Within a month of the second-generation Steam Controller’s launch, users adapted an open-source program to make the device play music using its haptic motors. The controller, which lacks a built-in speaker, produces sound by vibrating its trackpad motors at specific frequencies, functioning similarly to a speaker.

The technique builds on an earlier open-source project developed for the first-generation Steam Controller that enabled it to “sing.” Users quickly modified that software for the new hardware, demonstrating its ability to play recognizable tunes. One user, known online as CrazyCritic89, posted videos showing the controller performing “Still Alive” from Portal and the “Ground Theme” from Super Mario Bros. 2. Another user made the device play music from Doom using MIDI files, which contain musical notes rather than recorded audio.

CrazyCritic89 also developed a tool called “Steam Haptics Singer,” which is available on GitHub for Windows and Linux. The program allows both the Steam Controller and the Steam Deck to play MIDI tracks through their haptic feedback systems. Despite this community-driven innovation, Valve does not currently offer native support in Steam to customize the sounds produced by the Steam Controller.

Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais acknowledged the possibility of future sound customization features. “Future configurability and customization of the Steam Controller’s sounds is possible, though not currently a focus.” Griffais told The Verge. He suggested that if Valve were to develop such a feature, it would likely take the form of an SDK or a publicly available utility, potentially in response to user demand.

Valve has precedent for adopting user-created modifications as official features. The company previously added custom boot videos as a supported option on the Steam Deck after users began sideloading them. Valve now maintains a dedicated section in the Steam store where users can download official boot videos for the handheld device.

The haptic motors in the Steam Controller's trackpads can vibrate at specific frequencies to produce sound, functioning similarly to a speaker, according to CrazyCritic89’s explanation to The Verge.