Probably worth noting that we have a USB to EXLR converter plugged into one of our USB ports which *may* not be getting enough power until toggled?

Follow up question for don.holly@: can you provide the model numbers/info of the microphone and USB to EXLR converter you're using? 

Certainly! We're using the Blue Icicle USB to XLR converter available here:

http://smile.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Icicle-Converter-Preamp/dp/B001EW5YQS?sa-no-redirect=1

Thank you for providing more feedback. Assigning to requester "tnakamura@chromium.org" for another review.

For more details visit https://sites.google.com/a/chromium.org/dev/issue-tracking/autotriage - Your friendly Sheriffbot

Removing from Desktop triaging bucket.

tommi@, jansson@ - any ideas for next triaging steps?

[triage] just to clarify, you are selecting the audio devices in the Chrome OS audio menu in the bottom right?

This is actually happening for us via the hangouts app. After toggling the microphone between the webcam and USB XLR converter a couple times it seems to resolve the problem (we need to do this every time we have a video call)

[triage]: tommi@, jansson@ - any ideas for next triaging steps? :)

Incase this helps:

The fix for us at the moment is to:

1) toggle the microphone back to the webcam and save changes
2) wait about 3 seconds
3) toggle the microphone back to our external microphone and save changes

Then the audio seems to work again!

jansson@ - can you look into getting the converter linked in #4?

Henrik - could this be an agc issue?

re #12, I'm not sure this is device related. don@, do you have any other usb device you could test with? Like a USB headset. I do not have an issue ordering the said device but want to make sure it's related to the specific device rather than USB or having several devices connected in general.

+peah

tommi@: there is always a risk that the microphone+USB+converter results in a gain curve that our AGC does not deal well with. Think a recording is needed to figure that out.

don@: in addition to trying out another USB device, would it be possible to make a recording of the audio when you experience the low volume in Hangouts:

- Open an new tab and go to: chrome://webrtc-internals
- click on “Create Dump”
- click on “Enable diagnostic audio recordings.”
- choose an appropriate location for the files to be stored and a base filename.
- make sure the “Enable diagnostic audio recordings.”-box is ticked.

And then upload the results to this issue.

Sure, we're can create a recording for you guys soon and toss it in here.

I actually think the AGC hypothesis makes sense based on a couple things we've noticed:

1) If there's a notable amount of noise in the room when the hangout first connects (music playing, people talking near the mic, etc.), the mic issue is more prominent than if it were dead silent when the hangout connected
2) Toggling it always fixes the issue, which I assume causes gain adjustments to occur again - thereby fixing the problem. 

For what it's worth, we only have this microphone and the provided webcam plugged into this box.

don@: are you able to use the mic in another platform (e.g. Mac laptop) and compare?

Per, reassigning to you for analysis of upcoming recordings.

don@: would it also be possible to update Chrome to the latest (stable) version. Should be M50 for Chrome OS. Or to recap:

- Update to latest Chrome.
- Try the mic on another platform and compare.
- Compare with a USB headset on the Chromebox.
- Perform aecdump on the Chromebox while using the mic+converter.

Just a random idea but given the rather exotic mic and converter (with phantom power), it might also be worth trying a powered USB hub to ensure that the mic + converter gets enough power. IMHO, avoiding the converter and aim for a high quality USB based mic can also be an option.

Old issue. Closing due to lack of feedback.