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How to set up Jamulus for Dell laptop

Mike Tietz
2020-05-25
2020-05-25
  • Mike Tietz

    Mike Tietz - 2020-05-25

    Hi - I'm a classical musician and have been trying to set up Jamulus for long-distance ensemble playing, and to get classical musicians to join in. However, I've had no success getting the program to work so far. Am able to get connectedto servers and hear people online, but can't get anyone to hear me, either using the built-in laptop mic or external plug-in mic. Would appreciate any advice to get it working. I'm using a 2019 Dell Inspiron 5770 laptop with Windows 10. Installed sound driver is Realtek ASIO.

    Steps taken:
    - Downloaded and installed Jamulus software
    - Downloaded ASIO4all driver
    - I've connected to Jamulus servers, heard instruments/voices, but participants can't hear me. FYI, when I speak into the laptop mic there are NO input levels.

    • I've also tried attaching an external USB sound card (StarTrack 7.1) and Rode Video Mic. Same result (no input levels). Sound card supports 44.1KHz and 48KHz sampling rates for analog playback and recording or 48KHz for SPDIF.

    I also tried to get Jamulus to work on a new 2020 Dell desktop. Did the same downloads, but no success (can connect to servers, but cannot join/participate with audio; no audio input levels).

    Right now, am totally stumped. Do I need to get additional/different hardware (soundcard and/or mic) to make this program work? Any other steps to take?

    Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks - Mike

     
  • Luuk

    Luuk - 2020-05-25

    You meant a StarTECH 7.1 sound card??

     
  • DonC

    DonC - 2020-05-25

    Hi Mike,
    I'm a classical musician too. It takes a while to get going, but it works.
    I don't want to insult your intelligence, but let's start at the basics.
    .> right click in the loudspeaker icon in the task bar -> open sound settings
    .> scroll to "Input" -> "choose your input device" and select your micro
    .> click on "Device properties" just below the input selection, be sure that "disable" is not checked, set the volume to near maximum for your tests.

    That should do it.
    If you use both the internal mic and internal speakers you will have problems with feedback loop screaching. You will want to use headphones so the mic doesn't hear what is coming back from Jamulus.
    While the internal audio should work the internal sound hardware with the ASIO4ALL driver add alot of latency. I switched to an external audio interface quickly and am much happier, the latency is very good. There is a list of known good hardware here: https://github.com/corrados/jamulus/wiki/Sound-Devices

    I hope this helps,
    Don

     

    Last edit: DonC 2020-05-25
  • Mike Tietz

    Mike Tietz - 2020-05-25

    Hi Don - Thank you so much for your quick response! Lot of progress now.
    Followed your advice and changed the laptop sound settings as you suggested and rebooted. After the reboot and going through ASIO4ALL setup, all of a sudden I had the choice of selecting the matching input channels (Realtek mic in, Realtek speakers out). I signed onto a server, saw input signals and heard myself when speaking. So, success!

    Latency using this basic laptop internal mic/output setup is arounf 50-60 ms. After I play/jam a bit on this basic setup, I'll look to reduce the latency with an appropriate external sound card/external mic setup.

    FYI, I'm an experienced 'cellist and violist, and looking round to find a musician to play/test with. If you know of any 'directory" out there of musicians/instruments, happy to make contact.

    Thanks - Mike

     
  • Mike Tietz

    Mike Tietz - 2020-05-25

    Hi Luuk - Thanks for asking . Yes, you're right - the card I have is a StarTech 7.1 USB External Sound Card with SPDIF Digital Audio. It says it supports 44.1 and 48 khz. If it's appropriate, I'd like to use this card in future to reduce latency further. However, I'm also willing to get a different card (like one of the Behringer USB cards/mixers on the "recommended" list) and external mic.

    Thanks - Mike

     
  • Luuk

    Luuk - 2020-05-25

    Glad that Don could help you out, have fun with Jamulus.
    In Jamulus, after hitting the connect button, there's a 'filter option', with that you can search for specific musicians. In Jamulus version 3.5.4. there is also a 'genre list' function, where you can select "genre Classical/Folk/Choir".