Depending upon what sound card you have, there may be an “Advanced” box in the microphone section. If so, click it. If it shows an option for and AGC or automatic volume control, click to activate it. If it has a microphone gain option such as “20 dB” this can be clicked of the volume level from your microphone is too low. If your microphone sound is too loud and distorted, drag the microphone slider control lower. After making any changes on the sound mixer, be sure to go back to Sound Recorder to check if the settings are correct. The voice recording should be clear and undistorted, and sound about the same volume as other sounds typically heard from your computer speakers.
It is important that the sound volumes be uniform when recording words with the Teaching-Engine. When making a recording with Sound Recorder, notice the height of the green waveform. It should nearly fill the vertical space of the rectangular box and not have any flat tops and bottoms to the shape. This can be adjusted with the slider control of the microphone record section of Volume Control.
If you still are unable to record and playback your voice using Sound Recorder, ask someone with computer experience to assist you, or seek advice from the store that sold you the PC.
On Volume Control, click: Options> Properties> , and then click the button beside “Recording” . The small white box beside “Microphone” must be checked. Then click “OK”. Another image of a recording console should appear. Make sure that the microphone volume control “Select” box is checked and that the volume control slider is pushed up to nearly the top. If there is a small square box labelled “Mute” this must not be checked.
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A Word About Sound
Sound is an essential component of the Teaching-Engine. The program uses the sound card in your computer and the Windows sound card interface. It is important to check to see if the basic Windows sound function is working properly. Many computers regularly use sound for gaming, but that is normally the playback of sound only. The Teaching-Engine also uses a microphone for the tutor to record the sounds of the words and this operation must be working properly in order to take advantage of a primary feature of the program.
A PC microphone or headset microphone must be plugged into the microphone input of the sound card, usually the pink connector. A simple way to check the operation is to use the Windows Sound Recorder feature.
You get to this by clicking Start>Programs>Accessories>Entertainment>Sound Recorder. (Windows XP) You then click the red record button and start speaking into the microphone. The green line in the rectangular window should make wave-like patterns in response to your voice. Click the button just to the left of the record button and this stops the recording. You should be able to hear what you just recorded by clicking the double left triangle button on the far left which resets the recording to the beginning, and then click the single right-pointing triangle to playback.
If the green line did not make wave patterns and no sound was heard on playback, it may be that the Volume Control needs setting or adjustment. . You can have both Sound Recorder and Volume Control showing at the same time. Click: Start> Programs> Accessories> Entertainment> Volume Control. An image of a sound recording console with slide-type volume controls should appear. These are the controls for the playback of sound. You need the controls for the recording of sound.