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Soundtoxin
143
Aug 26, 2016
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AntlionJoe
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Antlion
Aug 27, 2016
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SoundtoxinHey @Soundtoxin - Thanks for your kind words about our support team! We're still here for you, even after your warranty ends for questions and even helping with repairs or fixes.
So you are correct that you probably never need our mic at 100% for most ways you connect it. Your mic gain (software side) is going to be affected by how much power is being sent to the mic and what the hardware you're using is... which is sadly why giving a blanket statement on "this one setting fixes everything" is kind of impossible. For the record I run my mic at 55%.
However, in your case, background noise is typically caused by two potential problems: EMI from your motherboard or system or an external source causing interference that is being picked up by the mic.
The first, EMI, is far more likely and can be fixed by getting a USB stick like the one in this drop. It's a 6-10 dollar fix depending on which one you buy and should severely reduce or eliminate the problem entirely. You can tell it is EMI because the static/hum/buzz/feedback (people describe the sound differently) is constant regardless of how you wave the mic around the room. It should boost your audio quality as well, though you'll likely have to play around with the mic gain again to get it "just right."
The second, a third party interference is the same effect you get when you put your cell phone next to a speaker and get a call. This will vary in and out and is pretty rare to encounter on our mic, but it is certainly possible. Everything from nearby electrical lines in the wall to routers to your cell phone could cause it. There's sadly no easy fix for it, other than IDing the cause and staying away from it physically.
We don't do much testing on GNU/Linux stuff, so there's certainly a chance neither of these works and it IS something weird about Linux, but I doubt it.
Hit us up on Twitter or here if you try the USB solution and let me know if it works!
-Joe from Antlion Audio
So you are correct that you probably never need our mic at 100% for most ways you connect it. Your mic gain (software side) is going to be affected by how much power is being sent to the mic and what the hardware you're using is... which is sadly why giving a blanket statement on "this one setting fixes everything" is kind of impossible. For the record I run my mic at 55%.
However, in your case, background noise is typically caused by two potential problems: EMI from your motherboard or system or an external source causing interference that is being picked up by the mic.
The first, EMI, is far more likely and can be fixed by getting a USB stick like the one in this drop. It's a 6-10 dollar fix depending on which one you buy and should severely reduce or eliminate the problem entirely. You can tell it is EMI because the static/hum/buzz/feedback (people describe the sound differently) is constant regardless of how you wave the mic around the room. It should boost your audio quality as well, though you'll likely have to play around with the mic gain again to get it "just right."
The second, a third party interference is the same effect you get when you put your cell phone next to a speaker and get a call. This will vary in and out and is pretty rare to encounter on our mic, but it is certainly possible. Everything from nearby electrical lines in the wall to routers to your cell phone could cause it. There's sadly no easy fix for it, other than IDing the cause and staying away from it physically.
We don't do much testing on GNU/Linux stuff, so there's certainly a chance neither of these works and it IS something weird about Linux, but I doubt it.
Hit us up on Twitter or here if you try the USB solution and let me know if it works!
-Joe from Antlion Audio
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The mic is decent, but for some reason I don't think I've ever had it work as well as some other get it to work. For one, it's extremely sensitive. A lot of audio tuning guides for mumble and such tell you to turn the mic sens up to 100% before tweaking. Do NOT do this. Well, you can find that out the hard way. It sounds like shit and it's crazy loud. I think I keep mine between 20 and 30%. I also get some pretty weird and nasty background noise constantly. Easily fixed in mumble or teamspeak by not letting the mic turn on at all below your speaking volume. In Steam voice chat I just have to make my friend suffer.. Not a major problem in Counter Strike because push to talk lets me get a couple words out nice and quick before the background noise starts to creep up (or at least I haven't heard teammates complain). Also, if I use the physical mute switch, it makes horrible noises in mumble or whatever else I'm using for some reason, so it's better to stick to software muting. A darn shame since this switch costs extra.
I'm on GNU/Linux, though, so maybe pulseaudio is actually causing some of these issues. Hard to say. I hope some of this info helps any people considering buying this.