How to stream live to Twitch (or YouTube or any other online streaming service) with a Traktor Kontrol DJ controller on a Macbook

This guide is the result of hours of Googling, YouTubing, and browsing forums. It assumes the following hardware setup (or comparable):

Macbook

Traktor Kontrol S2 (should work with other controllers too as it's a software approach)

Monitor speakers and microphone

(For newer Macbooks, you'll also need some kind of USB-A -> USB-C adapter, but you probably already have that too)

First of all, a quick explanation of why I do it this way: I also own a Maya 4x4 USB soundcard, but this produced significant ground noise (more than I remember when I used it with turntables). Although it was possible with some levels management (ramp up MASTER on the controller till just before it clipped) to reduce this to almost negligible, it meant that I then had to play with my monitors blasting out at speaker-damaging volume. Not great.

A lot of the credit should be given to Mixlr's excellent tutorial on how to broadcast with Mixlr with Traktor S2. This explained the hard part about how to setup the aggregate device and audio routing. To swap the configuration for other streaming services was then relatively straightforward. Here we go.

Download and install OBS Studio (great free stream management software) Download and install iShowU Audio Capture (a sort of audio capture channel for MacOS that works with Traktor) Open Audio MIDI Setup in MacOS and follow the instructions in the Mixlr tutorial to create an aggregate device from iShowU and Traktor Kontrol S2 (let's assume we rename it to e.g. Traktor/Capture) Open Traktor, go to preferences, Audio Setup and change the Audio Device to Traktor/Capture Go to Output Routing and set the Output Record routing to Traktor/Capture Go to Input Routing and in Input Aux ensure your Microphone (Mic In) is in there



...Almost there...



Open OBS, setup your video capture device (e.g. webcam), then go to Settings, Audio, and set Mic/Auxiliary Audio to iShowU Audio Capture Add your Twitch/YouTube stream key in the "Stream" settings Click Start Streaming!

If you enjoyed this guide or found it useful it would be great to hear it, give me a shout on Twitter or even better follow me on Twitch and drop in for a show sometime from Red Sky Forge Radio!

Happy Streaming