To begin, the aspiring micspammer will first need his tools, namely a soundboard and some way to transmit the soundboard's sounds. A list of recommended tools is provided.

https://www.foobar2000.org

Until recently (with more or less the death of SLAM), foobar2k was a rarity amongst the micspam community. Today, it is endorsed by almost every leading expert in the field. The software, when downloaded and used, can play all manner of sounds, taking directly from your music folder at first. The software - as with everything else in this guide - is free.



https://www.vb-audio.com/Cable/

With a quick internet search for (TF2) micspam software, one will find that the innumerable and widely worthless results will showcase VAC (Virtual Audio Cable - a different one). Unfortunately, VAC is a $25 piece of ♥♥♥♥. Enter: VB Virtual Audio Cable. It is effectively identical to VAC - only it's essentially free (technically, it's donationware, and quality donationware at that). After downloading VB, one must commission it by installing it and restarting the computer.

With the computer freshly restarted and both programs now at your disposal, it's time to consummate their marriage. Let's start with the cable.

To use the cable, right-click your speaker icon in the bottom-right corner of the screen, as shown.



Click on "Sounds" from the list, then hit the Recording tab on the window that pops up. You should be here:



From there, just right-click the CABLE Output and then hit "Set as default device." If your cable isn't showing up here, be sure "Show Disabled Devices" is checked in that handy right-click menu. While we're here in this menu, take the time to check the "Properties" section. Fiddle with it to your liking, but be sure that under "Listen" the "Listen to this device" box is left unmarked, and under "Advanced" that the cable's sound format is 16 bit and either 44100 Hz or 48000 Hz. Also be sure to check that first box only. Your advanced settings should look like so:

The cable is set, but now foobar needs to know this. Open up foobar2000. In the upper-left corner of the window, click "File," then "Preferences." Under the "Playback" dropdown section of the menu, select "Output." Under "Device," select "CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)" so foobar will push sound through our virtual garden hose.


While we're here, it may be in your best interest to get familiar with your soundboard. I would suggest mapping some global key binds for commands or your favorite micspams. For now, let's just go over having a universal "Play" key. Head to "Preferences," then "Keyboard Shortcuts." Hit "Add New," then scroll on the lower menu until you find "Playback" and select "Play" underneath that. Bind the key to whatever you so fancy (you can even use a combination of keys as a bind) and be sure to mark "Global hotkey" so the key will work in-game. This way, you can queue your micspam and play it at a more precise moment, without having to tab out. I personally like using the delete key on the numpad.


Foobar's ready, but we've got one last bit of menutia to take care of.

With the recent development of Steam's "Friends and Chat" thingy, some important items have been moved. Boot up Steam and hit "FRIENDS & CHAT" in the lower-right corner. Hit the little cog above your friends list, then hit "Voice" to see your voice communication options. Since we're using a virtual cable, most of these settings don't really matter. What does matter, though, is setting your input device as "CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)."



Congratulations! You're totally fini-


WAIT.

Much like a venereal disease, Windows 10 has spread its influence to copious amounts of once-virile, God-fearing computers everywhere. The so-called "Creator's Updates" have molested these computers even further. As a result, a vital part of this setup may have been botched. Fear not! It's like two clicks to fix it. Go into your Start menu and hit the "Settings" cog and oh my god even the gui for settings looks disgusting. Go into your "Privacy" settings. Look for and select "Microphone." Finally, flip the switch to allow applications to access the microphone. If you actually use the mic to talk, be sure to go back into the "Recording" tab in Sounds from earlier and be sure it's set up (right click your microphone and hit "Configure speech recognition"). This last part shouldn't be important if you only plan to micspam.



This should fix TF2 cancelling your mic test as soon as you start it. Having allowed access, you should now be able to use voice communication. But we might have another problem...

Yes, if you tried to micspam with only what we've covered so far, it may have sounded like it was quietened and then immediately amplified with the gain function. Well, that's because that's exactly what happened. While we're at it, we'll set up the push-to-talk button and other stuff so micspam goes smoothly.

First, right-click TF2 in your game library and select "Properties." Go to "Local Files" and then "Browse Local Files." Go into your "tf" folder, and then into your "cfg" folder. Copy any one of your .cfg files (use a small one like config.cfg). Paste it back into the folder. Rename the copy to " autoexec.cfg " and open it with Notepad. Delete everything in the file and put in this:


Credit to Mr. Boo and this guide for the toggle part of the config:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=484190913

The configuration here will make the 0 key on your keyboard numpad a voice-toggle button. It does not need to be held; press it again to stop broadcasting your sounds. This key works well, but can easily be replaced with whatever suits your mood.

I've also added some stuff to this configuration. My TF2's voice settings were wack: the microphone's actual volume was about half of what it could produce (.5 or so) and the game corrected the low amplitude by ramping the gain up to max (10). This caused the sound to be distorted, as if every sound was being shouted through the mic and then reduced. This config cuts the gain to the lowest possible setting and raises the normal volume to a natural 100%, removing most every bit distortion. Save your changes, and...

With an up-to-date computer sporting Windows 10, your micspam should now be loud and clear! Just load up foobar2000, load up TF2, and test the mic. You'll be tabbing out a lot to switch sounds, though foobar does have keybinds and a myriad of plugins that can make your life easier here. I hope this guide was helpful in your quest to successfully micspam. This guide was made primarily to solve some issues that weren't easily diagnosed or found on your workaday Google search.

To actually test the mic to see if all's well, you'd hit the test button in the TF2 options menu, hit your voice communication key (it was set to numpad 0 or "Ins" earlier), and then finally hit your play key for foobar2000 (set to numpad . or "Del" earlier). If there is sound, there is success and others should be able to hear your beautiful noises. The process for playing sounds through voice chat for others is exactly the same, minus the whole mic-test thing.

Whenever you want to play your sound, you would set that sound to be in the playback queue in foobar2000, then in TF2, hit your voice communication key, followed by your play key for foobar. Remember to turn off your micspam by hitting your two magic buttons when you're done!*

*You can actually set your voice-comm options in TF2 to only work if sound is picked up. Since it's a virtual cable taking input from your computer, this can be useful. It will, in effect, turn off your output into voice chat, but do note that this alone won't actually turn off your mic output, so if you're playing porn or something right after a good micspam and you don't hit your voice-chat key... Actually, that would be pretty entertaining. Never mind. You DO, however, want to hit your playback key for foobar after you're done, as foobar may play other sound files in your playlist back-to-back, automatically, indefinitely. Unless you've planned out your micspam for the evening to all play perfectly in series in a specific playlist, you'll need to tab out and switch the playback queue in foobar to whatever you'd like to play next.

You will need an additional piece of software to go with everything else: VB-Voicemeeter. Put the shortcut for it somewhere convenient, preferably on the desktop.

https://www.vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/

I could try and make a lengthy passage about how to do this, but I feel like this video explains it best:


Substitute Overwatch for Overwatch Classic TF2 and EXP Soundboard for foobar2000 and voila.


'terms of service' my ass





[3 years later...]

Is the video broken? It's broken, isn't it? Fortunately, I just remembered how to rig this guide's mic set-up to Voicemeeter.

VB-Voicemeeter is a mixer of audio channels. It allows for a user to hook multiple sources of audio into multiple outputs for audio. In the simple case of wanting to rig a microphone to be usable alongside micspam, one need only adjust the channels from the main microphone and foobar2000 to use the same output.

First, the disclaimer: Unfortunately, this section is for neither the faint of heart nor of soul. Even back when the video was available to watch on the world's #1 tube platform, that sacred video was one of the only sources of information (actually, it was the only source of information I could find) that explained the Voicemeeter-micspam method with any semblance of detail. It was the best resource for the aspiring micspammer, and with it gone, I now have to recall the details of it myself. This means that you, dearest reader, will have to pull more weight in configuring this beast should something not be clear. Please, thank either youtube or Blizzard for the take-down. Thank them very much.

(On the bright side, the method is simple and shouldn't have changed since its inception. The following part will assume the reader has configured a set-up for micspam adherent to what the guide has offered thus far)

Before even starting, you must reconfigure your system's sound settings. Set Voicemeeter as your default recorder, and it may be necessary to switch foobar2000's output to use Voicemeeter. If any of these actions render later events inoperative, try the guide, from this point on, without performing some or all of the actions in this paragraph.

With Voicemeeter downloaded, first make certain it's somewhere convenient. Open it, and you should notice the slick lay-out it offers. Most of it is self-explanatory, but let's go through the process just for kicks.


Begin by opening the drop-down menus labelled 'A1' and 'A2;' 'A1' should use your system's sound card, and if I am not mistaken, 'A2' should pipe into your virtual cable. Proceeding, open
the selection for either of the 'HARDWARE INPUT' drop-down menus. You should see your physical microphone listed here. Select it, then highlight the 'B' button associated with that input. With your physical microphone on, try saying something through it. The B channel on the top-left portion of the window should show some activity, and if not, make sure your mic can be heard through other applications. You may also wish to check the 'A' button for this input temporarily; microphone aspects, such as gain and equalization, may need to be adjusted in Voicemeeter to sound intelligible in-game. The 'A' button should be switched off when micspamming, unless you wish to hear yourself twice through your speakers.

Next, fire up foobar2000, and prepare your favorite micspam for testing purposes. Voicemeeter should automatically communicate with the virtual cable, as seen in the third column from the left in the window, but if it does not, select the virtual cable from the drop-down menu or, if that is not present, you may be able to find it listed in the other hardware-input menu. Just make sure it's on Voicemeeter somewhere. Highlight the 'B' button for this input, as well. Play your micspam through foobar2000, and confirm that said micspam did indeed cause some bars to move in the upper-left section of Voicemeeter.

At last, try using both of the inputs together. You should hear nothing, but see movement. Now, try enabling the A channels for both the virtual cable and your physical mic. Sound should now be routed through both the Voicemeeter output, as well as your hardware's sound card. Do you like it? Do you want it to be better? Now is the time for last-minute adjustments, but remember that only the B channels should be enabled when you are micspamming. Keep Voicemeeter open. There is one last thing to do.


Steam and TF2 must now read Voicemeeter's output, rather than VB's virtual-cable output (which was, until this extra part of the guide, the goal). Steam's new UI stinks worse than a pile of dailies, so I can only recommend what has already been said in this guide in regards to switching your Steam and TF2 settings to take Voicemeeter output. Once that's done, though, open up the king of all games and test your voice. The results may or may not impress you!


Please tell me if this method worked and, if it did not work, what you did to either make it work or make it continue to not work.


P.S.
It has come to my attention that there is now a new flavor of Voicemeeter, known as "Voicemeeter Banana." It can be found here:
https://vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/banana.htm
And let's not forget your starches!
https://vb-audio.com/Voicemeeter/potato.htm
I have no knowledge of these versions of the software, so I probably can't offer much in the way of help for such devices, though it's worth noting that they are close descendants of the original Voicemeeter. Perhaps they're more powerful.

This section of the guide comes with absolutely no warranty. If symptoms worsen, contact your physician or nearest witch-doctor. Do not attempt if you are pregnant or nursing. Side effects may include sound not piping properly, and a need to fiddle with the method. This method has not been evaluated by the FDA.

Thanks, and stay beautiful.