Elgato Wave Link vs MicMixer

Elgato Wave Link is a free audio routing and effects app for streamers, podcasters, professionals, and other content creators. It works with USB and XLR microphones, third-party interfaces, headsets, and capture cards recognized by the computer. A horizontal routing matrix lets users direct audio sources to outputs, with up to five independent mixes and separate routing and volume levels. Users can group multiple applications, such as Zoom, Teams, Discord, Spotify, or Chrome, into one channel. The app supports VST3 effects on Windows and Audio Unit effects on macOS, with unlimited effects per input. Mixes can feed OBS Studio, MS Teams, or any application that accepts audio input. Its Stream Deck plugin can change volume, mute channels, toggle effects, and switch mixes. The Wave Link 3.0 plan lists up to eight software or non-Wave inputs, four Wave-device inputs, and five virtual mixes. Windows requires Windows 11 and 8 GB RAM; macOS requires version 15.0 or newer and 8 GB RAM.

MicMixer is a free, open-source Windows application that combines a microphone, music, and an optional voice changer into one virtual microphone for games, Discord, and other voice-chat software. Push-to-talk can gate the outgoing mix, while a setting allows music to continue during microphone gating. A configurable hotkey switches between normal and modified microphone modes, with an optional release delay. Music can come from local MP3 files, a YouTube link downloaded to MP3, or audio captured from a running application such as Spotify. A secondary output sends the complete mix to hardware that OBS Studio or Streamlabs Desktop can capture. MicMixer also provides a click-through status overlay and a local webpage usable as a browser source. It requires a virtual audio cable, with VB-CABLE recommended by the maker. The app supports Windows 10 and 11 on x64 and is self-contained.