1.1 Steam edition

Open your Steam library and choose to display Games and Software.

Right-click Soundpad and select Install.

Click through the upcoming installation dialog of Steam.

A system restart is required to complete the installation.
If you launch Soundpad directly after installation it will ask you to restart.

1.2 Standalone version

Run the installer. It is an msi file with a name like Soundpad_x64-1.1.0.msi.
Then follow the installation wizard.

You have to accept the license terms in order to continue.

Select an installation directory or keep the default.
You may choose to let the installer create a desktop shortcut to Soundpad.
A start menu shortcut will be created automatically.

Administrator privileges are required to install Soundpad.
By clicking on install you will see a prompt to allow the installation.

Soundpad has been installed successfully. You are almost done.

A system restart is required to complete the installation.
If you choose No and start Soundpad before a system restart, you will be able to work with the sound list and many other things, but you won't be able to use the main feature, namely playing sounds in voice chats.

2.1 Setup and device configuration

This chapter explains how Windows, Soundpad and voice applications must be configured, in order for Soundpad to work correctly.

By default, Soundpad gets installed on the default recording device, and it also configures all of its requirements automatically.

Windows

1. Press Win+R and type mmsys.cpl

or

On Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or Windows 10 before Update 1903: Right-click the audio icon in your system tray and then select Recording devices.

2. This window pops up.

It shows your recording devices and marks the default one with a green check icon.

Most voice applications are preconfigured to use the default recording device.

Soundpad

This is the device control panel in Soundpad. You can access it by going to File ▶ Preferences and switching to the Devices tab.

The default recording device is marked with a green check icon, just like in Windows.

Soundpad is only activated for devices, whose Use-Checkbox is checked.

On Win7, 8 and 8.1 only: The checkbox Disable Windows Audio DRM Validation must be checked, too.

If everything is okay, the status will be a green Good, otherwise it is red and will show you further information about the reason.

Voice applications

In your voice application you need to select the same recording device, which you configured Soundpad for.

2.2 Audio configuration

1. Soundpad speaker output volume:

   You can adjust it with the volume slider in the main window.

2. Soundpad microphone output volume:

   It's the volume, at which others will hear your sounds.

   You can adjust this volume in the audio control panel at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Audio ▶ Volume normalization. It is recommended, that you measure the volume of your voice with the integrated test and that you use dynamic volume adjustment. This will ensure, that your sounds are played as loud as your voice, no matter how loud or quiet the sound's original volume is.

   Details are explained in the Audio preferences of Soundpad when you click the question marks therein.

3. System wide microphone recording level:

   It is the volume, that you can configure in this panel in the audio preferences of Windows.

   Changing the microphone volume level or muting it does not affect Soundpad.

   If you play a sound with Soundpad while your microphone is muted, others will hear that sound.

Volume normalization

Soundpad's algorithm is based on the EBU 128 recommendation, which is also used by European television and radio stations.

When used on a complete file, then the result is exact. But the analysis of a whole file can take some time. Therefore, when used with the option dynamic volume adjustment, then the first 6 seconds of a sound file are analyzed on playback to estimate the initial adjustment factor. This takes only a few milliseconds. The analysis continues while the file is being played back and the initial estimation becomes more and more precise and as such the volume adjustment improves.

This works for each channel separately, meaning that a stereo file with a quiet left channel and a loud right channel will get normalized, so that both channels have the same volume.

Block voice

You can enable this option at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Audio ▶ Block voice.

This option blocks everything your microphone records while you play a sound on the microphone and allows you to transmit your sounds in their best quality without disturbing microphone noise.

Voice activation sound

You can enable this option at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Audio ▶ Play voice activation sound.

It can be of help if you're using voice activation instead of push-to-talk in your voice applications.
Sometimes sounds may start off a little too quietly, so that the voice activation threshold is met too late and the beginning of the sound is not transmitted to your interlocutors.

This option plays another very short, but properly loud sound before playing the actual sound and triggers the voice activation beforehand. You can also exchange the provided sound with one of your own sounds.

3.1 Main window

Press ESC to close

×

◁ Click screenshot

Menu

This is the menu of Soundpad.

Play

Plays the currently selected sound file on speakers and microphone.

Playing on speakers and microphone is the default behavior, but it can be changed by setting the Play mode to speakers only or to microphone only.

Play on speakers

Plays the currently selected sound file on speakers only.

Play on microphone

Plays the currently selected sound file on microphone only.

Pause/resume playback

Pause or resume the currently played sound file.

You may also change the play mode by pausing and then clicking on

,

or

.

To be able to change the play mode, you have to enable it in the preferences at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Interface ▶ Allow resume in another play mode.

Stop

Stops playback. You can also define a special hotkey for this function.

Play previous file

Play previous sound file in the list. Starts to play the previous sound file even if no sound file is currently playing.

The play mode of the last played file is maintained. It means, if your last file was played on speakers only, then the previous file will be played on speakers only as well.

Play next file

Play next sound file in the list. Starts to play the next sound file even if no sound file is currently playing.

The play mode of the last played file is maintained. It means, if your last file was played on speakers only, then the next file will be played on speakers only as well.

Track timer

Shows how far the current sound file has been played back in seconds.

Double-click the timer to select the currently played sound file in its category (or the previously played one if none is being played at the moment).

Seek slider

Shows the playback position of the currently played sound file and allows you to jump to another position in the track.

The seek slider indicates if sounds are played to others.

It is filled

• Red: The sound is played on the microphone and others can hear it as well.
• Blue (or the configured icon color): The sound is played on the speakers only.

Right-click the slider ▶ Select file to select the currently played sound file in its category (or the previously played one if none is being played at the moment).

Volume icon

Shows if the sound output on your speakers is muted.

You can click that icon to mute or unmute the output on the speakers.

Volume slider

Shows the output volume of Soundpad and allows you to adjust it.

The volume slider only affects the volume of your speakers, but not the volume of the microphone. To configure the microphone volume go to File ▶ Preferences and choose the Audio tab.

The volume slider is connected to the Windows Audio Session Volume Control, which can be accessed by right-clicking the sound icon in the taskbar ▶ Open Volume Mixer. If you change the volume in the volume mixer, Soundpad will show the change immediately and vice versa.

Microphone volume

This panel shows the current peak volume of your microphone. As soon as you speak or play sounds on the microphone, it will start to move.

It can be toggled at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Interface ▶ Toolbar ▶ Display microphone level on toolbar.

You can click the microphone icon to start the measurement of your voice volume. Sounds will be played as loud as your voice after you finish the measurement.

Categories

Toggle categories
Window ▶ Categories ▶ Close categories / Open categories.

Add category
Right-click a category or the category area ▶ Add.

Set random hotkey
You can define a hotkey to play a random sound from a category. Double-click a category or right-click a category ▶ Edit. Expand More options at the bottom of the upcoming dialog and click on Set hotkey.

Change icon size
Window ▶ Categories ▶ Smaller / Small / Medium / Large.

Move sounds
Move sounds by drag and drop or with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V from one category to another.

Move categories
Change the order of categories by drag and drop. You can also move categories into other categories.

Category info panel

Displays additional information about the selected category. It can be toggled at Window ▶ Categories ▶ Show info.

Double-click the info panel or click on

to edit the selected category.

Hotbar

Toggle hotbar
Window ▶ Hotbar ▶ Open hotbar / Close hotbar.

Add a sound
Drag and drop a sound file from the sound list or from the file explorer onto the hotbar.

Play a sound
Left-click the hotbar entry, or assign a hotkey by right-clicking an entry ▶ Set hotkey.

Change grid size
Window ▶ Hotbar ▶ Set hotbar format.

Change color
Right-click an entry ▶ Color.

Move entries
Drag and drop hotbar entries to change their position. Press Ctrl while moving entries to also move their hotkey and color.

Hotbar pages

Hotbar pages share the same hotkeys. It means Alt+Y will play the first hotbar entry of the selected page.

Hotbar pages also share the same colors by default. That behavior can be changed by unchecking Window ▶ Hotbar ▶ Same colors on all pages. You can quickly access that option by clicking

.

Sound list header

Sort sounds
Left-click on a column to sort the sounds by that column. Click again to sort the sounds in opposite order.

Change column width
Drag the separator between two columns.

Move column position
Drag and drop columns from one position to another.

Hide or show columns
Right-click a column to choose which columns to show.

Sound entry

Select a sound entry by left-clicking or right-clicking it. You can also select multiple sounds to move them to another position in the list, or to move them into another category, or to remove them.

On right-clicking a sound you will see a context menu showing you, what you can do with the selected sound(s):

Sound list

You can drag and drop sound files or directories containing sound files from your Windows' explorer onto the sound list to add them.

Subdirectories are also imported.

There are also default list functions, e.g. select, remove, copy, cut, paste, move, undo or redo. Most of these functions can be found in the Edit menu.

Status bar

The status bar shows additional information about operation outcomes, e.g. how many sound files were imported when importing a directory, or that a long-running task, like exporting all sound files to a directory, completed.

Certain warnings are also shown there, e.g. if you try to play a sound by hotkey and the sound doesn't exist on your hard drive anymore.

Play mode

The play mode determines whether a sound is played back on speakers, microphone, or both when you play it by hotkey, double-click, Enter or Play icon.

Hotkeys

Double-click it to disable or enable hotkeys. Right-click it to show a context menu with further options.

Auto Keys

This feature automatically presses keys for you when you play sounds. After setting it up, you can let Soundpad press the Push-to-Talk keys of your voice applications. It can be enabled or disabled by double-clicking its icon.

Repeat playback of current file

Enable this option to have Soundpad repeat the last played sound file continuously until you pause or stop.

Can be enabled or disabled by sole left-click or from the menu at Play ▶ Repeat playback of current file.

If you play a sound by hotkey, then the sound won't be repeated! You can change this default behavior by disabling File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Misc ▶ Auto stop.

Continue playback after current file

Enable this option to have Soundpad play one file after another like a regular media player. Can be enabled or disabled by sole left-click or from the menu at Play ▶ Continue playback after current file.

If you play a sound by hotkey, then the playback won't be continued! You can change this default behavior by disabling File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Misc ▶ Auto stop.

Notifications

This is the notification area. When there is a notification, e.g. a new version of Soundpad is available, or there's a hint because you used certain options for the first time, then you'll see further information here.

Right-click the notification icon to display already confirmed notifications again.

◁ Point at screenshot

3.1.1 Tag column

One of the columns of the sound list is called Tag.

The tag is a set of information, which is used by many media file formats to store additional metadata like the author, title, track, album or similar in an audio file itself.

Soundpad shows the following in the tag column, according to the tag data of the file:

• Are author and title present? ⇢ Author - Title
• Is only the author present? ⇢ Author
• Is only the title present? ⇢ Title
• Is neither author nor title present? ⇢ Filename without extension

3.1.2 Playing sounds

Now you have different options to play the selected sound:

• Press Enter.
• Double-click the sound.
• Click on
  in the toolbar.
• Right-click the sound and select Play from the context menu.
• Select Play ▶ Play selected file from the menu.
• By using a Hotkey.

3.1.3 Playing sounds on the speakers only

• Click on
  in the toolbar.
• Select Play ▶ Play selected file on speakers only from the menu.
• Right-click the sound and select Play on speakers from the context menu.

3.1.4 Playing sounds on the microphone only

• Click on
  in the toolbar.
• Select Play ▶ Play selected file on microphone only from the menu.
• Right-click the sound and select Play on microphone from the context menu.

3.1.5 Playing random sounds

Select one of the following menu options:

• Play ▶ Play random file.
• Play ▶ Play random file on speakers only.
• Play ▶ Play random file on microphone only.

Another option to play a random sound is to define a Special Hotkey. Using the special hotkey the sound is being played on speakers and/or microphone according to the configured Play mode.

Playing random sounds from a category

You can define a hotkey to play a random sound from a category. Double-click a category or right-click a category ▶ Edit. Expand More options at the bottom of the upcoming dialog and click on Set hotkey.

3.1.6 Playing entire sound list

You can toggle continuous playback:

• by selecting Play ▶ Continue playback after current file from the menu, or
• by clicking
  in the status bar.

The play mode is maintained in continuous playback. It means, if you start the playback on speakers only, then the next files will be played on speakers only as well.

If you play a random sound with this option enabled, then the next sounds will be random as well.

To have your sound list being played over and over again, select Play ▶ Repeat playback of sound list from the menu.

3.1.7 Adding sounds

Way 1

Select File ▶ Add sound files from the menu.

A file selection dialog will be shown, wherein you may select the sounds to be added. On the bottom right of the dialog you can filter the files of the current directory to certain file extensions. In this filter you can also see, which audio formats Soundpad supports.

Way 2

Drag and drop sound files or directories from your file explorer onto the sound list to add them. You may also copy and paste sound files to Soundpad with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V or by selecting Edit ▶ Paste from the menu.

Way 3

Record a sound with the built-in Sound Recorder. The recorded sound is added to the sound list after the recording is finished.

Way 3½

Select sounds in your list, copy them and paste them in the list at a different row again. You can do so by using the default shortcuts like Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V or by menu at Edit ▶ Copy and Edit ▶ Paste.

3.1.8 Renaming sounds

• Press F2.
• Right-click the sound and choose Rename file from the context menu.

You may now rename the sound file on your hard drive or even choose another location to move the sound file to.

3.1.9 Removing sounds

• Press Del.
• Right-click one of the selected sounds and choose Remove from the context menu.
• Select Edit ▶ Remove selected entries from the menu.

• Select one or more sounds and then press Shift+Del.

3.1.10 Select sounds in explorer

Right-click a sound and choose Select in explorer.

This will open up the Windows file explorer and select the sound file there.

3.1.11 Instant search

• Start to type something.
• Press Ctrl+F.
• Select Edit ▶ Search from the menu.

The search begins when at least 2 characters are typed. Every sound matching the search term will be flagged with a green background.

Do one of the following to cycle through the hits:

• Press Enter or ↓ for the next hit.
• Press Shift+Enter or ↑ for the previous hit.
• Use the two arrow buttons next to the search input field.

You can play the selected hit by pressing Ctrl+Enter. It will be played on speakers and microphone according to the Play mode.

You can clear the search input field or close the search bar to remove the hits by clicking the X-button next to the search input field.

3.2 Sound lists

Soundpad stores a working copy of the current sound list every 5 minutes, and once on application exit at %Appdata%\Leppsoft, which is equal to C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Leppsoft.

3.2.1 Backup and restore

Soundpad creates daily backups of the sound list on application start and stores them for one week in the above-mentioned directory. The backup date is stored in the filename in ISO 8601 date format, which is backup-soundlist-year-month-day.spl.

To restore a backup, close Soundpad, delete the working copy called soundlist.spl and rename the backup to soundlist.spl.

3.2.2 Creating new lists

• New sound list
• Load sound list
• Save sound list
• Save sound list as...
• Load recent sound list

After you've saved your sound list or loaded one, you will see the path and name of the list in the title of Soundpad. Whenever you change something in your list, you will see an asterisk in the title, which indicates, that there are unsaved changes.

3.2.3 Export sounds

When you are about to switch computers or re-install the operating system, and want to keep the sound files and sound list, then use the export option: File ▶ Export ▶ Sound files.

Soundpad will ask you to select a directory for the export. All sound files of the current sound list are copied to the target directory along with a new sound list file. Afterwards, you can copy that directory to your new computer and just load the exported sound list file in Soundpad.

3.3 Hotkeys

Hotkeys are key combinations, which are assigned to certain actions. When talking about hotkeys in Soundpad, then always global hotkeys are meant. Global means, that those key combinations are recognized even if Soundpad is not the active window.

• single keys, e.g. F1, S, Enter
• key combinations consisting of one or more modifiers and a key, e.g. Ctrl+G, Alt+Shift+S
• mouse clicks, e.g. Mouse Mid, Mouse 4
• modifiers and mouse clicks, e.g. Ctrl+Mouse Left
• modifiers and numpad, e.g. Alt+123

3.3.1 Setting hotkeys

You can assign hotkeys to sounds like this:

• Right-click a sound and select Set hotkey from the context menu, or
• Double-click the hotkey column of the sound as shown below.

The hotkey dialog will appear:

Now you can press the key combination, you'd like to assign to the sound.

3.3.2 Removing hotkeys

Do one of the following to remove a hotkey from a sound:

• Right-click a sound and select Remove hotkey from the context menu.
• Double-click the hotkey column of the sound to open the hotkey dialog and
  • Click on the X-button next to the input field, or
  • Press Backspace or Del.
• Set the same hotkey on another sound.

3.3.3 List hotkeys

There are two options to list all configured hotkeys:

• Select Window ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Hotkey overview from the menu.
• Right-click
  in the status bar and select Hotkey overview from the context menu.

3.3.4 Mouse hotkeys

You may define mouse click hotkeys. Single left-click or right-click hotkeys are not permitted, because they can lead to a very unpleasant experience. But, you can use them in combination with modifiers like Ctrl+Mouse Left.

3.3.5 Special hotkeys

You can define some special hotkeys at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Special Hotkeys.

Special hotkeys hold a special position in Soundpad. They cannot be overwritten when you define hotkeys for sounds.

• Stop playback
• Start playback
• Pause/resume playback
• Play previous file
• Play next file
• Select previous file
• Select next file
• Play selected file
• Play random file
• Play random file from all categories
• Select previous category
• Select next category
• Start recording
• Stop recording
• Jump back by a configurable amount of seconds
• Jump forward by a configurable amount of seconds
• Lower speakers volume by a configurable value
• Raise speakers volume by a configurable value
• Set speakers volume to a certain value
• Mute speakers
• Set play mode to default (speakers and microphone)
• Set play mode to speakers
• Set play mode to microphone
• Switch to next play mode
• Enable Auto Keys
• Disable Auto Keys
• Toggle Auto Keys
• Enable Hotkeys - works even if hotkeys are disabled
• Disable Hotkeys
• Toggle Hotkeys - works even if hotkeys are disabled
• and more...

3.3.6 Numpad hotkeys

Numpad hotkeys allow you to define an incredibly large amount of hotkeys.

You can configure numpad hotkeys at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Numpad Hotkeys.

How do they work? - You press and hold a modifier, e.g. Alt as it is predefined, then you type an arbitrary number on your numpad and release the modifier. E.g. Alt+123 or Alt+55.

Numcode

You can enable this option at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Numpad Hotkeys. Furthermore, you can specify, which modifier(s) you want to use.

Index

Every entry in the sound list has a unique index according to its row in the hidden All sounds category. If you don't want to set up hotkeys for each and every sound, you can enable Index hotkeys at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Numpad Hotkeys. Define the modifier(s) you want to use. Now you can press and hold the modifier and type a number on your numpad. After releasing the modifier, the sound with the index equivalent to your entered number will be played.

3.3.7 Advanced options

You can change these options at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Advanced options.

Pass hotkeys

Soundpad complies with the global hotkey mechanism in Windows and blocks hotkey propagation by default.

If you assign W to play a sound, and then press W, Soundpad will play the sound, but your foreground application won't receive the W.

By enabling Pass hotkeys, the default behavior is changed and Soundpad won't block the hotkey. Staying with the above example, pressing W will not only play the sound, but it will also do, whatever W is supposed to do in your foreground application.

Auto stop (recommended)

Automatically stops playback after a sound was played by hotkey even if options to repeat or continue playback are enabled.

Allow left and right modifiers

Allows hotkeys like Ctrl+F1 and RCtrl+F1. Otherwise left and right Ctrl are treated as the same modifier.

Same hotkeys in all categories

Allows to set hotkeys to a row instead of assigning the hotkey to a particular sound. The hotkey will play the sound at that row of the currently selected category.

3.4 Sound Recorder

The sound recorder allows you to record your speaker's output, and thus sources like YouTube or similar.

3.4.1 Start and stop recording

Do one of the following to open up the recording panel:

• Press Ctrl+R, or
• Select Window ▶ Sound recorder from the menu.

The recording panel will be displayed:

3.4.2 Recorder preferences

• clicking the gear button in the sound recorder, or
• selecting File ▶ Preferences ▶ Recorder from the menu.

Save as

You can choose M4A or WAV (MP3, FLAC or other formats may join this list in the future, but for now it's only the two).

• WAV is an uncompressed audio format and takes a lot of space on the hard drive, but it doesn't require encoding or decoding. This makes the recording save process faster.
• M4A (recommended) is a compressed audio format and enabled by default. It takes considerably less space on the hard drive, while maintaining a very good quality of the original sound, but it requires encoding and decoding. While decoding is unnoticeably fast, the encoding takes some time, in particular for long recordings. The recording save process takes longer than with WAV.

Insert position in sound list

Specify where your recordings shall be added in the sound list. You can choose between Beginning and End.

Automatically normalize recordings

This option is highly recommended, because the sound output on your speakers or headphones is amplified. The digital audio representation in the audio processing can be much lower than the perceived output. Recordings can be very quiet if this option is disabled.

The default value is 89 dB. This value equals -23 LU, which is the suggested standard by the EBU 128 audio normalization recommendation. Higher values than 99 dB are not recommended, because they're very close to the limit and will lead to clipping and noticeable distortion.

Trim silence

When enabled, beginning and ending silence is removed from new recordings.

Maximum recording time

This is a protection setting to avoid recording indefinitely. You can remove it by setting it to 0. The default value is 300 (5 minutes).

Long recordings are buffered on the hard drive in the %TEMP%-directory. The buffered data is uncompressed and requires a lot of disk space. If the maximum recording time is disabled, and you don't finish a recording yourself, then Soundpad will continue to record until the disk runs out of space.

3.4.3 Recorder hotkeys

You can define special hotkeys to start and stop recording. This is helpful if you want to record a sound while running exclusive fullscreen games or applications.

Learn more: Special Hotkeys

3.5 Sound Editor

You can access the sound editor by right-clicking a sound in your sound list and selecting Edit file from the context menu.

Press ESC to close

×

◁ Click screenshot

Menu

This is the menu of the sound editor.

Play

Plays the edited sound from the beginning on your speakers.

Play on speakers

Plays the selected section of the edited sound on your speakers.

When there is no selection, then the entire file is played black.

Stop

Stops playback.

Cut

Removes the selected section. You may also press Del for this.

The section is not copied into your clipboard and cannot be pasted at another position.

Crop

Removes everything except for the selected section.

Undo

Restores the sound as it was before your last action. Actions are cut, crop, volume adjustment, etc.

Redo

Redo your last action. Only available after at least one Undo.

Zoom in

Zoom into the visualization. Allows more precise cutting.

Zoom out

Zoom out of the visualization.

More options toggle

Opens or closes another bar with additional options.

Sound visualization canvas

This is the editing canvas with a graphical representation of the edited sound. The bigger the vertical lines are, the louder the sound at this position is. Flat lines are silence.

You can select the section you want to edit with your mouse or by using default selection keys like Shift+←, Shift+→, Shift+Home and Shift+End or you can select everything with Ctrl+A. To deselect everything use Ctrl+D.

You can also move the selection cursor with ←, → or with the keys Home and End.

Sound file attributes

Lists additional information about the edited sound. The information is not updated when editing the file.

• Size: File size in KB or MB.
• Format: File format like M4A, MP3, WAV etc..
• Sample rate: States with how many samples per second the sound was recorded.
• Duration: minutes:seconds +milliseconds.
• Channels: Mono, Stereo, or 3+ channels. Only the first channel is displayed in the visualization canvas.
• Volume: The volume level of the original sound file before editing.

◁ Point at screenshot

3.5.1 Peculiarities

Limitation

Soundpad is not designed to edit audio files, which are longer than 10 minutes. You may still do so, but you will see a warning message, which you have to confirm to begin editing.

The main reason for this is the huge memory consumption while working with uncompressed audio data.

It is actually not a big deal, but you'll probably be more satisfied using another audio editor to edit big files.

File format

The preselected file format, when saving an edited sound, is the one, that is configured in the recorder preferences at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Recorder ▶ Save as. (See also: Recorder preferences).

3.6 Play mode

3.6.1 Usage

The play mode is the first icon in the status bar. When you move your mouse cursor above it, a tooltip will show the active play mode.

You can change the play mode by left-clicking or right-clicking the first icon in the status bar.

Another way to change the play mode is to define special hotkeys, with which you can:

• Set play mode to default (speakers and microphone)
• Set play mode to speakers
• Set play mode to microphone
• Switch to next play mode

3.6.2 Switch to next play mode

The behavior of the special hotkey Switch to next play mode can be further configured at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Interface ▶ Play mode ▶ Hotkey switches between...

E.g. one option is to set it to default and speakers, so you can quickly switch from speakers and microphone to speakers and back with the use of just one hotkey.

3.7 Auto Keys

The auto keys feature lets you define keys, that Soundpad will press automatically, when you play a sound. So, you can play a game and let Soundpad press the Push-To-Talk key for you.

You can configure auto keys at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Auto Keys.

3.7.1 Conditions

Auto keys are really powerful and in some situations they can even be dangerous. Therefore, you should take some time and configure the conditions as strictly as possible.

You'll find below window at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Hotkeys ▶ Auto Keys ▶ Add.

Enabled

It's a general switch to enable or disable an auto key.

Press only if sound is played by hotkey

This condition is turned on by default, thereby auto keys are only pressed when you play sounds by hotkey.

You can uncheck this option for each auto key separately if you want the auto key to also be pressed when you play a sound from the user interface, e.g. by double-click or from the toolbar.

How to press

You can choose between press and hold and press before and after.

Press and hold

When you play a sound, the specified key is pressed and kept pressed. As soon as the sound has been fully played, or you stop the playback, the key is released.

Press before and after

When you play a sound, the specified key is pressed and released before the sound starts to play. As soon as the sound has been fully played, or you stop the playback, the key is pressed and released again. To make it more human-like and reliable, there is a short delay between press and release.

When to press

Always

When you play a sound and the above conditions are met, then the key is always pressed.

Foreground application is fullscreen

When you play a sound, the key is only pressed if the foreground application is running in fullscreen mode. This also applies for games, that are displayed in a fullscreen borderless window.

Certain application is running

After choosing this option, you'll see a list, where you can add applications. The key will only be pressed if at least one of these applications is running.

Certain application is in foreground

When you choose this option, you will see a list, where you can add applications. The key will only be pressed if one of these applications is the active foreground application at the moment, you play a sound.

3.7.2 Examples

Here are some examples to show, how auto keys can be used in real scenarios.

Scenario 1: Press the Push-to-Talk key of my game, when I am in-game

In the game itself, you need to set a simple key as the Push-to-Talk key, e.g. K or Mouse4.

Then configure the auto key like below:

Scenario 2: Mute me in Teamspeak, Discord, Mumble or similar

Set a key to mute/unmute yourself in the voice application, e.g. B or Mouse5.

Then configure the auto key like below:

Scenario 3: Mute me in the voice application and press the Push-to-Talk key in-game

This is a combination of the first two scenarios. Add an auto key entry like shown in Scenario 1 and another entry like shown in Scenario 2.

3.7.3 Toggling Auto Keys

You can disable or enabled all auto keys in different ways:

• Double-click
  in the status bar of the main window.
• Right-click or left-click
  in the status bar of the main window and check the top most entry of the context menu.
• Define one of the special hotkeys to disable, enable or toggle auto keys.

3.8 Remote Control Interface

This interface can be used to control Soundpad from command line or from other applications.

3.8.1 Command Line

You may execute specific commands in Soundpad by calling Soundpad.exe with the -rc parameter.

• Open the Command Prompt: Press Win+R > cmd
• Navigate to Soundpad's installation directory:
  
  • cd "C:\Program Files\Soundpad" or
  • cd "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Soundpad"
• Play first sound: Soundpad -rc DoPlaySound(1)
• List available commands: Soundpad --help

The syntax is Soundpad -rc command, e.g. Soundpad -rc DoPlaysound(1).

• DoPlaySound(index)
• DoPlaySound(index,speakers,mic)
  • Example: DoPlaySound(5,true,false)
• DoPlaySoundFromCategory(categoryIndex,soundIndex,speakers,mic)
  • Example: DoPlaySoundFromCategory(2,1,true,false) ▶ plays 1st sound from category 2 on speakers only
  • Example: DoPlaySoundFromCategory(-1,7) ▶ plays 7th sound in selected category
• DoPlayPreviousSound()
• DoPlayNextSound()
• DoStopSound()
• DoTogglePause()
• DoJumpMs(timeMillis)
  
  • Example: DoJumpMs(2000) ▶ jumps forward by 2 seconds
• DoSeekMs(timeMillis)
  
  • Example: DoSeekMs(10000) ▶ jumps to the 10th second in the track
• DoStartRecording()
• DoStopRecording()

3.8.2 Applications

This section is for software developers who want to control Soundpad from their own applications or plugins.

Soundpad uses a named pipe for the communication with other local applications. For this reason, Soundpad and the other application don't require internet or network access. Applications can connect locally to the pipe and begin to issue commands.

The list of available commands is more extensive than the one for the command line, so they aren't listed here, but the following article links to some sample implementations in different programming languages. We'll keep the Java implementation up-to-date, so it contains all available commands.

Further information about functions and parameters can be found in the javadoc comments in the sample Java implementation.

3.8.3 Logs and Debug

Logging of remote control commands is turned off by default, so you won't see any commands or strings, that Soundpad receives, and why commands may have failed.

To get more information about the processing of remote control commands, you need to turn on the remote control logs.

Enabling remote control logs

1. Run Soundpad once and then close it.
2. Open the Registry editor: Win+R > regedit
3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Leppsoft\Soundpad\MainFrame
4. Find the entry logRcCalls and set its value to 1.
5. Start Soundpad.
6. Open the logs from the menu at Help ▶ Show logs.

Now, when you do a remote call by using the pipe or the command line, Soundpad will log the call in the log component at the bottom of the main window,
e.g. Remote control: DoPlaySound(2): R-200: 0 ms

Explaining the log

Here is a breakdown of the logs, based on a call with the unknown command test-abc
Remote control: test-abc: R-404: Command not found.: 0 ms

1. Command entry: Remote control.
2. Received command: test-abc.
3. R-404: Command not found: The code derived from HTTP-404.
4. 0ms: Duration of fully processing the request.

Disable debugging

1. Close Soundpad.
2. Open the Registry editor: Win+R > regedit
3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Leppsoft\Soundpad\MainFrame
4. Find the entry logRcCalls and set its value to 0.

4.1 Files

Working files

Located at %Appdata%\Leppsoft, which is equal to C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Leppsoft. Soundpad stores a working copy of the current sound list, backups of the sound list and the stats at this location. It's the predefined location for recordings, too.

Application files

Located at the installation directory, which you chose when installing Soundpad.
The default directory is C:\Program Files\Soundpad or C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Soundpad.

• Folder languages: Contains translations.
• Folder logs: Contains driver logs and crash dumps.
• Folder sounds: Contains some demo and notification sounds.
• File Soundpad.exe: The main executable with the graphical user interface.
• File SoundpadService.exe: Handles hotkeys and auto keys. Is automatically launched and closed by Soundpad.
• File UniteFx.dll: The driver extension component.
• File UniteFxUpdate.dll: Only Steam edition. New versions of the driver extension component. As the original UniteFx.dll may be locked while updating, this one is used. Soundpad handles the installation on startup automatically.
• File license.dat: Upon registering a full version of Soundpad this file removes the trial limitations.
• File UniteFxControl.dll (obsolete): Removed as of version 3.2.14. The communication to the driver extension was packed in this library.

Driver extension files

As of version 2.4.6 the driver extension component UniteFx.dll (or UniteFxUpdate.dll in the Steam edition) is copied to %WinDir%\system32\UniteFx.dll, which is equal to C:\Windows\system32\UniteFx.dll. This fixes critical issues, which prevent Soundpad from working. The driver extension component is then loaded up by the system.

4.2 Stats

Each time you play a sound on the microphone the sound's play count is increased and its last played date is updated. This helps you to keep track of often and less often played sounds, so you don't annoy your friends by playing the same sound over and over again.

You can show the play count and the date when a sound was played the last time by right-clicking the sound list header and selecting Play count and Last played on.

The stats are saved at %APPDATA%\Leppsoft\stats.spl.
Stats are persisted beyond sound lists, but get lost when you move a sound file from one hard drive partition to another.

4.3 Updates

You can check for updates manually by selecting Help ▶ Check for updates from the menu.

You can also turn on automatic update checks in the preferences at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Updates. You can choose between Never, which is the default, Daily and Weekly update checks.
The check is done once a day or once a week on application startup. When an update is found, you will see it in the status bar and can then start the update by selecting Help ▶ Check for updates from the menu.

If you don't want to grant Soundpad an internet connection, then you can always download the latest version from here and install it onto your current version. The installer will keep your settings untouched.

4.4 Limitations

Soundpad is bound to Windows Integrity Mechanism Design, which limits the reliability of Hotkeys and Auto Keys.

When Soundpad is executed in user mode without administrative privileges, then there are these limitations:

• Hotkeys, that you press in higher privileged applications, are not recognized.
• Auto Keys won't be pressed in higher privileged applications.
• Auto Keys, that are configured to be pressed when certain applications are running, won't be pressed if such applications are run with higher privileges.

To have the above limitations removed, you have to run Soundpad as administrator.

4.5 Registering the full version

After purchasing the full version you will receive your serial number by email.

Download and install the free version of Soundpad if you haven't done that already.
Now, you can unlock the paid features in two ways:

• Start Soundpad and select Help ▶ Register from the menu. Then enter your serial number there. This way requires an internet connection to the registration server.
• Without granting an internet connection to Soundpad, you may visit the registration page and follow the instructions there.

5.1 Steam edition

Open your Steam library and choose to display Games and Software.

Right-click Soundpad and select Manage ▶ Uninstall from the context menu.

Choose Uninstall in the upcoming confirmation prompt of Steam.

To fully complete the uninstallation you need to restart your system. You can postpone the restart. It won't have any negative effects to your system, except that the driver components of Soundpad may remain locked on the hard drive until the restart.

5.2 Uninstall standalone version

Uninstall by Windows' control panel

This is the guide for Windows 10, but different versions like Home or Professional may look differently.

1. Click on the start menu
2. Click on the gear icon to open up the Settings window
3. Choose System
4. Choose Apps & features
5. Select Soundpad and click on Uninstall
6. Confirm the uninstallation in the upcoming prompt
7. At the end you will be prompted to restart your system

Uninstall by installer

Run the installer and choose Remove in the wizard.

Administrator privileges are required to uninstall Soundpad.
By clicking on Remove you will see a prompt to allow the uninstallation.

Soundpad has been uninstalled successfully. You are almost done.

A system restart is required to complete the uninstallation.
If you choose No and postpone the restart, this won't have any negative effects to your system, except that the driver components of Soundpad may remain locked on the hard drive until the restart.

6.1 General

• Soundpad remains asking for a restart even after the restart.
• The microphone volume becomes lower or even silent.

1. Contact us with the diagnostic report and we check if the installation routine needs to be adjusted for your audio device.
2. Update your audio drivers to the latest version.
3. If you have a Realtek sound card and use OEM audio drivers, that are from your motherboard or notebook manufacturer, then try the generic ones from Realtek: Realtek HD audio drivers.
4. Install the Microsoft HD audio drivers. Soundpad always works with these.

How to install Microsoft drivers

This instruction was created on Windows 10 Build 1803. It may differ on other versions of Windows.

Right-click Start ▶ Device Manager

Expand the node Sound, video and game controllers and double-click the Realtek device or right-click it and select Properties.

Switch to the Driver tab and click Update Driver.

Select Browse my computer for driver software.

Select Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer.

You should see these two entries. High Definition Audio Device is the driver from Microsoft and the other one, as the name already tells, is from Realtek. Choose High Definition Audio Device and click on Next.

Continue by confirming the update warning with Yes.

If you have any trouble with the Microsoft driver, then you can easily switch back to the Realtek driver by repeating the first 3 steps until you reach the following dialog and by selecting Roll Back Driver.

Last step

Run Soundpad and go into the device preferences at File ▶ Preferences ▶ Devices ▶ Recording devices. Check your microphone, apply and restart Win-Audio or your computer to finish the configuration.

6.2 Acer Aspire

Affected systems

• Acer Aspire notebooks, model E5-571G, but maybe other Acer Aspire models as well.
• Only on Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 with Realtek audio drivers.

Effect

• Mic boost doesn't work after Soundpad is installed.

Workaround

It isn't possible to make Soundpad work with the Realtek audio drivers without drawbacks. We could change the installer again, but then Soundpad would be affected by the DSP offloading of Skype and Lync and won't work in these applications.

The only way to make Soundpad work is to install drivers from Microsoft instead of the pre-installed Realtek ones. If you don't have specific requirements, that are only fulfilled by the Realtek drivers, then this solution should work without disadvantages.

6.3 ASUS motherboards with ASUS audio drivers v6.0.1.7829

Affected systems

• ASUS Rampage III, Rampage IV, Rampage V (all are affected: Extreme, Formula, etc.).
• ASUS Maximus IV, Maximus V, Maximus VI, Maximus VII (all are affected: Ranger, Hero, etc.).
• Only on Windows 10 with ASUS drivers v6.0.1.7829 from August 2016.

Older boards like Rampage II or Maximus III use older not faulty drivers. Newer motherboards like Rampage VI Extreme or Maximus VIII Ranger should not be affected, as they use newer ASUS audio drivers, which supposedly use the fixed driver components from Realtek.

Effect

• Sounds cannot be played on the microphone. Soundpad can't establish a connection to its driver extension and always asks for a system restart.

Solution

Install the drivers directly from Realtek instead of the ASUS ones.

The ASUS drivers contain an old version of the component Nahimic, which cannot be loaded by the Windows Audio Service, and this leads to a well-defined fallback behavior where all effects of the microphone are turned off, including Soundpad.

The faulty component in the ASUS drivers is from May 2016, the Realtek one is from June 2016 and the error is fixed there.

You won't get the SupremeFX suite of the ASUS drivers, but at least the original ones have the bug fixed and their standard effects like Noise Suppression work.

If you want to have SupremeFX working as well, then you might download the Realtek drivers, extract them, find the file NAHIMICAPOlfx.dll and replace the buggy one in C:\Windows\System32. The file in System32 will be locked by the Windows Audio Service, so you can restart your computer and then try to replace it or shutdown the Windows Audio Service before replacing the file.

Here is a link to the latest Realtek Drivers.

6.4 Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019

Affected systems

• Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 without hotfix KB5004244
• Only devices, whose audio drivers use composite effects.

Effect

• Sounds cannot be played on the microphone. Soundpad can't establish a connection to its driver extension and always asks for a system restart.

Solution

Install hotfix KB5004244 through Windows Update.

Re-install Soundpad afterwards, or run Soundpad, go to File ▶ Preferences ▶ Devices, select your microphone and Restart Win-Audio.