There are various reasons why your Sound Alerts could sound distorted, have crackling sounds, or have some other unwanted audio fragments. This guide will show you the most common troubleshooting steps for these issues:
Control Audio via OBS
The most common reason is a bug related to the "Control Audio via OBS/Streamlabs" setting. This bug can affect OBS or Streamlabs and can only be fixed by disabling the "Control Audio via OBS" or the similar "Control Audio via Streamlabs" setting.
Disabling Control Audio via OBS
- Open OBS Studio
- Double-click on your Sound Alerts browser source to open the settings
- Disable the "Control Audio via OBS" setting
Disabling Control Audio via Streamlabs Desktop
- Open Streamlabs Desktop
- Double-click on your Sound Alerts browser source to open the settings
- Disable the "Control Audio via Streamlabs" setting
Your Sound Alerts Browser Source is broken
When your Sound Alerts browser source is broken, it can cause undefined behavior like distortion and infinite loops, for example. You can create and insert a new Sound Alerts browser source to potentially fix this issue.
- Visit your Sound Alerts Dashboard
- Go to your "Settings"
- Click on "Setup"
- Click "I use OBS Studio" or "I use something else"
- Click on "I accidentally revealed my browser Source URL to the public"
- Click on "Regenerate URL". Please note that your current Sound Alerts browser source will be useless afterwards and that you will be logged out of this Dashboard session
- Now swap your new Sound Alerts browser source for your old one in your broadcast tool. If you want to know how to implement the Sound Alerts browser source correctly, please follow this video.
Old Hardware
A not-so-common reason is old or slow hardware in your streaming device. This issue can cause your Sound Alerts to get delayed or distorted. In this case, try to use your broadcast tool on a faster/more efficient device. That being said, you can often see high levels of workload on the CPU and RAM. To keep an eye on this, it is recommended to download tracking software for your components or open the task manager.
Additional external Audio Software
Additional audio software or audio plugins can be convenient for specific cases, but they can also cause unwanted behavior inside your audio routing, sometimes leading to Sound Alerts not functioning correctly. Also, additional audio software can make your audio setup more complex, and issues may be harder to identify. So if you are using said software or plugins and there is an issue with Sound Alerts, please deactivate the software and try to test Sound Alerts without it. Resetting your whole OBS setup can also work in case the issues started appearing after a Windows update.
Other Solutions and Audio Troubleshooting
There are two more settings you should check:
Encoder Settings & Audio Sample Rate. Mostly lowering the Encoder Preset is often the key to success.
We also assembled a general guide that helps with the most common audio issues for Sound Alerts, which you can find here. Also, please feel free to always reach out to our support staff if you have any issues or questions and visit our Discord Server.
