MAIRA uses VB-CABLE to route audio internally on your PC so it can be analyzed and repurposed for features like:
- Speech To Text (STT) – capturing iRacing voice chat audio
- Wheel LFE (Low Frequency Effects) – routing bass shaker effects to the wheel
VB-CABLE is developed by VB-Audio and provides virtual audio devices that behave like physical sound cards, allowing audio to be redirected between applications.
Downloading VB-CABLE
VB-CABLE is available directly from VB-Audio:
Which version do I need?
Free version (VB-CABLE)
✔ Required for either Speech-To-Text or LFE
✔ Fully sufficient if you use only one of those features
Paid version (VB-CABLE A+B)
✔ Required if you want to use Speech-To-Text and LFE at the same time
✔ Provides additional virtual cables so audio paths don’t conflict
Installing VB-CABLE
- Download the ZIP from the VB-Audio website.
- Extract the ZIP file.
- Right-click on the setup file and choose Run as administrator.
- Click Install Driver.
- Reboot Windows when prompted (important).
After rebooting, Windows will have new audio devices:
- CABLE Input (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)
- CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)
Configuring VB-CABLE
VB-CABLE routes audio internally, which means audio sent into it won’t automatically go to your speakers/headphones (or to your shaker amp). To hear it (or send it to your bass shaker device), you must enable monitoring in Windows:
Step-by-step: Enable “Listen to this device”
- Right-click the speaker icon in the Windows taskbar
- Click Sound settings
- Scroll down and click More sound settings
(This opens the classic Sound control panel) - Go to the Recording tab
- Find and double-click:
CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable) - Go to the Listen tab
- Check: ✅ Listen to this device
- Under Playback through this device, choose where you want the audio to go:
- Your headphones / speakers (to hear voice chat), or
- Your bass shaker sound card / USB DAC (to drive the shaker amp)
- Click Apply, then OK
At this point:
- iRacing → VB-CABLE → MAIRA can analyze it
- AND Windows forwards VB-CABLE audio to the device you selected
Configuring iRacing to Use VB-CABLE
Once VB-CABLE is installed and Windows monitoring is configured, iRacing must be told to send data through VB-CABLE. This is done inside iRacing’s settings UI.
- Launch the iRacing simulator
- Go to Settings
- For the MAIRA Wheel LFE feature
- Go to Bass Shaker Force Feedback
- Select the CABLE Input as the LFE Device
- For the MAIRA Speech-to-Text feature
- Go to Audio
- Go to Voice Chat > Devices
- Select the CABLE Input as the Voice Chat Output Device
When using both the Wheel LFE and Speech-to-Text features, I like to use CABLE-A for the voice chat, and CABLE-B (“B” for Bass Shaker) for the LFE.
How MAIRA Uses VB-CABLE
Conceptual overview
VB-CABLE always works in pairs:
- CABLE Input → appears as a playback device (speaker)
- CABLE Output → appears as a recording device (microphone)
Audio sent into CABLE Input comes out of CABLE Output. In other words, speakers are turned into microphones.
MAIRA listens to CABLE Output.