When you’re playing multiplayer games like PUBG or Fortnite, chatting on a public Discord server, or passing the time on Skype, voice changing can come in handy. Whether it’s for added security and anonymity or just to play a prank, voice changers can make you sound like a completely different person, or even a robot or alien.
Read: Best Voice Recorder Apps for Android
Best real-time voice changer
There are several good voice changer solutions on Windows. Voicemod is one that comes immediately to mind. There are other premium solutions, too, like AV Voice Changer, but the license cost might be a deterrent. We eventually settled on using Clownfish for this guide because of several reasons.
For starters, while Voicemod is technically free to use, the free version comes with quite a few restrictions. You get access to six random voices that change daily. If you have a consistent voice that you associate with a particular online persona, this makes Voicemod’s free version useless. Another big drawback with Voicemod is that it doesn’t have system-wide integration. When you install Voicemod, it creates a virtual input device that you then have to manually select in the apps you’re using it for. While Voicemod themselves claim compatibility with lots of programs leveraging the mic, from Skype to Discord to Fortnite, software input devices don’t always play nice with every program.
Clownfish, in contrast, gives you system-wide voice changing. After installation and setup, all audio input is routed through Clownfish before being passed to your programs. Windows don’t see it as a separate device, making things considerably easier to set up. Since it’s global, you just have to set up Clownfish once and it’ll work with all your software. While Clownfish has a more limited library of voice options compared to Voicemod, it’s a completely free tool so there aren’t any freemium restrictions like you have in Voicemod.
AV Voice Changer is a very solid tool and it gives you more comprehensive control over voice modulation than either Clownfish or Voicemod. However, priced at $99.99, it’s aimed squarely at professionals, not for gamers who want to change their voice sounds on chat.
Read: How to Convert Voice Recording to Text on Computer and Smartphone
Before we begin
There a few things that you need to have on hand before configuring Clownfish for Discord, Skype, or games like Fortnite. On the plus side, since Clownfish works at a system-level, you only need to install it and set it up once to have it work with all apps that use your microphone. Here’s everything you’ll need:
- A PC with a 32-bit or 64-bit Windows installation, running Windows Vista or newer
- Either a USB or 3.5mm microphone connected to your PC
- A copy of Clownfish which you can download from the link we’ve given below
Step #1. You’ll need to download and install the Clownfish program. You can get Clownfish here for Windows. Get the 64-bit version if you’re on 64-bit Windows. Otherwise, get the 32-bit version. Follow standard installation procedures here.
To find out whether you’re using a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows 10, open the Settings app by pressing the Windows button and search for ‘Settings’ and hit enter. Then go to System > About. On the right side, look for the “System type” entry. It will show you a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system.
Step #2. Once Clownfish is installed, run the application and it’ll appear in your system tray. Let’s see how to set up Clownfish to change your voice in Fortnite, Skype, Discord, and other apps
Step #3. Right-click on the Clownfish system tray icon, then click on the Setup option.
From here, you want to click on install next to your mic listing. It should show up as “Microphone.” Selecting install will configure Clownfish to work with your mic.
Step #3a. If you have multiple audio devices show up, you should first configure your active mic. To do this, perform the following steps before clicking install above.
Step #3b. Type “control panel” in start search and click on it
Step #3c. Click on “Hardware and Sound”
Step #3d. Click on “Sound”
Step #3e. Click on the Recording tab
Step #3f. Right-click on your mic and click “set as the default device.” If it’s already the default device, it’ll say so below. If it says “default communication device,” you still need to right-click set it as the default device.
Step #4. Now, you are ready to install Clownfish, head over to Step #3 above to do so.
Once you have configured Clownfish mic. Right-click on the Clownfish system tray icon again. Now click on “hear microphone.” This will let you hear what the voice changer does.
Step #5. Right-click on the system tray icon, then click on “Set voice changer.” This may have a blue tick next to it, but this just a design flaw.
Click on it and you’ll be presented with Clownfish’s voice changer menu. You can select any of the effects to enable them. If you want mix effects, click on the Clownfish icon shown, and then the right arrow next to it. You can select effects to mix. You can also use the interface to tweak your presets, in terms of pitch and microphone sensitivity.
Step #6. That’s all there is to it. Since Clownfish installs itself as a system-wide tool, all apps using your microphone will depend on Clownfish input. In apps like Discord, you don’t need to do anything special. If you check input devices, your Clownfish-enabled mic will just show up as “default” as seen below.
If you want to disable Clownfish, simply right click the tray icon and then click “Turn off.”
Now, what about post-installation? We didn’t face any issues uninstalling Clownfish, but some users have reported driver conflicts. The general safety guidelines for third-party software apply here: you set a Windows restore point before installing Clownfish, and you should do a clean uninstall afterwords. You can check out some of these apps here to find out how to do a clean uninstall.
If you’ve followed these steps, you should have Clownfish up and running. Any programs that you want voice modulation support it will work out of the box because of Clownfish’s system-wide integration. Once you’re done pranking people with an alien voice in Fortnite, you might want to read up on some better uses for your mic, such as how to use some great audio recording software.
