Voice Chat...Questions

OK this is a technical SETTINGS question, not a debate over do you like or do you not like Voice Chat and why (heh! Heh! This should keep this thread rather short and sweet).

My questions are:

*What are the proper or optimum settings for voice chat for those who wish to use it?

*How do you avoid getting your eardrums 'blasted' at first when someone joins voice chat?

*I have a hard time 'grabbing' a name in the Voice chat volume bubble...they are moving around so fast at times that it takes several minutes to select the one I want...how do I overcome that challenge?

*What would be recommended steps to give a person who wants to listen to voice chat that has no microphone for speaking?

*What are the recomended headsets for good sound quality (I repeat QUALITY)? I have noticed some people with headsets have terrible sound quality, broken and static. (the one I am using is a Plantronics Audio 510 headset and it seems to be working very well)

*How do we prevent the annoying echos?

*What are the proper or optimum settings for voice chat for those who wish to use it?
depends on the persons pc I guess....

*How do you avoid getting your eardrums 'blasted' at first when someone joins voice chat?
you don't unless you have volume turned down really low, and then turn up each individual person's volume (which would be a pain in the ass)

*I have a hard time 'grabbing' a name in the Voice chat volume bubble...they are moving around so fast at times that it takes several minutes to select the one I want...how do I overcome that challenge?
above the names in the list where it says name, click that and it will sort them alphabetically

*What would be recommended steps to give a person who wants to listen to voice chat that has no microphone for speaking?
same as setting up voice for someone with a mic, just they will not be able to talk is all

*What are the recomended headsets for good sound quality (I repeat QUALITY)? I have noticed some people with headsets have terrible sound quality, broken and static. (the one I am using is a Plantronics Audio 510 headset and it seems to be working very well)
again I think this depends on what each person wants, I use a 20 dollar headset and it works well

*How do we prevent the annoying echos?
you can prevent your own self from causing echos by using a headset (or using push to talk)
you can not prevent others, but you can educate them and make them aware that they are causing an echo

Just make sure your Windows Microphone level is not too high or low. Red bars = too loud and very small green bars = too quiet. You can experiment with the mic boost settings if your sound card has them and ask others how you sound

The speaker icon over to the bottom right has sliders for all volume levels, Voice = overall voice volume you can turn down before you enter a place where people are talking

so do i , I don't know if this is a GUI bug that was maybe overlooked, but I have had the same problem. I make note of who is around me; if someone is being super loud and I cannot click on their name in the list I first click on their avatar and temporarily mute them until I can lower their volume, I'd have to check if there is a JIRA issue for this

edit - preferences - voice chat - enable , I talk and you listen and type, and I will watch your typing and respond with voice, If someone desperately wants to talk but has no microphone, you can actually plug headphones into the mic port in the tower/laptop and speak through them (some brands, sound quality will not be great) lol

A newer mic/headset will sound better, usually the static and broken quality is from shorts that develop in the cords of older headsets/mics, I have a $24 dollar radio shack headset and people tell me I sound fine

I believe the echos are caused by some USB headsets. (not sure and not sure on the fix for them) It is also caused by using speakers and using a mic instead of a headset. It is also caused when someone leaves their microphone on and another person is talking.

i'd like to try it but i prefer voice only through headset and sounds and music through my 5.1. Problem is either SL client isn't smart enough to do this with vista or vista won't let it happen.

so i'd have to switch from the soundcard to the mb sound anytime i wanted to do this and have the sound come out my headphones i only want voice comming out of. all that requires restarting SL and making control panel changes which is annoying.
Only other option is a voice over the 5.1 setup or headphone that and use the headset mike somehow for sound lol.

I will repeat this one again

IF you go to the active speakers list, at the top where it says Name. click on the word name, it is a button, and it will sort the list alphabetically for you
(if you click the button to the left, it will sort them for who is actively talking)

it stops them from bouncing all over when someone speaks

why would we need a jira for something that already works?

What if you have a built in mic. If I enable voice to, say, hear what's being said in a class, will people be able to hear sounds coming from my end? (typing sounds, me eating chips, etc.) By press and release, I imagine people are talking about a button on their headset. Is there a way to enable sounds while turning the mic off? I certainly wouldn't want to be a nuisance to anyone just to be able to try voice. And yes, if I like it, I'll get a headset.

*edited to add: Thought about this right after I posted. I can always turn my input volume down completely, duh...

I tried out Voice for only the second time today.... the first being a good while ago and I was 'insulted' over the quality of my mic....

Today, I roped in a 'mental mentor' who let me try it out with her...and the sound was so crystal clear, I was really surprised. Though this is probably because I used my 'SM 58' mic which is the same one I use for RL perfoming...only trouble with that is, that it's a handheld so it can make it a bit arkward for me......

But anyway, I just played around with various buttons etc....learn by trying seems to be my philosophy as of late.

for people who claim they have no microphone.


Every speaker is also a microphone, if you take set of head phones from your walkman and plug it into the microphone jack and speak into it, it will work. I've used this trick before i got my headset. the ear bud type headphones seem to work the best. Only one side will be the microphone so you have to test it out talk into one side then the other till you find the right side.

Its a quick and easy way to get voice working with no investment in a headset.

allmost every human on the planet has an extra set of headphones they can use under couch or in a drawer somewhere

the white Ipod ear bud headphones work great as microphones.


hope this helpz

Also if you use push to talk mode, you are only sending sounds if you hold the button or press the lock. I think it automatically starts with the mic off. You can make it automatically choose push-to-talk in the preference settings. no need to start messing with input volume - not that i even know how to do this lol

Now this i had no idea about. I went out and bought a cheap headset and mic (£6 whole squids! ) lol. I have hundreds of spare earphones too.

Thanx Claire! That's what I wanted to know!


@poop Great idea, especially for those who just want to try...

Echoes: Turn your volume down a bit. Turn the volume of the other person according to how loud you hear them.


To be able to grab a persons name in that chat bubble just click once on top of the box itself, right on top and the names will stop moving up and down.


If there are more then one person speaking you can click on the top as I just mentioned to freeze all the names then click of the person speaking to bring their volume up or down.
Or you can bring all volumes to 2/3 two-thirds up this way you can hear everyone. But it also depends how far they are away from you as the further the lower the volume.

i missed this the first time around cuz I was so excited to see a voice question, lol, thank you, I didn't know that was possible

I've never had a built in microphone before, so I am not sure if they constantly pick up sounds or wait until some kind of program and user interface activates them. When I activate voice, it does not automatically project all sounds from my mic; I have to use the Talk button to activate the mic, and then I speak. The talk button is part of the user interface of the viewer; it becomes viewable when I activate voice in preferences. You can press and hold it, and that should activate your mic; you can press the lock button next to the talk button and lock down the microphone. This will hold it down hands free for everyone to hear your dog barking, baby crying, and chips munching. You can also set up a hotkey, such as a keyboard key like the spacebar, to activate your mic when you press it. That function is in the voice chat section of preferences.

You're at optimum griefing volume when the sound meter is red.



Be the one doing the blasting.



Shoot everyone with cage guns so they stop moving around.



1. Kill yourself.

If you can't afford a microphone, you are unforgivably lame.

As someone who had someone munching crisps (ok chips if you must but they are crisps here) in my ears enough to make me screech, this is really really bad behaviour and quite disgusting.

Thanks for the headphones comment - handy to know if my headset borks again. A reasonable (and *COMFORTABLE*) headset is an investment though, as then you can listen to music/video with added pleasure.

/me hopes it wasn't during a delicate situation.

Voice is interesting. Really changes things. Someone came by the hangout and wanted to test Voice. I turned mine on. I had it set to "push to chat" with it set to push "q". I had my chat line on, though, and I accidently said "QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ" in written chat.

That wasn't the "really changes thing" part - it was the voice itself. Really sounded like my grandfather was speaking to me. My dead grandfather. I don't mean that it sounded like my dead grandfather was talking to me, I mean it sounded exactly like my grandfather while he was alive.

Somewhat . . . confusing. Especially when you match voice with avatar.

I, of course, looked like a cat at the time so I was meowing.

And hey, Orfeu really does sound British (Orfeu isn't the one that sounded like my grandfather, he was just also there).

I'm not sure what you mean by built in mic...on a laptop?

Anyway, whether you're using a headset or some other mic, you should NEVER check the option "Push to Talk in Toggle Mode". This turns your mic on when you hit your PTT key, and LEAVES it on until you hit the key again. When you forget and leave your mic live, everyone can hear every little disgusting thing going on at your workstation.

The default setting only keys your mic as long as you are actually holding down the PTT key. Use it. Please.

I have a iMac desktop so my web-cam and microphone are built into my monitor. So, monitor+keyboard+mouse are all I have in front of me, lol.

I think the best thing I should do is just buy a headset. They're really not that expensive and I would hate to have my mouth noises broadcasted to everyone in my vicinity just to satisfy my curiosity. As long as I know my mic isn't automatically turned on when I enable voice, I feel reassured.

Ha ... yeah that wasn't too likely with that person. Nope, he was walking round being annoying to people in general and asking "Are you IMming that guy?" every few minutes.

Glad to be rid of him