VoiceMeeter is a software audio mixer with full ASIO In AND Out capability - something which even the brand new Steinberg Mixkey still lacks. VoiceMeeter also provides a Virtual ASIO Insert Driver that mimicks the classical insert known from mixing consoles: You would tap a mixing channel send it through virtual ASIO to an external piece of software which would in turn send it back to the mixer (VoiceMeeter).
A typical example: I have a microphone connected to an audio interface that is linked to VoiceMeeter where the mic is on channel 1. With the insert I would send it to VST Live where the mic signal is treated with reverb, echo, and other processing: Differently for each song, thatās why Iād like it be done in VST Live. The processed signal is sent back to the Mixer (VoiceMeeter) for sending it to the outputs.
The problem: The VoiceMeeter signal to VST Live is heavily distorted. It sounds like there is a sync issue between the two pieces. The ASIO stream coming back from VST Live to Voicemeeter is fine.
I am pretty sure that the problem is NOT with VoiceMeeter: Using Cubase (with a sound engine similar to VST Liveās) works fine. Using Camelot (a competitor to VST Live) works fine as well.
As an external Audio Interface I tested A&H CQ-18T as well as the built-in Realtek mic of the Laptop via the Steinberg low Latency ASIO driver. Both exhibit the same behaviour. Voicemeeter is the latest version (Potato 3.1.1.9). VST Live I used both the public release 2.2.60 as well as the pre-release 2.2.70.
Any ideas?
Heinz ā¦
Well, what have you ātriedā?
I have VM as well and use it with Nuendo on some projects, as a way to get Zoom, a talkback signal from VB-Audioās network app, and my Nuendo mix to and from clients. Iāve so far had no problems with distortion.
Usual suspects would be sample rates (system, VM, Cubase, interface), bit depth and buffers.
Out of curiosity, why not just use Live for everything?
Thanks for your comment! Glad to hear that Nuendo is working as well, apart from Cubase and Camelot.
Based on your comment, I looked again closely at the ASIO settings. Where as VST Live and the audio drivers provide little possibilities, VM has an overwhelming number of settings to play with. One is the āVirtual ASIO typeā which by default is Float32LSB. Setting this to Int32LSB: Whamm - it works now.
This is a 95% solution because a) I prefer floating calculations over integer and b) it does not explain, why at least three other programs are happy with the Float32LSB setting.
On your remark, why not doing everything with VST Live? Good question! two reasons:
a) As most others do, I am preparing my VST Live projects on my studio computer and would transfer them on my gigging laptop. On my studio computer, I have a number of programs running in parallel to Live requesting access to the audio system (Cubase, Dorico, Transcribe!, BiaB, a browser running Youtube, etc.) I need a mixer to take care of all these. In Live I would charge the project with many things I donāt need on the gigging laptop.
b) I am also using VM on the gigging laptop for another reason: I have routed the standard Windows output to one of the VM channels where it is normally muted. This is the most reliable way to prevent unwanted Windows sounds to get through during the gig.
1 Like
I would say though that if youāre actually using this for a live performance and with interfaces that operate using 24-bit fixed conversion youāre not gaining any advantages using float. I havenāt been in any live situation ever where environmental and electrical noise was so low that a dynamic range beyond what 24 bits (fixed) can provide was necessary. I can see how for example people that do location recordings of things like wildlife (tiny insects etc.) or explosions and vehicle crashes may need a vast dynamic range, and in those cases the input chain can certainly benefit from having a double pre-amp stage that maps into a 32-bit float output to avoid (digital) clipping, but for music and in a more or less noisy environment I donāt really see it.
Either way, happy you made it work!
1 Like
It definately does not. In that case, data are taken directly from the ASIO input.
In all other cases, integer data are converted to 32 bit float anyway, as that is the internal audio format in all cases. Did you try Float32MSB?
I am afraid that Voicemeeter would give me only the two options Float32LSB and Int32LSB to choose.
We did find a problem with float32 input, should be fixed with the next version. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for helping!
2 Likes
Iāll be happy to test the next preview version!
I just installed the preview version 2.2.74. Seems to work correctly! Thank you!
1 Like
āWeā?
I presume you work on the VB-Audio products then.
Given that, any news at all on an OSX version for Voicemeeter? Last post I saw was pretty old but said you were working on it. Would be great for some of us I think.
@HeinzOchsner , sorry for the āhijackā, but you found your solution so I figured itās ok. And thanks for sharing that it worked!
No, we found a possible problem in VST Live not handling fp32 correctly. Voicemeeter may also work then, give it a try.