Steam Controller plays music through haptic motors — audio streamed via HID commands
An enthusiast going by the handle Pixel1011 has found an unconventional use for Valve's second-generation Steam Controller. He published a project called Steam Haptics Player on GitHub that turns the built-in haptic motors beneath the touchpads into stereo speakers for music playback. Tom's Hardware reported on the development.
In standard mode, these motors only provide vibration feedback during interaction. However, the experimenter discovered they can be controlled via low-level HID commands using the HIDAPI library. An audio file is processed in FFmpeg, converted into a PCM stream, and fed directly into the controller, forcing the motors to operate in an audio mode.
Playback quality depends heavily on the connection type. Over the wireless channel, the signal is compressed to an 8-bit format at 8 kHz, resulting in crackling and dropouts. A wired connection delivers a 16-bit PCM stream at the same frequency, producing noticeably cleaner and louder sound.
In a demonstration video, Pixel1011 played the track Want You Gone from the end credits of Portal 2. Despite the experimental nature of the system, the audio came out balanced. To enhance the effect, the controller was placed on a towel on a flat surface.
The main limitation is the wireless channel's bandwidth, which was never meant for audio transmission. This forces compression that degrades quality. Still, even in this form, the experiment is seen as a striking example of repurposing a controller's hardware capabilities.
Interested users can try Steam Haptics Player themselves on a second-generation Steam Controller. They need to download the archive from GitHub, install FFmpeg, and run the program via PowerShell. Detailed setup instructions are included.
Earlier, this controller received another unusual use: Latvian developer Very Lazy Pixels built a web app based on the Chromium engine that lets the new Steam Controller move in real time like a remote-controlled car.
