Do I need to set up the audio for NDI separately?

No. NDI uses the same audio you already set up for streaming and recording, so if those sound right, NDI sounds right.

Can I change a mic level while NDI is running without breaking it?

Yes. Level and delay changes apply on the next frame of audio, without stopping the NDI feed.

Is this as good as a dedicated NDI tool?

At 1080p30 it holds up well in my own runs, and lip sync can be measured and corrected. Dedicated tools still offer more formats and more tuning under the hood.

If NDI is free on every tier, what is the catch?

There is no paid gate on NDI itself. What grows with the tier is everything around it, like how many cameras you can switch and the resolution of the program you send.

What was actually wrong with the old NDI audio?

It took a microphone straight from the PC, usually whatever Windows picked first, with its own clock and no link to the program. That clock mismatch was the crackle.

What happens if the NDI send stops unexpectedly?

It releases its hold on the audio, and your stream and recording carry on untouched. They never depended on NDI being there.

Does NDI audio follow the lip-sync delay I set?

Yes, and NDI keeps its own extra correction on top, because its picture reaches the wire a little later than the other outputs.

NDI out... your broadcast mix, in sync, on every tier

What is available

NDI output now carries your broadcast mix. The same audio your stream and your recording carry, lip-sync aligned, instead of whatever microphone the PC happened to pick. The crackle is gone.

And NDI in and NDI out are available on every tier, FREE included.

What changes

I owe an honest note on this one.

NDI output has carried audio for a while. But it was not your program audio. It was a microphone grabbed directly from Windows, and on my own rig that turned out to be the laptop's built-in mic in eleven of twelve test runs. It ran on its own clock, separate from the picture, with no connection to the lip-sync delay you had set.

So your NDI receiver got a picture of the service and the sound of the booth laptop. Plus a crackle, because two things running on two clocks drift, and something has to give.

That is what I rebuilt.

Now NDI takes the same three sources every other output takes: your mic bridge, the media mix, and System Audio if you have switched it on. Same levels, same delay, the same audio going out to the stream and into the recording. If your stream sounds right, your NDI sounds right.

The crackle is gone because the audio is no longer handed through a separate process with its own idea of time. It is paced against the same clock as everything else.

Live changes apply live. Adjust a mic level, a delay or a gain while NDI is sending, and it takes effect on the next frame. No stop and restart in the middle of a service.

Why NDI on every tier

I looked at what free tools already offer. NDI output is one of them. Charging for something people can already get free, just because it is inside my app, did not sit right with me.

So NDI in and NDI out are ungated. If you are on FREE and you want to send your program into another computer running OBS, vMix, TriCaster or a video call, you can.

What still grows with your tier is everything around it. How many cameras you can switch. The resolution of the program. Lip-sync calibration with the Heartbeat is on PRO and above.

Who benefits

Churches with a second PC for streaming or recording. The receiving computer now gets the real mix, not the booth mic.

Anyone feeding a video call. Hybrid meetings, a speaker joining from overseas, a small group on a call. Through an NDI webcam driver, the call hears the service, not the laptop fan.

Smaller churches on FREE. Sending your program into free streaming software you already know costs nothing extra.

Being straight about it

It is measured at 1080p30. That is where I have run it hardest, and it holds. Lip sync can be measured and corrected, which is the part I care about most. Dedicated tools still offer more formats, more frame rates and more tuning. If you need those, use them.

Audio from a raw microphone is still possible for a rig that needs it, and the Studio says plainly which source the NDI feed is carrying. You never have to guess.

NDI is a local network protocol. It is for computers in the same building. For another hall or another campus over the internet, that is what Campus is for.

What I learned

The crackle was never really an audio problem. It was a clocks problem. Two processes, each confident about time, slowly disagreeing. Removing the second one made lip sync more faithful too, which I had not expected.

That is a pattern I keep meeting. The fix that removes a moving part tends to fix two things. The fix that adds one tends to create a third.

Practical notes

Check the audio chip in the Studio when NDI starts. It tells you which audio is embedded. You want it to say program.

Set your mix once, for the stream. NDI follows it. There is no second mix to manage.

Calibrate at the receiving end if you are on PRO or above. The NDI Witness, a free download, measures sync on the computer receiving the feed.

Keep NDI on a wired network where you can. It carries a lot of data, and a busy Wi-Fi is the first thing that will show it.

Available now, on every tier.