CHM IT - Large Gathering Room Audio for Hybrid Meetings (Microphones, VoiceMeeter, Owl)

We now have multiple options for sound input in the large gathering room at CHM! Bear in mind: these options only work for the computer built-in to the podium. This will NOT work if you plug in your own laptop.

Option 1: Meeting Owl

The meeting owl is a 360 degree camera with microphone inputs. It's fairly decent at capturing room sound, although some farther-off participants may need to speak up (or approach the owl).

You can select the Meeting Owl's microphone in zoom by selecting "Echo Cancelling Microphone (Meeting Owl)"

Option 2: Microphones (Handheld, Lavalier, Gooseneck)

If you'd prefer to pass around a mic, utilize the lav mics, or pick up the gooseneck microphone at the podium, this is now possible! All of the signals from these microphones now go into the "line in" option on the computer. Your participants will hear the exact same signal that gets routed to our in-room speakers.

(At log in, if you receive a pop up asking "what did you plug in to the front jack", choose "line in". It should be selected by default)

You can select the microphones by choosing "Line In (Reaktek(R) Audio)" as your microphone

Option 3: Combine both!

For meetings where you REALLY need to be able to pick up EVERYTHING, you can combine both the Meeting Owl AND the Microphones with the software VoiceMeeter.

Step 1: Plug in the meeting owl via USB and make sure it's powered on.

Step 2: Search for the program "VoiceMeeter" using the start menu (click start, type "voicemeeter" and it should appear). Open the program.

Step 3: If this is your first time using VoiceMeeter (i.e. you haven't opened VoiceMeeter with your login on this computer), you will need to load up the CHM Large Gathering Room settings.

IF THIS IS NOT YOUR FIRST TIME USING VOICEMEETER, SKIP TO STEP 5!

Click on the "menu" button at the top right, and choose "Load Settings":

Navigate to C:\VirtualAudioCableDrivers\ and select the "CHMGatheringRoom" XML file:

Once this file is loaded, you'll see all the proper audio inputs on the computer.

Step 4: Make sure VoiceMeeter (and this configuration) automatically starts whenever you log into this computer. Click on "Menu" and check "load settings on startup". You may have to navigate again to C:\VirtualAudioCableDrivers\ and select the "CHMGatheringRoom" XML file.

Also make sure to check "system tray" and "Run on Windows Startup". Now VoiceMeeter will automatically start when you log in!

Step 5: Ensure that all the audio inputs are active in VoiceMeeter. If you see any red text, this means this input is not active. In the example below, we opened VoiceMeeter before plugging in the owl, and now the owl shows up in red text:

To fix this, open the "menu" button on the top right, and choose "restart audio engine".

If everything is working, the text will now turn grey.

Step 6: Select the combined signal. This signal will show up in zoom as "CABLE Output (VB-Audio Virtual Cable)"

Selecting this will send the combined Owl + Microphones signal to your zoom meeting. 

BEAR IN MIND: there will be a slight echo when the microphones and the owl pick up the same audio source at the same time. This is because the microphones are hard-wired to the computer (and thus, have no latency) while the Owl is slightly processing the signal before sending it to the computer over USB. You can use the volume sliders in VoiceMeeter to turn up or down certain sources to your taste (Signal 1 is the microphones, signal 2 is the owl)

If you run into any questions, email: help@chm.wisc.edu