Audio Optimizer for Voicemeeter & Audiodg

Automatically optimize audio processing performance by setting process priority and CPU affinity for Voicemeeter and Windows Audiodg service.

🎯 Overview

This PowerShell script optimizes audio performance on Windows by automatically:

• Starting Voicemeeter if not already running
• Setting process priority to High for both Voicemeeter and Audiodg
• Pinning both processes to CPU Core 0 for consistent performance
• Displaying detailed status notifications with visual feedback

Tested on: Windows 10 & 11 with PowerShell 3.0+

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📋 Table of Contents

• Features
• System Requirements
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Important Notes
• Troubleshooting
• Advanced Options
• Contributing
• License

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✨ Features

✅ Dual Process Management

• Automatically detects and configures Voicemeeter
• Optimizes Windows Audiodg.exe service simultaneously
• Auto-starts Voicemeeter if not running

✅ Intelligent Retry Logic

• Automatic process detection with configurable retry attempts
• Handles startup delays gracefully
• Doesn't fail if one process is unavailable

✅ Visual Feedback

• GUI message boxes for status notifications
• Color-coded console output for clear feedback
• Detailed operation summary with success/failure indicators

✅ Robust Error Handling

• Specific exception handling for different error scenarios
• Graceful degradation if permissions are restricted
• Comprehensive error logging and reporting

✅ Administrator Privilege Management

• Automatic elevation to admin rights if needed
• One-click re-execution without manual UAC prompts

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📦 System Requirements

• Operating System: Windows 10 or Windows 11
• PowerShell: Version 3.0 or higher (built-in on all supported Windows versions)
• Administrator Privileges: Required (script will auto-elevate)
• Voicemeeter: Installed at default location or custom path configured
• Dependencies: Windows Forms library (included in Windows)

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🚀 Installation

Option 1: Quick Setup (Recommended)

1. Clone or download the repository

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/audio-optimizer.git
   cd audio-optimizer

2. Save the script

   • Place Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1 in a convenient location (e.g., C:\Scripts\)

3. Enable Execution Policy (if needed)

   Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser -Force

Option 2: Task Scheduler (Auto-Run)

1. Save the script to a permanent location: C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1

2. Open Task Scheduler (press Win + R, type taskschd.msc)

3. Create a new task:

   • Name: Audio Optimizer
   • Description: Optimize Voicemeeter and Audiodg at startup
   • Trigger: At system startup
   • Action: Start a program
     • Program: powershell.exe
     • Arguments: -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1"
   • Additional: Check ✓ "Run with highest privileges"

Option 3: Startup Folder

1. Save the script to C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1

2. Create a shortcut or batch file in the Startup folder:

   • Press Win + R, type shell:startup
   • Create a .bat file with:

     @echo off
     powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1"

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💻 Usage

Basic Execution

Run the script from PowerShell:

.\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1

The script will:

1. ✓ Check for administrator privileges (auto-elevate if needed)
2. ✓ Search for Audiodg.exe
3. ✓ Check if Voicemeeter is running
4. ✓ Start Voicemeeter if not found
5. ✓ Apply High priority to both processes
6. ✓ Pin both to CPU Core 0
7. ✓ Display summary of operations

With Verbose Output

For detailed troubleshooting information:

.\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1 -Verbose

Via Command Line

Direct execution without opening PowerShell ISE:

powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1"

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⚙️ Configuration

All settings are centralized in the $Script:Config hashtable at the top of the script. Modify these values to customize behavior:

$Script:Config = @{
    AudiodgProcessName      = 'audiodg'
    VoicemeeterProcessName  = 'voicemeeter8x64'
    VoicemeeterExecutable   = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VB\Voicemeeter\voicemeeter8x64.exe'
    TargetPriority          = [System.Diagnostics.ProcessPriorityClass]::High
    TargetAffinity          = [System.IntPtr]1  # CPU Core 0
    MaxRetryAttempts        = 3
    RetryDelaySeconds       = 2
    VoicemeeterStartupDelay = 3  # Seconds to wait after starting
}

Configuration Options

Parameter	Default	Description
AudiodgProcessName	'audiodg'	Windows process name for audio device graph
VoicemeeterProcessName	'voicemeeter8x64'	Voicemeeter process name
VoicemeeterExecutable	Default install path	Full path to Voicemeeter executable
TargetPriority	High	Process priority level
TargetAffinity	1 (CPU Core 0)	CPU core to pin processes to
MaxRetryAttempts	3	Number of process detection retries
RetryDelaySeconds	2	Delay between retries in seconds
VoicemeeterStartupDelay	3	Seconds to wait for Voicemeeter initialization

Custom Voicemeeter Path Example:

VoicemeeterExecutable = 'C:\Custom\Path\voicemeeter8x64.exe'

Different CPU Core:

# Pin to CPU Core 1 instead of Core 0
TargetAffinity = [System.IntPtr]2

# Pin to CPU Core 2
TargetAffinity = [System.IntPtr]4

# Pin to CPU Core 3
TargetAffinity = [System.IntPtr]8

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⚠️ Important Notes

Protected Process Light (PPL)

Audiodg.exe runs as a Protected Process Light on modern Windows versions. This means:

• ✓ You may still optimize it, but changes might be partial
• ⚠️ Priority changes: May succeed
• ⚠️ Affinity changes: May be blocked even with administrator privileges
• Status: This is normal behavior and not an error

Voicemeeter Installation

• Ensure Voicemeeter is installed at the default location: C:\Program Files (x86)\VB\Voicemeeter\
• If installed elsewhere, update the VoicemeeterExecutable configuration
• The script will not fail if Voicemeeter is not installed, but won't start it

Administrator Requirements

• This script requires administrator privileges
• It will automatically re-execute with elevated rights
• You may see a UAC prompt on first run—this is expected and necessary

Performance Impact

• Pinning to a single CPU core is intentional for audio consistency
• This reduces context switching and improves real-time performance
• Only recommended for dedicated audio workstations

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🔧 Troubleshooting

PowerShell Execution Policy Error

Problem: cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled

Solution 1: Change Execution Policy

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser -Force

Solution 2: Bypass for One-Time Run

powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1"

Script Not Running with Administrator Privileges

Problem: UAC prompt appears but script doesn't elevate

Solution:

1. Open PowerShell as Administrator manually
2. Execute the script directly:

   & "C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1"

Voicemeeter Not Starting

Problem: Script says Voicemeeter couldn't be started

Solutions:

• Verify Voicemeeter is installed correctly
• Check the configured path in $Script:Config
• Ensure the executable file exists at the specified location
• Try starting Voicemeeter manually first

Check Installation Path:

Test-Path "C:\Program Files (x86)\VB\Voicemeeter\voicemeeter8x64.exe"

Audiodg.exe Not Found

Problem: Script reports "audiodg.exe process not found"

This is normal if:

• Audio services are temporarily disabled
• No audio devices are connected
• Windows is still initializing at startup

Solution: Wait a few seconds and run the script again, or increase RetryDelaySeconds in configuration.

Priority/Affinity Changes Not Applied

Problem: Settings show as failed or partial success

Possible Causes:

• Protected Process Light: Audiodg.exe may block changes
• Insufficient Permissions: Ensure script runs as Administrator
• Process Locked: Application or driver has exclusive access

Workarounds:

• This is often expected behavior for Audiodg.exe
• Try restarting audio services: Restart-Service -Name audiosrv
• Check for audio driver conflicts

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🎯 Advanced Options

Create a Desktop Shortcut

1. Right-click on desktop → New → Shortcut
2. Enter the target:

   powershell.exe -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1"
   

3. Click Advanced and check ✓ Run as administrator

Schedule Multiple Runs

Create separate Task Scheduler tasks with different triggers:

# Trigger 1: At system startup
# Trigger 2: On user logon
# Trigger 3: Every 1 hour (if processes restart)

Automated Logging

Modify the script to log all operations:

$LogPath = "C:\Logs\Audio-Optimizer-$(Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd').log"
Start-Transcript -Path $LogPath -Append
# ... script execution ...
Stop-Transcript

Integration with Other Scripts

Source the script functions in another PowerShell script:

. "C:\Scripts\Start-VoicemeeterOptimized.ps1"

# Now you can call individual functions:
Optimize-AudiodgProcess
Start-VoicemeeterApplication

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Here's how to help:

1. Report Issues

   • Describe the problem clearly
   • Include your Windows version
   • Provide PowerShell version output: $PSVersionTable

2. Suggest Improvements

   • Feature requests welcome
   • Open an issue with detailed description

3. Submit Code

   • Fork the repository
   • Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
   • Commit changes: git commit -am 'Add your feature'
   • Push to branch: git push origin feature/your-feature
   • Open a Pull Request

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📝 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

MIT License © 2025 Meyer Media

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limited the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

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📞 Support

• Issues: Open an issue on GitHub

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🔗 Related Resources

• Voicemeeter Official
• Windows Process Priority
• PowerShell Documentation
• Task Scheduler Guide

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Version: 2.0
Last Updated: November 26, 2025
Maintainer: @mleem97