Audio and camera

Each source is selected independently. Availability, preview metering, and whether a source can be toggled after start depend on the source and platform.

Source settings

Source	Values	Default	Capture behavior
Microphone	A Chromium input device or No Audio	No Audio	Captured separately. Echo cancellation, noise suppression, and automatic gain control are disabled.
Camera	A Chromium camera or Camera Off	Camera Off	Captured as a separate VP8 sidecar. If the camera is reported unavailable, Beam disables it and can continue.
System audio	System audio or Off	Off	Linux uses native capture; other platforms use a Chromium display-media sidecar.
Microphone meter	Live level	Hidden with No Audio	Visible when a microphone is selected.
System-audio meter	Live level	Hidden	Native preview is available on Linux before recording only.

Controls during recording

Control	During recording	Unavailable when
Microphone toggle	Turns the selected microphone on or off	Countdown, startup, or finalization
Camera toggle	Turns the selected camera on or off	Countdown, startup, or finalization
System-audio toggle	Turns capture on or off outside Linux	Countdown, startup, finalization, or any active Linux session

Failure behavior

When the selected camera is specifically reported unavailable during preparation, Beam disables it and continues without camera. Other camera or sidecar errors can stop startup, as can failure of a selected microphone or system-audio source.

Check before the countdown

Confirm the selected device and visible meter before starting, especially after connecting or disconnecting USB audio and camera hardware.