Those of us who have used a DualShock 4 on their computer are familiar with this timeless struggle: When plugging the controller into USB for the first time, Windows detects the controller's headphone output as a new audio device, and immediately crowns it Lord over all other devices: The Default Audio Device. You might not even notice until you start up a game, when no sound comes out of your speakers.

It's an annoyance many of us have simply come to accept as a quirk of the OS; and we have the quickest solution committed to muscle memory. This popular technique is referred to as Turning the Damned Thing Off.



Three clicks of the mouse, and you're set. Windows remembers that you've disabled it on reboot and when connecting any DS4. Problem solved.

The DualSense works the same way; Windows sets it as the default audio device and whatever speakers you had set up before are ignored until you tell Windows not to use it. And, again, it works. If you've let Steam handle your controllers, your DualSense will work just as your DualShock 4 did with its audio device disabled.

However, if you have a game that makes use of the DualSense's haptic triggers or rumble, you don't want Steam inserting itself between the game and the controller.

https://steamproxy-script.pipiskins.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934289767

If the situation sounds familiar so far, you've likely run into a new problem.

Playing Returnal, your triggers have that fancy two-stage resistance that's been so heavily advertised, and the controller's speaker is squawking at you whether you like it or not; but the rumble, even the standard on-off rumble you've felt in every other game, is starkly absent. What gives?


Fun fact, unmentioned in the controller's documentation, software, and Sony's customer support website:
The DualSense's Fancy Rumble™ works by sending audio signals to the controller, which are played through a voice coil actuator. If that doesn't mean anything to you, rip into your nearest speaker, like an animal. Claw through the cone, and tear out the voice coil inside.

Anyways, that's how the software treats the rumble motor. Like a speaker.


(Image from Microcontrollertips[www.microcontrollertips.com]


So, not only is the controller an obnoxious and impractical sound device, its being one is a critical component of its function. In other words: If you want rumble, re-enable that audio device!

Unfortunately, the controller's speaker volume is entirely software-dependent. There is no universal mute or control for it in Windows. In Returnal, you can control its volume under Settings>Audio>Controller Speaker.