One of our teacher, Will has kindly showed us how to use Blackhole to share computer sound on SYNKii Classroom 🙏🏻
How to send YouTube video audio using Windows
For Windows users: Yes, it's possible to share YouTube videos with students directly through SYNKii without needing a DAW. Since SYNKii is based on WebRTC, you can share the sound of a YouTube video by sharing the browser tab with audio enabled. Here's how you can do it:
Open your web browser (such as Chrome or Edge).
Open the YouTube video you want to share.
Click on the "Share" button and select the option to share your screen.
Choose the option to share a specific browser tab, and make sure to enable the “Share system audio” checkbox.
Once shared, your students will be able to hear the audio from the YouTube video on SYNKii.
How to Send DAW Audio to SYNKii with Blackhole Audio on MAC
For Mac users:On Mac, the process requires an additional tool, as macOS doesn’t allow direct system audio sharing via a browser. You can use Blackhole Audio, a virtual audio driver, to route your system’s audio to Synkii.
Download and install Blackhole Audio from Existential Audio
Open Audio MIDI Setup on your Mac, create an Aggregate Device that includes your audio interface and Blackhole device
Once installed, open up Audio MIDI Setup. You can find this by opening Finder, and opening ‘Utilities’ under ‘Go’ in the task bar.
Set your DAW to output audio to Blackhole (channels 7/8) and ensure your audio device is set to this aggregate device.
Type image caption here (optional)In Audio MIDI Setup, click the ‘+’ to create a new aggregate device (a single audio device that combines the channels of multiple devices). You’ll want to include your Mac’s speakers, your audio interface (mine is the Scarlett 4i4 usb) and the Blackhole device you have just installed. Turn on those devices by checking the boxes on the left of the device names. Also turn on drift correction. Use the default sample rate. This will create an audio device, with the audio output channels numbered in order from first device selected to last device selected. For example, my MacBook speakers take up the first 2 channels, as I selected that checkbox first. Take note of the number of the first two channels from the Blackhole Audio virtual device. These are the ones you’ll be sending any audio to that you want your students to be able her on SYNKii. In my image, this is the first two output channels coloured green, numbered 7 and 8.
Inside your DAW (e.g., Ableton), route the audio you want your students to hear to these channels.
Next, open up your DAW. I’m using Ableton. Click on ‘Live’, then ‘preferences’, then on the ‘audio’ tab set your audio input device to your audio interface. I’m using my Scarlett. Set your audio output device to Aggregate Device.
Click on Output Config to access this menu. Activate any outputs you might need for monitoring on your own audio interface. For example, I want to be able to hear my guitar after running it through various FX in Ableton, so I’ve turned on Stereo output 3/4, which is the headphone output in my Scarlett. I’ve also turned on 5/6, which is the monitor output on the Scarlett, in case I want to be able to use my studio monitors. Most importantly, I’ve activated stereo output 7/8, which is the first two channels in the Blackhole Audio 16 channel device. I’ll be sending any audio I want my students to hear to this.
This is my Ableton window. I’ve set my Vocal channel to Sends only, and set it to record and monitoring to Auto. I’ve turned the Send B dial to maximum. This means I’m sending audio to the channel labelled Vox send, which in turn is sending audio to channels 7/8, which Synkii will be able to send to my students. I can adjust how loud the vocal signal send is by adjusting the ‘Send B’ dial. This setup means I can’t hear my own voice, but my student can. I can also use this to send audio to other software, which is useful for creating recap videos at the end of a lesson.I’ve set my guitar channel to Master, and set monitoring to ‘In’. This means that I can hear my own guitar, and that my student can also hear it, as my master channel is sending audio to channel 7/8, which Synkii will send to my student.
Finally, in SYNKii, select Blackhole as the audio input device, and your students will hear the audio routed through Blackhole.
The final thing to do is open SYNKii. Set your Blackhole Audio device as the audio input. Make sure everything you want your student to be able to hear is sent to the first 2 channels in this device.
