What's new in 21.0
- docs
- new volume meters
- Rename audio sources in mixer
- surround sound audio support
- sidechain/ducking
- memory capture bug fix - explain this so people stop using it
OBS Studio version 21.0 has landed! A major release is always accompanied by new features, updates, bug fixes, and more. The full patch notes can be found here. Let's talk about the good stuff, the great stuff, and the shiny stuff.
The first, and biggest, update this patch is the introduction of both back and front-end scripting. This brings the powerful and widely used Lua and Python 3 libraries to OBS Studio. With these, you can create scripts to control nearly every aspect of OBS Studio, and even create your own sources using Lua. Lua scripts are loaded automatically at launch, a Python scripts can be loaded from the tools menu.
Up next is something that should excite those looking to push OBS even further with their productions. Multiview!
To choose which scenes show up in the Multiview, simply right-click and change the "Show in Multiview" option as desired in the Sources list. This new feature is best paired with Studio Mode, which lets you click on the previews shown in the Multiview to queue them into the Preview pane, or double-click to transition them to the live "Program" view immediately. You can now also double-click a Scene in the Scene list itself to transition, if enabled in the "Multiview" section of the General settings screen.
Speaking of transitions, it’s now possible to set individual transitions for each scene. No more awkward switching of transition presets before moving from scene to scene -- give each of your scenes its own personality! You can find this by right clicking a scene and selecting "Transition Override". Keep in mind that the list is only populated by the transitions you've configured yourself. You can always click the + in Scene Transitions to add more, including Stingers and Luma Wipe.
TODO: Gif of transition override (show off Luma wipe here)
To round off the improvements for Studio Mode, you can now switch the layout to a vertical layout if that suits your needs better. This option can be found, along with a few additional layout options for Multiview, in the General settings.
TODO: Gif of settings switch and action
There’s also a host of improvements to audio, starting with support for sidechain compression! This will let you accomplish audio features such as ducking, which can reduce other audio sources while someone is talking. You can find these new features in the Compressor filter.
TODO: Gif version of adding (Filters -> + Compressor) and configuring
Additionally, OBS now supports full surround sound audio. You can record in up to 7.1 audio, and if your streaming service supports it, stream in surround as well! So far we have confirmed that Twitch, Mixer (RTMP only), and Smashcast fully support up to 7.1 surround ingest and playback. Facebook 360 live can also support up to 4 channels (4.0). YouTube and normal Facebook streaming will support surround ingest, but downmix the output to stereo only.
TODO: Gif of settings switch and 2 channels transforming into 5.1 (remember, requires restart)
And what better way to monitor your audio levels than with our brand new audio meters! These new meters are much easier to read, as they conform to industry-standard conventions for peak program meters. They're even capable of displaying each channel separately, which will make troubleshooting certain audio troubles a breeze.
We’ve written a detailed guide on how to read these meters and how to use them to make your audio sound perfect. Check it out here: https://obsproject.com/wiki/Understanding-the-Mixer
In addition to the new audio meters, you can now rename your audio sources. No longer do you have to wonder what “Mic/Aux 3” refers to!
A change that many new users will enjoy is that the Dark theme is now enabled by default on fresh installs. As always, you can change your theme under General settings if you prefer a different style.
Finally, a great deal of effort has been put into writing documentation for the OBS Studio API, making it easier for developers to write awesome features and plugins.
Check it out here: https://obsproject.com/docs/
And of course, this release includes a huge number of various bug fixes and tweaks as well. There have been more than 173 individual changes to more than 27,000 lines of code from 30 of our amazing contributors in this release.