HQ audio via video conferencing tools

Question

First of all, dear Kyma enthusiasts, I wish you a joyful, inspiring, culture-filled and above all healthy New Year!

I'm planning a talk in early February that will be streamed via a video conferencing tool (like Zoom). In this context I have a question about the technical realization of the lecture: While I have had some experience with videoconferencing tools, I have not been able to discover an easy integration of real-time HQ audio in any of them. For a presentation, would it be more advisable to simply stream recorded audio files to a suitable location, e.g. via SoundCloud, or is there a way to stream Kyma Live in HQ audio via a video conferencing tool after all? What would be the setup for live HQ audio streaming using Kyma?
Thanks in advance :)

Knut

Answer 1

If you're lucky enough to have more than one laptop available, one setup that works well is to use the first laptop to send Kyma's audio to the meeting and a second laptop to run Kyma, the camera and the microphone for you to do your presentation.

For example, I connect a MOTU UltraLite to the Pacarana FW and then connect the MOTU audio output to a Focusrite Scarlett 2i audio input. Then I connect the Scarlett via USB to the audio-only laptop. An alternative way to get audio from the Pacarana to the laptop would be to use a Dante AVIO USB-to-Ethernet adapter and the Dante Via software on the audio-only laptop.

During the meeting, I can share my screen to show Kyma and present the lecture and people can hear the audio coming from the Pacarana logged in as a phantom guest in the same meeting. (You can monitor the output through local speakers set to a low level to minimize feedback).

In Zoom, you and the host of the meeting can also set some things up in advance to improve the audio quality and ensure that it is in stereo high audio fidelity mode. CDM had some good advice and instructions here: https://cdm.link/2020/09/zoom-high-fidelity-audio-mode/

I know a lot of people have been using Zoom for teaching remote music courses last semester, and I hope some of them will chime in here with their advice and experiences. Thanks!

Answer 2

For mixing Kyma + your mic audio, it depends a bit on your audio setup.  Consider using a standalone mic and run that into an audio interface that also takes in your Kyma audio and do the mix there.   The mic is likely to sound better than anything built into the computer and if you are going to be talking over the audio at anypoint, you can set up audio ducking.

Another way to mix audio sources is an app like Loopback from Rogue Amoeba.  That app allows you to take and route audio from multiple audio sources (whether hardware like an audio interface, dante, or software applications) and then mix to them a virtual audio interface that you can select in the streaming app.  This is handy if you want to control your mix down in another app like a DAW.  This option may also be of benefit if you want to have backup or additional audio files in something like Ableton Live and launch those on demand along side Kyma.  

Hosting files on Soundcloud or other service may be a good backup in the case of issues during the live presentation.

One that that we have noticed is that running Kyma + Google Meet at the same time can result in some laggy behavior when switching from Meet back to Kyma.  

Test as much as possible before the session :)

Answer 3

For live streaming Professional HQ Audio (ultralow latency and high resolution),

I highly recommend Audiomovers: https://audiomovers.com/wp/

I've been using it extensively to produce virtual events online for the last 6 months or so and it works remarkably well. You would stream the  Audio in parallel to your Zoom Session and your audience will listen to it by opening a link on any browser at the same time as having zoom open.

 

Answer 4

Thanks for the great suggestions!

I just tried the latest version of the Zoom client (5.4.7.). In the Zoom Audio settings you can find a simple HQ mode for audio. But it is not recognizable, which quality is now streamed in this mode.
Furthermore, I noticed that when I start to share my screen, in the dialog window with the screen sharing options, a selection option for "Share sound" is still offered. If you select this option, you are prompted to install an audio driver called "ZoomAudioDevice". This driver appears in the OS audio settings and therefore in every DAW.
So I selected Ableton Live "ZoomAudioDevice" as audio output and then let Kyma stream through Ableton Live. From then on, with my simple in-ear headset on the laptop and Kyma audio through the same laptop, I was able to find an acceptable starting point for my upcoming video conference after all.
I haven't tried this without a DAW yet, but this should work just fine with "ZoomAudioDevice" selected as the default audio out in macOS.

Of course, it can always be better, e.g. with the already mentioned Audiomovers. High audio quality is possible, which is streamed via a plugin (VST, AU,...). Super simple and Zoom independent.

Audiomovers can be tested for free for one week, then you will be charged e.g. 9.99$/month.

Answer 5

You can configure Zoom to send stereo audio (at least in the Pro version) which seems to work well. 

I'm just using one laptop with Kyma and Zoom on it. I'm using the Mackie Big Knob Studio as the audio interface for Zoom which has a mic (Rode NT1A) and Kyma running in to it. 

I listen to Kyma over speakers. I present without headphone but can pick up the headphones plugged in to the Mackie if I want to check the balance between my voice and Kyma. 

It's very easy on the Mackie to mute or set the level of Kyma. 

Kyma -> Mixer -> Speakers
          |
          +-----> Mackie ----> Zoom
                    ^
                    |
Mic ----------------+