Second Life Forums Archive - Voice implementation suggestions

Ceera Murakami

Texture Artist / Builder

Join date: 9 Sep 2005

Posts: 7,750

05-14-2007 11:47

Some thoughts on fixes and work-arounds that should go into Voice when it is released.

1: DO NOT default to a live mike! When a voice-capable system with a mike plugged in is logging in, the default should be a "push to talk" mode, and not a live mike that immediately starts broadcasting any noise at their location. PLEASE. If they then want to toggle their mike to an "always on" state, they should be able to do that with a single mouse click.

2: Give non-voice users a way to listen, WITHOUT indicating to the world that they are "Voice enabled and ready to talk". At present, unless they changed something since the last Beta that I tried, the only way to be aware that someone is talking is to fully activate Voice yourself. But that places the non-voice users in a bad spot. Keep it off, and be unaware of any spoken conversation nearby? Or turn it on, and constantly have to tell people, "I only listen. I don't/can't/won't turn on my mike, even though I could.". Give us a "Listen only mode", that does NOT indicate we have a mike. A "Listener" should be able to see the icons and squiggles for the voice users. Voice users and Listeners should see an icon indicating that Listeners can hear but won't voice a response. Non-voice users should see no indication that Voice exists.

3: When someone speaks, have an indication appear in open text chat, so those with voice disabled can be aware that the person is talking, and so it's easier to mute someone by identifying who just yelled that obscenity, or whatever. For example "Kendrew Mackay: (talking)" in Chat, when that avatar's mike is transmitting above 30 DB, or some similar threshold.

_____________________

Sorry, LL won't let me tell you where I sell my textures and where I offer my services as a sim builder. Ask me in-world.

tristan Eliot

Say What?!

Join date: 30 Oct 2005

Posts: 494

05-17-2007 17:58

Some sort of wizard to help tune the mic and speaker levels would be nice.

Buxton Malaprop

Mad Physicist

Join date: 8 Jun 2005

Posts: 118

05-18-2007 00:40

Absolutely YES to these!

I'd really like to see Push To Talk mode made default-and-compulsory, so you can't switch to a full "permanently live mic" situation - and have Lock Talk be a landowner-optional feature (to allow me to enforce a policy of "only speak if you've got something to say" on my land).

If I can't have that, I'd settle for PTT defaulting to ON, with a warning when turning it off that doing so might make you unpopular.

Oooh, also - it would be very helpful to have features to control who's allowed to speak on my land. For events it could be by invitation only, or more generally it could be used to de-voice troublemakers (or people who refuse to use PTT!).

_____________________

Phillip and Griefers Sitting In A Tree
K-I-S-S-I-N-G

Zephyrin Zabelin

Registered User

Join date: 10 May 2007

Posts: 153

05-18-2007 01:06

Yes the authorised voice list would also be handy for classes, so the lecture could be delivered in voice supported by text, while the teacher-student interactions can continue to be text only.

tristan Eliot

Say What?!

Join date: 30 Oct 2005

Posts: 494

05-25-2007 23:11

Please please please give users the ability to enable voice on a per user basis in the friends list with an option to mute everyone who isn't a friend.

Tod69 Talamasca

The Human Tripod ;)

Join date: 20 Sep 2005

Posts: 4,107

05-26-2007 02:41

Those are some good ideas Ceera! Thought something about that myself.

Hypatia Callisto

metadea

Join date: 8 Feb 2006

Posts: 793

05-26-2007 03:49

From: Ceera Murakami

Some thoughts on fixes and work-arounds that should go into Voice when it is released.

Add voice to group controls - so members of a group can voice and people on the parcel can still hear - but can't speak.

Makes it easier for conferences and classes where there are times you need the instructors or speakers to speak - and not the audience, but you need everyone to hear it!

A virtual equivalent of "opening and closing the floor" as you will

SL Voice is worthless for most business applications without it.

_____________________

... perhaps simplicity is complicated to grasp.

Hypatia Callisto

metadea

Join date: 8 Feb 2006

Posts: 793

05-26-2007 03:56

ah, and I will add - the ability for a landowner to mute a person, along with the freeze/eject controls, so nobody hears them on that parcel. Ideally it should extend to other parcels as well if the person is standing on the land where he's muted.

Banning should automatically mute a person on a parcel as well, so they can't stand from the edge and talk in.

More controls to control griefers, please

_____________________

... perhaps simplicity is complicated to grasp.

Kevin Susenko

Voice Mentor

Join date: 11 Jul 2006

Posts: 198

05-26-2007 04:45

From: Ceera Murakami

Some thoughts on fixes and work-arounds that should go into Voice when it is released.

1: DO NOT default to a live mike! When a voice-capable system with a mike plugged in is logging in, the default should be a "push to talk" mode, and not a live mike that immediately starts broadcasting any noise at their location. PLEASE. If they then want to toggle their mike to an "always on" state, they should be able to do that with a single mouse click.

2: Give non-voice users a way to listen, WITHOUT indicating to the world that they are "Voice enabled and ready to talk". At present, unless they changed something since the last Beta that I tried, the only way to be aware that someone is talking is to fully activate Voice yourself. But that places the non-voice users in a bad spot. Keep it off, and be unaware of any spoken conversation nearby? Or turn it on, and constantly have to tell people, "I only listen. I don't/can't/won't turn on my mike, even though I could.". Give us a "Listen only mode", that does NOT indicate we have a mike. A "Listener" should be able to see the icons and squiggles for the voice users. Voice users and Listeners should see an icon indicating that Listeners can hear but won't voice a response. Non-voice users should see no indication that Voice exists.

3: When someone speaks, have an indication appear in open text chat, so those with voice disabled can be aware that the person is talking, and so it's easier to mute someone by identifying who just yelled that obscenity, or whatever. For example "Kendrew Mackay: (talking)" in Chat, when that avatar's mike is transmitting above 30 DB, or some similar threshold.

I like all of them except for the last one. Since that would probably just lead to text chat floods. Probably a better way to do this would be to add on to #2 the ability to be logged into the voice server but have both hear and speak disabled, that way you could still look at the active speakers list and see who's talking.

_____________________

Shirley Marquez

Ethical SLut

Join date: 28 Oct 2005

Posts: 788

05-26-2007 06:51

From: tristan Eliot

Some sort of wizard to help tune the mic and speaker levels would be nice.

I'm not sure what a wizard could do... setting the levels is already pretty simple.

To set the mic level, start talking in a normal voice. Turn the mic gain up until you start seeing red flashes in the voice indicator over your head. Then back off just enough to make the red go away, usually 10-20% of the distance to the zero point on your mic gain slider. It is best to do this with the mic gain control provided by your operating system, rather than the one in the Second Life client; save that one for fine tuning. (Reason: you want to use as little gain as possible in your sound card mic preamp; that will usually give the least background hiss and hum.)

This should be a one-time adjustment for most users, unless you get a different microphone. Exception: if you commonly use voice for some OTHER application that needs a slightly higher gain setting than Second Life does, set your OS for the other app and use the slider in the SL client to make up the difference; that way, you won't be constantly readusting as you change applications. If the other app needs LESS gain, you'll have to see if it has some adjustment; otherwise, you're stuck, and you'll just have to readjust each time you switch.

To set the headphone level, adjust it to a volume that sounds comfortable for you, just like you do for music or sound effects in Second Life. Your headphone volume setting has no effect on what other people experience. Unless you're listening through speakers and getting feedback into your microphone, so don't do that.

Alan Bamboo

summer

Join date: 8 Oct 2006

Posts: 161

Voice implementation suggestions

06-06-2007 18:15

More support information on trouble shooting

I never see many people in voice, usually only around 50 max, is it because everyone is

having trouble getting voice to work???

Kevin Susenko

Voice Mentor

Join date: 11 Jul 2006

Posts: 198

06-06-2007 22:04

From: Alan Bamboo

More support information on trouble shooting

I never see many people in voice, usually only around 50 max, is it because everyone is

having trouble getting voice to work???

There aren't usually more than 50 people in the beta grid total, and not all of them use voice.

Granted though some trouble shooting tools would be nice. It seems voice just doesn't work for some people and it's tiring to having to go through figuring out the problem if they don't know how their network is setup.

_____________________

Voice implementation suggestions
Ceera Murakami Texture Artist / Builder Join date: 9 Sep 2005 Posts: 7,750	05-14-2007 11:47 Some thoughts on fixes and work-arounds that should go into Voice when it is released. 1: DO NOT default to a live mike! When a voice-capable system with a mike plugged in is logging in, the default should be a "push to talk" mode, and not a live mike that immediately starts broadcasting any noise at their location. PLEASE. If they then want to toggle their mike to an "always on" state, they should be able to do that with a single mouse click. 2: Give non-voice users a way to listen, WITHOUT indicating to the world that they are "Voice enabled and ready to talk". At present, unless they changed something since the last Beta that I tried, the only way to be aware that someone is talking is to fully activate Voice yourself. But that places the non-voice users in a bad spot. Keep it off, and be unaware of any spoken conversation nearby? Or turn it on, and constantly have to tell people, "I only listen. I don't/can't/won't turn on my mike, even though I could.". Give us a "Listen only mode", that does NOT indicate we have a mike. A "Listener" should be able to see the icons and squiggles for the voice users. Voice users and Listeners should see an icon indicating that Listeners can hear but won't voice a response. Non-voice users should see no indication that Voice exists. 3: When someone speaks, have an indication appear in open text chat, so those with voice disabled can be aware that the person is talking, and so it's easier to mute someone by identifying who just yelled that obscenity, or whatever. For example "Kendrew Mackay: (talking)" in Chat, when that avatar's mike is transmitting above 30 DB, or some similar threshold. _____________________ Sorry, LL won't let me tell you where I sell my textures and where I offer my services as a sim builder. Ask me in-world.
tristan Eliot Say What?! Join date: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 494	05-17-2007 17:58 Some sort of wizard to help tune the mic and speaker levels would be nice.
Buxton Malaprop Mad Physicist Join date: 8 Jun 2005 Posts: 118	05-18-2007 00:40 Absolutely YES to these! I'd really like to see Push To Talk mode made default-and-compulsory, so you can't switch to a full "permanently live mic" situation - and have Lock Talk be a landowner-optional feature (to allow me to enforce a policy of "only speak if you've got something to say" on my land). If I can't have that, I'd settle for PTT defaulting to ON, with a warning when turning it off that doing so might make you unpopular. Oooh, also - it would be very helpful to have features to control who's allowed to speak on my land. For events it could be by invitation only, or more generally it could be used to de-voice troublemakers (or people who refuse to use PTT!). _____________________ Phillip and Griefers Sitting In A Tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Zephyrin Zabelin Registered User Join date: 10 May 2007 Posts: 153	05-18-2007 01:06 Yes the authorised voice list would also be handy for classes, so the lecture could be delivered in voice supported by text, while the teacher-student interactions can continue to be text only.
tristan Eliot Say What?! Join date: 30 Oct 2005 Posts: 494	05-25-2007 23:11 Please please please give users the ability to enable voice on a per user basis in the friends list with an option to mute everyone who isn't a friend.
Tod69 Talamasca The Human Tripod ;) Join date: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 4,107	05-26-2007 02:41 Those are some good ideas Ceera! Thought something about that myself.
Hypatia Callisto metadea Join date: 8 Feb 2006 Posts: 793	05-26-2007 03:49 From: Ceera Murakami Some thoughts on fixes and work-arounds that should go into Voice when it is released. Add voice to group controls - so members of a group can voice and people on the parcel can still hear - but can't speak. Makes it easier for conferences and classes where there are times you need the instructors or speakers to speak - and not the audience, but you need everyone to hear it! A virtual equivalent of "opening and closing the floor" as you will SL Voice is worthless for most business applications without it. _____________________ ... perhaps simplicity is complicated to grasp.
Hypatia Callisto metadea Join date: 8 Feb 2006 Posts: 793	05-26-2007 03:56 ah, and I will add - the ability for a landowner to mute a person, along with the freeze/eject controls, so nobody hears them on that parcel. Ideally it should extend to other parcels as well if the person is standing on the land where he's muted. Banning should automatically mute a person on a parcel as well, so they can't stand from the edge and talk in. More controls to control griefers, please _____________________ ... perhaps simplicity is complicated to grasp.
Kevin Susenko Voice Mentor Join date: 11 Jul 2006 Posts: 198	05-26-2007 04:45 From: Ceera Murakami Some thoughts on fixes and work-arounds that should go into Voice when it is released. 1: DO NOT default to a live mike! When a voice-capable system with a mike plugged in is logging in, the default should be a "push to talk" mode, and not a live mike that immediately starts broadcasting any noise at their location. PLEASE. If they then want to toggle their mike to an "always on" state, they should be able to do that with a single mouse click. 2: Give non-voice users a way to listen, WITHOUT indicating to the world that they are "Voice enabled and ready to talk". At present, unless they changed something since the last Beta that I tried, the only way to be aware that someone is talking is to fully activate Voice yourself. But that places the non-voice users in a bad spot. Keep it off, and be unaware of any spoken conversation nearby? Or turn it on, and constantly have to tell people, "I only listen. I don't/can't/won't turn on my mike, even though I could.". Give us a "Listen only mode", that does NOT indicate we have a mike. A "Listener" should be able to see the icons and squiggles for the voice users. Voice users and Listeners should see an icon indicating that Listeners can hear but won't voice a response. Non-voice users should see no indication that Voice exists. 3: When someone speaks, have an indication appear in open text chat, so those with voice disabled can be aware that the person is talking, and so it's easier to mute someone by identifying who just yelled that obscenity, or whatever. For example "Kendrew Mackay: (talking)" in Chat, when that avatar's mike is transmitting above 30 DB, or some similar threshold. I like all of them except for the last one. Since that would probably just lead to text chat floods. Probably a better way to do this would be to add on to #2 the ability to be logged into the voice server but have both hear and speak disabled, that way you could still look at the active speakers list and see who's talking. _____________________ CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (Overclocked - 2.8GHz) \| Mobo: EVGA nForce 680i SLI \| GPU: XFX nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX 768mb GDDR3 \| Memory: 4gb DDR2 PC5300 667MHz Dual Channel \| PSU: Antec Neo HE 550w \| Sound: SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtrememusic \| HDD: 950gb total SATA3 \| OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit
Shirley Marquez Ethical SLut Join date: 28 Oct 2005 Posts: 788	05-26-2007 06:51 From: tristan Eliot Some sort of wizard to help tune the mic and speaker levels would be nice. I'm not sure what a wizard could do... setting the levels is already pretty simple. To set the mic level, start talking in a normal voice. Turn the mic gain up until you start seeing red flashes in the voice indicator over your head. Then back off just enough to make the red go away, usually 10-20% of the distance to the zero point on your mic gain slider. It is best to do this with the mic gain control provided by your operating system, rather than the one in the Second Life client; save that one for fine tuning. (Reason: you want to use as little gain as possible in your sound card mic preamp; that will usually give the least background hiss and hum.) This should be a one-time adjustment for most users, unless you get a different microphone. Exception: if you commonly use voice for some OTHER application that needs a slightly higher gain setting than Second Life does, set your OS for the other app and use the slider in the SL client to make up the difference; that way, you won't be constantly readusting as you change applications. If the other app needs LESS gain, you'll have to see if it has some adjustment; otherwise, you're stuck, and you'll just have to readjust each time you switch. To set the headphone level, adjust it to a volume that sounds comfortable for you, just like you do for music or sound effects in Second Life. Your headphone volume setting has no effect on what other people experience. Unless you're listening through speakers and getting feedback into your microphone, so don't do that.
Alan Bamboo summer Join date: 8 Oct 2006 Posts: 161	Voice implementation suggestions 06-06-2007 18:15 More support information on trouble shooting I never see many people in voice, usually only around 50 max, is it because everyone is having trouble getting voice to work???
Kevin Susenko Voice Mentor Join date: 11 Jul 2006 Posts: 198	06-06-2007 22:04 From: Alan Bamboo More support information on trouble shooting I never see many people in voice, usually only around 50 max, is it because everyone is having trouble getting voice to work??? There aren't usually more than 50 people in the beta grid total, and not all of them use voice. Granted though some trouble shooting tools would be nice. It seems voice just doesn't work for some people and it's tiring to having to go through figuring out the problem if they don't know how their network is setup. _____________________ CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (Overclocked - 2.8GHz) \| Mobo: EVGA nForce 680i SLI \| GPU: XFX nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX 768mb GDDR3 \| Memory: 4gb DDR2 PC5300 667MHz Dual Channel \| PSU: Antec Neo HE 550w \| Sound: SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtrememusic \| HDD: 950gb total SATA3 \| OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit

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Voice implementation suggestions