BLUF: Setting up a soundboard can be a tactical and humorous experience
to keep morale high for your team on the battlefield. Setting a soundboard
up can be expensive. However, a few simple, free, and trustworthy tools can
give you the same quality experience of ear bombardment we all know and
love.
Disclaimer: This tutorial was produced on Windows 10. If you need any
assistance reproducing this on an older version of Windows, contact me on
Discord as Plague#2705
The Software in this Tutorial:
Notes on Software Installation:
For VB-Audio Cable, be sure to run the installer .exe as an
administrator and restart your computer afterward before proceeding.
EXP Soundboard is no longer being updated, however, I’ve found it to
work fine in most instances. I’ll note issues I’ve run into at the end and their
fixes.
As far as a Youtube downloader goes, it won’t matter how you
download the audio files. I’ve always found this website to be effective, so
I’ve included it.
Setting-up Your Audio Cable:
1. First, we’ll head to the old-school control panel. To do this, hold
windows key+R to bring up the 'Run' box. In there, just type “control
panel” like below.
2. Navigate to Hardware and Sound, click on Sound.
3. On the Recording tab, right-click your microphone and bring up
Properties.
4. On the Listen tab, check “Listen to this device” and set the playback
through device to CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable). This will
“funnel” your microphone sound into the virtual input.
5. Scroll down to CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable). Right-click this
and set it as your default device & default communications device.
Setting-up EXP Soundboard:
Launch EXP Soundboard, and for now, we’ll need to do two things:
1. Set the 1st Output to CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)
2. Set the 2nd Output to your headphones and check the use box.
3. You can leave EXP Soundboard open for now, we’ll come back to it
later.
(Note: Look, I know what I just told you is the exact opposite of the
examples built into the program. It only seems to work this way
and we don’t question the dark powers when stuff works.)
Obtaining your first ear-gouging .mp3:
1. Open the Youtube Downloader of your choice.
2. We’ll use this video as a starting point.
3. Paste the link into the downloader, click the mp3 tab and click
download.
Clipping with Audacity:
1. Launch Audacity, and File>Open the file we just downloaded.
2. Give it a listen, find something you’d like in your soundboard. Note
roughly the time. There is a magnifying glass on the top-right to hone
in and capture exactly what you’d like.
3. Click, drag, and highlight the section of sound you’d like. Hit spacebar
to play it back and drag the edges to your liking.
4. Use Ctrl+X to cut your snippet, and file>new to open a blank file.
5. Use Ctrl+V to paste your snippet in. Give it a listen; isn’t she a
beauty?
6. Head to file>export and select either .mp3 or .wav (Note: I’ve found
that some mp3’s can glitch out, so I recommend you export as a
.wav).
7. Give it a pretty name, save it somewhere memorable.
Check the gif below to watch me do it if you get lost!
Adding your Snippet to EXP Soundboard:
1. Click add, navigate to your snippet we just made.
2. Set a hotkey you can reach while you’re talking in-game.
3. Press the button and enjoy.
Miscellaneous Notes:
- You will have to press the button while holding your in-game PTT key
(for example, hold V and hit your key-bind while continuing to hold V
until the sound-byte is finished).
- To use this in Discord, just set your input device to CABLE Output (VB-
Audio Virtual Cable) and test it out on a group of unsuspecting friends
(but don’t forget Comms Etiquette if you’re in our Discord!).
- If a sound file plays too quickly and high-pitched, do the export in
Audacity again and use the opposite file type.
- If the sound plays too loudly in your headset, use the Volume Mixer to
drop it down to 20-25.
- There is no bind key to stop the noise. Prepare for a misfire.
- Not everyone will enjoy this. Don’t fret, they have no humor.
- Playing the Dragonborn song at the start of Omaha Beach always has great
meme potential.