Recently I have started getting into VOIP servers, specifically, Asterisk based VOIP servers. I use a Macbook pro as my everyday work computer (clamshell mode while at the office).
Problem 1) The Macbook Pro has line level inputs not mic level inputs. So when I bought a medium-range Logitech Clearchat headset, it didn’t work.
Attempted solution 1: I have an external Toshiba Dynadock which has a sound card in it, and connects up via USB. The mac detects the sound card. The Sound preferences control panel sees the mic and responds to it. No other application responds to the mic. I’ve absolutely no idea why. The only problem I could find on Google that remotely resembled this was when people are trying to get sound into a sound recording application, and the recording input is set at the wrong sampling rate. I tried modifying this to no joy. I can even hear the mic if I put the input on “passthrough” mode with Rogue Amoeba’s LineIn application, but I simply can’t get it to work in an application. The most simple test I have is using Audacity and recording off that input. Sigh.
Attempted solution 2: I un-clamshelled my mac to use the internal mic. So I have the internal mic and internal speakers and I’m talking and I can hear them, and they can hear me, but they are hearing an echo of themselves. Why? Because the internal mic in a Macbook Pro is in the speaker grill, next to the speaker. So the other person talks, it comes out my speakers, and the mic picks up on some of it and routes it back to the person.
Why put a mic next to the speaker? Lots of people say “oh I used it to record my voice and it was ok”. Yes, but you’re not outputting through the speakers at the same time. Even the normal Macbook has the mic next to the camera. It makes SENSE to put it next to the camera, because when people do video calling, they are looking at (and therefore speaking to) the camera.
As much as I like Mac OS X, I don’t think I’ll buy another mac. I might buy a Vaio instead. Windows 7 is quite nice, and even if it does “go slow” after a year and require a reinstall, I have discovered that a lot of what I do is server-based anyway, meaning that as long as I have a core set of applications on whatever PC I am using, I don’t have to back up / reinstall much.