are about 6-8 bits equivalent, to give you a sense of comparison.

So it's *probably* okay, but you really should get a decent level into OBS to start with, and not have to gain it up there.

 

[Slingshot]

So it's *probably* okay, but you really should get a decent level into OBS to start with, and not have to gain it up there.

Yeah, I totally agree... the 10-12 hours I spent just trying to get my mixer to play nice with OBS was also the total amount of time since installing OBS for the first time and finding out there were major compatibility issues with my setup. I've since removed both filters in OBS and everything is trimmed/processed on the mixer beforehand.

The whole experience was a massive headache but all seems to now be working as expected.

I also contacted Presonus and they've now updated the related article to reflect the Windows driver changes. So, hopefully, anyone with the same issue that lands on their page will now have an immediate solution.

No doubt I'll be on this forum a fair bit while I'm getting to grips with OBS so thanks for the other info in your reply.... very useful!