Configuring Windows for Skype

[uberlad]

My brother, who's living in Austria, made a big hint at Christmas by getting me a headset with a mic on it so that I can Skype him, and we can talk more frequently. This is a Good Thing (tm).

The problem is that my machine is plugged in to an amp, with decent speakers. When Skype connects us, the speech come out of these (plugged into the front speaker output from my Realtek onboard sound card) and does not go to the headset which is clamped onto my ears and conencted to mic + rear speakers.

Upshot of this is the worst of both worlds - Everyone else can hear both ends of the conversation, and I have to have it louder so as to get through the headphones.

Is there some kind of program that I can get that will allow me to direct Windows sound output to certain speakers for certain applications? I can't even find a way in Control Panel to tell Windows to send all sound to all four speakers (I could at least then turn down the amp when someone rings).

Any suggestions guys?

Ta,

Uberlad

[Wombat]

Do what I had to do, and go get a splitter from the local electronics store. A couple bucks, and then just mute the stereo.

[agallag]

I'm also using a splitter. It's not the best solution, but it works.

You could also pick up a pair of USB headphones. They show up as a separate sound card in windows, and you can set skype to use them specifically.

[az]

Or just plug the headset's headphones into the amp's headphone out and mute the speakers.

AZ

[Wombat]

Originally posted by az
Or just plug the headset's headphones into the amp's headphone out and mute the speakers.

AZ

The problem with that is that the headphones only have a small maximum distance between their earphone & microphone jacks. He can't reach the amp (I have a similar problem).

[az]

Get an extension?

AZ

[Marshmallowman]

*If* you have onboard sound and a PCI sound card you could enable the onbaord sound and tell tskype to use the onboard sound(and headphones), and set everyhting else to use the primary sound device(PCI card)

but just splitting and muting the stereo sounds like the easist way

PS nforce based audio allows you to use nvswap to swap forward and rear speakers, maybe your sound system has similar system?

[Jammrock]

What kind of sound card do you have?

My Audigy has an option in Audio HQ to mute the speakers when I plug my headphones in (but I have the Pro with the Live Drive deal).

Another option, if your sound card has 4.1+ output and you set it to 2.1, most cards will just send a stereo signal to front and rear analog outputs. You could plug your headphones into rear, the stereo into front, and just turn off the reciever when you're skyping.

Just some options...

[uberlad]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

The soundcard is a Realtek AC97 card, not 100% sure of the exact model.

I do have an old soundcard sitting about that I could plug in for Skyping duties I suppose, although it seems a terrible waste of a once proud soundcard (Vortex 2 chipset).

It's a shame that windows isn't versatile enough to do what I want, I'll dig around and make sure that there isn't some kind of virtual soundcard driver (like total Recorder) that I can install to act as a go-between and at least split every signal to the back speakers as well.

If it comes to it then a splitter is the simplest option.

Thanks all,

Uberlad