Voice Recognition sensitivity

[ekdikeo]

Hi all! New LaunchBox user here, playing with some of the options.  I just enabled the Voice Recognition, and although it's pretty cool, I'm wondering if someone might be able to offer some advice for some system settings or possible other tweaks -- 

I'm using an old desktop microphone that I found in a box somewhere (i may try hooking up a much more modern web-cam with a built-in mic, once I find my spare USB hubs, just to see if it makes any difference) ..

Despite that the microphone is probably unidirectional utter crap, with the Mic Volume set to 95, and the Mic Boost set to +12, Cortana can hear me clearly and accurately from any position in the room (oddly enough, it can't hear me at all the moment i step out of the room, even though it's open air.. which feels very weird) .. but LaunchBox can't understand me unless I'm standing within a few inches of the microphone.  If I back away from the control panel more than a few inches, it starts getting very confused (i turned on Debug mode so I could see what it thinks it's hearing), and after about a foot, the reported incoming volume drops to 1.  

 

Any ideas about improving that?  I have adjusted the LaunchBox sensitivity all the way up as well.  If I turn up the mic boost any further, then neither Cortana nor LaunchBox can understand me, presumably too much background?

(also, my family loves it's smart-ass responses, and we wish our Echo had such an attitude)

* edit: i just noticed the "Troubleshooting" forum that this would fit better in, but i don't seem to have the ability to self-delete or self-move.. sorry for the error

 

Edited December 6, 2016 by ekdikeo

[SentaiBrad]

If you set the boost to that high, it can actually create a distortion, or you're boosting it so high that there is buzzing or background noise. Keeping the volume level at 100 should be fine too, as long as you're voice isn't blowing it out. If you can, do a recording with some voice recording software (like Audacity), and see if you sound normal. If you sound washed out, or have hissing or feedback that might not be too great.

Do keep in mind that Microsoft has a lot of money to get Cortana to work in a ton of different situations and languages, our voice rec wouldn't be able to compete in a lot of scenarios, but there still might be more that @Jason Carr can do with it. So I'll forward it to him and see if he has any recommendations. In the end though, I think a more clear mic might be the answer, but you should do a test recording to find out what it sounds like.

[ekdikeo]

Yeah, I actually turned on "Listen to this device" in settings, and discovered that 95 volume in Windows +12db boost sounds pretty clear. Any higher than that on either setting, and it's all just too much noise.

I can "Hey Cortana" from anywhere in the room, but I can only "Arcade" within maybe at most a foot of the mic.  Sure, I get that Cortana is potentially a lot more advanced, but unless there's another setting somewhere for the main Voice Recognition boost/mic vol settings or sensitivity setting, I'm thinking there's something not right with Launchbox.  It's registering a 1 on volume at all times unless I am right in front of it.

I know I really want a better microphone than one of these cheap $5 junk bin jobs, but the only other thing that I have right on hand is Guitar Hero/Rock Band mics, which are designed to not only be extremely unidirectional, they're also likely built to only pick up well if you're practically in the mic.. so I figured the desktop would be a better choice since although it's probably also unidirectional, it's at least designed to be used from a foot or two away :-)