Wave Link 3.0: Soundboard and Music for Voice Chat and Gaming

Some of the best moments in gaming happen through proximity VOIP. You're driving a transport truck in Squad and your passengers hear your playlist. You roll up on a stranger in ARC Raiders with a perfectly timed sound clip. Someone in DayZ walks into what looks like an empty house and hears a distorted lullaby coming from upstairs.

These moments are memorable because they're unexpected. But pulling them off isn't obvious. You can't just turn on Spotify and expect it to come through your in-game mic. That's where Wave Link comes in.

Wave Link lets you route any audio source on your computer, like a music app, a soundboard, or a media player, into a mix that your game treats as a microphone input. Your voice and your audio come through together, and you control exactly how loud each one is.

Wave Link creates virtual audio outputs that appear as microphone inputs to your games and apps. When you set your game's voice chat input to a Wave Link output, anything routed to that mix gets sent through VOIP.

That means you can add your mic, a Spotify channel, and a soundboard channel all into the same mix, then point your game at that mix. Other players hear your voice plus whatever audio you've routed in, at the levels you've set.

You stay in control of the balance. If your music is drowning out your callouts, lower it in Wave Link. If your soundboard clips are too quiet for other players to hear, turn them up. Once your levels are set, they stay that way until you change them.

Timing is everything. A well-placed sound clip during proximity chat can make an entire lobby laugh.

Any soundboard app on your PC can be routed through Wave Link into your VOIP mix. Play a clip, and nearby players hear it alongside your voice. Wave Link handles the routing and gives you control over how loud the clips are relative to your mic.

Think about the scenarios: a dramatic horn as your squad crests a hill in Squad, a sitcom laugh track after a teammate gets knocked in ARC Raiders, or just the right meme sound when you stumble across a friendly player in DayZ.

If you have a Stream Deck, it gets even better. Map your favorite clips to keys and fire them off with a single tap, no alt-tabbing required.

If you want to take things further, add a voice effect to your mic channel in Wave Link. Voice changers apply to your mic input before it reaches your game, so other players hear the modified version through VOIP.

Wave Link supports VST3 plugins on Windows and AU plugins on macOS. Elgato Marketplace has a growing library of voice effects, from themed packs like Pip-Boy Voice FX to creative tools like Tiny Phone that completely change how you sound.

This works especially well in games with proximity chat, where voice is a big part of the interaction. Whether you want to stay in character, disguise yourself, or just mess around, it adds a layer to the experience that text chat can't match.

Even when you're not routing audio to other players, Wave Link gives you a better way to manage music during gaming sessions.

Give Spotify or your preferred music app its own channel in Wave Link and adjust the volume independently from your game and voice chat. When a clutch moment hits and you need to hear every audio cue, lower the music. During downtime between rounds, bring it back up.

If you have a Stream Deck, these adjustments are one tap or one dial turn away. No alt-tabbing, no fumbling through volume mixers. The Spotify plugin for Stream Deck also gives you direct playback control, including play, pause, skip, and volume, right from your desk.

For more on how to set up Spotify controls, check out our guide on controlling Spotify from Stream Deck.

Wave Link is free to download on Windows and macOS. It works with any microphone or audio interface your computer recognizes, so you don't need specific hardware to get started.

Download Wave Link at elgato.com and start routing your audio today.

For a full walkthrough, check out our Wave Link software overview.