After completing step 3 of the audio setup wizard to configure your audio inputs as JamKazam session tracks, the next thing to do in this step 4 is to decide if you need to set up a chat mic for sessions, and if so to configure your settings for a chat mic. You should now be viewing the step 4 screen of the audio setup wizard in the JamKazam app (pictured below).
Before doing anything, let's talk about voice chat. When you are in JamKazam sessions with other musicians, you won't just be playing music. You'll also spend a fair amount of time talking with each other - sometimes about the music you're playing, and sometimes about just about anything - just like you would in person. So you must have a way to talk with other musicians in sessions, and this means you must have a microphone set up for JamKazam to capture your voice when speaking. You have three main options to set up and use a microphone for talking with others in sessions, as follows.
- If you already set up a microphone as an audio input track in step 3 of this wizard, then you may be able to just use that microphone to also talk with others in your sessions. For example, if you set up a mic to sing in sessions, you can obviously also just talk through that mic. If you set up a mic to capture instrumental audio, then you may or may not be able to talk through that mic. For example, if you set up the mic for a violin or a trumpet, then the mic is going to be on a mic stand up in the area of your face, and you can pretty easily talk through that mic. If you set up a mic for your acoustic guitar, then the mic is likely positioned lower, and you may need to bend down and forward to talk through the mic. If you set up a mic on your guitar amp or a drum kit, then the mic is not pointed toward your face and probably also set to an input level that won't pick up your voice. If you have already set up a mic in step 3 of this wizard and can use that mic to talk with others in your sessions, then you don't need to do anything at all in this step 4 of the wizard. Just click the orange Next button in the lower right corner of the wizard to move ahead to step 5. Otherwise, read on for more options.
- If you can't use a microphone you've already set up for talking in sessions, then you can set up another mic on your audio interface and use that mic for talking. If you already have a mic and XLR cable handy and there is an unused audio input port available on your audio interface, you can click the gray Back button in the lower right corner of the setup wizard and go back to step 3 of the wizard to add an audio track for this microphone. Or you can buy a microphone, a microphone stand, and an XLR cable, and then run back through this wizard when ready. This will likely cost you about USD$40 as an option if you don't already own the gear. The advantage of this option is that you'll have amazing audio quality - even on your voice while talking in sessions - and you'll be surprised by how nice that sounds and feels comparatively. It can be worth the investment. The disadvantage of this option is the cost, if you don't already have some mic gear handy, which brings us to option 3 below.
- Your other option is to use the microphone that is built into your computer for voice chat in sessions. This microphone can generally work fine for voice chat, and it has the advantage of being free. There are just a couple of things to consider. First, you really can't sing through the built-in mic on your computer. The audio quality will be very poor. And second, if you're going to use a chat mic, that mic is going to pick up all the ambient sounds in your area during sessions. This can be fine or not fine, depending on what you're playing and depending on your environment. For example, let's say you've set up a microphone on your drum kit as an audio track in step 3 of this wizard, and then you set up a mic built into your computer as a chat mic in this step. When you're playing in sessions, the chat mic will get blasted by the audio from your drum kit and destroy the quality of all of the audio you're sending to other musicians in the session. So to use this kind of setup, you would need to mute and un-mute your chat mic through the JamKazam app whenever you want to chat vs. play, which can be very annoying. On the other hand, if you're playing an electric guitar, this produces very minimal ambient/acoustic sound, and it won't disturb your session audio. So you could leave your chat mic on during sessions without worrying about it.
If you want to use option #3 to set up a chat mic on your Windows computer for talking in sessions, the instructions for doing this are below. If you're not going to set up a chat mic in this step, then you can click the orange Next button in the lower right corner of the wizard to move ahead to step 5.
To set up a chat mic on your Windows computer, first click the radio button labeled "Use Chat Microphone" (pictured below with arrow). This enables a list of microphone options from which you can choose. Next you should click/select the radio button in the Voice Chat Input list next to the option for your computer's built-in microphone (pictured below with arrow). This selects and activates the built-in microphone for chat mic use during JamKazam sessions. You can verify that the built-in mic is active by talking or generally making noise, and watch the lights on the Gain meter to the right of the Voice Chat Input list bounce up and down.
A quick note on how to find and select your built-in mic from the Voice Chat Input list:
- Because Windows computers are built by a bunch of different companies, it can be a little tricky to figure out which option is your built-in microphone.
- Since you're looking for your built-in mic, you should first exclude any options that look like your audio interface. So any option in the list that: (a) has the name of the company that makes your audio interface; (b) has the name of the model of your audio interface; or (c) looks like an input port label for your audio interface - which could be things like "Input Left", "Input Right", "In 1", "In 2", "Port 1", "Port 2", and so on.
- From the options that remain, you now need to pick the option that looks most likely to be your built-in mic. This option will usually, but not always, have the word "microphone" in it. Also, a company called Realtek is the biggest maker of built-in sound cards for Windows, so it's pretty common to see "Realtek" in the label for your built-in mic.
- When you think you've found the right option for your built-in mic, click on the radio button for that option. Then talk or generally make some noise. If you've selected the right option, you should see the lights on the Gain meter to the right of the list of voice chat input options jump around as you make noise. If these lights don't light up and move, you don't have the right option selected, so guess again.
You are now ready to move forward to step 5 - the last step in the audio setup wizard. To do this, click the orange Next button in the lower right corner of the wizard (pictured below with arrow), and click here for instructions to complete step 5.
