How to play sounds through your mic on Windows

Want people in Discord, a game or a call to hear a sound, a song or a clip? It has to go into your microphone. Here's the easy way on Windows, for free, with your own voice still working.

Windows 10 and 11 · no account, no ads · full source code on GitHub

The short answer

Install a soundboard that mixes sounds into your mic. Onion Board does it with one click and no virtual cable: it adds a small audio effect to your mic in Windows' own audio engine, so every app that listens to your mic hears your voice and your sounds together.

Step by step

1. Download OnionBoardSetup.exe and run it.
2. The short guide asks for your mic and headphones. Click Put my sounds straight into my mic and Yes when Windows asks. No virtual cable needed.
3. In Discord (User Settings → Voice & Video), keep your normal mic. Set Input Profile to Custom, Noise Suppression to None and turn Echo Cancellation off, so Discord doesn't filter your sounds out. Onion Board reads these settings and tells you if one is in the way.
4. Drag sound files onto the window, right-click a pad to give it a hotkey, and play.

More than sound files

• Music or a video from another program: the Apps tab sends one program's sound (Spotify, a browser tab, a video player) into your mic, without touching anything else.
• Internet radio: the Radio tab plays stations from all over the world; press Send.
• Sounds from search: YouTube, SoundCloud and Myinstants, right inside the app.
• Only the sounds, not your voice: untick Others hear it under My mic.

The old way: a virtual cable

Most guides tell you to install VB-Cable, pick CABLE Output as the mic in every app and route your real mic through it too. It works, but it's fiddly and easy to break. If you need it anyway (for a mixer or OBS, say), Onion Board's Use the virtual cable instead sets it up for you. More on that: a soundboard with no virtual cable.

If they can't hear it

• Discord: Noise Suppression and Echo Cancellation can cut sounds out. Set them as in step 3.
• Zoom: pick Original sound for musicians. See Zoom and Google Meet.
• Push-to-talk games: turn on Auto push-to-talk so it holds your key while a sound plays.