The following article is for a software that is now considered Legacy (EOL) status and no longer in active development. The information below may be outdated, no longer available or it may not match what is possible with current Elgato products. |
Note: Wave Link has now been updated to version 3. This reimagining has all-new features and an improved interface overall. Wave Link 3 is free, and will also work with a wide variety of microphones, not just those from Elgato.
Wave Link 2 creates eight virtual outputs that Music, Browser, Voice Chat, Games, Alerts and more can be routed through to give ultimate mixing control when using Windows. Note, these steps will not work when using macOS.
Due to the way in which this has been implemented, it is possible to record these virtual outputs as individual audio tracks using 3rd party software. For this guide, we'll be using OBS Studio.
OBS Studio has the capability to record up to six separate audio tracks. While streaming, track 1 is usually used as the track which all audio sources are mixed together and send out to the stream. When only recording, track 1 could be used to record the microphone.
OBS Studio needs to be configured in multiple places for multi track recording to work.
Multi Track Recording Setup with OBS Studio
1) Add the desired channels into Wave Link. In this guide, we'll be recording Music, Voice Chat, Browser, and Wave microphone to a separate track as well as a fifth track which is all the sources combined.
2) Once the desired channels are in Wave Link, and configured in the Windows sound settings to play through Wave Link, open OBS Studio
3) Right click inside the Sources panel or click the + icon below the panel to add a new source
4) Select Audio Output Capture
Note: You may be wondering why we're selecting "Audio Output Capture" and not Input. This is because inside of Windows, when an application such as a media player or browser outputs audio, it is sent to an output device. Typically this would be speakers, headphones, receiver, etc.
Channels inside of Wave Link, which are designed for capturing audio coming from applications, are categorized as Output Devices inside of Windows. OBS Studio, in this case, can hook into these Output Devices to also capture the audio that is being passed through to them. This is why we're selecting an "Audio Output Capture", as OBS is going to capture audio sent to these output devices.
"Audio Input Capture" would be used for audio devices that send audio into programs. Such as microphones, or Wave Link's "Monitor Mix" and "Stream Mix".
5) Give the source a name. For this guide we'll call it Music.
6) Click on the Device dropdown menu and select the Wave Link virtual output that will be captured. For this guide, we'll be using Wave Link Music
7) After selecting the device, click on OK to close the Source Properties window
8) Right click inside the Audio Mixer panel and open the Advanced Audio Properties
9) In the Advanced Audio Properties , all audio sources in OBS Studio will be shown. On the right hand side of the Advanced Audio Properties is the Tracks column. There should be six tracks and every track is checked.
If a checkbox is checked, the audio will be recorded to that track.
For this example, we're going to record the Music audio to track 3 and track 1. In this example, track 1 will be the audio track which contains all audio sources. This is the Stream Mix, while track 3 is only for music. Track 2 will be used for the microphone, in this case Wave:3.
10) Once all the tracks are configured as desired, the Advanced Audio Properties can be closed
11) In the Controls panel or via the menu bar File option, open the OBS Studio settings
12) In the left sidebar, click on Output
13) At the top of the Output options, click on the Output mode dropdown menu and select Advanced
14) The user interface will change. Click on the Recording tab
15) While there are lots of settings that can be changed in the Recording tab, this guide will only focus on what needed to record multi track audio.
Click on the Recording Format dropdown menu and select either MP4 or MKV. We suggest using MKV as it is a corruption proof container meaning the recording fails or OBS Studio crashes, the recording wont be lost
Under the Recording format option are the Audio Track checkboxes. Select the amount of audio tracks that will be recorded. For this guide, we'll be selecting tracks 1 through 5, track 1 being all the sources mixed together, and tracks 2 through 5 are each source in its own audio track.
16) Now click on Apply and OK at the bottom right of the settings window
17) OBS Studio is now ready to record, and the tracks will be recorded as they are setup. If this guide was followed then five tracks are recorded.
After the recording is done, there wont be five audio tracks in the recording folder. Instead, these tracks are bundled together in the single video file.
While playing back the video and audio using the popular VLC media player, only the first audio track is played. To play the other audio tracks, in the toolbar click on Audio, then tracks and select the track which VLC should play.
When adding the video file to a video editor, the tracks will be shown. Here's how the audio tracks are shown in the editor DaVinci Resolve
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