Guide · Google Meet · Zoom · Teams · Mac
A soundboard for Google Meet, Zoom and Teams
A drum roll for the winner, applause for the launch, a buzzer for the quiz. Any web soundboard can play into your call from a Mac, under your voice, without presenting anything.
The short version
- Open any web soundboard in a browser tab. Patch for Chrome sends that tab’s sound into your microphone.
- It works in Google Meet, Zoom, Teams and Discord, desktop apps too, with no presenting and no screen share.
- The effects get their own fader, so they sit under your voice, and a limiter catches the loud ones.
Why Meet makes it hard
Meet hears one microphone. One built-in way to add other sound is to present a Chrome tab with “Also share tab audio” on, or a window with “Also share system audio”, in Chrome 142 or newer on macOS 14.2 or newer. That works, but it’s a presentation: everyone sees the soundboard instead of your slides, and only one person can present at a time. See share audio in Google Meet. Some extensions add a virtual microphone, but only for call apps that run in the browser. Discord has its own Soundboard for short clips in voice channels.
Send a soundboard tab into your mic
With Patch for Chrome, the soundboard’s tab becomes part of your mic. It’s a free extension for Chrome, Edge and Arc that sends one tab’s sound into Patch, which we make, and Patch mixes it with your microphone into a microphone called Patch Mix. Patch runs on a Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 26 or later.
- Add a Chrome tab in Patch. In Patch, choose Add a Chrome tab from the list of sources.
- Add Patch for Chrome and pin it. Add it from the Chrome Web Store. Chrome asks once about your microphone; that only lets it find the Patch speaker, and it never listens. Click the puzzle piece, then the pin.
- Send the soundboard’s tab. On the soundboard’s tab, click Patch in the toolbar, then Send this tab.
- Choose Patch Mix in the call. In Google Meet, Zoom, Teams or Discord, choose Patch Mix as the microphone and your headphones as the speaker, never Patch Pass-Thru, or the call hears itself.
- Go live. Click Go live in Patch. Click a button on the soundboard, and the call hears it with your voice.
Only that tab is sent, and nothing else from your browser or your Mac. More in share tab audio.
Or use a soundboard app on your Mac
If your soundboard is a Mac app, add it to Patch as an app source instead of a Chrome tab. It goes into Patch Mix the same way, with its own fader. See play music through your mic.
Keep it under your voice
- Set the fader once. Play the loudest effect and pull the soundboard’s fader down until your voice stays on top. A limiter on the mix stops a loud one clipping.
- Hear what they hear. The sent tab goes quiet in the browser and plays through Patch, so your headphones hear what the call hears.
- Stop the call app removing it. Turn off Noise cancellation in Meet, choose “Original sound for musicians” in Zoom, and set Noise suppression to Low in Teams.
Questions
Is there a soundboard extension for Google Meet?
Some browser extensions make a virtual microphone for web call apps only. Patch for Chrome sends any tab, a web soundboard included, into Patch Mix, a microphone that works in any call app on your Mac, the Zoom, Teams and Discord desktop apps too.
Can I play sound effects in Meet without presenting?
Yes, by putting them in your microphone. Presenting a tab with its audio works, but everyone sees the soundboard and only one person can present at a time. With Patch for Chrome, the effects go into Patch Mix and nobody presents.
Why do my sound effects get cut off in Meet?
Meet’s Noise cancellation removes sounds that aren’t speech. Turn it off in Meet’s Audio settings if your account has it. In Zoom, choose Original sound for musicians; in Teams, set Noise suppression to Low.
Can I send the Meet tab itself?
No. Patch for Chrome refuses your meeting’s own tab, in Meet, Teams or Zoom on the web, so callers never hear an echo of themselves. Open the soundboard in a separate tab.