Controller Audio¶

Play sound through a controller: a real pad speaker on Sony and Wii pads, or a vibrating haptic tone on Joy-Con, Pro, Steam, and Deck pads.

Audio tab with mirror source picker and master volume

Some controllers can make sound. A DualSense or DualShock 4 has a small speaker in the pad. A Wii Remote has a built-in speaker too. Other controllers have no speaker but can turn a sound into a single vibrating tone. PadForge drives whichever kind the assigned device provides, using a mirror of a Windows audio output and the sound effects your Macros play. The Audio tab is per pad per slot, and it appears when the slot has a sound-capable device assigned.

When the tab shows¶

The Audio tab appears when the selected mapped device is a model that supports pad audio. Three groups qualify:

Sony pads with a speaker: DualSense, DualSense Edge, DualShock 4.
Wii Remote: its built-in speaker.
Haptic-tone pads: Joy-Con (left, right, or the combined pair), Switch Pro Controller, Steam Controller (2015), the Steam Deck built-in pads, and the Steam Controller 2026.

Switch 2 controllers are not included: no known method plays an audible tone on them.

Inside the tab, the mirror controls appear for any device with a reachable speaker or actuator:

DualSense and DualSense Edge: USB or Bluetooth.
DualShock 4: Bluetooth, or the Sony USB wireless adaptor. A cable-connected DS4 has no audio interface, so the mirror controls do not appear and the tab notes that the selected device has no built-in speaker.
Wii Remote: mirrors into its built-in speaker at the same low rate as its macro sounds.
Haptic-tone pads: mirror the captured audio as a tracking haptic tone, the same reduction a macro sound gets. Expect a pitch-following buzz, not the source audio.

Macro sounds do not depend on the mirror toggle. They play on whatever the slot's assigned devices can produce, whenever a macro fires.

Mirror a Windows audio output¶

Turn on Mirror system audio to the controller speaker and pick a source. PadForge captures that Windows output with a loopback and streams it to the pad speaker.

Control	What it does
Mirror system audio	Per-device toggle. Off by default.
Mirror source	"System default" or any active output device on the PC.
Master volume	0–100. Slot-wide: one level for every device on the slot, unlike the per-device mirror and tone settings. Sets the level on DualSense, DualSense Edge, and the haptic-tone pads.

Picking "System default" follows whatever Windows is using at the moment. Switch from speakers to headphones and the mirror follows, with nothing to reconfigure. Pick a specific output instead when you want one particular device's sound on the pad.

The mirror captures a Windows output endpoint, not a single program. To send one game's sound to the pad, point that game (or all of Windows) at the output you are mirroring. This is also how a game's own DualSense audio reaches the speaker: the game plays it to a Windows output, and PadForge mirrors that output. PadForge does not intercept the game's controller-audio packets directly.

Haptic-tone pad controls¶

Joy-Con, Pro, Steam, Deck, and Steam Controller 2026 pads show two extra control groups in the Sound Output card. A resonant actuator buzzing along with background music is more intrusive than a small speaker playing it, so these let you rein it in.

Play mirrored audio¶

Choose when the mirror tone plays.

Setting	What it does
Always	The tone tracks the mirrored audio the whole time the mirror is on. Default.
While an input is held	The tone plays only while a button or trigger you pick is held. An Engage input picker with a record button sets that input.
While the game rumbles	The tone plays only while the slot's game vibration is active.

Whenever the tone is gated to an input or to rumble, a Release delay box keeps it playing for a moment after that source stops, so it does not clip off the instant the source drops. Default 500 ms.

High tones¶

Decide what happens to pitches above a limit you set. This applies to the mirror, macro sounds, and the test tone.

Setting	What it does
Off	Every pitch plays. Default.
Cut them off	Pitches above the limit go silent.
Fold them down an octave	Pitches above the limit drop an octave at a time until they fall under it, keeping their pitch character lower down.

Tone limit sets the cutoff, default 800 Hz. That keeps engine and impact rumble while catching high-pitched beeps. Folding is the gentler choice.

Macro sounds¶

A macro Play Sound action fans out to every sound sink the slot's assigned devices provide. A Sony pad or Wii Remote plays it through the speaker. A haptic-tone pad plays it as a vibrating tone. If the slot has no sound-capable device, the sound falls back to the PC's default output.

One macro can reach several devices at once. Assign a DualSense and a Joy-Con to the same slot and a macro sound plays on both: the pad speaker and the Joy-Con tone.

Supported files for a macro's own sound: WAV, MP3, M4A, AAC, WMA, and FLAC, played through Windows' built-in codecs. A sound package can also carry OGG files, which play the same way. Anything bundled in a package plays like a loose file.

Real speaker vs haptic tone¶

The two kinds of output sound very different.

Real speaker (higher fidelity). DualSense, DualSense Edge, and DualShock 4 (over Bluetooth) play through their actual pad speaker. The Wii Remote plays through its built-in speaker at a low sample rate, so expect beeps and short cues, not music or speech.

Haptic tone (lower fidelity). Joy-Con, Pro, Steam, Deck, and Steam Controller 2026 pads have no speaker, only haptic actuators. PadForge reduces the sound to a single vibrating tone: one dominant pitch with a volume envelope. Beeps, alerts, and simple melodic cues come through. Speech and music do not. A haptic actuator plays one frequency at a time, so however many a pad has (one on a lone Joy-Con, two on a Pro or Steam Controller, four on the Steam Controller 2026) it still plays that one mono tone. A combined Joy-Con pair plays it through both Joy-Cons, and while a game is rumbling, the tone follows the side the rumble drives: left motor plays the left Joy-Con, right motor the right, both or neither play both. Pick short, distinct sounds for these pads.

Sound packages and macros on this tab¶

Two more cards sit below the Sound Output controls.

Sound Macros. A quick list of the slot's sound macros. New sound macro creates one. Click a row to open that macro in the Macros tab.
Sound Packages. Add package… registers an existing .pfsounds file. Create package… bundles sound files you pick into a new .pfsounds file. Remove takes a package off the list without deleting the file.

A .pfsounds package travels with a shared profile. A macro that plays a packaged sound resolves on another PC once that PC has the same package file.

Test, stop, and reset¶

Button	What it does
Test	Plays a short test tone on the selected device only, so you can check one pad without firing the others on the slot. On a haptic-tone pad it plays as a brief vibrating tone.
Stop all sounds	Stops every sound playing on the slot.

Every setting row has its own reset button that returns just that setting to its default. The Sound Output card header carries a Reset every Sound Output setting for this device to defaults button that clears the whole card for the selected device at once.

Limits¶

DualShock 4 audio is Bluetooth only. A wired DS4 exposes no audio interface. The exception is the Sony USB wireless adaptor, which presents a real USB audio endpoint.
Master volume does not reach the DualShock 4 or Wii Remote. Their speakers play at a fixed level, so the slider changes loudness only on DualSense-family and haptic-tone pads. Each macro's Play Sound action still carries its own volume.
The mirror is endpoint-level, not per-app. It mirrors a Windows output device, not one program's sound.
The pad speaker is small. It suits voice, prompts, and effects more than music.
Haptic-tone pads render one pitch, not audio. Joy-Con, Pro, Steam, Deck, and Steam Controller 2026 pads reduce a sound to a single vibrating tone. Use them for beeps and short cues. Speech and music will not survive the trip.
The Wii Remote speaker is low-rate. Expect beeps and short cues, not clean playback.
Switch 2 controllers have no audio output here. They do not appear in the Audio tab.

Macros: the Play Sound action and sound packages that feed the speaker.
Force Feedback: the rumble the slot receives from games. The slot's Bass Shakers tab runs the opposite direction of this page: it routes that rumble to an audio output as low-frequency tones for a bass shaker or subwoofer.
Lighting: the other DualSense and DualShock 4 output feature.
Adaptive Triggers: trigger feedback on the same pads.
Controller Slots: assign a DualSense or DualShock 4 to a slot.
Devices: confirm the pad and its connection (USB or Bluetooth).
Remote Link: send the pad speaker audio to a pad on another PC.

Last updated for PadForge 4.1.0.