What you need
- Windows 10 or 11. Levels does not run on macOS.
- Stream Deck app 7.1 or later.
- Stream Deck + for the dials, the touch strip and the Levels pages. The other keys work on every Stream Deck model.
- Optional: SteelSeries Sonar (Levels controls its faders), and the Levels Soundboard expansion, sold separately.
Nothing else to install. Levels needs no account and no internet connection.
Install
- Open the Levels page on the Elgato Marketplace and install it. The Stream Deck app opens and adds the plugin.
- In the Stream Deck app, find the Levels category in the actions list on the right.
- Drag Channel onto each of the four dials. Each dial picks its channel from its position, so there is nothing to set up:
- Add any keys you like from the same category (Mic, Mute all, Mix, Priority, Output, Levels…). They are all optional: Levels works with the dials alone.
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 asks about it, allow it: without it Levels can't change any volume.
Dials and touch strip
Every dial works the same way, whatever its channel.
| Gesture | What it does |
|---|---|
| Turn | Changes the volume by 2% per click. Spin fast and it moves in bigger steps, from 0 to 100 in a flick. |
| Press and turn | Fine adjustment: 1% per click. The strip shows Fine adjust while you hold the dial. |
| Press | Mutes the channel. Press again to unmute: everything comes back at the level it had. |
| Touch the strip | On Game, Chat and Media: controls the channel's apps one at a time, see One app at a time. |
Reading the touch strip
- 1Channel name, in the channel's color. Grey when muted.
- 2Level, 0 to 100%.
- 3What is playing right now: the game's real name, "Spotify", "Discord"… If nothing is, you read a note such as No game running or Nothing playing. While the Priority key lowers the channel, it reads Lowered for Chat or Lowered for Media.
- 4Live meter, with skins that have one: a level bar with peak marker, or a VU needle. It stands still when Animations is off.
The look depends on the skin; the information is always the same.
Levels remembers the Game, Chat, Media and Sounds levels when you restart the PC or Stream Deck. Master and Mic are kept by Windows itself.
One app at a time
Touch the strip of Game, Chat or Media to take a single app out of the group. The strip shows the app's name on top and its place in the channel below, for example Chat · 1/3. Now the dial works on that app only:
- Turn to change its volume, press to mute it, press and turn for fine adjustment.
- Touch again for the next app. After the last one, the next touch brings the dial back to the whole channel.
- A long touch, or 8 seconds without touching, turning or pressing, also brings it back.
The app's level is its share of the channel, so turning the whole channel afterwards still moves it together with the others. A muted app stays muted, also after a restart. If the whole channel is muted, pressing the dial on an app unmutes the channel.
Master, Mic and Sounds have no apps to step through, nor has a channel with nothing open: touching their strip shows Stream Deck's warning sign.
Max volume
To protect your ears, pick a Max volume in a dial's settings: No limit, or 90% 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%.
- The limit belongs to the channel: set it on any dial of that channel and all its dials follow. Levels keeps it after a restart.
- Master stays under its limit even when you raise it with the Windows volume keys. With SteelSeries Sonar, every channel does, also when moved in SteelSeries GG.
The dial's settings also have Animations, for slower PCs: see Skins and backgrounds.
The six channels
To change what a dial controls, select it in the Stream Deck app and pick a Channel.
| Channel | Controls |
|---|---|
| Game | The game you are playing, found automatically in your Steam, Epic Games, GOG, Xbox / PC Game Pass, EA app and Ubisoft Connect libraries, and among the games Windows recognizes. The dial stays on that game until you close it. Each game comes back at the Game level you last set while playing it; a new game starts where the dial is. |
| Chat | Discord, TeamSpeak and Microsoft Teams. |
| Media | Spotify, Chrome, Edge, Firefox and VLC. |
| Master | Your output device, like the Windows volume. |
| Mic | Your default microphone: its level, mute, and a live meter of your voice. |
| Sounds | How loud the sounds of the Levels Soundboard expansion play. With SteelSeries Sonar it also drives Sonar's Aux fader, where Sonar puts soundboards such as Voicemod's: the strip shows what plays there. Without either, this channel has nothing to control. |
A channel moves all of its apps together, including apps that open later, and keeps the balance between them. If Spotify is at half the level of your browser, turning Media keeps it at half. To change that balance, set the app in the Windows volume mixer: Levels notices and remembers it.
Apps that don't fit a channel (your wallpaper, system sounds) are left alone. To move an app to another channel, see Choose which apps go where.
Keys
All keys are optional. Each one shows its state in words, so you can read it from across the desk.
| Key | What it does | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Mic | Mutes and unmutes your voice in every app, whatever microphone the app records from. Red Muted while you can't be heard. | Skin |
| Mute all | A quick pause: silences everything at once. Press again to resume. | Skin |
| Mix | Sets Game, Chat and Media to a saved mix. Press it again to go back to the levels you had before. | Preset, name, the three levels |
| Priority | Lets voices, or videos and music, come first: the other channels step back while they play. The key reads Off or On, and Talking or Playing while it lowers the others. | Priority, Lower by, Lower Chat too |
| Output | Switches your output device, for example headphones ↔ speakers. The key shows the device in use. | Switch between |
| Levels | Opens a page of the Levels profile: the mixer, your presets or your outputs. Stream Deck + only. | Opens |
| Back | On the Levels pages: goes back to where you were. | Skin |
Mix presets
Choose a preset in the key's settings. Each one starts from these levels, which you can change with the sliders:
| Preset | Game | Chat | Media |
|---|---|---|---|
| Game mix | 80 | 50 | 25 |
| Call mix | 35 | 90 | 20 |
| Music mix | 30 | 50 | 80 |
| My mix | Empty until you save one | ||
- Save your current levels into a mix: hold the key for about a second. A check mark confirms it.
- Rename it: type a name (up to 12 characters) in its settings.
- The key reads Active while your channels match the mix.
Priority
Choose what comes first in the key's Priority setting:
- Chat first · voices over everything. While someone talks in Chat, Game and Media step back at once, and come back up gently shortly after the last word. The key reads Chat first, and Talking while it lowers the others.
- Media first · videos and music over the game. While a video or music plays in Media, Game steps back. Tick Lower Chat too to lower Chat as well. Game waits a couple of seconds before coming back, so the gap between two songs doesn't bring it up. The key reads Media first, and Playing while it lowers the others.
Lower by, from 10% to 90% (50% to start), is how much quieter the others sound: 50% is about half as loud. Press the key to turn the priority on or off; Levels remembers it. Chat first and Media first can be on together, on two keys.
Your dials keep their levels: only what you hear changes. The strip of a lowered channel reads Lowered for Chat or Lowered for Media. With SteelSeries Sonar, Sonar's faders move, and only what apps play into that Sonar channel counts.
Output
With no device ticked in its settings, the key switches between your real devices (headphones, speakers, monitors) and skips virtual ones such as Sonar's or Voicemod's. Tick devices in Switch between to choose exactly which ones it cycles through; tick just one and the key always switches to that device.
Your headset comes back. If your output device disappears, for example when you switch your headset off, Windows moves the sound to another device. When the headset reconnects, Levels makes it the default output again. If you pick another default while both are connected, that becomes the one Levels brings back. This works with or without an Output key.
With SteelSeries Sonar, too. At startup, or when a headset is switched off and on, Sonar may move its channels (Game, Chat, Media, Aux) to another device, for example a virtual one such as Voicemod's Dummy Output. Levels remembers the device you chose for each channel and puts the channel back on it as soon as it is available again; for a SteelSeries wireless headset, as soon as the headset itself is on. If you move a channel to another device in SteelSeries GG yourself, Levels keeps your new choice. The microphone is left as you set it.
The Levels pages
Levels comes with a profile of three ready-made pages for Stream Deck +. Put a Levels key on one of your own pages and press it to open them.
- Drag the Levels key onto one of your pages. In its settings, Opens picks the page it opens: Levels · the mixer page, Presets · your mixes or Outputs · your devices.
- Press it. The first time, Stream Deck asks to add the Levels profile: accept.
- Press Back to return to your own page.
Levels
Keys on top, dials below. Presets and Outputs open the other two pages.
The Soundboard key reads Open when the Levels Soundboard expansion is installed, and opens its soundboard. Without it, the key reads Get it.
Presets
Mix keys, see Mix presets. Hold one of My mix 1–4 for a second to save your levels into it.
Outputs
Select each Output key in the Stream Deck app and tick one device in Switch between. The key then shows that device's name and lights up with In use while it plays; press it to switch there. A key with several devices ticked, or none, steps through them and shows the device in use.
Good to know
- Back on the Levels page always takes you to your own page, however many Levels pages you visited. On Presets and Outputs it returns to the Levels page when you came from there, otherwise to your own page.
- The pages wear the skin you picked on your own pages. Pick a skin on a key or dial inside a Levels page and that page keeps it.
- You can add pages of your own to the Levels profile in the Stream Deck app.
- The pages are made for Stream Deck +. On other models the Levels key shows a warning sign and opens nothing.
Levels Soundboard
Levels has no soundboard of its own: the soundboard is Levels Soundboard, an expansion sold separately. It gives you seven categories with two pages of six sounds each, 84 sounds in all, that you browse with the dials. It requires Levels: its sounds play through Levels and follow the Sounds channel.
- Install Levels Soundboard from the Marketplace. A Levels Soundboard category appears in the actions list.
- Drag its Soundboard key onto one of your pages and press it, or press Soundboard on the Levels page. The first time, accept the profile Stream Deck offers to add.
- Open a category, select each sound key in the Stream Deck app and choose its file.
The home page
Back returns to the page you came from.
A category page
Categories returns to the home page. Stop silences everything playing.
| Dial | Turn | Press or tap |
|---|---|---|
| Categories | Picks a category (shown on the strip) | Opens it |
| Game, Chat | Your Levels channels, as usual | |
| Pages | Flips between page 1 and 2 of the category | Back to page 1; on the home page, back to where you came from |
Swiping the touch strip moves between pages too. If a key reads Needs Levels, Levels is not installed or not running: install it, or restart the Stream Deck app. If a sound file is moved or deleted, its key shows File missing: pick the file again.
Sounds play on your output, so you hear them; people in your call don't. If you use Voicemod, you can put Voicemod's own Play Sound action on the soundboard pages in place of the Sound keys: Voicemod plays the sound into your microphone, so your friends in the call hear it too.
Skins and backgrounds
Pick a Skin in the settings of any Levels key or dial. Every Levels key and dial on 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.
Background of the touch strip
In a dial's settings, Background sets how the strip is painted. Choose it on one dial and the others follow.
| Option | When to use it |
|---|---|
| Solid | The skin's own background. |
| Transparent · Light | Your own touch strip image shows through; light text for dark images. |
| Transparent · Dark | Dark text for light images. |
| Transparent · Channel colors | Text in each channel's color. |
Animations
Live meters redraw the strips many times a second. If Stream Deck feels slow on your PC, set Animations to Off · for slower PCs in a dial's settings: the meters stand still, and everything else works as usual. Like the background, it applies to every dial of that Stream Deck. On · live meters turns them back on.
Skins from profiles
Skins sold as Stream Deck profiles install themselves: import the profile and Levels adds its skin, which then shows up in the Skin menu everywhere. Installed skins are kept in %APPDATA%\design.frenetiq.levels\skins and survive Levels updates.
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 the icon pack's two images and change with the state.
SteelSeries Sonar, Voicemod and Discord
SteelSeries Sonar
When Sonar runs in Classic mode, Levels detects it and the dials drive Sonar's own faders:
- Game, Chat and Media move Sonar's Game, Chat and Media faders; Master moves Sonar's master.
- Mic controls Sonar's microphone when it is your Windows default microphone, so muting it silences you in Discord.
- A game set to play straight to your headset, outside Sonar, still follows the Game dial.
- One app at a time changes the app's own Windows volume on that Sonar channel only: Sonar's fader stays where it is, and the app's sound on other Sonar channels is left alone.
- Max volume holds every channel under its limit, also when you move a fader in SteelSeries GG. The Priority key moves Sonar's faders.
Moving a fader in SteelSeries GG moves the dial on your Stream Deck too. In Sonar's Streamer mode, Levels ignores Sonar and controls apps directly.
Voicemod and other virtual microphones
Your voice often travels through software before a call: headset → Voicemod → Sonar → Discord. 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. The Mic meter follows your real microphone even when no app is recording.
Discord
Discord is on the Chat channel. The Mic key mutes you in calls whatever input device Discord uses.
Choose which apps go where
If an app isn't on the channel you expect, or a game isn't recognized, move it from the Stream Deck app. Levels remembers your choice, also after updates.
- Start the app so it plays some sound.
- 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.
- Next to the app, pick Game, Chat, Media or No channel. It moves right away. Pick Auto to give it back to Levels' own choice.
Putting an app on Game makes it the game, useful for games Levels doesn't find by itself. With SteelSeries Sonar on, apps follow the routing you set in SteelSeries GG; your choices apply to apps that play outside Sonar.
Need to set up the lists for many apps at once? Contact Support and we'll send you the steps.
Troubleshooting
The Game dial says "No game running" while I play
The game may not have started its sound yet: it appears as soon as it plays audio. If it still doesn't, it isn't in a library Levels knows: select a Levels dial and set the game to Game in the Apps list, see Choose which apps go where.
An app doesn't follow the Chat or Media dial
Select a Levels dial and move the app in the Apps list. With SteelSeries Sonar, check in SteelSeries GG which Sonar channel the app is routed to: the dial follows Sonar's routing.
The meters don't move
- Not every skin has meters: try another skin.
- Check that Animations is On · live meters in the dial's settings.
- The Mic meter appears on a dial set to the Mic channel, not on the Mic key.
- Some games play very quietly; raise the game's own volume in its options.
My mic is muted but I still hear myself in the headset
That is your headset's sidetone (or "mic monitoring"), set in the headset's own software. The people in your call don't hear you. To check, look at the Mic key: Muted in red.
One app is louder or quieter than the others on its dial
That is the balance you set in the Windows volume mixer, and Levels keeps it. To change it, set the app in the Windows volume mixer again while it plays; Levels adopts the new level.
A sound key shows "File missing"
It is a Levels Soundboard key, and its sound file was moved, renamed or deleted. Select the key and choose the file again.
A key shows "Needs Levels"
It belongs to Levels Soundboard, which plays its sounds through Levels. Install Levels, or quit and reopen the Stream Deck app.
With Sonar, my channels play on another device after startup
Sonar picks the first available device of its fallback list at startup. Levels puts each channel back on the device you chose, a few seconds after Stream Deck starts or the headset connects. If it doesn't, move the channel back once in SteelSeries GG while the headset is on: Levels learns that choice. You can also put your headset at the top of Sonar's fallback list in SteelSeries GG.
Stream Deck feels slow
Live meters take some work from your PC. Set Animations to Off · for slower PCs in any dial's settings: every dial of that Stream Deck stops redrawing its meters.
A dial stops before 100%
Its channel has a Max volume: the strip says so for a moment, for example Max 70%. Choose No limit in the dial's settings to remove it.
Game or music gets quieter by itself
A Priority key is on: the strip reads Lowered for Chat or Lowered for Media while it works. Press the key to turn it off, or set a smaller Lower by in its settings.
Touching the strip shows a warning sign
Only Game, Chat and Media have apps to show one at a time, and only while at least one of their apps is open. On Master, Mic and Sounds, touching the strip does nothing else.
The Soundboard key says "Get it"
The soundboard is the Levels Soundboard expansion, sold separately. Once it is installed, the key reads Open. See Levels Soundboard.
Nothing changes when I turn a dial
- Check that your antivirus didn't block
Levels.AudioHelper.exe. - Quit the Stream Deck app (right-click its icon next to the clock) and open it again.
How do I send you the details of a problem?
Contact us from the Levels page on the Elgato Marketplace and attach the log files from this folder (paste the path in File Explorer's address bar):
%APPDATA%\Elgato\StreamDeck\Plugins\design.frenetiq.levels.sdPlugin\logs
Privacy and uninstall
Privacy
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.
Uninstall
- In the Stream Deck app, open Preferences → Plugins, select Levels and remove it.
- To remove your installed skins, app choices and game levels too, delete the folder
%APPDATA%\design.frenetiq.levels.
Windows keeps each app at the last volume Levels set. To reset one, use the Windows volume mixer.