Discord problem

Started 18 Sep 2018
by JaggedOne
in RvR
I know this is probably not the correct place for this, but the Phoenix community has been very friendly and helpful up to now, so I thought I would start here.

This is not a world-crushing problem, just a hassle, plus I hate it when things don't work the way (I think) they are supposed to.

My guild has a Discord server. In addition, PUGs I have played on use one of the rooms on the Phoenix Discord server. I have a new set of headphones (w/mic) with a USB connector. In my opinion, when I plug the connector into a working USB port on my PC, the sound should stop coming out of my speakers and begin to come thru my headset. This does not happen - despite the fact that I hear the Windows two-tone "thunk" sound that indicates that Windows has detected the attachment of a USB device and is configuring it, the sound continues to come thru my speakers. I thought perhaps that if I turned off my speakers, the sound would then start to come thru my headphones. This did not happen....just no sound at all. I have looked at all the mixers in my taskbar, but have not been able to make any difference, even when I change the output in the dropdown of the mixer to the headphones (which proves that they are recognized by the system).

A couple of points:

1. This is not a dead stop because I have been able to get the Discord sound output to come thru my headphones by making changes in the Discord internal setup. AAMOF, the Discord sound thru my headphones and the game sound thru my speakers is not really a terrible setup, it just rankles me that it doesn't work the way that I think it should. This is exacerbated by the fact that I have gotten it to work the "right way" in the past, but can't recall what I did differently.

2. This is not a DAoC issue. All the sound from the computer continues to come thru the speakers, not just DAoC sounds. This is also true if DAoC is not even running. If I play a song with WinAmp, or if Windows makes a sound, or I play another game (yes, there *are* other games), it all comes thru the speakers, even when the headphones are plugged in.

BTW, my system is an old one with Windows 7 Home Premium. I suppose someone will tell me that this is the reason, but I swear that it worked "right" at some time in the past.

Anyway, apologies for the wall of text, and thanks in advance for any help.


P.S. I looked for a Discord forum or support system online, but all I could find was a "support" page with a "Leave a comment" box....not my idea of stellar support.
Wed 3 Oct 2018 11:19 AM by rubaduck
JaggedOne wrote:
Tue 18 Sep 2018 11:24 PM
I know this is probably not the correct place for this, but the Phoenix community has been very friendly and helpful up to now, so I thought I would start here.

This is not a world-crushing problem, just a hassle, plus I hate it when things don't work the way (I think) they are supposed to.

My guild has a Discord server. In addition, PUGs I have played on use one of the rooms on the Phoenix Discord server. I have a new set of headphones (w/mic) with a USB connector. In my opinion, when I plug the connector into a working USB port on my PC, the sound should stop coming out of my speakers and begin to come thru my headset. This does not happen - despite the fact that I hear the Windows two-tone "thunk" sound that indicates that Windows has detected the attachment of a USB device and is configuring it, the sound continues to come thru my speakers. I thought perhaps that if I turned off my speakers, the sound would then start to come thru my headphones. This did not happen....just no sound at all. I have looked at all the mixers in my taskbar, but have not been able to make any difference, even when I change the output in the dropdown of the mixer to the headphones (which proves that they are recognized by the system).

A couple of points:

1. This is not a dead stop because I have been able to get the Discord sound output to come thru my headphones by making changes in the Discord internal setup. AAMOF, the Discord sound thru my headphones and the game sound thru my speakers is not really a terrible setup, it just rankles me that it doesn't work the way that I think it should. This is exacerbated by the fact that I have gotten it to work the "right way" in the past, but can't recall what I did differently.

2. This is not a DAoC issue. All the sound from the computer continues to come thru the speakers, not just DAoC sounds. This is also true if DAoC is not even running. If I play a song with WinAmp, or if Windows makes a sound, or I play another game (yes, there *are* other games), it all comes thru the speakers, even when the headphones are plugged in.

BTW, my system is an old one with Windows 7 Home Premium. I suppose someone will tell me that this is the reason, but I swear that it worked "right" at some time in the past.

Anyway, apologies for the wall of text, and thanks in advance for any help.


P.S. I looked for a Discord forum or support system online, but all I could find was a "support" page with a "Leave a comment" box....not my idea of stellar support.

Your computer run sound based on your I/O settings. If you don't have an external interface you usually connect your input and output through your motherboard (green mini jack for output and pink mini jack for input) which again are then run by the internal drivers (usually Realtek HD). When you connect a USB device to your computer, you use WMD (Windows media drivers) which show up as it's own I/O in programs like Discord. The Realtek drivers will always be the primary I/O until you change these settings in your control panel or inside the specific software you are using. Any USB device that can carry sound will run paralell with the default I/O and will only play what it is being told to play and will not override the main settings.

I run a setup with a sound interface and a large diaphragm condenser microphone connected with XLR to my interface which runs on ASIO drivers, but I have the same "issue" or inconvenience as sound will always be set to the main I/O of the system. I can run cans through the interface (with a jack) which has the identical output as the interface, and just turn down the monitors whenever I want to use a headset, but it is not automatic and I have to physically turn the knob down to 0 dB. If you want to have a single mixer to control both your I/O and your WMD you can try the VB Audio Voicemeter digital mixer. The free version gives you two channels, which is more then enough for gaming and such, but it is not very intuitive to use unless you're an audio tech freak however.
This topic is locked and you can't reply.

Return to RvR or the latest topics