How to use VB audio cable

What VB Audio Cable does

VB Audio Cable is a virtual sound device. One program plays audio into the cable as if it were speakers. Another program records that same audio as if it were a microphone. The usual on-screen names are CABLE Input for the playback side and CABLE Output for the recording side. The cable does not add a physical camera or microphone; it only carries digital audio from one app to another.

The name can also refer to extra virtual cables that ship with VB-Audio mixers. The steps below cover the basic pair: one virtual output and one matching virtual input. If your device list shows several cables, pick the matching Input and Output from the same pair and keep using that pair in both apps.

What you need first

• A computer where you can install a sound driver, then restart if the installer asks you to.
• The cable devices visible in your system sound settings after install. On Windows they typically appear as CABLE Input under playback and CABLE Output under recording. On macOS they typically appear as a VB Cable device in sound settings and Audio MIDI Setup.
• A source app that will send audio (browser, media player, meeting software, or a mixer).
• A destination app that will receive audio (a video-call app, recorder, or browser tab that asks for a microphone).
• The same sample rate on both ends of the cable. Call apps commonly use 48 kHz; music apps often use 44.1 kHz. Matching those rates keeps pitch and speed correct.

This guide does not give a verified input-level target such as a specific percentage, dB reading, or meter colour. No measured threshold was supplied for a particular cable version, operating system, or call app. Use the destination app’s input meter as your live check: it should move with the source, stay out of hard clipping (the meter pinned at the top), and still leave headroom for louder speech or media.

How the two device names fit together

The labels are easy to swap. CABLE Input is where you send sound. CABLE Output is where you pick that sound up. Think of the cable as a wire: the source app’s speaker setting is the plug you insert, and the destination app’s microphone setting is the jack you listen from.

Job	Device to choose	Where you set it
Send audio into the cable	CABLE Input (playback / output)	The source app’s speaker or output menu, or the system output assigned to that app
Receive audio from the cable	CABLE Output (recording / input)	The destination app’s microphone or input menu
Hear the result while testing	Your headphones or speakers	A separate monitor path, or a short ‘listen to this device’ test that you turn off before a live call

Set it up on Windows

• Install the cable driver and restart if prompted. Open sound settings and confirm CABLE Input is listed as a playback device and CABLE Output as a recording device.
• Open the source app and set its output (speakers) to CABLE Input. Leave your real headphones as the system default if you still need to hear other apps.
• Open the destination app and set its microphone to CABLE Output. In a browser call, grant microphone permission when the prompt appears, then select CABLE Output in that tab’s audio settings.
• Match format on both devices. In the classic Sound control panel, open CABLE Input and CABLE Output, then under Advanced set the same default format (for example 16 bit, 48000 Hz) on both.
• If one app seizes the cable and others go silent, open each device’s Advanced tab and clear exclusive control so shared apps can use the cable together.
• Start playback or speak in the source app. Watch the destination app’s mic meter. Movement there is the first success check.

Set it up on macOS

• Install the cable and restart or reload the audio driver if the installer requires it. Confirm the VB Cable device appears in System Settings under Sound.
• In the source app, set output to the cable. In the destination app, set input to the same cable.
• Open Audio MIDI Setup and set the cable’s input and output to the same sample rate.
• Grant microphone access to the destination app (and to the browser, for web calls) in Privacy settings, then pick the cable again inside the app.
• Play or speak from the source and confirm the destination input level moves.

Use it in a video call

• Keep your camera on its usual device. The cable only affects audio routing.
• In the call app, set speaker/playback to your headphones or room speakers so you can hear the other people. Set microphone to CABLE Output only if the call should hear whatever you are sending into CABLE Input.
• If you also need your real voice, place a mixer or the call app’s own ‘share computer sound’ control in front of the cable. A single basic cable carries one stereo stream; combining a physical mic with app audio takes a mixer or the call app’s screen-share audio option.
• Join a test meeting or the app’s built-in preview. Speak or play the source, watch the in-call mic indicator, then ask a second participant (or a second device on the same meeting) whether the sound is intelligible.
• Turn off any ‘listen to this device’ or cable-to-speakers monitor before you go live, so the far side does not hear a room echo of the same stream.

How you know it worked

• Device list: CABLE Input and CABLE Output (or the macOS VB Cable name) appear and can be selected. This only proves the driver is installed.
• Input activity: the destination app’s mic meter moves in time with the source. This proves signal is crossing the cable.
• Intelligible sound: a preview, recording, or second listener hears the words or media clearly, at a stable pitch and speed. This is the check that matters for a call.
• Camera and picture: the video preview still shows your chosen camera and, if you use one, your chosen virtual background. Those settings stay in the call app’s video panel.

A passing meter check shows that the destination app is receiving input activity from the cable. It leaves several things untested: whether your physical microphone still works on its own device, whether the far side of a real call can understand you through that app’s noise processing, whether camera permission and video capture are healthy, and whether a virtual call background or an edited photo background looks correct. Test those on their own previews.

If no sound appears

• Confirm the source is playing to CABLE Input and the destination is listening to CABLE Output from the same cable pair.
• Confirm the destination app has microphone permission in the operating system and, for web calls, in the browser as well. A listed device with a blocked permission still shows a silent meter.
• Set the same sample rate on both ends. A mismatch can show as silence, chipmunk or slow audio, or stutter.
• Close apps that may have taken exclusive control of the cable, then reopen the destination app.
• Keep the Windows recording device enabled and, if the meter stays at zero, raise that device’s level in the Recording tab. There is no single verified percentage to aim for; stop raising once the destination meter moves without sitting at full scale.
• Mute or remove a speakers-plus-cable monitor loop if you hear echo. The far side of a call should receive the cable stream once, through CABLE Output.

Limits to keep in mind

The cable is an audio path between programs. Physical backdrops behind you, virtual backgrounds inside a call, and backgrounds you edit into a still photo are all separate choices. After the route works, the next action is a short end-to-end rehearsal in the same app you will use live: headphones on, camera preview checked, mic set to CABLE Output, source playing, meter moving, and a second listener confirming the sound is clear.