USB microphone, narration pp2003 vs pp2007

[Landy]

I posted this as a response to a query a few months back and added a
question.
But it seems no-one is monitoring the old post!

The problem involved the apparent non-recognition of USB microphones
whne using pp2003 to record narrations.
Found the solution at:
http://www.its2.uidaho.edu/cti/res/tuts/audio/PowerPoint_Audio.htm
(see step 7 - by the way this is an excellent set of instructions).
It seems that Powerpoint (2003) always comes up with the "powerpoint is not
receiving sound from the microphone....etc" with USB mikes. I think
powerpoint on macs (2002?) has a button to select the sound source,
but 2003 only looks at the microphone input in the sound card.
The good news is that it records the narration anyway (provided
your USB mike is working) - you just don't have the option
to set the level. A similar problem (but with a different solution) crops
up if one is using a line-level microphone that plugs into the line-in
jack in your sound card (as opposed to the microphone jack) - again because
pp2003 only looks to the microphone jack in the sound card.

Does anyone know if this issue has been addressed in PP2007? Is there an
option to select the sound source? And perhaps even more importantly, can
you
directly record linked MP3 files rather than wav in narrations?
cheers
Bill

 

[Austin Myers]

Bill,

Afraid someone ahs sold you a bill of goods. <g> I use a USB mic all the
time. PowerPoint simply takes whatever you have set up as the default
device in Windows.


Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia, PFCPro, PFCExpress
http://www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Landy]

Bill,

Afraid someone ahs sold you a bill of goods. <g> I use a USB mic all the
time. PowerPoint simply takes whatever you have set up as the default
device in Windows.

Austin,
Not here it doesn't! As the website states, the narration records OK, but
the "set microphone level" always comes up with the "no sound detected"
error. And yes - I do have the USB mike as the default device.
cheers
Bill

 

[Austin Myers]

Austin,
Not here it doesn't! As the website states, the narration records OK, but
the "set microphone level" always comes up with the "no sound detected"
error. And yes - I do have the USB mike as the default device.
cheers

Hmmm, that is interesting. I am wondering if it depends on the device
driver being used?



Austin Myers
MS PowerPoint MVP Team

Provider of PFCMedia, PFCPro, PFCExpress
http://www.pfcmedia.com

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

I posted this as a response to a query a few months back and added a
question.
But it seems no-one is monitoring the old post!

The problem involved the apparent non-recognition of USB microphones
whne using pp2003 to record narrations.
Found the solution at:
http://www.its2.uidaho.edu/cti/res/tuts/audio/PowerPoint_Audio.htm
(see step 7 - by the way this is an excellent set of instructions).
It seems that Powerpoint (2003) always comes up with the "powerpoint is not
receiving sound from the microphone....etc" with USB mikes.

Apparently not all of them. Just tried this with a USB headset and didn't get
any results in PPT with it at first.

But it worked after I:

Start, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices
Audio tab (NOT Voice tab, odd though it may sound)
Select the USB headset for both the default sound playback and recording
devices
Click Apply

Whatever other problems there may be, I think this proves that it's not the
case that PPT is only looking at the Mic input from the sound card.

Does anyone know if this issue has been addressed in PP2007? Is there an
option to select the sound source?

There's really no need for such an option in PPT. It's going to use the source
you've selected in Control Panel.

can you directly record linked MP3 files rather than wav in narrations?

Nope. Sorry.

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Austin,
Not here it doesn't!

The bill of goods = the notion that PPT won't work with USB microphones.
Clearly that's wrong.

As the website states, the narration records OK, but
the "set microphone level" always comes up with the "no sound detected"
error. And yes - I do have the USB mike as the default device.

Default for Voice or for Audio? Windows will let you set them separately, and
it seems to matter.

 

[Landy]

The bill of goods = the notion that PPT won't work with USB microphones.
Clearly that's wrong.

All I can tell you is that it does not work here.

Default for Voice or for Audio? Windows will let you set them separately,
and
it seems to matter.

I have it set for both - just in case. But still the problem shows up. I
think that if I
had the windows setup incorrect the narration would not record. It does
record -
it only fails on the "set microphone level" bit.
cheers
Bill

 

[Landy]

Apparently not all of them. Just tried this with a USB headset and didn't
get
any results in PPT with it at first.

But it worked after I:

Start, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices
Audio tab (NOT Voice tab, odd though it may sound)
Select the USB headset for both the default sound playback and recording
devices

Steve,
Aha - I think you may have hit on something there. The USB microphone I am
using
is a microphone ONLY. It's not a headset but rather a voicetracker array
microphone
I intend to use for recording lectures "live". There is no option to set it
as the default
sound playback device since it doesn't have that physical capacity. But I
do have it set
as the default recording device.

There's really no need for such an option in PPT. It's going to use the
source
you've selected in Control Panel.



Nope. Sorry.

Bugger! So I still have to convert them.
cheers
Bill

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

But it worked after I:

Steve,
Aha - I think you may have hit on something there. The USB microphone I am
using
is a microphone ONLY. It's not a headset but rather a voicetracker array
microphone
I intend to use for recording lectures "live". There is no option to set it
as the default
sound playback device since it doesn't have that physical capacity. But I
do have it set
as the default recording device.

I wonder if PPT is looking for a full-up sound card for its tests, then? It
makes sense that it might ... in order to see whether anything's getting
recorded, it'd have to look at the output. Then again, it's receiving the
output when you DO record.

My head hurts. ;-)