A Virtual Audio Mixer is a computer software that allows you to mix sounds from different audio sources connected to the PC, among which is also included the audio generated by other programs, which are the virtual audio input. Put simply, you can mix microphone audio with audio from PC applications such as chats, games or music .
For example, speaking of basic and not professional uses, we can record a song played by the computer (a live karaoke ), with our voice above or even listen to a PC song on Skype .
The soundtracks of films, radio, microphone and MP3 can then be mixed and listened to on the audio outputs of the computer (speakers, headphones) or transmitted via a chat program (Skype, Google Hangouts or others) or even recorded (using audio programs editors like Audacity)
There are not many free tools to do this type of mixing, so I want to report a little-known program, not open source but free, which allows you to mix different audio sources and combine them as you want.
READ ALSO: Audio mixer to play mixed music
VoiceMeeter can be installed on Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Windows 8 and Windows 10 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
VoiceMeeter supports almost all popular audio interfaces: WSAPI, WAVE-RT, Direct-X, KS, MME and ASIO and has two hardware inputs and a virtual input .
Each input offers some audio enhancements, which include boosting high, mid and low tones.
Audio can also be heard through speakers, recorded or used on other programs.
To start sharing and mixing audio sources, you must first configure VoiceMeeter correctly .
After installation, load the application, connect headphones and microphones, start a program like Skype and the program to listen to music together.
In the VoiceMeeter interface you will see four panels: input hardware 1, input hardware 2, virtual input and hardware Out with two outputs. The application allows you to mix the first three input channels together, thus producing a fourth that can be listened to through speakers or headphones and transmitted on Skype or recorded.
Starting from the fourth panel, Hardware Out, click on A1 and select the output choosing the KS option if possible or WDM or, in the absence of MME.
With the headphone / speaker selected, open the Control Panel on Windows -> Hardware and Sound -> Audio and select the tab of the playback devices, select the default one, open the Properties .
On the Advanced tab, use the drop-down menu to select the default format for the audio sampling rate that will determine the quality of audio output from VoiceMeeter.
Go back to the Audio settings, go to the Communications tab and set it to Do nothing .
In VoiceMeeter Hardware input 1 must be the microphone and with the headphones you should hear your own voice speaking in real time.
Open the Control Panel> Hardware and Sound> Audio> Recording, go to the Properties of the microphone and then to the Listening tab check that the option listen to the device is not selected, in order to avoid problems with VoiceMeeter.
To finish, VoiceMeeter must be the default audio device.
Go back to Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Audio -> Playback, select VoiceMeeter and click on Default.
You should also try pressing the Configure button to optimize the multi-channel virtual input.
If everything went well, all audio inputs, both physical and virtual, can be played together, recorded, streamed or manipulated as you prefer.
Note that to send PC music in a chat like Skype you can combine this tool with another one from the same software house called VB Audio Virtual Cable, which creates a virtual input in the list of recording devices.
In Skype, the microphone becomes Voicemeeter Output while VB Audio Virtual Cable is used as speakers.
I have not tried this configuration myself, but it should work.
In conclusion, there is no easier and better tool than VoiceMeeter to mix different audio sources on the computer, really excellent also considering that it is free.
