MS Voice recorder app and camera app

[Andrew B.]

I have a new computer here with Windows 10 Pro, and what I'm about to tell you is true.

1. I was testing the built in mic by talking into MS voice recorder. It seemed a bit flakey but so is my voice, which has been wrecked by COPD inhalers. So I tested my voice followed by a cheap wooden flute and then harmonica. And true to it's name, it recorded the voice by not the flute or harmonica.

So I wondered if there is some algorithm that makes this happen

2. So I tested using MS camera set to make a video. Same thing. Except this time I also tested using a kalimba.

Have you ever heard of such a thing?

[Steve Rindsberg]

I know MS is using AI to work magic on all sorts of things. Mostly not dark magic.

I suppose it can be useful to have an app that removes all but your voice, assuming it doesn't decide your voice is flute-like and remove you.

Voice Recorder seems ... well ... lame doesn't begin to describe it. "Click the button and I'll do whatever I damn well please until you click the button again" doesn't win many prizes in my (grumpy) book.

For more general-purpose recording, have a look at Audacity. It's free and very capable.

[Andrew B.]

Same thing with Audacity. I tested today.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Audacity is recording just you and not the musical instruments?

Time to call a priest, maybe?

Is the microphone so directional that it's excluding sound from any angle that's not approximately the same as where your head would normally be? What if you move your head (it's ok if the rest of you comes along) off axis?

[Andrew B.]

I did a lot more testing. The problem is with the computer. Meaning Windows or drivers or hardware etc. Not positioning. I tested using Audacity, MS voice recorder. MS Camera, and live feedback from a friend who was listening via Zoom. I've used two different microphones, on internal one external. I compared some of this to my old computer and found none of these problems on my old computer. I'm going to test with one more later.

There is a sound setting in control panel under "communication" to suppress other sounds. I tried turning this off. No difference.

1. It can record my voice but not musical instruments, with some exceptions.
2. If I sing a series of four notes into Audacity it will clip the beginning of the first one.
3. If I hum continuously and strum the guitar, my voice can be heard but only the attack of each strum can be heard by my Zoom friend.
4. If I strum to Audacity it looks like it's recording but I hear it tick, tick, tick, as if only the initial attack is being recorded. This is a guess. Using harmonica gets me almost nothing.

One test I have not done is testing scenarios 2-4 to see if/how they tie into 1.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Weirder and weirder ...

Audacity lets you choose the sound source and IIRC you can choose System Sound or a specific microphone. If it's set to the former, try the latter. There's also a way of choosing what it calls Audio Host ... upper left area of the toolbar. See if different options there make any difference.

Also, if you have an external mic you can use, even a set of e.g. iphone earbuds or better yet, a USB mic, give that a try.

[Andrew B.]

I ran a test with a USB mic and I had the same problem. So next I will contact tech support who will have me replace this driver and that driver, and maybe this will fix whatever filter is at work.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Stranger and stranger. That sounds like the best next step; please let us know what you find out!

But first, are you sure this isn't the audio version of how vampires don't show up in mirrors? Nah, that'd be all backwards. If it were that, YOU wouldn't record but everything else would.

[Andrew B.]

I found out what this is. it's a feature!!! Bang & Olufsen sound feature to remove "background" noise.

[Steve Rindsberg]

Ah, they're trying the old "That's not a bug, it's a FEATURE!" trick on you, eh?

I've seen you in a hat. Nice one, too. You don't need wool over your eyes too, do ya?

RESIST! ;-)