PilotEdge Forums

Hi all,

I have a standard two-plug headset with microphone and am having a lot of issues adjusting sound; yesterday I couldn't get the engine sound quiet enough to hear ATC so had to turn it off (P3D)

That said, I'm wondering if there's any more controllability when using a USB headset? I've never tried one of those.

thanks,
Andrew

Assuming this is Windows 7. Have you opened the Volume mixer located on the Windows system tray? Usually access by right clicking on the speaker icon in the lower right of the task bar. This usually allows for more control over the different audio sources. On my system, the Windows volume mixer is the top option.

Obviously this only works if the PE client shows up as a different device on the mixer. This might offer a way to change the balance between PE and P3D.

I don't have P3D, but does it have a master sound level? Could that be used to lower all of the sounds coming from P3D relative to all other sounds instead of just lowering the engine sounds?

USB is definitely the way to go. It runs as a completely separate audio device. Airplane sounds through the speakers, ATC through the headset (you can configure the 2 plug headset the same way). I only run the volume about halfway on my headset and it's plenty loud. I even went one step further and got a wireless USB headset so I can walk around my house, go the bathroom etc without having to take the headset off. It has a 40-50' range.

USB FTW

wmburns has it. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to drop the engine noise (P3D volume) relative to PE ATC.

Having USB would allow you to separate the playback from the speakers, but even so, this should be solvable through software alone.

Hi all-

Keith was nice enough to help get my standard mic running by eliminating extraneous speaker choices (not sure how they got in there... )

I did buy a USB set during my frustration (before Keith helped) and it sounds great.

We got my standard mic working, so I left it alone for the time being; I've recorded the settings, and will try the USB set as they're a bit more comfortable.

Shawn, can you advise how to separate the engine from radios? I actually popped in here this morning with that very question, as yesterday I was having a hard time hearing ATC over the engine even though I had the engine sounds turned way down (didn't seem to make a difference; this was in Prepar3d).

Prepar3d does have separate volume controls, but, as noted, they don't seem to be working.

FWIW I also use X-Plane 10 sometimes, and wish to use it for night flight, so I assume the process should be kind of similar?

thanks again,
Andrew

The easiest way to get sim sound through speakers and ATC through your USB headset is to set the speakers as the Windows default device, then configure the PE client to use the USB headset. If you've tinkered with P3d and/or X-Plane's sound output settings you may need to set them back to the default device.

Windows 10 instructions for setting the default device (may vary slightly depending on Windows version):

• Find the speaker icon in the system tray (down by the clock on the task bar) and right-click it
• Choose "Playback devices"
• Find your the sound device you've connected to your speakers and click it once to select it
• Click the "Set Default" button underneath the list of devices
• Click OK to close the window

Thanks David!

Tried the USB headset with engine/cockpit sounds via external speakers.

LOVED it. That's the way to do it. Thanks for the advice guys.