How to connect your Console to Wave XLR Pro

With Wave XLR Pro, you can bring your console into a full hardware mix alongside your microphone, music, and any other sources you have running. Game audio, voice chat, and your mic each get their own channel, and you hear your console with zero latency. Your capture card only has to handle video.

How you connect depends on the console. PlayStation 5 works over USB. Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch use the headset jack. This guide covers each one, including how to send your mic back to the console for voice chat.

Our video guide walks through the wiring and Wave Link setup for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Switch 2, plus podcast and Dual PC setups.

Wave XLR Pro does its mixing in hardware, and you set it up in Wave Link. Every input you connect, including your console, shows up as a channel in Wave Link. From there, you set levels, build mixes, and decide where each source goes. You need Wave Link 3.0 or later on your computer.

Download Wave Link free for Windows and macOS.

The base setup is the same for every console:

1. Connect your XLR microphone to XLR 1.
2. Connect your headphones to the front or rear headphone output.
3. Connect Wave XLR Pro to your computer via USB-C in the USB Host port.
4. In Wave Link, add XLR Mic 1 as an input channel.
5. Add XLR Mic 1 to Personal Mix to hear yourself. If any effects or VSTs you use add delay, turn on Direct Monitoring so you still hear yourself with zero latency.
6. At the top right, select Headphones 1 for the front port or Headphones 2 for the rear port, and make sure the ear icon is enabled for Personal Mix.

PS5 connects to Wave XLR Pro over a single USB-C cable in the USB Aux port. That one cable carries game audio and chat from the console into your mix, and your mic back to the console.

• USB-C cable (USB-A to USB-C works too, depending on which PS5 port you use)

Connection: PS5 USB port → USB Aux on Wave XLR Pro

PS5 recognizes Wave XLR Pro by name in its audio settings. Set the console to output all sound through Wave XLR Pro, and set the microphone to Wave XLR Pro as well. That completes the wiring.

In Wave Link, add USB Aux as an input channel, then add it to Personal Mix. To keep things clear, rename the channel to something like “PS5 AUDIO.”

1. Create a new mix at the top right, then click it to open Mix Settings.
2. Rename it to something like “PS5 MIC.”
3. Add USB OUT as the physical output.
4. Add XLR Mic 1 to the PS5 MIC mix.

Anything you add to this mix goes straight to PS5 over the same USB cable, so teammates in party chat hear it as your microphone.

Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch have tighter USB audio restrictions than PS5, so these consoles connect through the headset jack instead. On Xbox, that’s the 3.5mm jack on the Xbox Wireless Controller. On Switch, it’s the headset jack on the console.

That jack carries headphone audio and mic audio on a single 4-pole (TRRS) connector. A 4-pole to dual 3-pole adapter splits it into two separate 3.5mm connectors, one for headphones and one for the microphone.

What you need:

• 4-pole (TRRS) to dual 3-pole (TRS) adapter
• 3.5mm stereo cables to connect the adapter to Wave XLR Pro, if your adapter needs them

Connection:

• Adapter headphone connector → Line In on Wave XLR Pro
• Adapter microphone connector → Line Out on Wave XLR Pro

Console audio comes out of the headphone connector and goes into Wave XLR Pro’s Line In so you can hear and mix it. Your mix comes out of Wave XLR Pro’s Line Out and goes into the console as a mic signal.

In Wave Link, add Line In as an input channel, then add it to Personal Mix. Rename it to something like “XBOX AUDIO” or “SWITCH AUDIO.”

1. Create a new mix at the top right, then click it to open Mix Settings.
2. Rename it to something like “CONSOLE MIC.”
3. Add Line Out as the physical output.
4. Add XLR Mic 1 to the CONSOLE MIC mix.

Anything you add to this mix travels out through Line Out, through the adapter, and into the console’s mic input. Once your mic is in the mix, you’ll see the audio meters respond in the Xbox or Switch audio menus.

How much you get out of the return path depends on which Switch you have.

Switch supports in-game voice chat through the headset jack in a small number of third-party games, such as Fortnite and Overwatch 2. Most Nintendo titles, like Mario Kart, Splatoon 3, and Smash Bros, use the Nintendo Switch Online mobile app for voice chat, which runs separately from the 3.5mm jack. If your game uses the app, the Line Out return path won’t carry your voice.

Switch 2 includes GameChat, Nintendo’s system-level voice chat that works across games without a phone app. With a headset connected to the 3.5mm jack, GameChat uses it as the microphone source, so the mix you send through Line Out becomes your voice in GameChat.

Your console mic mix doesn’t have to be just your microphone. You can add sound effects, music, or a soundboard to the PS5 MIC or CONSOLE MIC mix, and your teammates hear all of it.

Your Wave FX settings (Voice Tune, Expander, and Equalizer) also carry over to the audio you send to the console, along with any VSTs you’re running, like Voicemod.

Once your inputs and outputs are set up, create a third mix for your streaming or recording app. Add your microphone, your console audio channel, and any software sources you want on stream, like a browser, music, or Discord. Then adjust each fader to balance the mix and select it as the audio source in your streaming or recording app.

Any other software sources can also go into Personal Mix, so you hear them without sending them to your console or your stream.

Every console has its own volume controls in its audio settings, and you can also adjust USB Aux, Line In, and Line Out on Wave XLR Pro. If the signal reaching your console is too hot or clipping, lower the USB OUT or Line Out level in that mix’s Mix Settings.