FordeeGuide · Plugins
Voice changer for streaming & Discord
You want your voice to hit different on stream or in a call. Not a gimmick, just a real effect running in real time. Here's how it works, what you actually need, and how to wire it into OBS or Discord without losing your mind.
What it does for a stream
A voice changer for streaming applies effects to your microphone in real time, so your audience and your call hear the changed voice, not your raw mic.
The key word is real time. This isn't post-processing you do after recording, it's happening as you speak. Your mic signal goes into the plugin, the plugin transforms it, and the output is what gets sent to OBS, Discord, or whatever app is listening. Your audience never hears the unprocessed version.
That's different from a voice effect you'd use in editing. Effects added during editing only live in the recording. Real-time processing means the persona you're running is live, consistent, and baked into everything your stream or call captures.
What you need
You need three things: a decent mic, a real-time voice changer that runs as an audio plugin, and a virtual audio device to route the processed signal into your streaming or call app.
The mic is obvious, but it matters more than people think. A voice changer doesn't fix a bad recording, it processes whatever it gets. Start with a clean signal.
The plugin format matters too. A standalone app that doesn't integrate as an Audio Unit or VST3 is harder to route cleanly. A proper audio plugin loads inside a host, processes your mic, and hands off a virtual audio output that OBS, Discord, and Zoom all recognize as a regular microphone.
The virtual audio device is the bridge. It's a piece of software that creates a fake mic on your system. You point the plugin's output at it, then point OBS or Discord at it, and the signal flows through in real time with no extra steps.
Routing it into OBS or Discord
The routing is the same whether you're streaming or on a call: output your voice changer to a virtual audio device, then select that device as your microphone in OBS or Discord.
Here's how we do it step by step:
- We install the voice changer plugin and a virtual audio driver. The driver creates the fake mic the system needs. On Mac, BlackHole is a solid free option.
- We open the plugin host (or a DAW) and load the voice changer onto the mic input channel. We set our real mic as the input and the virtual audio device as the output.
- In OBS, we go to Audio Settings and point the mic input at the virtual device. We can also add an Audio Input Capture source and select it there if we want it on a separate track.
- In Discord, we open Settings, then Voice & Video, and switch the input device to the virtual audio device. We hit the mic test button and listen back to confirm the processed voice is coming through.
- We do a quick test recording before going live. If levels are clipping or latency is noticeable, we adjust the buffer size in the plugin host. The routing can be fiddly the first time, but once it's locked in it just works.
Faceless streaming setups use exactly this kind of routing. Come to think of it, a lot of people would be surprised how many voices they hear on stream aren't the creator's actual voice at all.
We built one for exactly this
Incognito is a real-time voice changer built as a proper audio plugin, so it routes cleanly into OBS, Discord, Zoom, or any app that takes a mic. Free trial, no time limit on testing it out.
Free trial available.
The routing setup looks intimidating the first time, but once it's wired you basically never touch it again.