Author Topic: Voice Problems>??? (Read 987 times)

Schatzi · « **Reply #15 on:** September 22, 2006, 03:37:22 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Condor
I have partially fixed my problem. I upgraded the drivers for my unboard sound and I can now hear myself in the game but the volume is low and the speech breaks up a lot. When I test my microphone in windows it sounds much better. I've tried a stand alone mic and headset with the same results. I've tried every level of hardware acceleration with no difference. I checked and unchecked "Use Wave in" in the game with no difference. I have varied the mic volume setting in the game. Anyone have any ideas? I would hate to buy a sound card and not hear a difference. I can hear everyone else and all the game sounds just finejust fine.

Condor, have you checked the +20bd boost in the windows mic properties? (i think somewhere in advanced)
Thn get close to your mic while talking... most people have it too far from their mouth.

Sound card: I recommend you buy one anyway. They are not very expensive and DO produce a better sound quality. Also, if you use custom sound packs (like for example Waffles or Mitsus) the files processed are a lot bigger. Onboard sound *always* cuts into your CPU speed.

Condor · « **Reply #16 on:** September 22, 2006, 05:37:11 PM »

Schatzi,

You called it right! My mic volume was turned down in the advanced settings. I'm not sure why since I've checked that adjustment several times. I dropped in to the training forum and people could hear me. Now maybe I can turn my attention to flying.

Thanks

Schatzi · « **Reply #17 on:** September 23, 2006, 03:48:37 AM »

Youre welcome Condor, glad i could help.

HomeBoy · « **Reply #18 on:** September 23, 2006, 11:14:10 AM »

This seems like the appropriate thread to ask this question.

Has anyone had success getting a microphone working with the Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit card? How about the Audigy card? (It seems to be of similar design).

I spent (wasted) about three hours last night trying to get my mic working with this card. I plowed through the SB discussion forums and found tons of complaints about mics not working with this card and other SB cards as well. It appears that it's an impedance mismatch issue (so some believe). My mic is a Labtec LVA-7331 that came with Game Commander. I've had it for about six years now and it works great with every sound card I've had except this SB Live 24-bit. Others at the forum make similar comments.

I ended up re-using a "USB mic" that I rigged up a couple of years ago so that I'm now using my mic through that rather than the SB card. It's seems really silly to me that I have to tie up another USB port just to get a working mic.

If anyone reading this that understands what it takes to get a 600 ohm (apparently) mic working with the SB Live sound card, I'd love to know. Some claim that they've gotten a 300 ohm mic to work but apparently the several mics I have laying around are all 600 ohm because they do not work.

Thanks for any advice.
-hb

HomeBoy · « **Reply #19 on:** September 25, 2006, 10:10:59 AM »

Hmm...
Does the silence imply that NO ONE has a working mic with a Sound Blaster card?
Not a good sign.

Drumss · « **Reply #20 on:** September 25, 2006, 10:42:09 AM »

IT WAS A BAD MIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ONLY TWO DAYS OLD: I TOOK IT BACK. THEY TESTED IT AND IT WASNT WORKING.

I GOT NEW ONE .

ITS WORKING FINE. THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP>

~~drumss~~

WMLute · « **Reply #21 on:** September 25, 2006, 10:50:34 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by HomeBoy
Hmm...
Does the silence imply that NO ONE has a working mic with a Sound Blaster card?
Not a good sign.

I have a super cheap, needing to upgrade, old SB PCI 128 card and my mic works fine.

Like what everyone has stated, check it in Windows.

Right click speaker near clock, open up VOLUME CONTROLLS. Make sure mic vol. is all the way up. I have it muted btw. Thats fine.

THEN click OPTIONS then PROPERTIES. Select RECORDING (it should be on Playback)

Make sure Mic. is turned up there as well.

Hope this helped.

(in AH you might want to tune to yourself and hear how you sound. I found that helped me tweak where I wanted the mic vol.)

Condor · « **Reply #22 on:** September 25, 2006, 11:51:03 AM »

Interesting. I also read a recommndation elsewhere to tune myself and check the performance of my mic. I have found that it sounds awful when I tune myself (low volume and breaks up) and sounds fine to others. I spent a fair amount of time listening to myself and making adjustments with no improvement. I then tried talking to someone else and they said I sounded fine.

Apparently the "talk to yourself" troubleshooting approach does not work well with all hardware configurations. I Know someone may say it's impossible but that has been my empirical experience. so if you have any sound at all listening to yourself but it sounds bad, try talking to someone else before spending a lot of time making adjustments.

Schutt · « **Reply #23 on:** September 25, 2006, 01:31:10 PM »

Had a SB Live! 1024 (i think) and an older soundblaster card, both did a good job with the microphone.

I have no idea what kind of microphone it was though, since you explicitly asked for experience with 600 ohm i didnt anwser.

HomeBoy · « **Reply #24 on:** September 25, 2006, 01:43:50 PM »

I guess I should change my question to:
Does anyone have a Sound Blaster card (e.g. Live! 24-bit, Audigy Se) that uses the blue colored jack for mic and it works?

In my failed attempt to get mine working, I plowed through tons of forum threads at the SB tech support forum and the consensus seemed to be that the mic does not work (or at least work well) with cards that have that jack. I'm curious if anyone has a working mic that is plugged into the blue jack.

The Audigy Se (cheap SB card) uses a blue colored jack that doubles as "line in" and "mic." The more expensive Audigys split this out into two jacks: "line in" (blue jack) and "mic" (pink jack). Those of you who are considering buying the cheap SB card with the blue jack should be interested in this question as well. As far as I can tell, the pink jack works fine. It's the blue jack that is a problem. I would like to get some evidence of that however before I began to make this claim.

Thanks
-hb

The Fugitive · « **Reply #25 on:** September 25, 2006, 04:19:39 PM »

I have the SB live with 5.1 surround. My mic is plugged into the pink jack and works fine.

I was wondering, seeing they use the "line-in" jack that maybe you should see if the "line-in" is enabled in the "properties" of the playback control.

Auger · « **Reply #26 on:** September 26, 2006, 01:59:46 PM »

Homeboy, if the "Line in" jack doubles as a mic jack, you will probably need a powered mic to make it work, or at least an amplifier. Line in expects a higher voltage level than a mic jack. Even if you could get it working, it would probably be too quiet for anyone to hear.

You can either make/buy a pre-amplifier for the mic to line in transition, or see if you can find a cheap SB card on eBay that has a dedicated mic jack.

HomeBoy · « **Reply #27 on:** September 27, 2006, 09:26:22 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Auger
Homeboy, if the "Line in" jack doubles as a mic jack, you will probably need a powered mic to make it work, or at least an amplifier.

Thank you Auger. That makes a lot of sense. I have gone back to my USB mic solution which works well. I really wanted to make this work if I could. I guess I'll just give up on it.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.
-hb

Condor · « **Reply #28 on:** September 27, 2006, 11:47:11 AM »

I don’t know if my sound problem is because I don’t have a sound card or because I have a poor headset. People can hear me but say the volume is low and suggest I get closer to the mic. I have a $14 logitech that had really good internet reviews but I should have remembered you get what you pay for. I don’t, however, want to just go out and randomly select a more expensive headset. A significant problem with the Logitech is the mic boom is short and I am a big guy and have a big head (no comments please). I can barely get the mic near the corner of my mouth and that requires twisting the headphones slightly off my ears. Not very comfortable. Unfortunately, I can’t just go to the store and select something because the small city I live in has a very poor selection of computer accessories. I will have to buy something on the internet. So I would appreciate recommendations from any others out there with big heads. Just to clarify, I’m not a giant but I am 6’2” and have a large frame. Also, I don’t need Hi-Fi quality sound. I won’t use them for music.

Thanks

Hap · « **Reply #29 on:** September 27, 2006, 12:13:37 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Condor
I donï¿½t know if my sound problem is because I donï¿½t have a sound card or because I have a poor headset. People can hear me but say the volume is low and suggest I get closer to the mic. I have a $14 logitech that had really good internet reviews but I should have remembered you get what you pay for. I donï¿½t, however, want to just go out and randomly select a more expensive headset. A significant problem with the Logitech is the mic boom is short and I am a big guy and have a big head (no comments please). I can barely get the mic near the corner of my mouth and that requires twisting the headphones slightly off my ears. Not very comfortable. Unfortunately, I canï¿½t just go to the store and select something because the small city I live in has a very poor selection of computer accessories. I will have to buy something on the internet. So I would appreciate recommendations from any others out there with big heads. Just to clarify, Iï¿½m not a giant but I am 6ï¿½2ï¿½ and have a large frame. Also, I donï¿½t need Hi-Fi quality sound. I wonï¿½t use them for music.

Thanks

Condor, have you the "mic boost" enabled in windows &/or your sound card utilities menu? Also, w/in AH, under "voice" is a slider for mic. Those are the 2 volume controls of which I know.

Now . . . my mic wouldn't work for some time. It was because the default setting for my sound card had mic muted. Once I corrected it. All was well. Might want to check into is it muted -- w/in a software menu or on the mic itself if it has a slider or button for mute.

~~hap~~