USB headset, USB sound card, USB microphone compatibility

edited September 2017 in Supported devices

Hi Igor & everyone.
If you had success making voice calls via Whatsapp, Viber, Skype, ICQ ... using any of the above hardware in title then post here.
Thanks.

Comments

  • Good news :smile:
    Whatsapp voice messages works however voice calls is disconnected immediately after being initialized :neutral:

  • Hi roxette, I'm still out of office until the end of the month. I'll take a look as soon as back. Thanks for keeping us up to date!

  • Hi Igor,
    I think you don't have to bother yourself as i see that nobody is interested in that issue.
    Otherwise you should see replies like:

    • Well, i installed Skype or Viber and i was able to make a voice calls but the mic isn't working!
      Thank you.
  • well i do care about the usb mic compatibility. Did u find a way to solve this already?

  • I care as well to see if Microphone can be enabled through usb sound card and or add on board module using gpio pins. thank you

  • Hello is there any update for voice calls? is it compatible to use USB Microphone with Raspberry Pi?

  • if there is update for microphone please give me the url link.

  • We have started looking into it today. It seems that there are no audio input drivers included, so the recording cannot be initialized. We'll see if we can reuse any of the existing drivers from other devices as a fast fix.

  • The first step is finished - the system knows there might be input devices (so recording applications don't crash). But it isn't yet clear how Android handles USB microphones...

  • USB sound card - microphone - work :)

  • @sq9gin, does it? :confused:
    could you please describe which version of emteria.OS and what USB card you are using and how do you test (which recording application). Because it doesn't really work in our setup :)

  • application Zello

  • Thanks, do you reboot the device before or after connecting this USB card? Or does it work immediately?

  • The USB card is connected before the system starts up.

  • edited January 2018

    Hi, as i wrote earlier USB microphone works for whatsapp voice messaging using any Emteria distro, i think it used to work on RTAndroid as well.
    The problem occurs during voice calls, each application got a different behaviour.
    For ex., Whatsapp voice calls is disconnected immediately after it's initialized.
    On Viber you can make a voice call however you will be able to hear the other person but he won't hear you.
    Icq doesn't work at all whether it's a voice message or call.

  • We are currently re-implementing the audio HAL to integrate the audio in the standard Android way. Applications are not crashing anymore when they try to open the default microphone, so I hope we are on the right track.

  • @kalkov said:
    We are currently re-implementing the audio HAL to integrate the audio in the standard Android way. Applications are not crashing anymore when they try to open the default microphone, so I hope we are on the right track.

    Are you able to record Icq voice message? if yes then you are on the right track :)

  • So I did some tests with our internal version (will be released soon) and an USB headset:
    - All recording apps are working normally (tested 3 different ones)
    - ICQ is probably the slowest application I've ever seen. Voice messages are working, but the application stucks from time to time and messages get corrupted.
    - Skype calls are working, but it seems nobody can here me. I didn't find a way to record a voice message.
    - I don't have WhatsApp or Viber accounts to test.

    Please feel free to test it further and let me know how it works on your devices. We will keep an eye on this topic.

  • OK, I think I understand it now. Android automatically re-routes audio streams (input and output) if USB audio devices are connected. However, applications can insist on using the system inputs/outputs instead of the recommended ones. It looks like Skype behaves like this. Regardless of the configuration it tries to open AUDIO_DEVICE_IN_BUILTIN_MIC, even if it doesn't exist, but USB input devices are available.

    So there are two options:
    1) Ignore it, since it is the standard Android behavior and complain to Skype developers.
    2) Re-route the input stream from the system to the USB device (if available).

    I'll wait until you guys have tested WhatsApp and Viber. If they are implemented to use the recommended input device (which seems to work now), we will probably stay with option (1). Otherwise we will look into (2), but it is quite an overhead. The new version will be released Tuesday or Wednesday.

  • Thanks Igor for all the tests you had done,
    I will test Whatsapp and Viber then post feedback here.
    I hope Whatsapp calls won't be disconnected before completed.

  • Hi Igor,
    You are a hero :smiley:
    I upgraded to Emteria v0.5.5 and just tested Viber,
    The microphone is working!! :smiley:
    Thanks a million.

  • edited January 2018

    Skype also works :smiley:
    Search your contacts for Echo/sound test service,
    Call it and it will allow you to test your microphone, record a short message then it will be played back to you.
    You will see the speaker icon is turned on, turn it off then the microphone will work.
    Be prepared for people who will ask for video calls possibility :wink:
    I don't have a Pi cam so i dunno if it works or not.

  • Oh, nice. Thank you very much for testing. I suppose WhatsApp didn't work (just out of my curiosity)? And sorry it took us so long. It was one of your main requirements, right? ;)

    We will introduce full integration of the Pi camera in a couple of weeks. It is basically almost finished but requires a bit of testing.

  • edited January 2018

    You're welcome ... I used to have 2 Whatsapp accounts so i was able to call my other account from Rpi and test the microphone.
    Yesterday, one of those accounts was gone :(
    However, i believe it works because when i call my other account it rings normally (that was not happening in the past).
    I'm sorry about that but i'll find someone to call asap.

    Btw: i used that app in screenshot to test the microphone which was completely dead but now it works ... you really done a great job :smiley:

  • Hi Igor,
    Whatsapp voice calls is working, i called some ebay seller to ask him about something and he heard me ... do you believe it? :D

  • Great. Looks like it was a good idea to dive deeper into Android's audio configuration.

  • Hi! I'm very very interested in Pi camera support too. thx! I need a camera working on my raspberry 3..

  • OLE! thank you!

  • just gave this a shot w/ Discord i think its another case of Insisting on built-in because while i can connect to a voice channel i get Squat all audio on the headphones, and no one from me :/ (yes i do have a paid license didnt try w/ a demo,)

  • Mh, sorry to hear that. I'm not familiar with that app, did you check if there are any settings available to choose which microphone is used? Maybe you can try enabling/disabling other sound devices for a test.

  • Hi I have an external usb sound card the audio is routing to this but microphone not working I see here people say it works. how can I enable audio/micr from my usb device. I know it all works as I have achieved this on raspbian os and set the default card to it. I am on 0.6.1 thanks

  • I looked at the option for USB in the developer menu and to change it to audio but this crashes the settings app and I am unable to select, any advice please?

  • Please submit a bugreport after the crash.

  • For information, microphone and audio are both working in 0.7.1 with the following device: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N905VOY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I'm using an Apple carplay dongle and calls are working.

  • Help!! ;-) Can someone translate into German? I can't get the Ugreen USB sound card to work. The sound works. Only the microphone on the USB sound card is not working.
    Do I have to enter "hdmi_force_edid_audio = 1" in the "config.txt"?
    Thank You!

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