Ultimate Kenku with Discord Bot to use Syrinscape with Local Sound for Online Play

Pro Tips
#1

I found a method thanks to @jmchalard messaging me directly about this. I also realized throughout the forum and other places as I looked around, this is a very popular method lately as it significantly reduces the complications of previous methods. With the new URL functionality in Syrinscape it’s now a breeze to set this up and the technical problems I had before are gone! YAY!

I created a new tutorial for getting this to work and a little bit about how the software functions.

This new ultimate tutorial has in it both an easy / preferred method to either use the player in Kenku so you can control from another PC, or Web App directly in Kenku. Then it also goes into a more technical method of using VB Audio Virtual Cable to use the Offline Syrinscape Fantasy Player or Web Browser to push audio through for those that wish to have options due to issues with hardware or software on their PC.

Any comments or suggestions on the video are welcome, hope this helps someone out!

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Discord Bot for Syrinscape to get Stereo Sound
Discord Bot for Syrinscape to get Stereo Sound
#2

@Amerisun Thanks for putting together this nice video showing how to stream Syrinscape to Discord with Kenku FM.

One thing you might not be aware of is that as the GM, you can just go to app.syrinscape.com in Kenku FM instead of copying the Share Audio link into Kenku FM. Then you will see the full Syrinscape master interface in Kenku, and you won’t have two Syrinscape players running on your machine (one in Chrome, which you muted, and one in Kenku FM).

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#3

Thanks for that tip, might have to redo the tutorial. I have also been thinking that I should do an all inclusive tutorial that covers both running the local thick client and the web interface through Kenku FM so that you have the pros of both methods in one tutorial as most have been asking. This would replace all methods I had before and put everything in one place.

Because the method in this tutorial has a bit of latency because of the web controller to web player to Kenku to Discord. If you played the interface directly in Kenku would probably cut down quite a bit of latency. Then if you played with the Fantasy Player instead of Online Player that would cut down even more but would be more technically challenging as you would need the Virtual Audio Cable, but maybe some would prefer that for the speed of play.

I will make notes of this and think about a larger more comprehensive tutorial to encompass all the above. :slight_smile:

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#4

The Fantasy player also requires each individual soundset to be manually downloaded and installed before it can be used, and has very basic search capabilities.

You can also just copy the Syrinscape Share Audio link to your players and have them listen directly in their browser running alongside Discord. This should sound better and have less latency. You can still use Kenku FM to mix-in other sound sources to Discord.

#5

Not sure if you’ve seen my posts on the forum but I’ve banging on about this for ages.

In my D&D group I log in to Foundry in Kenku then broadcast to discord. I don’t use chrome at all. My players do.

I choose “performance” not “low latency” and my gang can hear sounds immediately.

We also log into discord on a different device to the one we are playing Foundry on.

The only downside so far is they don’t have their own individual sounds which isn’t a problem for us because we are mainly theatre of the mind. And only use a canvas for combat and puzzles. Plus I very rarely use Foundry ambient sounds.

If you go to Kenku.fm there are step by step videos on how to create a bot.

#6

I think this should really help definitely with the load on your machine. I might test this combined with the low latency mode.

I do still agree that the quality will be better and the latency if you just ust the web player and the link to players but some groups will weigh that against the ease of discord and the players not having to do anything and this method from Amerisun might win out for some.

All very interesting!

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#7

Still intrigued that your players “hear sounds immediately”. For me when I’ve tested oneshots, etc.there is a solid 2 second latency for me in performance mode in kenku when I listen to when I hear a sound direclty in the web player and when it plays in discord through kenku. I will try to test just putting the web player directly into kenku and see the difference.

Main reason it matters for me is when my players cast spells or attack and hit, that triggers sounds through Fantasy Grounds Unity and a 2 second delay in when they hear it is a fair amount.

Going to keep testing this though!

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#8

So, will do some more testing with load on computer, etc but I did try to use the app itself within kenku and turn on low latency mode. This really helped with latency. Still just a bit but not nearly as noticeable.

Will keep playing around when I have time. Off to work.

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#9

I’m not sure how to describe it.

The very first couple of sounds take maybe 2 seconds but once we’ve done that as a test during the session get ready part of the session the sounds are practically immediate from then onwards.

If you were being ultra pedantic they take milliseconds but we don’t notice it.

Someone casts a fire bolt and WHOOSH the sound plays on my Foundry session in Kenku and that immediately plays on discord. Only my session of Foundry is playing any sound.

They all have their foundry sessions on chrome muted.

#10

I fully understand that not everyone will have the same set up as me. But this seems to work perfectly for us.

#11

That’s awesome that it works well for you! Definitely sounds like a setup unique to Foundry. Although I’ve owned Foundry for years and dabbled with setup and the sandbox mod for creating rulesets, etc, I’ve never run a game in it so hard for me to really understand how you are running everything. My focus is FGU and trying to help folks with it for the most part.

Its great that you have gotten a solution to work for your group!

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#12

Can you try running Fantasy Grounds through Kenku? Kenku is $5 for the app.

#13

The Fantasy player also requires each individual soundset to be manually downloaded and installed before it can be used, and has very basic search capabilities.

This is one of the reasons I had used this method, because I downloaded everything locally it was almost immediate to Discord. I had used the Online Player to search and build my soundsets and then the Fantasy Player to play them locally.

You can also just copy the Syrinscape Share Audio link to your players and have them listen directly in their browser running alongside Discord. This should sound better and have less latency. You can still use Kenku FM to mix-in other sound sources to Discord.

This gives me more ideas for the ultimate tutorial. Showing all the ways to use Syrinscape first through Kenku and Discord (unfortunately some players just won’t put in the effort, so it’s better the DM can prep and ensure sounds are played) or using the new Web Player and using Kenku to augment sounds with locally created sounds, etc.

Also the other discussions of @Abourious and @lordgwydione gives me some additional idea to add to that tutorial.

I think challenge is for most people, with all the information on the forum and some people doing it some way, and others doing it another, it’s more difficult for someone that is not technically savvy to digest these things and understand the various options and which is best for them. So I want my ultimate tutorial to make it easy to follow for those less technically inclined. :slight_smile:

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#14

Indeed, trying to follow a tutorial that covers many different options can be overwhelming.

Our aim and IMO the simplest option with the least latency and best quality sound is to let the VTT (e.g. Foundry with SyrinControl integration, and hopefully other VTTs soon) to just do it all without the need for the players to do anything at all, and for the GM to just enable the VTT integration and provide an auth token.

For any VTTs without an integration, the next best option is for the GM to copy the Share Audio link to players. It’s pretty easy for players to follow a link. Still nothing to download or install, no account required, etc.

For those using a VTT without an integration, or with players who are using an iOS device or other low powered device that can’t run the web player, or who just really don’t want their players to even click a link, then Kenku FM could help with that.

On the issue of latency for the Online/Web player vs the Fantasy Player, we already preload scheduled samples (e.g. a monster growl every 5-30 seconds while “growls” element is active). Only oneshots and the very first sample when triggering an element which has no initial delay will have to wait for a sample download. We hope to add a preload for those, as well.

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#15

One thing I’m still confused by. In your post above it says you log into foundry from inside Kenku? I guess that confuses me as foundry is an app like FGU I thought so not sure what you mean or why you open foundry from inside of Kenku? I think I’m just misunderstanding?

#16

My Foundry is hosted by an online server so I access it through a browser. I was using Chrome, but it makes my CPU melt in conjunction with Syrinscape.

So I access it within the browser that’s provided by Kenku.

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#17

access it within the browser that’s provided by Kenku.

It makes perfect sense that it’s running faster in Kenku, Kenku is based on the Electron JS framework, and the browser window that application is using is a very stripped down Chrome.

It’s based on the Chromium open source project that is the heart of Chrome, so you don’t get all the bells and whistles from Chrome or Edge (also Chromium based), but you get the core browser functionality you would get in Chrome or Edge.

Firefox is the only one of the bigger browsers now that is not based on Chromium and has their own engine.

#18

Got it! Makes complete sense now! Thank you.

#19

Thanks for this tutorial. I use FGU, Discord with Kenku Bot and Voicemeeter with virtual audio cable. I can use Syrinscape Online player, Youtube Music and Tabletop audio inside Kenku without any noticeable latency. Looking forward for your Ultimate Tutorial though!

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#20

Fully agree with downloading the soundsets and running them locally. I feel like there is no lag and I have had issues with the soundsets popping in and out on Kenku from time to time. I actually used your tutorial before with making a Syrinscape bot, but I couldn’t get the program you suggested, I think it was Discord Pipe, to work on my mac. The problem I had was that I always had to switch to my windows side to run the program. Using Kenku FM makes it way easier and it really isn’t that hard to follow the instructions online from the documentation to create the discord bot and get it up and running. Thanks for another useful tutorial. I had to cancel my subscription a couple of months back, but this makes it look like I will become a subscriber again.

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