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Set up Faders on your stream

Sign in to the portal, install the free Faders plugin for OBS Studio, paste your plugin key and go live, then fix common setup problems. About five minutes.

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Setting up Faders means connecting your Twitch channel in the portal, installing the plugin for OBS Studio, pasting a plugin key into OBS and putting your audio on three tracks. It takes about five minutes.

What do you need before you start?

Your Twitch stream itself doesn't change. Faders sends a separate copy of your voice, game and music layers, in stereo, and only while at least one viewer is listening (about 380 kbps of upload).

Every layer goes out at Twitch quality: 128 kbps stereo, which matches what Twitch serves viewers. On Pro you can raise it to High (192 kbps per layer, about 580 kbps of upload), and on Partner to Studio (256 kbps, about 770 kbps). Pick it under Audio quality in the portal. It applies right away, even mid-stream, with plugin 0.2.0 or later.

1. Sign in to the portal

Go to faders.tv/portal and choose Continue with Twitch. That signs you in and confirms the channel is yours. Faders never posts or changes anything on your Twitch account.

You can also sign in with Email me a sign-in link. The first time, you'll be asked to Link Twitch once, then Use this channel.

2. Install the plugin

Close OBS, then download the installer for your system:

Run it and follow the steps. Both installers are signed, so your system shows Faders as the publisher. When it finishes, open OBS again.

3. Create a plugin key

In the portal, find the OBS plugin card and choose New key. Copy the key right away: it starts with fdr_live_ and is shown only once. You can create more keys (for a second PC, say) and revoke any of them later.

4. Paste the key in OBS

In OBS, open Tools → Faders:

  1. Paste the key into Key.
  2. Leave Send Faders layers and Only send while streaming on.

5. Put your audio on the three tracks

Faders reads OBS audio tracks 2, 3 and 4 as voice, game and music. In Edit → Advanced Audio Properties, tick Track 2 for your mic, Track 3 for your game and Track 4 for your music, and untick the Faders tracks a source doesn't belong to.

Keep Track 1 ticked too. Track 1 is what OBS sends to Twitch. If a source is only on its Faders track, Twitch viewers don't hear it, and if nothing is on Track 1 your stream has no sound at all and the extension can't sync. If that happens while you're live, Tools → Faders and the portal both warn you.

This is the step worth getting right. See Separate OBS audio tracks for viewer controls for the details and common setups.

6. Go live and check

Start streaming as usual. Within a few seconds:

Faders uploads nothing until a viewer turns it on. When someone does, the portal shows them under Listening now.

To hear it yourself, open your channel on twitch.tv in a desktop browser with the extension installed and click Mix this stream at the bottom right of the video.

Troubleshooting

What does the plugin status mean?

The status line in Tools → Faders tells you what the plugin is doing right now:

Status Meaning
Idle. Starts when you go live. Normal when you're not streaming. Turn off Only send while streaming to test without going live.
Not running. Check your key. You're live, but the plugin isn't running. Check that the key is pasted and Send Faders layers is on.
Connecting… followed by an error The plugin can't reach Faders or the key was refused. Make a new key in the portal if you revoked or mistyped it. The plugin retries on its own.
Connected. Paused until a viewer turns Faders on. Working. Nothing is uploaded until someone listens.
Connected. N listeners, sending N kbps. Working, with listeners.
Connected, but Track N (what OBS streams) is silent Your stream reaches Twitch with no sound, so viewers hear nothing and the extension can't sync. Tick Track N for your sources (below).

Why isn't Faders in the Tools menu?

The plugin didn't load. Make sure OBS was closed while you installed, then restart it. Faders needs OBS Studio 32 or newer. The plugin files live in:

Why do viewers hear nothing, or miss some sounds?

Faders listeners hear only your three Faders tracks, so a sound that's only on track 1, such as alerts, is silent for them. Check each source in Edit → Advanced Audio Properties. See Separate OBS audio tracks for viewer controls.

Why does the extension stay on "searching", or say the stream has no sound?

The extension lines your Faders tracks up with the audio of your Twitch stream. If the Twitch stream is silent, there's nothing to line up with. That usually means your sources were taken off the track OBS streams (Track 1, unless you changed Settings → Output → Streaming → Audio Track). In Edit → Advanced Audio Properties, tick that track for your mic, game and music as well as their Faders track. Plugin 0.1.1 and newer warn about this in Tools → Faders and in the portal.

Why does one slider move two sounds?

The source is on more than one Faders track, or one capture (often Desktop Audio) picks up both sounds, so the music won't separate from the game. Capture apps separately and give each source exactly one Faders track.

Why do viewers see "Faders is full"?

You've reached your plan's limit of listeners at once (25 on Free). They hear Twitch's normal audio until a place opens, and the extension tries again every 30 seconds. See The streamer portal, plans and billing.

How do I update the plugin?

When a newer plugin is out, Tools → Faders and the portal both say so. Download it from faders.tv/streamers and install it after your stream (close OBS first). Your key and track settings are kept.

How do I uninstall it?

Revoke the key in the portal if you won't use it again.

Still stuck? Contact support.