How to Use a Soundboard with Curse Voice

Updated

You can still play soundboard audio into Curse Voice, but not through any built-in Curse feature — Curse Voice has no native soundboard. Instead, you route a separate soundboard program's output into the same microphone input that Curse Voice listens to, so your friends hear both your voice and your sounds. Resanance is one free option that its developer says has been tested with Curse (alongside Discord, Teamspeak, Skype, Zoom, and others) and that works with any application accepting audio input. The catch is that Curse Voice is a legacy client, so most people now do this in Discord or another current app; the routing method is the same either way.

What you actually need

Three pieces have to line up:

  1. A soundboard program that can send its audio to a device other programs can read. Resanance supports this — it can play to multiple devices simultaneously and lets you control local and mic volume separately.
  2. A way for Curse Voice to hear that audio. Curse Voice captures whatever you set as your input device in Windows, so the soundboard has to appear as (or feed into) a microphone.
  3. A hotkey layout so you can trigger sounds without alt-tabbing out of the game or call.

If Curse Voice is no longer installed or no longer connects for you, skip to the alternatives section — the setup below still applies to Discord, TeamSpeak, Zoom, and similar apps.

Step-by-step setup

1. Install and open the soundboard

Download Resanance from resanance.com and launch it. The interface is button-based: right-click to add a sound, left-click to play it. You can add as many sounds and hotkeys as you want, change button size, borders, and colours, set volume per button, sort by name, and search your library.

2. Point the soundboard at your output

In Resanance, choose the playback device your sounds should go to. If you want your friends to hear them, that device needs to be one Curse Voice can also capture — typically a virtual audio cable or a "Stereo Mix"-style input, or your soundboard's own virtual mic if it provides one. Resanance's multi-device playback means you can send sounds to your headphones and to the capture device at the same time, so you hear what you're playing.

3. Set Curse Voice's input

Open Curse Voice's audio settings and set the input/microphone device to the same virtual device the soundboard is feeding. Your real microphone should also be routed into that virtual device (most virtual cable tools let you merge two inputs), otherwise you'll lose your voice and only transmit sounds.

4. Assign hotkeys

Back in Resanance, bind a hotkey to each sound. Resanance also supports playing a random sound on a hotkey, MIDI soundboard input, and text-to-speech, if you want those. Pick keys your game doesn't use.

5. Balance the volumes

Use Resanance's separate local and mic volume controls so your sounds aren't deafening relative to your voice, and set per-button volume for anything that's noticeably louder or quieter than the rest. Test with a friend or a second account before you use it in a real call.

Common problems and fixes

Symptom Likely cause What to try
Friends hear your voice but no sounds Soundboard output isn't reaching the device Curse Voice captures Send soundboard audio to the same virtual device set as Curse's input; confirm with a recording test
Friends hear sounds but not your voice Mic isn't merged into the virtual input Route your physical mic into the virtual cable alongside the soundboard
Distorted or clipping audio Two sources summed too hot Lower per-button volume and the mic gain in the virtual device
Noticeable delay Buffer size too large in the virtual cable or soundboard Reduce buffer/latency settings; test again
Hotkeys don't fire in-game Game captures the key or runs exclusive fullscreen Use keys the game ignores, or run the game in borderless windowed mode

If you're not on Curse Voice anymore

Curse Voice's voice service was folded into other products years ago, so most users searching for a "Curse Voice soundboard" are really looking for a general soundboard that works in whatever chat app they use now. Resanance's own description lists tested support for Teamspeak, Discord, Skype, Curse, Zoom, Meet, Teams, and Twitch, and states it works in any game or program that accepts microphone input — so the same virtual-device routing above carries over without changing tools.

Quick decision guide

  • You just want sounds in a current voice app (Discord, Teamspeak, Zoom): use any free soundboard that supports virtual output, set the virtual device as the app's mic, merge your real mic in. Resanance fits this and adds per-button volume, unlimited hotkeys, MIDI, and TTS.
  • You specifically need Curse Voice: the routing method is identical, but expect to troubleshoot an older client's device list — if Curse won't list the virtual device, restart Curse after the virtual cable is running.
  • You only need sounds you hear yourself, not transmitted: skip the virtual device entirely and just play to your normal output.