White noise generator for Windows

Question

I am looking for a small app that runs in the background and generates a continuous white noise (or blue noise or whatever; super if it lets you choose).

It should be a software or an application that works offline.

Optionally if it has the following feature/s, all the better:

• global hotkeys
• separate volume control (from the main)
• free/open source

For Windows (8).

Answer 1

Hmmm, not sure it's exactly what you're looking for, but Audacity can generate and play white, pink and brown noise.

I mention it as in the comments you said you want to keep your media player free, so you could generate some noise in Audacity, play it there and also play your regular media in your media player?

Answer 2

ChucK is a Music Programming Language that can generate any sound, including white noise.

1. Download and install ChucK: http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/release

2. Copy this code to a file white-noise.ck

   Noise n => BiQuad f => dac;
   0.99 => f.prad;
   0.05 => f.gain;
   1    => f.eqzs;
   0.00 => float t;
   while(true)
       5::ms => now;
   

   (checkout some other samples http://chuck.cs.princeton.edu/doc/examples)

3. Run chuck white-noise.ck from command-line.