Skype and SAM via VAC

From Hak5

So now you're a Hak5Radio DJ and you wanna take callers, right? Well, rather than buying another sound card and a pile of cables, you can go get a copy of Virtual Audio Cable (http://software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.html) to make things a ton easier. It's exactly what it sounds like - virtual audio cables. What you'll learn in this step by step guide is how to connect Skype to SAM so you can have callers on the air via Skype. This will work with calls made via regular Skype, SkypeIn and SkypeOut.

So you've got SAM Broadcaster installed, you've got Skype installed, and you've just installed Virtual Audio Cable. I'll leave that part to you, it's not difficult. I'll call Virtual Audio Cable "VAC" from now on, I don't want to wear out my keyboard, I like it clicky.

Step 1: Open VAC's Control Panel and set up 4 cables. Close the Control Panel now, you won't need anything else in here. Now open 4 copies of Audio Repeater.

Step 2: Take your first Repeater window, and with it you'll need to send your input to Virtual Cable 1. That's whichever device your mic input appears as, mine's Realtek HD Audio Input but yours may be different. This means that Virtual Cable 1 is now a copy of your mic. Leave everything else as default and click Start to set it going.

Step 3: Now in a second Repeater, send Virtual Cable 1 to Virtual Cable 3, leave everything else as default, click Start to make it work. This repeater is sending the copy of your mic to Virtual Cable 3.

Step 4: In Repeater number three you'll need to send Virtual Cable 2 to your audio output. Again, the name of yours will vary, but it should be fairly obvious. Just as before, keep everything else default and hit Start. This one's required to enable you to hear your caller. Without this, your listeners will hear the caller but you won't.

Step 5: In another Repeater, send Virtual Cable 2 to Virtual Cable 3. Again, everything else default, click Start.

Step 6: Now we're done with the Virtual Cables. Keep all those windows open, or minimise them to clean up your desktop a little. Crack open Skype and open the Options dialog. Set your microphone input to Virtual Cable 1 (that's the one carrying your microphone audio) and set your speaker output to Virtual Cable 2. You're done with Skype's config now.

Step 7: The final step is to open SAM and tell it about the Virtual Cables. Break out SAM and find your way to the Voice FX window. You'll find it in the Window menu, just like in the picture below.

Step 8: Set the "Record soundcard device" to Virtual Cable 3, and you're pretty much done. Click OK to finish.

Notes: I personally prefer to set the "Total buffer (ms)" option in the Audio Repeater windows down to 200ms, it reduces the total delay between you and the caller/listeners. You might need to experiment, some settings may not work correctly, depending on your machine and settings.

I didn't explain exactly why you need to set the Virtual Cables up the way I suggested to avoid confusing the guys who just want to get up and running, I'll try to explain here...

1: Input -> Virtual Cable 1: This feeds your mic input to Virtual Cable 1. This will be used later for mixing, since SAM can only use one input at a time.

2: Virtual Cable 1 -> Virtual Cable 3: This is to mix your mic with your caller's audio before it goes to SAM.

3: Virtual Cable 2 -> Virtual Cable 3: This is the other half of the mix I mentioned just now. Virtual Cable 3 is now your voice and your caller combined, ready to feed into SAM.

4: Virtual Cable 2 -> Output: You'll need this one to be able to hear the caller, because the caller is now going to Virtual Cable 3 instead of your speakers or headphones.

Also, this process will work with pretty much any application that has a configurable input or output. This could include Ventrilo, Skype, TeamSpeak or your favourite IM client. Just configure everything the same way, but replace Skype with your app.