Some time ago I was looking for a sound control tool in the system and randomly found VoiceMeeter.
What is VoiceMeeter
VoiceMeeter is a virtual audio mixer from VB-Audio. It installs itself as a set of virtual audio devices and lets you route sound between applications, input/output devices and software buses that Windows' built-in audio subsystem does not have.
The VB-Audio ecosystem comes in a few tiers:
- VoiceMeeter — the basic mixer (free).
- VoiceMeeter Banana — an advanced version with three input and three output buses, plus a compressor, equalizer and gate.
- VoiceMeeter Potato — the professional tier with five buses and extra processing tools.
Why a virtual mixer
The Windows mixer only lets you pick a default device and set its volume. VoiceMeeter adds much more:
- routing sound from any app to any device or recording;
- using a microphone, headphones and speakers at the same time without switching;
- applying effects (compressor, equalizer, noise gate) before output;
- passing audio between programs (e.g. from a browser into Discord).
Getting started
- Download and install VoiceMeeter Banana.
- Launch it — the mixer window appears in the notification area.
- In Windows sound settings, select
VoiceMeeter Inputas the default output device. - In VoiceMeeter, pick your physical output device (headphones or speakers).
Now all system audio flows through the virtual mixer and can be controlled straight from the VoiceMeeter window.