OBS Streaming Guide

To stream using Vinyl Reality, the following is required:

Vinyl Reality
Streaming Software. OBS is recommended and will be used for this guide
An account for a streaming service (ex: Twitch, Mixcloud Live)
A stable internet connection with enough upload bandwidth

For users already familiar with OBS, this section provides a short overview of all the required steps.

For more detailed instruction, follow the steps in the next section.

Install and Start OBS Studio
In the video settings, match the Base (Canvas) Resolution with the resolution of Vinyl Reality’s desktop mirror
In OBS, create a new scene for Vinyl Reality
Start Vinyl Reality
In OBS: add a Game Capture source for the Vinyl Reality window to the new scene
In OBS: mute all audio channels in the Audio Mixer
In OBS: add an Audio Output Capture source to the same scene. Make sure it matches the device set as the Master Output in Vinyl Reality’s audio settings.
Start streaming

OBS Studio is free and open source software which can be downloaded from the official website: https://obsproject.com/

Download and run the installer and follow the instructions. Once installed, start OBS Studio.

When OBS Studio is first started, it should automatically launch the Auto-Configuration Wizard.

If the wizard does not appear, it can be launched by selecting Tools > Auto-Configuration Wizard from the menu bar.

In the first step of the Auto-Configuration Wizard, select the streaming option.

For the best quality, the Base (Canvas) Resolution should be set to the same resolution as the Vinyl Reality desktop mirror window.

The resolution of the desktop mirror for Vinyl Reality can be changed by holding down the “alt” key directly after starting the application.

This will open the Vinyl Reality Configuration window, which allows the screen resolution to be configured.

Select the streaming service to stream to, fill in the required connection details (ex: stream key provided by that service) and click next and then apply.

The next step to setting up OBS Studio for Vinyl Reality is to create a Scene.

A Scene in OBS is a collection of Sources (window captures, overlay images, audio, etc..).

Create a new Scene by clicking the + icon in the Scenes window, and give the Scene a descriptive name (ex: Vinyl Reality)

Before continuing in OBS Studio, launch Vinyl Reality.

In OBS, make sure the Scene created in the previous step is active, by selecting it in the Scenes window.

Add a new Source to the Scene by pressing the + icon in the adjacent Sources window, and select Game Capture from the list.

Select Create New, give it a descriptive name. (ex: Vinyl Reality) and click OK.

In the Properties window, set the Mode to Capture specific window, and from the Window list select Vinyl Reality (which should be included if Vinyl Reality is running).

Also be sure to disable the Capture Cursor option (not pictured).

If the Base (Canvas) Resolution and Vinyl Reality’s desktop mirror resolution configured in step 2 match, the Vinyl Reality window should already have the correct size and position, otherwise it can be scaled to fit the scene.

To make sure the audience watching the stream can’t hear the channels cued by the DJ using the virtual headphones, Vinyl Reality and OBS need to be configured so that only the audio signal from the Master Output is streamed, and not the signal of the Default Output.

In Vinyl Reality, select and load an environment, and open the user settings menu to access the audio settings panel. In the audio settings panel, make sure the Master Output is enabled and set to the correct sound device.

Switch back to OBS, and select the Scene created in step 3.

In the Audio Mixer window mute both the Desktop Audio and Mic/Aux channels (unless the Mic is needed).

Add a new Source to the Scene, but this time select Audio Output Capture, and give it a name (ex: Vinyl Reality – Master Output) and press OK.

From the Device list, select the same device which is set as the Master Output in Vinyl Reality, and press OK.

Before starting a stream, always do a quick test and check if the window and audio capture sources are set correctly and working as expected.

Once everything is confirmed to be working, press the Start Streaming button to go live!

Text Overlay

Vinyl Reality automatically writes the artist and title of the current track (format: Artist - Title) to the following text file:

C:\Users\YourUserName\Documents\Vinyl Reality\NowPlayingTrackInfo.txt

This file can be read in OBS by adding a Text (GDI+) source and enabling the Read from file option, to display the current track information as a text overlay.

The file is automatically created after launching the application and loading an environment once. The file will be empty before playing the first track (after loading a new environment), or after exiting the application.

Most streaming services recommend one or several resolution and encoding settings for streaming to their platform, so it might be necessary to tweak the video and output settings in OBS.

Here is a list of recommended resolutions and encoding settings for several popular platforms: