Upping My Stream Audio Game – GoXLR Mini

As previously discussed, I’m looking to up my audio game and I came to the conclusion an external mixer could be the way to go.

After a little research I bought TC Helicon’s GoXLR Mini from Amazon which I think will solve a lot of the issues I’m having with my current setup. I opted for the mini over the bigger version as I don’t think I have much use for a voice changer, the Stream Deck App covers the sound board side of things.. and I really can’t justify an additional £196 for motorised slide

The GoXLR is a little complicated at first, but really allows me to be flexible and get the best out of my audio sources as it gives you a number of audio output devices that you can assign your apps to which are named, Chat, Music, System, Samples and unlike when I assigned my music to a muted source before every stream, you only have to do it once as all the outputs can be funnelled into your stream mix, headphones and line out, at the volumes set by the hardware or software sliders.

Setting Up The GoXLR

I went through the standard mic setup, and I think it sounds even better than it did with the OBS Studio filters, It’s worth noting the mini does not have the same EQ as the full size one, so it’s not as configurable, and the de-esser option is missing.. still for me not worth £196, but a little annoying. I may need to tweak some settings to really make my voice sound the best but until I really get to streaming I won’t know for sure.

I then went through assigning Apps to the different GoXLR outputs using the windows sound options

• My default Windows sound output is set to the GoXLR-system, the mute for this is set to mute from the stream mix, and by default pressed, this means all my normal window notification noises still come through my headphones but don’t bother my viewers, if I want viewers to hear a system sound (like a youtube video, I can just unmute).
• Amazon Music is on the GoXLR-music output and I set the mute button to mute from headphones (so I can concentrate on game noises without the viewers loosing the music.
• Discord is set to the GoXLR-chat for output and input, so my discord talk shouldn’t be different from my stream as the microphone uses the same filters on both
• My Games are set to the GoXLR-Game output.
• Stream Deck Soundboard is set to GoXLR-Samples.
• The cough button is set to toggle mute to chat, this way I can talk to the audience without bugging the discord chat.

As I use speakers when not streaming I plugged my speakers into the line out of the GoXLR and made a profile which mutes the headphones and enables line out, the microphone is never routed to the line out in my setup, I also have a profile for streaming, which reverses this by muting the line out and enables the headphones.

OBS Setup With The GoXLR

I was now ready to figure out what the best way to recreate / improve my OBS Studio audio settings. I went a little against the manual when setting the GoXLR up for OBS, which may or may not be the right thing for everyone but it’s the best way for me.

Once again, I’ve not used the global audio sources in OBS because it will require me to manually remember to mute / unmute the microphone on scenes where I don’t’ want it active and I just can’t trust myself to do that!

I set the audio monitor device for OBS to be the GoXLR-Sample channel, this allows me to set all the audio from the browser sources such as the StreamLabs Alerts and my introduction video as monitor only, which will send them to the GoXLR ready to be sent back to OBS via the Stream Mix Audio and also through to the headphones as I don’t want to miss them.

Setting Up The OBS Studio Scenes

The audio scenes for the sources were actually very simple once the apps and programs have been set to the right channels on the GoXLR, For my setup, Some scenes I just want the music and samples and others the whole stream mix.

One Last Thing – Setting UP The Stream Deck

Another great thing about the GoXLR is the Stream Deck integration, it took manually installing the plugin, and it’s a little lacking in features but there’s one thing I set up that’s great, profile shortcuts.

I have a scene button for my intermission screen and another for the game scene, I’ve now changed these to multi-action buttons, which change scenes and changes GoXLR profiles, this means when I hit the intermission button on the Strem Deck, OBS will go to the intermission screen, the chat is muted, game sounds turned down, and the music turned up, and when I hit my game button on the Stream Deck OBS changes scene, and GoXLR turns down the music, turns up the game sounds, turns down the music, making for a much smoother transition.

What’s Next?

Now I just need to fine tune the volume levels to get them just right, which I guess will take a few streams of trial and error and then I’ll write a full review once I’ve had a chance to really get to grips with it.