Yelling into the Microphone - a solution - Sidetone

[Dallas88B]

For non-VR players, using a gaming headset (Headphones and microphone).

 

TL;DR :

• Do you speak LOUDLY into your headset when playing IL2?
• Do folk you live with get annoyed (REALLY ANNOYED) by this?
• Solution: Sidetone. Plug your headset into a mixer - a Behringer 302usb does the job - and the mixer into the USB port on the PC. Adjust levels. Done.

 

DETAIL:

Without sidetone, with my headset on (and me only able to hear game sounds and other pilots speaking - my own voice being very muffled to me), in the heat of battle, I end up speaking WAY TOO LOUDLY and my wife has certainly had enough of me 'yelling at the people on the computer'

The behringer mixer solved the problem for me....and will support other headsets in the future too. (No doubt there are other mixers too)

There are alternative solutions but they are suboptimal: they produce echo (eg: the windows 10 software setting); annoy other folk (open back headsets); they have latency, low volume or both (seems headsets with inbuilt sidetone are often reported to have latency or low volume problem).

Its cheaper than a new gaming headset.

The Behringer MA400 is an alternative (and cheaper) if you dont want to use USB but the cabling is a bit more fiddley.

 

 

BTW I have zero relationship with Behringer .  Until last week I had never heard of them. There is a lot of rubbish on the net with 'solutions' and 'experts' espousing statements like "what would you want that for" and so on. But there is an old (2014) thread on Linus Tech Tips Forum dealing with the problem (its pages long). I installed the mixer yesterday and it works great...so I thought others might like to know.

 

Hope this helps someone.

 

 

PS: Sidetone? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidetone.

Sidetone is expected behavior for telephonic systems.

Absence of sidetone can cause users to believe the call has been dropped or cause them to speak loudly.

Too much sidetone can cause users to speak softly.

Being able to adjust sidetone level is important for it to be effective.

[1./JG42Nephris]

I am actually able to control the amplitude within Windows and dont need a third party device for around 40-50€.

Although I got an Ur-44, I wouldnt make use of a third party software aswell, as TS3 is capable to adjust everything to your needs.

Thx anyways for the idea.

Edited June 6, 2020 by 1./JG42Nephris

[BlindAsABat]

I don't need a mixer but love gadgets. Having had a quick butchers at the  Behringer site, one of those is going to be making its way to my play room very soon.  Thanks for the heads up.

[356thFS_Melonfish]

Sadly my headset is usb or I'd give this a shot i actually have a mixer etc for recording mic/guitar stuff.