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He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.You may have heard that Valve’s new Steam Controller can ring like a telephone or do the Wilhelm scream. But did you know it can sing songs, too? Let me show you.Here’s the new Steam Controller performing the “Ground Theme” from Super Mario Bros. 2:Here is “Still Alive” from Portal — fitting for Valve hardware:I even made it play Doom:Are you wondering how the controller, which does not have a speaker, is able to make audio at all? Valve’s first Steam Controller, even though it was discontinued, was a great gadget for tinkerers — someone even wrote an open-source program to make it “sing.” Fast forward to now, less than a month after the launch of the second-generation Steam Controller, and some enterprising people have used that program to make it “sing” as well.“The way the controller makes noise is through the haptic motors in the trackpads,” CrazyCritic89, the person behind the “Still Alive” and Super Mario Bros. 2 videos, tells The Verge. Those motors usually provide feedback as your thumb glides over the trackpads, or let you “press” them like a button, even though they don’t actually click down. But the haptic motors can also vibrate at “specific frequencies, essentially like a speaker,” CrazyCritic explains. Valve uses that to make the controller play sounds, and if you want to make your controller sing, you can now do that too.With CrazyCritic89’s “Steam Haptics Singer,” which is available on GitHub in Windows and Linux versions, you can have your Steam Controller (either generation) or your Steam Deck play MIDI tracks — simple digital music files that contain notes rather than actual recorded audio. To make my personal Steam Controller play some music, I found some MIDI files online and followed CrazyCritic89’s instructions. It took a bit of tinkering — I had to spend some time with the terminal in desktop mode on my Steam Deck to actually make my Steam Controller sing. But when I heard the first notes from my controller, I was grinning from ear to ear.Valve currently doesn’t offer a way to customize the Steam Controller’s sounds natively through Steam. We actually asked the company about it in April, and Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais told The Verge that while “it’s possible that there’s going to be more both configurability and customization for that in the future,” the team isn’t focused on that right now. If Valve does make a sound customization tool, Griffais suggested it would be some sort of SDK or a tool that everyone could use, and Valve might consider making one if the team sees enough demand.There is precedent: After seeing Steam Deck users sideload their own custom boot videos that appear when you power on the handheld, Valve made it an official Steam Deck feature so anyone can join in. It even offers a special spot in the Steam store to get additional boot videos from Valve. For now, the Steam Haptics Singer will do.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Jay PetersCloseJay PetersSenior ReporterPosts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All by Jay PetersEntertainmentCloseEntertainmentPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All EntertainmentGamingCloseGamingPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All GamingPC GamingClosePC GamingPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All PC GamingReportCloseReportPosts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.FollowFollowSee All ReportMore in: Steam Machines have returned: all the news about Valve’s new hardware universeAnyone else scorch their Steam Controller puck, or is this a fluke accident?Sean HollisterMay 22Valve will “probably” use a reservation system for future hardware launches.Jay PetersMay 14People are already making the new Steam Controller “sing.”Jay PetersMay 13Most PopularMost PopularHow Ferrari bungled the design of its first EVThis is MSI’s new Claw 8 EX AI Plus gaming handheldNvidia, Microsoft, and Arm are all teasing Nvidia’s new N1X laptop processorsKia’s flagship EV has a battery problemHundreds of prolific Wikipedia editors are threatening to go on strikeThe Verge DailyA free daily digest of the news that matters most.Email (required)Sign UpBy submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice. 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The recent updates to the Steam Controller introduce novel audio capabilities stemming from the use of haptic motors in the trackpads. While the controller is known for producing tactile feedback during user interaction, these motors can also vibrate at specific frequencies, allowing them to generate sounds, which has opened up possibilities beyond simple notification sounds. This capability distinguishes the new controller from previous iterations and existing notions about controller audio generation.

The mechanism enabling this sound production relies on the haptic motors embedded within the trackpads. These motors typically provide feedback to the user, simulating the physical sensation of sliding a thumb across the pad or pressing a button. However, as noted by CrazyCritic89, these haptic motors possess the ability to vibrate at various frequencies, which essentially functions like a rudimentary speaker. Valve leverages this inherent capability to generate audio, though native customization is currently absent within the standard Steam interface.

This functionality has spurred community efforts to extend the controller's sonic output. Individuals have utilized open-source programming, such as CrazyCritic89’s “Steam Haptics Singer,” available on GitHub for Windows and Linux, to make the controller play MIDI tracks. MIDI files contain musical notes rather than recorded audio, allowing users to play digital music files directly through the hardware. Achieving this required some tinkering, often involving the terminal in desktop mode on a Steam Deck, demonstrating a grassroots effort to unlock latent features of the hardware.

Regarding official support, Valve has indicated that the development team is not currently focused on native sound customization within Steam. When questioned about future configurability, Pierre-Loup Griffais suggested that while such features are possible in the future, the focus is not currently on it. However, Griffais indicated that if demand proves sufficient, Valve might consider implementing a sound customization tool, perhaps through an SDK or a tool accessible to the broader community. This approach echoes Valve's precedent of formalizing features that the community has strongly requested, such as allowing Steam Deck users to sideload custom boot videos, which was subsequently integrated as an official feature in the store. Consequently, for the time being, community-driven solutions like the Steam Haptics Singer serve as the primary means for achieving customized audio experiences with the controller.