Audio missing from output when started programmatically (auto-start, websocket) - works correctly when started via dialog

Operating System Info

Windows 11

Other OS

No response

OBS Studio Version

32.1.2

OBS Studio Version (Other)

No response

OBS Studio Log URL

https://obsproject.com/logs/pXIIBXADUdxGKA4t

OBS Studio Crash Log URL

No response

Expected Behavior

Audio should be present whenever the AJA output is started, regardless of what triggered the start.
OBS Studio version: 32.1.2OS: Windows 10AJA Hardware: KONA 4AJA Driver version: 17.5.0.890

Current Behavior

When using “auto launch at start” or the stop/start output via websocket, no audio returns until manually stopped/started.

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce
Method 1 — Auto-start:
1. Open Tools → AJA I/O Device Output
2. Enable the "Auto Start" option and close OBS
3. Relaunch OBS
4. AJA output starts automatically — video is present, audio is silent
Method 2 — WebSocket:
1. Connect to OBS via WebSocket (obs-websocket v5)
2. Call StopOutput with outputName: "aja_output"
3. Call StartOutput with outputName: "aja_output"
4. AJA output restarts — video is present, audio is silent

Anything else we should know?

When the AJA I/O Device Output is started through any method other than manually clicking the Start button in the Tools → AJA I/O Device Output dialog, the output starts successfully with video but produces no audio. The issue affects both the auto-start on launch option and starting the output via OBS WebSocket (StartOutput). Audio resumes immediately and correctly the moment you manually open the dialog and click Stop, then Start.

The OBS audio meters continue to show audio activity correctly during the no-audio condition, confirming the issue is isolated to the AJA output's audio path initialization and not OBS's internal audio pipeline. The problem appears to be that the audio routing within the AJA NTV2 SDK is not fully initialized when the output is started programmatically, but is correctly initialized when triggered through the dialog's Start button.

Start with the AJA I/O Device Output entry point in Tools and compare its dialog Start path with auto-start and the WebSocket StartOutput path. Trace initialization of the AJA NTV2 audio path and reproduce both reported methods; done means audio is present after automatic and WebSocket starts without requiring a manual stop/start.