Mic Volume Slider stuck at 0%

[HRTerrorizer]

I've tried everything, but the damn slider won't move, and it's stuck at 0%

[Bubs]

only thing i can think of is check windows mic/volume settings, maybe those set the max for drg. did you verify your files? I have no idea.

[=Snappy=]

sliders behaving like this whether in windows or in an app can also be indicative of a driver problem or other problem with the hardware.

i.e. it's not addressable so it's just given a default value of 0 and the slider isn't really hooked up to any value to change: it's just showing you the "dead" value of 0 which is why u can't move it.

completely troubleshoot the mic and get it working in windows, then other sound apps/maybe games, then DRG.

keeping in mind that when you right-click the speaker icon and click open sound settings, u get the Win 10 style dumbed-down control panel, but you still need to click "Sound Control Panel" from that screen to get to the *real* sound settings.

or type mmsys.cpl from the command prompt. that's the screen.

at which point let's take another 20 seconds to call out MS for this joke windows UI we've had since like ... Vista? Bolting all the "Win 7 era" control panels (which again, contain the dumbed down settings that are just there to confuse you) etc. onto the old XP-era control panels (which contain 100% of the settings you really need, even if they are stuck in a cruel 160x120 dialog box.) I really thought they would unify this and fix this garbage but wow it's been 10+ years and several OSes and here we still are.

u can't even type "sound control panel" in the start menu. zero results. smdh.

[BloodyBane]

If your talking about the bar next to audio input, it's more of an audio tester than a slider. It gauges the loudness of what you put into the game in percentages. If you exit the menu, press you PTT (If you have PTT active) and say something really loudly, go back to the audio setting, you will see it is set higher.
DRG is pretty finicky, I'm apparently notoriously quiet, need to basically shout to get heard normally in the game, while I can hear the fan in the other room for others. There really should be a gain option, to increase how much the game picks up.

[=Snappy=]

otoh DRG lets you add 100% gain to inbound voice so that's a plus. the prob is when u put in on 200% and u have 3 ppl w/ crap mics and 1 w/ good who only talks every once in awhile. everything's fine and then you're sorry you were born.

as for your suggestion, if putting more gain on the input side would fix the problem, you'd see it in more software. but u don't, because windows/sound drivers kinda already handle that.

when u go to the cpl i described, and go to "Recording" tab, then go to properties of your input source (Microphone), and go to "Levels" tab, most (i.e. Via?) soundcards will have the option to put up to +30dB of boost on your mic input level, here. if you are not using this, and you have level problems with your mic, you should be using it! 30dB is *a lot* of gain and for most intents and purposes is the difference between "very quiet" (maybe inaudible) and "very loud" (definitely audible!).

if you are not getting these results then you really do have "bad" as in malfunctioning or really low-quality hardware, most likely the mic. even 20dB is a lot of gain. (and even 10dB is a "hey, turn that up!" kinda moment.) if 20 to 30 is not solving your problem, something else is broke.

On that same "Levels" tab, most situations u'd want the "Microphone" volume set to 100 in conjunction w/ this (only if you have a particularly strong input signal for whatever reason, would u really want to turn it down. most ppl/situations won't have this "problem".)

with these settings and/or when things are set correctly in general, any "test" meter -- the windows control panel test meter, steam's built-in meter, discord, any game, audacity, whatever -- should be showing levels that are definintely >50% and probably 80-100%. (and if u are hitting 100% all the time or hearing distortion then u turn that dB boost back down of course. and btw u can compare the levels on different apps and they should pretty much match. try it in a few apps and if one is showing levels out of line with the others (with any applicable internal app settings the same) then yeah that app is suspect.)

note that u can still be hitting those levels and have crap-sounding results if u just plain-old have a crap mic or sonic environment. any mic >~15cm away from your mouth is going to sound like speakerphone effect to an extent. mic picking up your ambient sound if you are using speakers instead of headphones or are in an otherwise-noisy or relatively echoy environment is going to mess w/ it also.

sorry to turn it into a general sound primer but "bad mic" is such a common problem...

plus anything to get more ppl using mics in games! ;)

[BloodyBane]

Originally posted by =Snappy=:

soundcards will have the option to put up to +30dB of boost on your mic input level, here.

My set up is hardly any different than most, but the slider in the Levels tab, of the properties of my headsets mic is from -30.0dB (Lowest) to -1.0dB (Highest). It seems to work similarly to how you described, but is there a way to increase the gain further? I seems to be heard pretty well on most other programs, but I have sensitive hearing and speaking louder feels like i'm screaming.