Integrations

Last updated: April 2026

VoiceCtrl ships with a built-in OBS adapter that lets you embed the live voice gauge directly into your stream or recording. Everything runs locally — no account, no cloud, no audio leaves your machine.

OBS Studio

Turn on the OBS adapter in VoiceCtrl's settings, copy the URL it shows you, and paste it into an OBS Browser Source. The gauge will mirror exactly what you see in the app, with a transparent background so it drops cleanly onto any scene.

1. In VoiceCtrl

Settings → OBS Overlay and toggle the adapter ON.
Pick a variant: Radial, Bar, or Numeric (see recommended sizes below).
Click Copy URL. It looks like http://127.0.0.1:17356/overlay?variant=radial&token=… — only your computer can open it, and the token keeps other local apps out.

2. In OBS

Right-click your scene → Add → Browser. Name it "VoiceCtrl Gauge" and click OK.
Paste the URL into the URL field.
Set Width × Height to match your variant — Radial 240×240, Bar 400×60, Numeric 160×48.
Leave Custom CSS at its default (don't clear it) and leave everything else untouched. Click OK.
Drag the source in the preview to where you want it — face-cam corner for the radial, above the webcam for the bar, anywhere for numeric. The background is transparent, so no chroma key.

3. Go live

Start a session in VoiceCtrl (press Space or click Start). The gauge begins moving in real time on your OBS preview and in your stream or recording. When you pause or stop, the overlay freezes at the last value.

Capture the app or game — not your full screen

When you add the game, app, or window you are streaming to your scene, use Window Capture or Game Capture that targets that specific application — not Display Capture (the whole desktop). This matters because of how VoiceCtrl's own mini overlay works.

VoiceCtrl's Mini Mode is a small always-on-top bar that floats above every other window on your desktop. It's designed to sit in a corner of your screen so you can glance at your level without tabbing away. If you stream your whole desktop, OBS will record the mini bar right where it's parked — and viewers end up seeing two gauges at once: the mini bar on top of your game, plus the Browser Source overlay you just added. That's noisy, redundant, and makes the bar physically cover whatever's underneath it on-camera.

Fix: in OBS, capture only the game or app you're actually showing. Because the Browser Source gauge lives in the OBS scene — not on your desktop — it shows up in the broadcast even though it's invisible to any desktop-only capture. The result: your viewers see a single, clean gauge (the one you picked and positioned), while you still get the mini bar on your own monitor.

Streaming a PC game: use Game Capture → Capture specific window and pick the game.
Streaming an app (browser, IDE, DAW, presentation, etc.): use Window Capture and pick that app's window.
Streaming from a capture card (console, camera): that source already avoids your desktop — no change needed, just don't also add Display Capture.
If you really need Display Capture (for example, a full-desktop tutorial): switch off VoiceCtrl's Mini Mode before going live, or move the main VoiceCtrl window onto a secondary monitor that isn't being captured.

Overlay variants

Radial

Compact dial with level, zone label, and streak timer. Best for face-cam corner overlays.

variant=radial · 240 × 240 px

Bar

Horizontal bar with redline. Good for thin strips above your webcam or along the bottom.

variant=bar · 400 × 60 px

Numeric

Minimal "42 — GOOD" text. Lowest distraction, perfect for podcast recordings.

variant=numeric · 160 × 48 px

URL parameters

You can tweak any variant by editing the query string in the URL before pasting it into OBS:

variant=radial|bar|numeric — overlay style.
size=240 — pixel size (80–800). Radial is square; bar uses this as width.
showLabel=0|1 — hide or show the zone name (default: show).
showStreak=0|1 — hide or show the streak counter on the radial (default: show).
accent=%23RRGGBB — override the zone color with your own hex value (URL-encode the hash as %23).

What it shows

The overlay is driven by the same signal as the in-app gauge — microphone level, current zone, your configured limit, and streak time. When you pause or stop the session, the overlay freezes at the last value. When the app starts the mic again, it resumes live. Zone colors, hysteresis, and the "too loud" window match the app one-for-one, so what viewers see on stream is exactly what you see on your desk.

Privacy & security

Local only. The adapter's server binds to 127.0.0.1, so it is not reachable from your network or the internet.
Token-protected. Each session generates a random 24-character token in the URL. Connections without it are rejected, so other local apps can't quietly connect and read your mic signal.
No audio is transmitted. Only the derived numbers (level 0–100, zone name, limit, streak) are sent to OBS. Raw audio never leaves the VoiceCtrl process.
Tokens rotate per launch. If you restart VoiceCtrl, copy the URL again from Settings — the old one will stop working.

Troubleshooting

The Browser Source is blank: Make sure the adapter is toggled ON in VoiceCtrl's Settings. Click "Refresh cache of current page" in the Browser Source properties after updating the URL.

The gauge doesn't move: Start a session in VoiceCtrl — the adapter only publishes ticks while the app is actively monitoring your mic.

Port already in use: VoiceCtrl probes the next 10 ports if 17356 is taken. Copy the updated URL from Settings — it always reflects the currently bound port.

Overlay has a black background: In the OBS Browser Source properties, leave "Custom CSS" at its default (or clear it). The overlay sets a transparent background by itself.