Level Hound › Virtual audio cable setup
Virtual audio cable setup on Windows
Updated November 10, 2026
A virtual audio cable is a driver that adds a pretend output device and a pretend input device to Windows and connects them: whatever one app plays into the output end, another app can record from the input end. It is how you feed a processed microphone, a soundboard or music into Discord, OBS or a call. This guide covers the manual setup, the common mistakes, and how Level Hound, a free microphone mixer app for Windows, sets the cable up for you.
What a virtual audio cable does
VB-Audio, which makes VB-CABLE, describes it as "a virtual audio device working as virtual audio cable. All audio coming in the CABLE input is simply forwarded to the CABLE output." There is no processing and no mixing in the cable itself. It is a wire between two apps. VB-CABLE is donationware, and VB-Audio offers further cable packs (VB-CABLE A+B and C+D) through a donation on its site. (VB-Audio details read from vb-audio.com/Cable on November 10, 2026.)
You need one cable for each separate path. A processed microphone is one path. A second, separate mix, such as game sound that goes to your stream but not to voice chat, is another.
Manual setup, step by step
- Install one cable. Download VB-CABLE from vb-audio.com, unzip it, right-click the setup file and choose Run as administrator. Restart Windows if it asks.
- Find its two ends. Open Windows Sound settings. The cable appears twice: CABLE Input under output devices (apps play into it) and CABLE Output under input devices (apps record from it).
- Send sound into the cable. In the app that produces the sound, choose CABLE Input as its output device.
- Record from the cable. In the app that should receive the sound, such as Discord, OBS or Zoom, choose CABLE Output as its microphone.
- Keep a way to hear it. A cable has no speaker. If you send sound into it and want to hear it too, the sending app must also play to your headphones, or you need a mixer app that monitors the cable.
- Match the sample rates. In each device's Advanced properties, set both ends of the cable and your real devices to the same sample rate, for example 48000 Hz, to avoid crackle.
Mistakes that cause silence or crackle
- Picking the wrong end. "Input" and "Output" are named from the cable's point of view, so the microphone you select in Discord is CABLE Output. Getting this backwards is an easy mistake.
- Making the cable your default output. Every app then plays into a wire with no speaker on it, and the PC goes silent until you change it back.
- Mismatched sample rates between the cable and your real devices, which can cause crackle and dropouts.
- Windows changing your defaults. A Windows update, a reboot or unplugging a USB device can reset the default microphone or rename devices, and the route stops working.
- Processing twice. If the app feeding the cable cleans your voice and Discord cleans it again, the result can sound robotic.
The same job with Level Hound
Level Hound uses the same kind of cable, and in the current early-access release it uses VB-CABLE itself. The difference is that Level Hound manages the cable, so you do not wire it by hand.
| Task | By hand | With Level Hound |
|---|---|---|
| Installing the cable | You find and install it | You still install VB-CABLE once; the installer and Audio setup screen take you to it |
| Device names | CABLE Input and CABLE Output | Shown as Level Hound Mic; a Name it button renames it in Windows too |
| What goes into the cable | Whatever one app plays | Your microphone after levelling, EQ, compression and noise suppression, plus soundboard clips |
| Checking that it works | Ask a friend or record a test | Test everything plays a chime and plays back three seconds of your voice |
| Speakers routed through a cable | Silence if the receiving app closes | The Windows default output returns to your headphones if Level Hound stops |
| After Windows changes devices | Fix it by hand | Level Hound restores the default mic and routes and tells you what it fixed |
| Removing it | Rename and reset by hand | Restore original names puts VB-Audio's names back; uninstalling does it too |
Level Hound's four Audio setup rows (your microphone, your headphones, Level Hound Mic and Level Hound Speakers) are each green when working, amber when something is missing and red when they cannot work yet, with one Fix button per row. Level Hound Speakers, which lets Spotify, a browser or a game play through Level Hound, needs VB-Audio's second cable pack, VB-CABLE A+B.
When a plain cable is enough
If all you need is to pass one app's sound to another unchanged, a virtual audio cable on its own does the job and you do not need anything else. If you want many inputs and buses under manual control, a virtual audio mixer such as Voicemeeter is built for that; see Level Hound vs Voicemeeter. Level Hound fits when the thing you are routing is your voice and you want it levelled and cleaned on the way. Next: route one mic to Discord and OBS.
Level Hound is free for Windows 10 and 11. No account, no subscription.