Managing your computer’s sound devices and audio properties:

Once you have Signed In to Cirrus, you are now using a Soft Phone on your Windows computer to manage your phone calls. As discussed in Section 1, unlike a Hard Phone which has only one purpose, a Soft Phone uses the computer which has many purposes and tasks that it manages at the same time. One of these is Audio. Your computer will have a Sound Card¹⁶.

The Sound Card will manage all of the Audio Devices¹⁷ that you have plugged into the computer such as headphones, microphones, headsets, webcams (which often have microphones) and speakers.

Each of the devices plugged into your computer will be available to any software loaded onto the computer that needs to use audio. Most software will auto detect what is available and select the most appropriate device. However, in some circumstances, you will have more than one suitable device and you will need to tell the software which of the 2 available, suitable devices you would like the software to use.

Let’s have a look at some of the possibilities:

As you can see in the diagram, there are lots of applications that can take control of the sound devices on the computer. You can also see that the computer has a choice of sound devices it may send sound to (headphones and speakers) or receive sound from (microphones in the headset and in the webcam).

The following section provides instructions of how you set up your computer so that the following will take place:

VERY IMPORTANT:
Not all computers, sound cards and headset combinations work effectively. Just as with choosing a good hi-fi, choosing the combination of these 3 pieces of hardware will have a significant impact on the quality of the audio part of your calls. It is important to ensure that you have a business grade headset to use Cirrus, because unlike consumer VoIP software like Skype, Cirrus provides a high quality connection that will amplify any audio deficiencies that are likely with cheap consumer headsets. Remember, the quality of the call is only as good as the hardware on each end!

Don’t forget that the examples shown in this document are for a Windows 7 computer. Your computer may look different, even if it’s a Windows 7 computer.

3.1) Windows audio settings:

Accessing the Windows audio settings menu:

On your task bar¹⁸. Look for the audio symbol which you should find located close to the time & date. Using your right mouse button, click on the icon. You will see a menu.

Playback devices:¹⁹
Click this to see settings for sounds played TO you (speakers & headsets).
Recording devices:²⁰
Click this to see settings for sounds the computer receives FROM you (microphones)

Playback devices:

Once you have clicked on Playback devices from the menu above, you will see a menu that looks like the one on the right. Yours may differ, depending on how many playback devices you have connected to or that are part of your computer.

Using your left mouse button, double click on the device that you will use to hear your calls.

Playback levels:

This is where you set the levels of what you will hear during your calls. You can adjust these settings while you are in a call so that the volume of the audio is comfortable for you.

Make sure that the device is not muted. You can tell if the device is muted by the following symbol:

Recording devices:

Once you have clicked on Recording devices from the menu above, you will see a menu that looks like the one on the right. Yours may differ, depending on how many recording devices you have connected to or that are part of your computer.

Using your left mouse button, double click on the device that you will use to capture your voice during your calls.

Recording Levels:

This is where you set the levels of what the other person will hear during your calls. You can adjust these settings while you are in a call so that the volume of the audio is comfortable for the other person.

Make sure that the device is not muted. You can tell if the device is muted by the following symbol:

Setting Audio Settings To Remove Exclusive Control:

The CIRRUS client does not make any changes to the audio settings on a workstation. However, other applications running on a workstation may do. This may have an effect on sound levels and cause one way transmissions when using the CIRRUS client.

The below describes how to set your workstation settings to stop desktop applications taking exclusive control of the sound settings, and therefore affecting the audio when CIRRUS is in use.

Right click on Cirrus
Select Audio Control Panel
Go to the Playback tab
Double click on Headset Earphone
Click on the advanced tab
Un-tick the 2 box under Exclusive Mode and click OK.

Please note that other applications running on your workstation that use the audio device may also affect CIRRUS in a similar way. Please refer to the user manuals for those applications for more details.

The volume settings required depend on the specific computer, sound card, headset and the preferences of the user. They will vary not only from computer to computer, but also from user to user. There are no recommended settings, other than that the caller should be clear to the operator, and the operator should be clear enough to the caller without the caller hearing all the background noise that could be going on around you. These settings are often changed frequently by the user.

3.2) Cirrus Audio settings:

As with other software that uses the sound devices on your computer, Cirrus has settings that allow you to manage its control of the audio devices from the Cirrus configurations directly, as well as set some Cirrus specific settings.

Cirrus Audio Widget:

This widget allows you to see the condition of the VoIP connection as well as set the audio properties of Cirrus in order to tailor the application to your specific computer, soundcard and headset combination.

Using your left mouse button, click on the Setup button.

Cirrus VoIP Setup:

Using this menu page, select the options which best suit your environment.

We strongly suggest that you test various combinations of these settings. There is no default or recommended setting as these are specific to your computer, sound card and headset.