How To Use A Soundboard On Discord

Want to change or add cool effects to your microphone? You can with a soundboard! Here's a guide on how to use a soundboard on Discord.

Discord is the best place to gather all of your friends for gaming, chatting, or just messing around. It’s so easy to set up a server, invite new users and just join a voice channel.

If you’ve already gathered all of your friends in one voice channel and want to joke around a bit, setting up a soundboard is a good idea.

Once you begin sending out random sounds from famous memes, videos, and TikToks, you’ll definitely receive plenty of laughs.

So, how can you set up a soundboard to work on Discord?

Well, here is the guide that will explain that!

Table of ContentsShow

What You Will Need

Soundpad Soundboard

Before we begin configuring Discord for a soundboard, there are a couple of things you will require.

Choose A Soundboard

First, you’ll need to download a soundboard.

  • ResananceQuite a popular soundboard pick for a lot of Discord users. It’s recommended throughout Discord servers and Discord-related subreddits, and it’s free.
  • Soundpad – Easy to set up and use. Soundpad is another popular choice in the Discord community. It’s not free.
  • Clownfish Voice Changer– A voice changer that’s been around for years now, extremely popular before the Discord era. It’s a bit outdated, but it’s still a good choice, and it’s free.
  • Mixere – Free but considerably more challenging to use. Use Mixere only if you already have experience with soundboard applications.
  • EXP Soundboard – A bit of an outdated UI, but it’s free, and it works with Discord.

Choose a Virtual Audio Driver

Afterwards, you will require a virtual audio driver to direct the microphone and soundboard via it.

  • VB-Cable – The most popular choice for setting up a virtual audio driver. Easy to set up and completely free.
  • Voicemeeter – an alternative to VB-Cable (by the same developers).  
  • Jack Audio – Open source and easy to use.

Setting Up The Virtual Audio Driver

For this guide, we chose VB-Cable, so we recommend that you go with the same.

Here’s what you will need to do to set up your virtual audio driver:

  1. Download the VB-Cable zip and extract it.
  2. Inside the extracted folder, look for VBCABLE_Setup_x64.exe.
  3. Right-click it and make sure you run it as administrator!
    VB Audio Virtual Cable
  4. Click on Install Driver and click Install on the Windows Security prompt. Don’t worry, it’s safe.
  5. With that done, go ahead and restart your computer.
  6. After restarting, you should be able to see CABLE Output available as an audio device.
    VB Audio Virtual Cable Sound Input

Now, let’s establish Windows.

Setting Up Windows

We needed a virtual audio driver to connect the microphone and soundboard into a single input. Consequently, let’s set up Windows.

  1. Search for Sound settings in Start Menu and open it.
  2. Now look at the top-right of your window to find Sound Control Panel and click it.
    Sound Control Panel
  3. Go to the Recording tab, find your microphone device, right-click it and go to Properties.
  4. Then, open the Listen tab, check the Listen to this device option, select CABLE output under Playback through this device and then hit Apply.

Setting Up Discord

Now we need to assign the novel virtual device to Discord.

  1. Open Discord and head right over into User Settings (bottom left).
    Discord Settings Button
  2. Click on the Voice & Video tab.
  3. Under Input Device, select CABLE Output.
    Discord Selecting VB Audio Virtual Cable Input Device

With that done, every sound you play on your computer will also be played through Discord. So, remember, this includes all audio, not just the soundboard.

Installing The Soundboard

Now it’s time to install the soundboard. For this article, we used Resanance. So, if you have it downloaded, just extract the .zip file and run Resanance.msi.

The installation should be pretty straightforward, so run the application once it is done.

Before you start playing around with Resanance, ensure that the correct device is enabled. So, look for the CABLE Input device and enable it!

Resenance Soundboard

Using A Soundboard

Your Discord, Windows, and virtual audio device are all set up, and now all that is left is to add some soundboard audio.

In Resanance, just hit Add and select any mp3 audio you may have. You can use one of the many free archives to download soundboard audio. Once the file is added, you can assign a hotkey to play it.

You can also turn off the local volume to mute the soundboard for yourself.

And with all of this done, it is time to test whether all of this effort was worth it! So, head on back to Discord, join any voice channel and invite some of your friends to join you. Then, start hitting any of the audio hotkeys you previously set up and wait for their reaction!

That’s about it!

Keep in mind that going through the VB-Cable device might cause some audio cutting issues. But, usually, it shouldn’t be a problem, and all that is left to do is to increase your library of audio effects, music, and other random meme sounds.

Related Reads

How To Download And Install Better Discord
How To Download And Install Better Discord
Branko Gapo

Keeping up with the incredibly fast evolution of computer technology is impossible. Branko aims to use his knowledge on this matter to share news and information on all the latest essential technological innovations and advancements.