Source-Live Troubleshooting

The following page contains a comprehensive list of Source-Live and Source-Live Gateway error messages and warnings, and the most common issues faced by users using the application.

If you run into any issues not listed on this website, including error messages, please contact the support team.

General Issues

Audio glitches on Mac

In certain cases, the audio may glitch when working on Source-Live Pro LL on a Mac. A possible fix is to minimize the Source-Live application so it is not visible on the Desktop. It will then operate as normal. If these steps do not solve your problem, contact the support team at support@source-elements.com.

Application crash on Mac for Image (Watermark)

On occasions, Source-Live crashes after selecting an image (watermark) as a video source on Mac. You will see an error report; please forward it to the support team if you face this error frequently.

Cannot enable camera or microphone in Gateway

When watching a stream or accessing Source-Live Gateway as a broadcaster, not being able to share your camera or microphone might be related to privacy settings configured on your browser. Read through this article for a step-by-step guide on how to enable them.

Cannot join a Source-Live Gateway session on a computer with no video

If you or your client don't have a computer with Video, you can still join a Source-Live Gateway session. Read through these articles for more information:

• Joining a video chat with no video (at the bottom of the article)

CPU spike when sharing full screen

When streaming, sharing the entire screen might result in CPU usage spikes. In order to reduce CPU usage, try cropping the screen or capturing a specific Window. For instructions on how to crop, visit this article.

If necessary, read through this article to know how to get optimum performance out of Source-Live Pro.

CPU spikes when sharing videos

When sharing videos, CPU spikes can cause the video to go out of sync in Source-Live. The audio will remain in sync, however. In order to avoid this, avoid doing anything that would cause CPU or memory spikes when running Source-Live by checking that any non-essential applications are closed during a stream.

Empty audio input dropdown on Mac

If you are using Source-Live on a Mac computer, and your system language is set to something other that English, follow the steps outlined below:

1. Close Source-Live LL.
2. Change your system language to English (System Preferences > Language & Region).
3. Go to Users > Library > Application Support > Source Live Folder.
4. Delete the folder.
5. Launch Source-Live again.

You will now see the audio options. After you select the correct audio input, you can change your system language back to the original value.

Empty audio input dropdown on Windows

If you are using Source-Live on a Windows computer, update all your audio drivers first.

You can also try checking for any disabled or muted devices:

1. Open up the Sound control panel.
2. In the "Playback" section, right click any space and select "Show disabled devices". Then, move on to step 5.
3. If your audio devices are all listed and not disabled, select it and click "Set Default".
4. Double click the icon.
5. On "Levels", make sure the device is not muted and turn up the volume.
6. Make sure none of the devices have exclusive mode on.

Then, restart Source-Live and check the "Audio" section to select your device.

If none of the above works, try to trash the application preferences. You can do so by following the steps below:

1. Open the Windows file explorer - make sure hidden files are displayed.
2. Go to C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming
3. Delete the Source-Live folder.

Interrupted audio on Viewer end, many artifacts

This issue is most commonly related to network quality. Please verify if your bandwidth has the proper capacity.

Additionally, you might be experiencing hardware issues. For example, check that your hardware clock matches your session sample rate if you are clocking your system with an external clock.

Loopback coming back through Source-Live Gateway when using Source-Nexus I/O

While sending anything to a stream through a Source-Live Gateway browser session, if you hear a feedback loop or echo at the receiving end of the broadcast, make sure you do not set up Source-Nexus A/Source-Nexus B as microphone and output respectively. This will result in your audio coming back twice through Source-Nexus A.

Read through this article on Understanding Routing for more information.

Negative Sync Offset in Audio Settings

Please note that applying a negative sync offset in the Audio Settings of Source-Live may not have the intended effect. 

As a workaround, you can also use OBS to capture the video and then add a video delay filter, which you can use to adjust the video delay in case you want to use a negative audio delay. Then, send the video through the OBS virtual camera and use it is a video source on Source-Live.

If you experience any issues, feel free to reach out to our support team for assistance.

Source-Live dropping frames and using too much CPU on Mac

First, try deleting the Source-Live preferences.

1. Close Source-Live.
2. Go to ~/Library/ApplicationSupport/Source-Live and delete the folder.
3. Launch Source-Live again.

If this does not solve your issue, contact our support team. Our contact details are at the bottom of this article.

Source-Live shows no screens or windows available

Make sure your permissions are not blocking Source-Live Pro from sharing your screen.

On Mac, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Screen Recording and make sure the box is checked for Source-Live Pro. If that does not resolve the issue, try unchecking and checking the box again, then restarting the application.

On Windows, go to Settings > Privacy > Camera and slide the toggle for Source-Live Pro to the right.

Stopping a stream before version Source-Live v1.0.23

Versions older than v1.0.23 contain a bug where the application might crash when stopping a live stream. The stream will, however, be stopped - we recommend upgrading to the latest version.

Stuttery or completely black frames in Source-Live Pro LL and the Source-Live Gateway

When using Windows Capture for Source-Live, you might see issues with the image being broadcast if the computer is overwhelmed by the size of the image.

If you face this issue:

1. Go to your DAW.
2. Lower the picture size.
3. Open Source-Live and click the gears icon in the home page.
4. Under "Quality", reduce the quality of the image.

If you face this issue when using Pro Tools:

1. Open Pro Tools.
2. Right-click the Pro Tools video to get the options for display sizes.
3. Try showing 1/4 side pictures on your screen. Do not use the full screen or actual size options.

Video input does not appear in Source-Live on Mac

You might not have granted Source-Live access to your Camera. On your Mac:

1. Choose the Apple Menu > System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy
2. Select the Camera
3. Select the box next to Source-Live to allow it access to your camera.

Windows users trying to stream the whole desktop or specific window see a black screen

Factors such as the Windows operating system (Windows 10,7, XP) or the graphics settings determine the necessary steps to configure Source-Lives to capture the whole monitor screen. Read through this article to find solutions related to the graphics performance and other related to NVIDIA cards.

Error Message Repository for Source-Live and the Source-Live Gateway