Have you ever wondered how your favourite Twitch Streams get those hilarious sound effects and perfectly timed audio memes?
Blerp – yup, you read that right – is the world’s best audio search engine, with integrations for all the major social media & entertainment platforms. Best of all, it’s about to transform your Twitch channel or Discord server.
“Empowering human connection through unique expression.”
That’s the thought that first put in motion the chain of events which would eventually deliver Blerp. Created by Aaron Hsu in response to the success of the viral Shia Labeouf soundboard, published sometime after the infamous “don’t let your dreams be dreams” tape, Hsu was inspired to create a single platform to easily create, share, search and download audio content.
So, what exactly is ‘Blerp’? Well, if you check the Blerp website you’ll find one explanation: “Blerp is a mode of expression, a state of being, an intermediary in our online world, the connection between you and the other humans.” If you need a translation, perhaps I can lend a hand: Blerp is essentially a search engine for royalty free audio clips.
Since it first launched in the days of Shia Labeouf memes, Blerp has snowballed into something truly special. It has been integrated with some of the most popular social media and entertainment platforms; Blerp now sports App and Android keyboard integrations, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, Messenger and Discord integration, and now is taking Twitch by storm with the new Sound Emotes extension.
Right now, Blerp represents a database featuring more than a million unique sound effects. Blerps can be anything from memes to sound effects, sections of your favourite songs or memorable quotes from your favourite TV shows. Users can log-in to the Blerp website and explore for new clips. The website is organised such that you can easily locate popular, trending, or classic clips. If you have more niche interests, the platform also allows you to organise your favourite clips into cross-platform soundboards, or browse pre-created soundboards made by others.
But even then, if there isn’t already the sound effect you’re looking for, Blerp allows you to create, upload, share and spread your very own audio clips! It has an embedded basic audio manipulation facility, allowing you to clip your favourite audio snippets from YouTube videos or uploaded files.
Best of all, it and all its extensions are available absolutely free of charge. So, now you know what Blerp is and where you can use its awesome capabilities, here are details about its most popular applications:
What is the Twitch Blerp extension?
In the six months after it launched in early 2019, the Blerp Twitch Sound Emotes extension had over 100,000 unique installs and 30,000 monthly users. In other words, the Blerp Twitch Extension is one of the most popular variants of the platform.
The extension allows users to play sounds on a Twitch streamer’s stream using Twitch Bits. Because the extension is an integration of the Blerp search engine, the extension allows users to access any of the millions of Blerps from the website quickly on Twitch. This can make for some really hilarious moments in-stream. Users can jump-scare their favourite streamers using a perfectly timed loud Blerp, or cheer and boo them to express how much they are enjoying the stream.
However, this can also offer some ammunition to trolls. For this very reason, the creators of Blerp have allowed streamers to access settings which can control the tone of their fans’ contributions. You can control the age-rating of content used to filter out profanity and potentially inappropriate content. There is also a review system in place, meaning that to get any custom Blerp to appear across all Twitch channels it needs to first be approved by the Blerp support team.
Streamers can also decide exactly how much each Blerp, or each category of sounds, will cost for users to activate them. This means that you can make creepy footsteps more common than full-blown jumpscares, or at least make sure you’re seeing a bit of fair compensation for your terror. You can also blacklist or ban certain categories, boards or individual Blerps from your set rating, allowing you to control the mood of your stream.
Blerps are a great way to help build a community around your channel, help foster some in-jokes and make your Twitch streams more engaging for your fans. If used properly, Blerp can be an invaluable tool for both Streamers and Viewers alike, helping make your Twitch experience a whole load more fun!
The Blerp installation process will vary depending on your Streaming software, so you’d best head over to the Blerp website for in-depth tutorials and Q&As explaining exactly how to get the Blerp extension working with your Twitch Stream! Viewers can simply log-in to their personal Blerp account in-stream. This means that as well as the Streamer’s curated Blerp board, you won’t need to search for long to find your own favourite sounds. They will be available to users to use as soon as they launch the extension, so long as your own favourites are in accordance with your favourite streamer’s ratings and are permitted on their Stream.
What is the Blerp Discord Bot?
And if you’re interested in building a community, you’d better take a look at the Blerp Discord Bot too. This Bot either joins the audio channel when activated – playing the ordered sound effect, audio clip or meme for everyone present – or pastes a link to a sound file into the text discussion channel. You can access any Blerp on the platform with the same ease as you would on the Blerp website or Twitch, absolutely free.
Installing the Blerp Discord Bot is easy as can be:
- First, though, you need to have Manage Server permissions on the Server you’d like to add it to. If you don’t have those permissions on your favourite server, make sure to get them first, or forward this page to the admin so that they can do it for you.
- After that, simply go to the Blerp Discord Bot website (www.blerp.com/discord-soundboard-bot) and hit the ‘Add Blerp Bot’ button.
- This will bring you to a window where you can log-in to your Discord account, effectively connecting Blerp to Discord on the channel you’d like to add it to.
- After that, you’ll need to log-in to the Blerp Discord Bot Console with your Discord account.
- Finally, you’ll just need to authorise the Blerp Discord Bot to access things like your account information and Discord history.
- After that, you’ll be ready to share some dank memes with your mates!
When you’re in, simply use the b!help command when using the bot for a quite how-to on making everything work properly. After that, simply type the b!search/ b!play [Search Word] command, which will prompt a menu from which you can choose from the top five search results for that query.
However, remember: to make your own Blerps, or assemble your own soundboards, you’ll need to log-in to the Blerp website via your browser of choice. This cannot be done via any of the Blerp extensions.