When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works .
Watch On For context, the Steam Controller doesn't have a speaker; there are two linear actuators under each trackpad that vibrate to provide haptic feedback. Previous projects have leveraged these components to make the controller vibrate in a certain way. Since vibrations are the basis of sound, Valve itself built a secret easter egg into the controller that randomly makes it do a Wilhelm scream when dropped from certain heights.
Pixel 1011 discovered that the haptic motors inside can be targeted with low-level HID (Human Interface Device) feature commands using HIDAPI. As such, Steam Haptics Player takes an audio file, downsamples it through FFmpeg, splits it into chunks of a PCM stream, and sends those packets directly to the controller, bypassing high-level software like Steam Input. The controller's firmware then feeds this raw data to the motors, at which point they vibrate to produce sound.
Because of the DIY nature of this process, bandwidth is an issue, especially wirelessly, since the puck isn't designed to carry audio data over its radio signal. This means the audio has to be compressed, and there's a limit to the overall quality the motors can transmit — 8-bit 8kHz (μ-law) over the puck and 16-bit 8kHz PCM over a wire.
Still, the 16-bit audio is enough to produce a surprisingly loud and balanced result that can deceive you as if it's coming from a speaker. The video at the start features Pixel1011 playing the song " Want You Gone " from the end credits of Portal 2, and you can hear the quality for yourself. There's a genuine low-end that you would never expect from a jerry-rigged setup like this, even if it's sitting on top of a towel on a flat surface to give it its best chance.
New web app can make Valve's Steam Controller drift across your desk like an RC car
Enthusiast creates DIY "OpenPuck" for Steam Controller 2 to natively emulate Xbox, Switch, & PS controllers
Modded Steam Controller can automatically charge itself like a robot vacuum
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/controllers-gamepads/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/controllers-gamepads/modder-turns-steam-controller-trackpad-haptics-into-stereo-speakers-with-custom-hid-tool-wired-connection-transmits-16-bit-audio-that-sounds-surprisingly-full#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
- Amazon cracks down on 'CPU waste' among engineers as agentic AI crunch intensifies — CPU demand makes low-utilization EC2 instances a hot commodity [Updated]
- Rogue OpenAI models behind 'unprecedented cybersecurity incident' teamed up to break out of their testing environment — multiple agents left each other messages
- Save $160 off AMD's ultimate gaming CPU combo, includes motherboard and chip cooler — $458 combo features Ryzen 7 9800X3D, B850 motherboard, and a 240mm liquid
- As AI Increases Demands on Memory, Storage Steps Up
- $4,429 order for a ROG Astral RTX 5090 cancelled by Nvidia due to a 'late' price increase, with Asus blamed — marketplace buyer refunded after immediate $500 in
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.