Play clips through your Microsoft Teams microphone—even when you are not sharing
Teams can already share computer sound, but that feature belongs to screen sharing and can expose every sound the computer makes, including notifications. BordQ solves a different problem: it combines your microphone with chosen clips, music, or cues and presents the mix to Teams as one microphone through CABLE Output.
That persistent microphone route works in ordinary meetings, camera-only presentations, and breakout-room conversations without keeping Share open. The two Teams settings that decide quality are equally important: noise suppression can remove non-speech audio, while high-fidelity music mode preserves more of it.
“Include sound” shares a computer; CABLE Output behaves like a microphone.
Share → Include sound is ideal when the meeting should hear the video or presentation already on your computer. It is tied to an active share, and Microsoft warns that all computer audio—including notifications—can be included. On the web, tab sharing can isolate the current tab, but it still belongs to the sharing lane.
Choose the cable route when sound must travel with your voice without presenting a screen: classroom cues, workshop timers, remote-production stings, music demonstrations, or breakout-room prompts. Keep Speaker set to your physical headset. If meeting playback enters VB-Cable, remote voices return to the call as echo.
- Virtual Cable (Output): VB-Cable Input
- Microphone: CABLE Output
- Speaker: Physical headset
Microphone route, Include sound, or tab audio?
The best method depends on whether the audio belongs to your voice, a whole presentation, or one browser tab.
- BordQ → CABLE Output microphone
Triggered clips plus live speech in normal meetings and breakout rooms.
Requires one virtual-device setup and speech-processing changes.
Use this for a persistent soundboard that works without sharing a screen.
- Share → Include sound
A video, slide deck, demo, or application already being presented.
Needs an active share and can include notifications and unrelated computer audio.
Use this when the audience should hear the same complete presentation mix you hear.
- Browser tab audio
Sharing only the sound from one supported browser tab.
Still tied to sharing and not a mic-only or native desktop-app route.
Use it for a single web video; use BordQ for hotkeys and mixed microphone audio.
Route BordQ into Microsoft Teams in five steps
Build the clean microphone path first, then turn off processing that mistakes music and effects for background noise.
- Install BordQ and confirm both cable endpoints
Install BordQ on Windows and finish the included VB-Cable driver setup. Restart Windows if the devices are missing, then verify CABLE Input under playback and CABLE Output under recording.
The names describe direction inside the cable: BordQ plays into Input; Teams records from Output.
- Mix your mic and clips inside BordQ
In BordQ Audio Setup, select your physical microphone and set Virtual Cable (Output) to VB-Cable Input. Trigger a short clip and speak while watching the meter.
Use headphones and keep incoming Teams audio on the physical headset, never on VB-Cable Input.
- Select CABLE Output as the Teams microphone
Open Teams Settings → Devices or Audio settings and choose CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable) under Microphone. Leave Speaker on the real headset. Use Make a test call when your Teams account offers it.
If Teams was open while the driver changed, quit and reopen Teams so it enumerates the device again.
- Disable speech processing for clips or music
Turn off Voice isolation and set Noise suppression to Off when using high-fidelity music mode. Microsoft notes that High noise suppression removes all non-speech, which is exactly what a soundboard sends.
For an occasional cue, Low may work; for reliable music or effects, use the dedicated music mode and test remotely.
- Enable high-fidelity music mode and run a remote test
Enable high-fidelity music mode before the meeting, then activate its music-note control during the meeting. Ask another participant to judge speech, one effect, and music. Turn off spatial audio if Teams reports a conflict.
The local monitor is not the Teams codec. Only a remote listener or recording reveals what survived transmission.
High-fidelity music mode changes what Teams tries to keep
Teams is optimized for meetings by default. Music mode reduces the processing that normally treats sustained audio as noise.
- Noise suppression: High — Removes non-speech
Bad for soundboards: effects and music are intentionally non-speech.
- High-fidelity music mode — Up to 32 kHz / 128 kbps
Designed for music and can lower bitrate when bandwidth requires it.
- Spatial audio — Not available with music mode
Turn it off before relying on high-fidelity music mode.
Voice isolation also tries to retain the enrolled speaker and filter other sounds. Disable it when the soundboard is part of the intended microphone signal.
Fix clips that disappear, echo, or share too much
Check the cable meter first, then the Teams meter, then a remote listener. Each proves a different section.
- Speech passes, but clips fade or vanish — Teams processing is classifying the clip as noise. Turn off Voice isolation and Noise suppression, enable high-fidelity music mode, and activate the music-note control in the meeting.
- Participants hear themselves as echo — Teams playback is entering VB-Cable or an open physical microphone. Set Speaker to the headset, use headphones, and remove any Listen to this device or loopback route.
- CABLE Output does not appear in Teams — Finish the driver install, restart Windows, confirm microphone privacy permission, then fully quit and reopen Teams. Managed-device policy can also hide or restrict audio features.
- Include sound shares notifications — That behavior is expected because computer sound can include all system audio. Use tab-only audio for one browser tab or switch to BordQ’s mic route for selected clips.
Choose the route before the meeting begins
Why not just use Include sound in Teams?
Use Include sound when audio belongs to an active presentation. Use BordQ when clips must work as part of your microphone without screen sharing, in breakout rooms, or without exposing notifications and unrelated apps.
Which Teams microphone should I select?
Select CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable). BordQ sends the mix into CABLE Input, and Teams records the signal emerging from CABLE Output.
Why does Teams remove my music or effects?
Noise suppression and Voice isolation are designed to reject non-speech. Turn them off, enable high-fidelity music mode, and activate the music-note control during the meeting.
Can I use high-fidelity music mode with spatial audio?
No. Microsoft documents that high-fidelity music mode is unavailable while spatial audio is active. Disable spatial audio and test again.
Will everyone hear Windows notifications?
The BordQ mic route sends only what you place in its mix. Include sound can share all computer audio, including notifications; supported web tab sharing can restrict audio to one tab.
Official Microsoft Teams references
Teams changes over time and organizations can manage available settings. These Microsoft pages document high-fidelity music mode and computer-sound sharing.
Make clips part of the microphone—not part of the screen share.
Download BordQ, route the mix to CABLE Output, keep Teams playback in your headset, and test with high-fidelity music mode. Pro adds the full soundboard workspace, Live Audio, Voice Personas, Voice Changer, and Mobile Remote without a subscription.
Choose the right route for the next room
- Understand VB-Cable — Learn which endpoint sends, which records, and why the names appear reversed.
- Play music through a microphone — See how voice codecs and noise suppression damage music.
- Set up audio in Zoom — Compare Original Sound and Zoom’s own share-computer-audio lane.
- Build the BordQ soundboard — Import clips, normalize levels, assign global hotkeys, and organize meeting profiles.