xPilot squelching X-plane

[John Docherty]

I'm having some problems hearing X-plane when attempting to use xPilot. My setup is windows 10, updated X-plane running zibo mod 3-38 RC6 and Bose QC35 headphones on bluetooth. I'm a newbie to Vatsim and decided to install xPilot. With X-plane running I can hear X-plane through my headphones i.e. engines, alarms, and ATIS. I then installed xPilot and managed to monitor ATC talking on VatSim but the X-plane channel (engine noise etc) disappears. I have looked at the windows sound settings, mixer volumes etc without success. Do I need another plugin? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

there's a setting under Windows 10 that reduces other sounds when a communication device is in use. Find that setting and change it to "Do Nothing."

 

("Thanks for helping, Windows. Now, stop helping, please.")

[John Docherty]

Thanks for the suggestion Robert. Have tried that with no luck, I also stopped apps from taking exclusively control of the output without success.

 

Have tried a wired pair of headphones and all worked well so it seems it has to do with the Bose phones operating via Bluetooth. I shall continue to mess about, perhaps try a virtual I/o panel to intercept all inputs and outputs. cheers for now.

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Roger -- sorry my thought didn't get you anywhere. For virtual mixing panels, I use Voicemeeter Banana, a pretty decent freeware one.

[John Docherty]

Thanks for the confirmation that it's the one to use! Now Just have to look at some videos on how to use it! At my age (74) things don't get any easier

[Suresh Balaraman 810594]

Roger -- sorry my thought didn't get you anywhere. For virtual mixing panels, I use Voicemeeter Banana, a pretty decent freeware one.

 

At the risk of derailing this thread; I use that for Pilot2Atc - with mixed results. I never could get the TTS voice packs to sound degraded. Robert, a tutorial if you're looking this way please

[Robert Shearman Jr]

Thanks for the confirmation that it's the one to use! Now Just have to look at some videos on how to use it! At my age (74) things don't get any easier

Once you figure out that the app's OUTPUT needs to be mapped to VoiceMeeter INPUT, it's not too hard. What I do is route anything I want in speakers to VoiceMeeter Input, and anything I want in my headset to VoiceMeeter Aux Input -- then set the hardware outputs WITHIN VoiceMeeter accordingly.

 

At the risk of derailing this thread; I use that for Pilot2Atc - with mixed results. I never could get the TTS voice packs to sound degraded. Robert, a tutorial if you're looking this way please

I only use it as described above -- the benefit to which is that I can split audio to different output devices in a way that makes them selectable and level-adjustable by my livestreaming software. Thus, I can have them as separate sources, allowing me to mix them down to the combined stream output and balance them nicely. I don't use any of the audio effects. I actually wasn't aware there was a way to use it to degrade the audio, I'm [Mod - Happy Thoughts]uming you mean in a way that would make it sound more like a radio transmission. Sounds interesting, but, beyond my expertise unfortunately. I've only ever done that with static .wav files, not with a "live" audio source.

[Suresh Balaraman 810594]

I actually wasn't aware there was a way to use it to degrade the audio, I'm [Mod - Happy Thoughts]uming you mean in a way that would make it sound more like a radio transmission.

 

That's exactly it! On P2A, I have the ATC output via a bluetooth speaker, input via a desktop mic & X Plane audio via external speakers. I've managed to get it to sound close to IRL ATC audio quality via the equalizer method but nowhere perfect.

I used this tutorial as a guide https://youtu.be/F8HhzRgW-lE. Not recommending this on the Vatsim environment, though!

Overall, Voicemeter is a fantastic program if you're splitting the audio input/output to various devices.