Standard+ subscribers can use FarPlay’s Broadcast Output feature to output a separate clean audio mix (to a livestreaming application or a DAW, for example).
Jump to: Steps for setting up Broadcast Output for livestreaming | Other uses | How it worksThe steps below use FarPlay to send Broadcast Output to a virtual sound card application that forwards that Broadcast Output audio onward to a livestreaming application.
The role of the virtual sound card application in the instructions above is to receive audio from FarPlay and forward audio to the livestreaming application. This role can be served, instead, using physical hardware. As one example, you can send FarPlay’s Broadcast Output to a second USB audio interface, and you can tell your livestreaming application to get audio from that second audio interface. As another example, your main USB audio interface might already have a loopback feature built in. You would need to refer to your audio interface’s manufacturer’s instructions to designate channels that your audio interface would use to receive and send out Broadcast Output, and then you would tell FarPlay and your livestreaming application to use those designated channels. Not all audio interfaces offer a built-in loopback feature (in the Focusrite Scarlett line of interfaces for example, the loopback feature becomes available starting with the 4i4 interface; built-in loopback is neither available on the Scarlett Solo nor on the Scarlett 2i2).
In the instructions above, the software application that received audio from the virtual sound card was a livestreaming application. This application could be replaced by, for example, a digital audio workstation (DAW), like Logic Pro or Adobe Audition. Sending FarPlay’s Broadcast Output to a DAW and then sending the output of the DAW to a livestreaming application lets you use the DAW to adjust levels for individual channels that are sent to the livestreaming application as a mix. This setup uses two virtual pass-thru sound cards: one to connect FarPlay’s Broadcast Output to the DAW, and another to connect the DAW to your livestreaming application. When bringing Broadcast Output into a DAW, it’s helpful to know that the Channel Layout in FarPlay’s Broadcast Output settings can be changed from a simple Stereo Mix to other choices in which combinations of individual channels of your audio and remote audio are output individually. Your DAW can bring these individual channels of audio into individual tracks.
FarPlay’s latency slider lets you tune the balance between lowness of latency and cleanness of sound. You might tolerate some static (audio drop outs) to keep latency low so you can keep the beat when you’re making music. You might also want to share a higher-latency clean mix of your session with a live audience. How does FarPlay let you do both at the same time?