Watch the VU meters on the dashboard before you click Start Streaming. If the meters are dead, your audio source isn’t delivering signal. A flat stream is worse than a delayed start — sort out your audio source first.
Whenever something goes wrong, open the Activity Log first. SignalCaster logs the exact RTMP error code and message returned by the server, so you rarely have to guess what failed. Authentication errors, rejected stream keys, server unavailability — all of it is in the log with timestamps.
The Station Name field is just cosmetic, but "WKRZ 97.5 FM" tells you at a glance which station is which if you run SignalCaster on multiple machines. "New Station 3" tells you nothing at 3am.
Streaming 320 kbps to a server on the other side of the world on a 10 Mbps upload connection will work fine most of the time — until your upload gets congested and the stream starts buffering. A conservative rule: your upload bandwidth in kbps should be at least 3× your stream bitrate. So for 320 kbps streaming, you want at least 960 kbps of headroom for streaming alone.
Your stream key is the password to your live stream. Anyone who has it can start a stream to your channel. Don’t paste it into chat, don’t screenshot it, and reset it from your streaming platform if you think it’s been compromised.
Open the Activity Log and look for the error near the bottom. Common causes: wrong stream key, expired stream key (Facebook keys expire), wrong server URL, firewall blocking outbound RTMP (port 1935), or the streaming service is temporarily down. Try connecting to a known-working service (YouTube with a valid key) to rule out a local network issue.
This usually means the server accepted the connection but then rejected the stream. On YouTube, this happens if your stream key is for a scheduled event that hasn’t opened yet, or if your channel isn’t enabled for live streaming. Check your streaming platform dashboard and confirm the stream is in a state that accepts incoming data.
Check the VU meters — if they’re flat, the issue is upstream. Verify your audio source is active and producing signal. For TCP Input, confirm AutoCast is running and connected. For App Capture, confirm the target app is playing audio. For Local Player, make sure the Music folder contains valid audio files.
Buffering at the viewer end is usually a bandwidth issue — either your upload is saturated, or the viewers’ download is too slow for the stream bitrate. Try lowering the bitrate from 320 to 192 or 128 kbps. Also check for other upload-intensive processes running on the same connection (backups, software updates).
You’re using the wrong password. Icecast has separate source, admin, and relay passwords. The one you need is the source password — look for <source-password> in your Icecast server’s icecast.xml config file, or ask your hosting provider.
App Capture requires macOS 14.4 or later and Screen Recording permission. Go to System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen Recording and verify SignalCaster is listed and enabled. If the target app isn’t in the picker list, make sure it’s actually playing audio — some apps don’t register with ScreenCaptureKit until sound is playing.
SignalCaster reads the now-playing text file periodically. Confirm that the Source File path in the overlay settings is correct and that the file is being written by AutoCast. The file path defaults to your Station folder’s Misc/System/current_song.txt — verify this path exists. Also make sure your delimiter setting matches the actual format of the file.
Frequent reconnects point to a latency or bandwidth problem between your machine and the streaming server. Check the Activity Log for the ping latency readings — if you’re seeing 500+ ms pings, the path to the server is congested. Try a different server region if your streaming service offers one, or reduce your stream bitrate.
When contacting support, always include the full Activity Log from your session. Copy it from the Activity drawer (Settings › Activity › Copy) and paste it into your message. A few minutes of log from around the time of the problem is usually all that’s needed to diagnose almost anything.