Nintendo Switch on PC

Gaming Audio Casual
#1

Hello I am trying to figure out how to get audio from my switch through my PC. I have the Switch plugged into the PC via an Elgato capture card. However even though I can get picture using the OBS program as preview there is no audio. My current audio set up is a Magnius and Modius stack. I have my desktop speakers plugged into the Magnius via RCA cables and the Modius is plugged into the PC via USB.

As far as I can tell I have to get an seperate audio interface for the Switch such as a Scarlett Focusrite. Is that correct? Would the Focusrite plug into the the PC or the Magnius/Modius stack? How would the switch plug into the Focusright? Where would I plug my desktop speakers?

Thank you for your help! It is appreciated!!

#2

I don’t have my elgato on hand, but iirc it shows up in recording devices like my focusrite (shown below) does. You can set in the properties to listen to the device that is sending to the pc like I have done below:

image
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#3

The Elgato capture card should be getting the Switch audio via the HDMI connection.

Here’s the Elgato audio troubleshooting page to walk you through some different solutions.

https://help.elgato.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028238831-Troubleshooting-No-audio-from-Elgato-Game-Capture-HD

#4

It might not get the audio because my audio source is an preamp/dac stack connected to the PC via USB.

#5

Well i’m thinking maybe I can plug the Switch into the DAC on the preamp/dac stack I have via an 3.5mm to 2-male RCA adapter as long as it doesn’t have an TSSR plug on either end. Hopefully that will work lol. Thanks for the help man!

#6

I use Voicemeeter (banano or potatoe iirc) as a virtual mixer in PC to route any audio sources to any output i.e. ur DAC or whatever u have in use.

useful for multiple DAC’s for A/B testing tho i think its limited to 24/96k or if u stream

#7

There are mainly two or three ways you can go to get the audio from the Switch to your PC.

  1. Use Elgato Game Capture HD and its preview to capture audio. This way the audio is routed via your default audio device and you can continue using your Magnius / Modius stack as before. You can just minimize it and have it running in the background and then still use OBS as your main editing / streaming software.

  2. Set the Elgato capture card as default recording audio source, this way you can set it up as a source in OBS and capture audio that way. However you won’t hear any audio yourself this way unless you run Game Capture HD in the background with preview enabled.

  3. Use voicemeter and create a mix of both the Elgato capture card and your Magnius / Modius and then set that channel mix as the default audio source in OBS.

Do remember to mute / disable any duplicate audio sources in OBS as this will cause echo during capture. I noticed this myself the first time when I was streaming Switch games. Feel free to PM me later if you want, I can take some screenshots and give examples of how I have my own setup for streaming.

EDIT: I would not recommend using 3,5mm - RCA from the Switch headphone out to your amp. I tried to capture audio this way to my SMSL SP200, Yamaha AG03 and Motu M2, but the audio is horrendously noisy. So I would only recommend capturing audio via HDMI.

#8

Thanks man! Yea I think some screenshots would be helpful lol.

#9

Will do, I’ll post some in the thread after I’m done with my shift in another 5-ish hours.

#10

Voicemeeter is by far the most effective since it allows you to mix and adjust volumes for each source individually then route everything to OBS or your DAC.

I run additional Virtual Audio cables for extra inputs so my sources are
1.USB mic (since its physical its a source)
2.Capture card (also a physical source)
3.PC Gameplay (using windows to route audio to VAC1 for each game per application)
4.Discord/Alerts (using VAC2)
this allows me to pipe all those inputs to any headphone, dac or other output simultaneously or as seperate channels within OBS.
so for outputs i use DAC as 1st output and windows is set to use voicemeeter input as defualt.

i know a lot to digest… but the end result is ur DAC will get everything u want fed to it and it won’t affect OBS at all. you can then have obs audio sources for ur Mic, capture card, pc gameplay and voicechat/alerts
this will seperate the default windows sounds or anything else u want from your stream and u can easily change the volume if alerts get annoying or u want to mute discord within stream but still hear yourself… tons of flexibility

if u don’t stream or use OBS just setup the capture card in sound properties to listen to device like mentioned above. just harder to seperate volumes and i like to watch twitch and play games but switch is super loud compared to browser usually so i turn it down a few DB.

#11

Recording device

Provided USB drivers work correctly for you, I’m assuming you have a HD60S as well, this is what you should get.

Streamlabs OBS

If all works correctly, you should be able to add the Elgato HD60S to the mixer of OBS as a source. This will capture all audio for your stream. But you won’t hear any of this audio yourself normally.

This is where Game Capture HD comes in. Start it up and enable Preview / Audio.

Game Capture HD
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With this you will be able to hear it, you can just minimize and have it in the background. But in doing this, remember to mute your desktop audio on OBS or it will capture both the desktop audio (in which you are hearing the preview) and the HD60S audio that you’re also feeding to OBS.

Alternatively, the more advanced and most effective setup is to follow what @jmaz87 wrote in his post above. Make a full setup for Virtual Audio Cables, Voicemeeter etc. Then you can mix and match source, route them virtually to anything you want and separate audio as you please. It’s going to take some more time to setup, but this is the more complete way to go if you want to get it perfect.

Hope that helps.

#12

Voicemeeter
Voicemeeter1650×773 219 KB

#13

Also I just confirmed the very first reply from Kron
I have an HD60 Pro and Avermedia HD2 i think and they both show up in sound properties similarly. so if u just want it routed to windows default just do what he suggested and adjust ur levels in properties.

personally don’t like having 2 streaming programs open hooking the same cap card it can cause issues IMHO
so i’d say “listen” from windows properties or setup Voicemeeter or something similar. Its worth long run

settings
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#14

Totally understandable. Especially since Elgato’s software is all but stellar and can get audio clipping every now and then. This might just be my HD60S though, but I’m fairly sure it’s the software causing it since I can reproduce / fix it the same way every time.

Going full voicemeter / audio cable is the best choice in the long run for sure.