Voice Rooms

Voice rooms are the core feature of Lag. They provide ultra-low-latency audio communication for your server members.

Joining a Room

Click any voice room in the room list to join it. You will immediately connect to the voice server and begin hearing other participants. Your microphone state depends on your configured voice mode (push-to-talk or voice activity).

Only one voice room can be active at a time. Joining a new room automatically disconnects you from the previous one.

Leaving a Room

To leave a voice room:

  • Click the disconnect button in the voice controls bar
  • Join a different voice room (automatically leaves the current one)
  • Close the app or navigate away

Creating Rooms

Server owners can create new voice rooms:

  1. Navigate to your server
  2. Click the create room option
  3. Enter a room name
  4. The room appears in the room list immediately

Rooms can be reordered and renamed by the server owner.

Audio Device Selection

You can select your preferred microphone and speaker in the voice settings. On desktop, all system audio devices are available. On web, device availability depends on browser permissions.

To change devices:

  1. Open Settings > Voice
  2. Select your input device (microphone)
  3. Select your output device (speakers or headphones)
  4. Test your devices with the built-in audio test

Changes take effect immediately without needing to rejoin the room.

Push-to-Talk vs Voice Activity

Lag supports two voice transmission modes:

Push-to-Talk

Hold a configured key to transmit your voice. Audio is only sent while the key is held down. This is the preferred mode for noisy environments or when you want precise control over when you are heard.

On the desktop app, push-to-talk works globally even when Lag is not focused. On the web app, push-to-talk only works when the browser tab is active.

Voice Activity Detection

Your microphone transmits automatically when it detects audio above a configurable threshold. A visual indicator shows when you are transmitting. Adjust the sensitivity threshold in Settings > Voice to avoid picking up background noise.

Voice Quality

Lag uses adaptive audio encoding that adjusts to network conditions. Under normal conditions, voice quality is high with latency typically under 50ms. The system automatically:

  • Adjusts bitrate based on available bandwidth
  • Applies echo cancellation and noise suppression
  • Handles packet loss with forward error correction

Room Text Chat

Each voice room has an associated text chat. Messages sent in this chat are visible to anyone in the room. This is useful for sharing links, pasting information, or communicating when voice is not practical.

Participants

You can see all current participants in a voice room listed in the room panel. Each participant shows:

  • Their display name and avatar
  • A speaking indicator that activates when they are transmitting audio
  • Their mute state if they have muted their microphone