http://sourceforge.net/projects/expsoundboard/

You'll need a program like Virtual Audio Cable to get it to work. Assigning hotkeys/binds is similar to HLSS (I never used HLDJ) but the biggest difference between this program and HLSS is that this program plays clips as soon as you press the hotkey/bind. You won't be able to queue clips, but there's a lot of micspam potential with having a clip play as soon as its button is pressed.

TF2 doesn't automatically transmit audio. I still have my HLSS info in my autoexec.cfg so all I have to do is press delete to toggle outgoing audio. If you don't already have a similar script in your autoexec then copy/paste this:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
alias voicealwayson "von"
alias von "+voicerecord; voice_loopback 1; alias voicealwayson voff"
alias voff "-voicerecord; voice_loopback 0; alias voicealwayson von"
bind k "voicealwayson"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Replace "k" in the last line with whatever key you want to use. You'll have to press your voice chat toggle key then press your keybinds. This will work on every server, on every game.

Go forth and troll.

There are very few audio files that go through the micspam conversion process and have 'perfect' sound quality afterwards. Even fewer will maintain this quality when played over the microphone channel, as it is pre-programed in a way that suits the broadcasting of voices (but little else). With most micspam audio, it becomes necessary to fiddle with it after conversion so that it can be broadcast in the best quality possible.

If your audio is not naturally quiet or 'soft', the following things are likely to happen when it's played in-game:

- Excessively loud bass beats, drowning out other instruments/vocals.
- Speaker crackling at very loud points/short bass thumps.
- Artificial white noise, drowning out any other sound completely.

(NOTE: Micspam will always sound slightly better at your end than it does for other players on the server. If you can, have a friend or two stay with you on an empty server and give feedback on the audio's quality)

GoldWave is the (free) program of choice when it comes to fixing these problems. It'll nag you to register and claim that your functions are limited, but you'll find that it serves its purpose without these limits impeding you.

1. - Grab the download from our group page.

2. - Install and open GoldWave. Close the Help window and use File > Open to locate your converted audio.

3. - You'll be shown a wave-graph of the file. If the green lines look to be extending beyond the top and bottom edges of the window, then you know for sure that you'll need to reduce the audio's volume. If your speakers were taking punishment on the bass beats, then you know to reduce that too. Try to single out what must be changed so that you don't sacrifice too much of the quality.

4. - Navigate through Effect > Filter > Equalizer from the window menus. You'll see frequency sliders, a straightforward decibel (loudness) scaler, and a 'Presets' drop-down menu. The latter two are what we'll be using.

5. - If your audio seems to be extending only a little beyond the visible vertical boundry, use the decibel slider (the multicoloured bar), or the number box to its right, to reduce the audio's overall volume by 5 decibels. Click 'Apply' and assess the change in the graph. If much of the audio disappears beyond the boundry, or the previous modification didn't bring the entire wave into view, reduce it all to -10dB of its original loudness. Repeat as necessary until the entire wwave is within view.

6. - To reduce bass volume, you need only to pick 'Reduce Bass' from the Presets drop-down menu. Since bass properties vary between audio files, you'll need to test the updated file in-game (after saving) to ensure thatthe bass is no longer excessinve and more-or-less equalised with the rest of the audio. Most files only need one bass reduiction, though two or three for exceptionally bass-heavy files are not unheard of.

GoldWave is most definitely a viable program to use for converting your audio files in the first place. You will have to refer to the 'Converting Audio' announcement for information on that, as I have not yet attempted the same steps within GoldWave and thus cannot give a decicated guide for it.

Nevertheless, if the audio plays in decent quality after your tweaking, then you no longer need to alter it! Play to your heart's content (as well as that of your audience), but be sure to convert more than just a few audio files; variety is always a boon.

Currently in planning: A .zip collection of all my micspam audio to date. This will not be posted until I am certain it has all been optimized.

Got your audio? Converted it the way we explained in the previous step? Then you're almost ready to start your 'career' in audio sharing. The last essential step in the micspam process is to set up the program that will manipulate your 'microphone channel' into directly streaming the files you choose.

1. - First, we've gotta download the Half-Life DJ program. There's a link on the group's front page. Go on. We'll wait.

2. - The first time you run the program, you'll be asked for directions to your Steam games directory. Once you pinpoint one of your games, the rest should be discovered automatically. The standard path for a steam game looks like this:

<Drive Letter>:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\<Your Steam Username>\team fortress 2\tf

The last two folders will change depending on what game you're looking for (unless it's a Source-based independant game or mod, in which case you may need to go up one level to steamapps and into your SourceMods folder).

3. - While we're at this prompt, you should also tell the program where you keep your converted audio, tidy up each game's default name (they tend to come out in lowercase letters by default) and choose which keyboard key you will use to start and stop your audio files (My personal preference is the '/' key; make sure you choose something that doesn't clash with the in-game key bindings)

4. - Once you've confirmed that the program has found your games, the program should only have one small window left open. To start running it, choose the game you'll be playing from the drop-down menu and click 'Start' (the green arrow). HLDJ will minimize to the system tray (in your taskbar) and you can now launch your game. Double-click the icon to make the little window appear again. If you wish, you can stop the program's in-game mode or modify the options/games list.

(NOTE: You must have the Developer Console enabled to use HLDJ in-game to select audio, navigate your folders, etc. Look under Options > Keyboard > Advanced if the Console doesn't appear when you start the game)

5. - If you've correctly followed the previous steps, then you should see text related to HLDJ in the console window. If you type 'la' into the console, then you should get a list of files and folders in the directory you specified during Step 3. To navigate folders or choose files, you must enter the number in front of the file/folder's name ('1' will refresh your current directory. '2' will move you to the folder above the one you're currently in).

6. - The final test! Pick a valid audio file, and confirm it's selected by reading the console output. Then create or join a server that has voice chat enabled. Hit the key you assigned for playback, and keep your ears peeled.

If your audio is coming out crystal-clear, then congratulations! Use your spam wisely!

If your audio sounds slightly garbled, or the bass track is causing odd noise in your speakers, then refer to our 'Fine-Tuning with GoldWave' announcement.

White noise, or your microphone channel won't activate? Refer to previous steps and the FAQ, and make sure you pressed the correct key and/or your server isn't automatically blocking your microphone channel.

A mandatory guide, really. Most people out there think micspam just involves holding a microphone near a speaker and playing loud sounds. Not so. There are various programs which let you stream music from your hard drive to your microphone's sound channel, and a few steps are required to make these songs compatable. For now, we'll stick to the basics.

1. - Assuming you've already got an audio file you want to use, you just need to find some editing software. For free software, my personal preference is Audacity. See the group's front page for a download link.

(From this point on, the guide is written for Audacity users. If you use something different, try to find the relevant functions in your own program and use these steps as a guideline)

2. - After installation, run Audacity and open your audio file with it. You should see a visual waveline of your file.

3. - At the lower left corner of the window, there should be a button marked 'Project rate: 44100' (assuming that 44100 is your default value). Click the number and choose either 8000Hz (if you'll be playing audio in old Half-Life-based games), or 11025Hz (for modern, Source-based games).

4. - If your file has Stereo audio (or better), you'll have to split it into two (or more) Mono tracks. Left of the wave timeline, there should be a blurb about the audio's details (eg. Stereo, 11025Hz, 32-bit float). Click the audio's title (marked by a downward arrow) and choose 'Split Stereo Track' from the drop-down menu. Using the same menu, convert each new track to Mono audio.

5. - For each audio track, click the title, navigate to 'Set Sample Format' in the drop-down menu, and choose '16-bit'.

6. In-game microphone channels tend to amplify sounds automatically (especially bass instruments in music). Take a judgemental look at the wavelength of your file, and select all of it (Ctrl+A). Go to Effects in the top-bar menu and choose Amplify...

- If most of the wavelength is a solid block that touches the top and bottom ends of the graph, then set Amplification (dB) to -10.
- If the wavelength is frequently solid and generally stays near top and bottom ends of the graph, then set Amplification (dB) to -5.
- If the wavelength doesn't stray more than 50% from the middle in either direction, then no modification should be necessary at this point.

7. Go to File -> Export as WAV. Save the new file (we recommend keeping all your 'DJ' audio in a dedicated folder). Close the Audacity window, saving the 'project' file if you want to.

We're done! Repeat the process for as many audio files as you want. Your new audio will sound slightly muffled and will lose most of its depth, but such sacrifices must be made in order to make this work. Even if you played high-quality audio from a speaker directly into a microphone, the game would drop the quality and you would hear the same thing, so having a file that's optimized for this quality reduction is the best plan.

If you now wish to know how to play your files in-game, refer to the announcement titled 'Setting up Half-Life DJ'. If your audio is causing speaker crackle or specific parts of the files are problematic, refer to the information given in 'Fine-Tuning with GoldWave'.