help for Levels.

what you need.

• Stream Deck +For the dials, the touch strip and the Levels pages. The keys also work on the other Stream Deck models.
• The Stream Deck app, version 7.1 or laterFree, from Elgato’s website.
• A Windows 10 or 11 PCLevels doesn’t run on macOS.
• OptionalSteelSeries Sonar (Levels drives its faders) and the Levels Soundboard expansion, sold separately. No account, no internet connection.

install in 5 steps.

1. 1

   Double-click the plugin file

   Installing from the Elgato Marketplace? Stream Deck adds Levels by itself: go to step 2. Got the file? Double-click design.frenetiq.levels.streamDeckPlugin. The Stream Deck app opens and adds Levels.

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2. 2

   Put Channel on the four dials

   In the Stream Deck app, open the Dials tab of the action list on the right and find the Levels category. Drag Channel onto each of the four dials. Each dial picks its channel from its place: Game, Chat, Media, Master. Nothing to set up.

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3. 3

   Add the keys you want

   In the Keys tab, the same Levels category has Mic, Mute all, Mix, Priority, Output, Levels and Back. Drag the ones you like onto your pages. They are all optional: Levels works with the dials alone.

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4. 4

   Open the Levels pages

   Drag the Levels key onto one of your pages and press it. The first time, Stream Deck asks to add the Levels profile: accept. Its three pages (Levels, Presets, Outputs) open. Back, top left, takes you to your page again.

   
5. 5

   If your antivirus asks, allow it

   Levels includes a small program, Levels.AudioHelper.exe, that talks to Windows audio. Stream Deck starts and stops it with the plugin. If your antivirus or Windows SmartScreen asks about it, allow it: without it Levels can’t change any volume.

Done. Turn a dial: the strip shows the level and what is playing.

the levels pages.

Levels comes with a profile of three ready-made pages for Stream Deck +. Keys on top, the four channels on the dials. The pages wear the skin you picked on your own pages.

Page 1 of 3

Levels

The mixer: open it with a Levels key from any page of yours.

• 
  BackTop row, 1st key

  Goes back to your own page, however many Levels pages you visited.

  ActionBack
• 
  MicTop row, 2nd key

  Mutes and unmutes your voice in every app. Red Muted while you can’t be heard.

  ActionMic
• 
  Mute allTop row, 3rd key

  A quick pause: silences everything at once. Press again to resume.

  ActionMute all
• 
  Chat firstTop row, 4th key

  Voices first: while someone talks in Chat, Game and Media step back. Press to turn it on or off.

  ActionPriority
• 
  Media firstBottom row, 1st key

  Videos and music first: while Media plays, Game steps back. Press to turn it on or off.

  ActionPriority
• 
  PresetsBottom row, 2nd key

  Opens the Presets page.

  ActionLevels
• 
  OutputsBottom row, 3rd key

  Opens the Outputs page.

  ActionLevels
• 
  SoundboardBottom row, 4th key

  Opens the soundboard of Levels Soundboard. Without the expansion it reads Get it and opens its page on the Marketplace.

  ActionLevels

Dials1Game2Chat3Media4Master

Page 2 of 3

Presets

Your mixes. Press one to use it, hold it for a second to save your current levels into it.

• 
  BackTop row, 1st key

  Back to the Levels page when you came from there, otherwise to your own page.

  ActionBack
• 
  Game mixTop row, 2nd key

  Game 80, Chat 50, Media 25. Press again to go back to the levels you had.

  ActionMix
• 
  Call mixTop row, 3rd key

  Game 35, Chat 90, Media 20. Press again to go back to the levels you had.

  ActionMix
• 
  Music mixTop row, 4th key

  Game 30, Chat 50, Media 80. Press again to go back to the levels you had.

  ActionMix
• 
  Mix4 keys

  Empty until you save one: hold it for a second to save your current levels.

  ActionMix

Dials1Game2Chat3Media4Master

Page 3 of 3

Outputs

Your devices, one per key. Select each key in the Stream Deck app and tick one device in its settings.

• 
  BackTop row, 1st key

  Back to the Levels page when you came from there, otherwise to your own page.

  ActionBack
• 
  Output7 keys

  Shows a device’s name and lights up with In use while it plays. Press to switch there.

  ActionOutput

Dials1Game2Chat3Media4Master

dials and touch strip.

Every Levels dial works the same way, whatever its channel.

Reading the touch strip

Each cell shows the channel’s name in its colour (grey when muted), the level from 0 to 100%, and what is playing right now: the game’s name, Spotify, Discord… If nothing is, it reads a note such as No game running or Nothing playing. Skins with meters add a live level bar or a VU needle. The look depends on the skin; the information is always the same.

One app at a time

1. Touch the strip of Game, Chat or Media. The strip shows one app’s name and its place in the channel, for example Chat · 1/3.
2. Now the dial works on that app only: turn, press to mute, press and turn for fine steps.
3. Touch again for the next app. After the last one, the dial controls the whole channel again.
4. A long touch, or 8 seconds without touching, also brings it back.

The app’s level is its share of the channel, so turning the whole channel afterwards still moves it with the others. Master, Mic and Sounds have no apps to step through: touching their strip shows Stream Deck’s warning sign.

The six channels

To change what a dial controls, select it in the Stream Deck app and pick a Channel.

A channel moves all of its apps together and keeps the balance between them. To change that balance, set the app in the Windows volume mixer: Levels notices and remembers it. Levels remembers the Game, Chat, Media and Sounds levels after a restart; Master and Mic are kept by Windows.

Max volume

Pick a Max volume in a dial’s settings, from No limit down to 50%. The dial never turns the channel above it; when you try, the strip says so for a moment, for example Max 70%. Master stays under it also with the Windows volume keys, and with SteelSeries Sonar every channel does.

every action and its settings.

Select a Levels key or dial in the Stream Deck app: its settings open under the picture of your Stream Deck. These are all the actions of the Levels category, with every setting.

Channel

Dial

One channel on a dial: turn for the volume, press to mute, touch the strip to control one app at a time (see Dials and touch strip).

Turn

Volume

Press

Mute

Touch

Apps one by one

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

Channel

Game Chat Media Master Mic Sounds · soundboards (Sonar Aux)What the dial controls: see the six channels.

Background

Solid Transparent · Light Transparent · Dark Transparent · Channel colorsHow the touch strip is painted: see Skins. Choose it on one dial and the others follow.

Animations

On · live meters Off · for slower PCsLive meters redraw the strips many times a second. Turn them off if Stream Deck feels slow; it applies to every dial of this Stream Deck.

Max volume

No limit 90% 80% 70% 60% 50%Protects your ears: the dial never turns the channel above it. Set it on any dial of a channel and all its dials follow.

Press

Mute Open LevelsOpen Levels: pressing the dial opens the Levels page (Stream Deck + only). Press and turn still fine-tunes.

Apps

The apps with sound right now, each with a channel to pick: Auto, Game, Chat, Media or No channel.

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Mic

Key

Mutes and unmutes your voice in every app, whatever microphone the app records from: your default microphone and the real microphone your voice starts from. It reads Muted in red while you can’t be heard.

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

Mute all

Key

A quick pause: silences everything at once. Press again to resume, at the levels you had.

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

Mix

Key

Sets Game, Chat and Media to a saved mix. Press it again to go back to the levels you had before. Hold it for about a second to save your current levels into it: a check mark confirms. It reads Active while your channels match the mix.

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

Preset

Game mix Call mix Music mix My mixEach preset starts from its own levels (Game mix 80 · 50 · 25, Call mix 35 · 90 · 20, Music mix 30 · 50 · 80); My mix is empty until you save one.

Name

Up to 12 characters.The name on the key.

Game

From 0 to 100

Chat

From 0 to 100

Media

From 0 to 100Choosing a preset sets its starting levels; adjust them with the sliders. Press the key to use the mix, or hold it for a second to save your current levels into it.

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Priority

Key

Lets voices, or videos and music, come first: the other channels step back while they play, and come back up gently afterwards. The key reads Off or On, and Talking or Playing while it lowers the others. Your dials keep their levels: only what you hear changes, and the strip of a lowered channel reads Lowered for Chat or Lowered for Media.

Media first waits a couple of seconds before bringing Game back, so the gap between two songs doesn’t bring it up. Chat first and Media first can be on together, on two keys. With SteelSeries Sonar, Sonar’s faders move.

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

Priority

Chat first · voices over everything Media first · videos and music over the game

Lower by

From 10% to 90% (50% to start)How much quieter the others sound: 50% is about half as loud.

Lower Chat too

Lower Chat too

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Output

Key

Switches your output device, for example headphones and speakers. The key shows the device in use. With nothing ticked it switches between your real devices and skips virtual ones (Sonar’s, Voicemod’s). Tick devices to choose exactly which ones it steps through; tick just one and the key always switches to that device.

Your headset comes back. When your headset disconnects, Windows moves the sound elsewhere; when it reconnects, Levels makes it the default output again. This works with or without an Output key.

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

Switch between

Your output devices, ticked one by one.Leave all unchecked to switch between your real devices and the current one.

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Levels

Key

Opens a page of the Levels profile: the mixer, your presets, your outputs, or the soundboard of Levels Soundboard. Stream Deck + only: on other models it shows a warning sign and opens nothing.

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

Opens

Levels · the mixer page Presets · your mixes Outputs · your devices Soundboard · with Levels Soundboard

Animation

On · moves with your sound Off · for slower PCsThe Levels key moves with your sound. Off for slower PCs.

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Back

Key

On the Levels pages: goes back to where you were. If Stream Deck can’t go back, the key shows a yellow warning sign: see Open Levels from your profiles.

Settings

Skin

Every skin you have installed. Levels comes with the plugin.

skins.

Pick a skin

1. Select any Levels key or dial in the Stream Deck app.
2. Open Skin and pick one.
3. Every Levels key and dial of that Stream Deck switches to it, so a page always looks like one design. The Levels pages follow it too, unless you picked a skin inside one of them.

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Levels comes with the Levels skin. Skins sold as Stream Deck profiles install themselves: import the profile and its skin shows up in the Skin menu everywhere. Installed skins are kept in %APPDATA%\design.frenetiq.levels\skins and survive Levels updates. To try them all first, use the skin simulator.

Background of the touch strip

Animations

Live meters redraw the strips many times a second. If Stream Deck feels slow, set Animations to Off · for slower PCs in a dial’s settings: the meters stand still and everything else works. It applies to every dial of that Stream Deck.

Icon packs

An image you set on a key yourself always wins over Levels’ drawing. Keys that switch on and off (Mic, Mute all, Mix, Priority) use an icon pack’s two images and change with the state.

open levels from your profiles.

Keep your own profile on screen and jump to Levels when you need it. Back brings you home.

From a key

1. Drag the Levels key onto a page of your profile.
2. In its settings, Opens picks the page: the mixer, Presets, Outputs or the Soundboard.
3. Press it. Back on the Levels page returns to that page of yours.

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From a dial

1. Select a Levels Channel dial on your page.
2. Set Press to Open Levels.
3. Turning still changes the volume; pressing the dial opens the Levels page. Press and turn still fine-tunes.

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How Back works

• On the Levels page, Back always takes you to your own page, however many Levels pages you visited.
• On Presets and Outputs, Back returns to the Levels page when you came from there, otherwise to your own page.
• If Stream Deck can’t go back, for example right after the Stream Deck app restarted, Back shows a yellow warning sign. Pick your profile once in the Stream Deck app, then open Levels again.

You can add pages of your own to the Levels profile in the Stream Deck app. The pages are made for Stream Deck +.

levels soundboard.

Levels has no soundboard of its own: the soundboard is Levels Soundboard, an expansion sold separately. Seven categories of your own sounds, browsed with the dials, played through Levels and its Sounds channel.

The Soundboard key on the Levels page reads Open when the expansion is installed, and opens it. Without it, the key reads Get it. Everything about it: Levels Soundboard help.

your apps, sonar and voicemod.

Choose which apps go where

1. Start the app so it plays some sound.
2. In the Stream Deck app, select any Levels dial. Its settings show Apps: every app with sound right now, with a green dot on the ones playing.
3. Next to the app, pick Game, Chat, Media or No channel. It moves right away; Levels remembers it, also after updates. Pick Auto to give it back to Levels.

Putting an app on Game makes it the game: useful for a game Levels doesn’t find by itself.

SteelSeries Sonar

When Sonar runs in Classic mode, the dials drive Sonar’s own faders: Game, Chat and Media move Sonar’s Game, Chat and Media; Master moves Sonar’s master; Mic controls Sonar’s microphone when it is your Windows default. Moving a fader in SteelSeries GG moves the dial too. Apps follow the routing you set in SteelSeries GG. If Sonar moves its channels to another device at startup, Levels puts each channel back on the device you chose, as soon as it is available. In Streamer mode Levels ignores Sonar and controls apps directly.

Voicemod, Discord and other virtual microphones

The Mic key mutes your default microphone and the real microphone your voice starts from, so every path goes silent, whichever microphone Discord or any other app records from. Unmuting turns back on exactly what Levels turned off. Discord is on the Chat channel.

if something doesn’t work.

Still stuck? Contact support with your Stream Deck model and what happens.

privacy and uninstall.

Levels works entirely on your PC. It collects no data, sends nothing over the internet and needs no account. It talks only to Windows audio and, if you have them, to SteelSeries Sonar and Levels Soundboard on your own computer.

1. To uninstall: in the Stream Deck app open Preferences › Plugins, select Levels and remove it.
2. To remove your installed skins, app choices and game levels too, delete the folder %APPDATA%\design.frenetiq.levels.
3. Windows keeps each app at the last volume Levels set. To reset one, use the Windows volume mixer.

version notes.

• Version 1.0.2this version
  • First version on the Elgato Marketplace.
  • A Channel dial can open the Levels pages: set Press to Open Levels.
  • Back shows a warning sign when Stream Deck can’t go back, instead of doing nothing.
  • Back from the soundboard returns to your page when you opened it from your page.