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I've been using an AT2020 USB microphone for several years now, first on Vista and then on Windows 7, with no problems at all. After upgrading to Windows 8, I've found that the recording volume using this microphone is now very low. The hardware is all the same, as is all the configuration.
I usually have the volume set at ~30-40. On Windows 7 it's loud and clear, and there is no distortion. On Windows 8, even if I turn it all the way up to 100, the recording volume is way too low and the sound is distorted due to the volume being set so high.
There is clearly something wrong here and as of now Windows 8 is completely unusable to me because I need to be able to record. Any possible solutions would be very much appreciated.
Thank you.
(Also, there are no actual drivers for this device. I've always just plugged it in and it has worked right away.)
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Update (7/29/15): This issue has not been fixed with Windows 10. I've started a new thread here for those who have updated. If you want this fixed, please continue to post about it. I doubt it will help, but the only other option is to stick with W7 or buy a new mic.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
As is now abundantly clear with posts spanning one year, this is clearly an issue with Windows 8.
I had the same problem as all of the other posters here so I reverted back to Windows 7 from Windows 8: problem solved.
I suspect that the MS "support engineer" is simply an automated, templated reply to which they have attached a fictitious name and photo to make it appear human(oid).
Hi,
Sorry to know that you are facing this issue.
Please answer these questions to get more clarity on this issue:
Reply with more information to help you further.
Hello All, I am having this very problem with our Windows 7 computer. What happened to the boost check box? Is there any way to roll back to an older driver that had the boost check box? It is an Audio Technica ATR2100 USB mic. It all works but mic level is very low. Any assistance or advice would be appreciated. It's a little disappointing that stuff like this should still be an issue. Having older windows drivers to try would be helpful.
Thanks
Hi, I have also had this problem with:
This is not a fix but I think something that may help towards fixing it possibly or show what the microphone should actually sound like?
Right click the speaker icon in the taskbar and select 'Playback Devices'. Left click the default device once to highlight it ( it's usually 'speakers & headphones' ) then click the Properties button. Click the Enhancements tab and put a tick in the box next to 'Loudness Equalization'.
Listen to your microphone with that now enabled...and it is much louder and actually acts like windows 7, can anyone else also verify? This is NOT a fix as it does not change the actual input strength of the microphone.
Hi Srimadhwa B,
No offence but if bother to read the thread, you would know that USB microphones use native windows drivers. ( USB audio device ) and therefore does not have drivers provided by manufacturer, as all they had to do is to create the device to correspond to USB windows driver specification provided by Microsoft.
Which worked perfectly in Windows 7 and bellow, but some genius thought that he is going reshuffle the perfectly working drivers for no god damn reason in windows 8 and break virtually all USB microphones that were build for windows native driver.
This issue was reported multiple time, its not a fluke or random bug, its perfectly repeatable 100% all the time on different HW and Microsoft could not care less about this issue ( its why I returned my copy of windows 8 and got my money back, and sure as **** will not upgrade any time soon ).
This issue is persistent since windows 8 release to this day, how hard is to port the windows 7 driver as legacy to window 8 and have us choose it for microphones ?
I really don't know why is this such a problem to fix.
