Setting up Second Life Voice

Second Life Voice works best with a headset with microphone rather than a microphone and speakers, as speakers consistently cause significant feedback to the people you are communicating with. Since you experience no delay from your own speakers, you may not be able to hear the problem, but others certainly will. Turn your speakers off and be sure that your earphones are working by listening for ambient Second Life sounds or audio channels prior to setting up Second Life voice.

Keep in mind that if you unplug or plug in your headset or microphone while you are in Second Life, you will need to quit Second Life and log in again in order for voice to work.

Position your headset microphone at nose height and well away to the side from your nose and mouth to reduce breathing noise and distortion.

Start Second Life Voice by going to Edit in the upper portion of your Second Life screen, choose Preferences from the bottom of the Edit list, and then select the Voice Chat tab. Important Note: While you are in the Edit/Preferences/Voice Chat/Device Settings window you will not be able to hear others or have them hear you via voice, but you can communicate with them via local chat or IM.

• Begin your settings by checking the box marked "Enable voice chat".
  
  

• Also check the box "Hear voice from avatar position". With this setting, you will hear voices of those avatars closer to you more loudly, just as in real life.
  
  

• Uncheck the box marked "Use Push-toTalk in toggle mode".
  
  

• For the "Push-to-Talk trigger" set it to a key on your keyboard that you will rarely if ever use while typing, we suggest the tilde key or or one of the square brackets. We suggest that you do not use the Middle Mouse Button. The reason for this procedure is so that you do not accidentally activate or deactivate your Second Life voice while typing or using your mouse.
  
  

• Privacy options: Uncheck the box "Only accept voice calls from people on My Friends list".
  
  

• Device settings: Open this box and set the "Input Levels" to 50% (half way down the slider). People who you are communicate with in voice may ask you to alter this setting if you have set it too low or too high. High input levels are not just louder, they can cause significant distortion. Changing the Input Level is what is meant by "turning up (or down) your microphone".
  
  

• Hit "Apply" and "Okay".

Then look at the lower right corner of your Second Life screen, you should see a button with a padlock and the word "Talk" to the right. Toggle the padlock button to make sure that it is highlighted. Your voice should now be on.





There are several ways to increase the overall volume of what you hear in Second Life Voice:

• Increase the volume on your physical headset if all voices seem too quiet. Remember that how close your avatar is to other speakers affects the loudness of their voice.
  
  

• Increase the volume on your computer using your normal volume controls.
  
  

• Increase the volume for hearing voice by clicking the UP arrow to the left of the talk button, lower right of your Second Life Screen. A menu will appear above. Turn up the slider for 'Voice'.

There are two ways to adjust the volume of individual speakers in Second Life Voice:

• Adjust volumes for individual speakers by clicking the double arrow in the upper right of your Local Chat window. A list of names will appear. If you click on the NAME header, the list will appear alphabetically by first name and remain stable. Click to highlight any name and use the slider at the bottom of the list to adjust volume for that person. If you click on the box to the left of the name header the list will be organized by the activity of speakers, and the person speaking at any given time will jump to the top of the list. This helps to keep track of who is talking. People with green talk symbols to the left of their names are actively speaking. People with green dots to the left of their names are have listening and speaking enabled. People with grey dots to the left of their names are able to listen to voice and may or may not be able to speak.
  
  

• As an alternative for adjusting individual volumes, you can create a separate window with volumes for individual speakers by clicking the small button just to the left of the padlock on the Talk button, lower right of your screen. Highlight any speaker by left clicking their name on the list, and then, while highlighted, adjust the volume using the slider at the bottom of the list. Sort options are the same as above.

Click here for even more information about how to set up Second Life Voice.