Rosetta Stone/Internal Mic not working

Question

Rosetta Stone/Internal Mic not working

I have recently installed Rosetta Stone Version 3 (language software) on my Macbook Pro. I am having issues using the internal microphone with the software.

When I setup the microphone within the software and then do the test (say 1,2,3,4,5 into the microphone as a test), the program tells me everything is working fine. However, during the lessons, when speech recognition is necessary, the microphone doesn't work.

Firstly, the speaker will say a work, then when it's my turn, it's as if the microphone is not being recognized and is quickly turning on and off as if it's trying to hear something. Secondly, every time the microphone is enabled and disabled, it turns up the microphone input volume (System Preferences > Sound > Input > sliding bar with low to high) one tick until it's at the top of the bar; thus rendering the microphone useless due to an overload of ambient noise.

Any suggestions or tips? I know Mac users must have this working. However, all the info I can find is a bunch of frustrated Mac people and a lot of finger pointing between Apple and Rosetta Stone.

HELP!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 30, 2010 3:46 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Pickle Pumpers

Level 1

8 points

Oct 31, 2010 5:50 AM in response to Varunph

I was having all sorts of problems with stuttering input. Like when I set up the mic it wouldn't let me get to 5, it would say the mic was set up before I even got to 3 and when trying to practice the sound was stuttering horribly.

Then I had an idea. It seems counter intuitive but what I did to fix it was change my audio input device in System Preferences (under sound) to Line In, in other words not the internal built-in microphone. Then in Rosetta I did pick the built-in microphone as my input. I think what was happening for was the OS and Rosetta were both trying to use the mic and that was the source of my problems.

Anyway if you have the same symptoms as me try turning off the mic in the System Preferences app and see if that works. It worked great for me.

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Answer 2

Nov 7, 2010 9:32 PM in response to Pickle Pumpers

Mine is a different problem. And this is with a Mac Pro desktop.

First off, the USB headset never works. I tried the Rosetta Stone-supplied headset and a Logitech G330 (normally used for in-game chatting) and they did not work in the Rosetta program - versions 3 and 4.

I used an external mic and opted for the line input. Rosetta worked perfectly. I went all the way through Level 2. (Language I am learning is German), and even managed to converse with a German online tutor in Seattle (a feature in Version 4's TOTALe software).

Until two weeks ago. The line input is now kaput. This might have been related to a recent software update they made. The software update has now broken Rosetta and I cannot use any inputs at all. And "kaputt" is not a German word I want to keep learning about Rosetta's software!

Already called technical support. I am led to believe that there's something in the software that is refusing to take any input. The tech support call took almost an hour with little progress (I'm sure their technicians have already noted about it). I have nothing against the South Asians here on Apple Discussions, but their tech support team needs work.

Fluenz, though, had no problems. Fluenz is a competing language learning provider, but unlike Rosetta, only offer five languages - neither of them is German - and does not use speech recognition like Rosetta. However, there were absolutely no problems with Fluenz receiving any audio input.

Too bad. Rosetta actually worked wonders - when it worked.

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Answer 3

Nov 18, 2010 9:48 AM in response to RocknRolla1950

I had the same problem, but I think I found a helpful (but imperfect) fix. As it turns out, when you set the microphone preference to 'Internal Microphone,' Rosetta Stone takes it upon itself to change the input volume as it pleases--usually to full. This is bad because the computer will hear a pounding, garbled, static-filled mess instead of the simple word you think you're saying. I don't remember how I got to it, but somewhere in Rosetta's preferences you can listen to how you sound (and visually compare your sound wave to the correct answer so as to tweak your intonation and articulation), and this is where I discovered the problem.

The solution: open System Preferences, go to "Sound," select the "Input" tab, and then set the "Input Volume" to the halfway mark. The computer will hear you much more clearly, and you should do fine on your lessons. Keep System Prefs open throughout the lesson, because Rosetta Stone will actually reset your input volume to full when you first open the program, to 3/4 when you try to calibrate with '1, 2, 3, 4, 5,' and then back up to full if you happen to mess up too many times in a row thereafter.

It's frustrating to have to keep on adjusting the volume while you're trying to concentrate, I know, but at least it gets to the heart of the issue. Perhaps there's a script floating around that can take care of this, but my (admittedly limited) searches have turned up nothing. Such as it is, I hope this helps!

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Answer 4

Dec 4, 2010 1:10 AM in response to RocknRolla1950

I tried to get the headphones working on my MacBook Pro, but didn't manage it. I then unplugged the headset, went back to trying to get the internal microphone working properly and this time selected Input / Line In (Audio Line In Port) from the System Preferences / Sound / Input Menu. I set the volume to 75% and it's working like a dream. I have no idea why!!

I'm happy that's it's working but given the cost, RS should really have made sure this was all working perfectly straight out of the box.

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Answer 5

mkolegue

Level 1

8 points

Jan 19, 2011 4:17 PM in response to Edd Cox

People keep saying pick Line In in the Input. Is this because you are trying to use the headset?

Does anyone have another suggestion (besides the constant lowering of volume) if you are not using a headset? I tried it and it is not going very smoothly.

Thanks

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Answer 6

Jan 29, 2011 8:08 AM in response to RocknRolla1950

This was a very frustrating issue for me! But i found a work around that works perfectly. Only disadvantage is you need to run two little apps.

1. Get Soundflower: http://cycling74.com/products/soundflower/ and LineIn: http://www.rogueamoeba.com/freebies/
2. In Soundflower / Audio Setup the "Soundflower (16ch)" should be set to "Input"
"Format" has 44100 Hz and 16ch-32bit
3. In LineIn set "Input form" to "Default System Input" and "Output to" to "Soundflower (16ch)"
4. Click "Pass Thru"
5. Start Rosetta Stone and in "Set Preferences" / "Audio Settings' select "Soundflower (16ch) - Microphone" and "Apply Changes"
6. Enjoy Learning with Speech Recognition

You always have to run the two programs with Rosetta Stone and make sure the pass thru is actvie. I used version 3.4.5.
I hope this saves you some time and anger.

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Answer 7

its_rich

Level 1

0 points

Feb 26, 2011 3:16 PM in response to RocknRolla1950

The solution that works best (for me) is the iPhone earphones. You simply plug them into the headphone jack, and the software will use that microphone.

I tried the other permutations, but I didn't like the idea of shouting at the computer (otherwise the phrases always seemed to be faint), or inserting a tinny-sounding headset that had a persistent buzzing sound.

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Answer 8

cliotech

Level 1

0 points

Mar 7, 2011 9:07 AM in response to mkolegue

I have been frustrated by the same problem. RS worked perfectly on my MBP 2008. When I upgraded in December 2010 the speak recognition stopped working. The sound input was garbled even though the sound input in GarageBand, Audacity, Skype, etc. all worked perfectly. Here is how I fixed the problem. On your Mac in System Preferences > Sound > Input select Line In. In RS > Set Preferences > Audio Settings select Built-in Microphone. Or, do it the other way around and select Internal Mic Microphone on your Mac and Built-in Input in in RS. Either way, it resolves the issue with your Mac competing with RS for use of the mic.

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Answer 9

Lorienne

Level 1

0 points

Mar 20, 2011 7:58 AM in response to cliotech

I tried this and it worked for sometime, after which it wouldn't recognize what I was saying either..I tried the iPhone headset and it's also not working..Do I have to use headsets with background noise cancellation..?..I know when I use RS with Windows 7, I don't have a problem even if I have a foreign language movie playing in the background..I think I'll try those two apps next..

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Answer 10

Apr 4, 2011 9:08 PM in response to questionmarq

This was the answer for me, thanks so much! I never reply in forums but this Rosetta Stone thing was so frustrating, if other people are experiencing the same problem, they deserve to know a pretty easy fix.

(Problem: Skipping recording, not recognizing answers, frustration.)

Installing Soundflower took a few tries, finally this version (1.5.1) http://soundflower.en.softonic.com/mac worked. Soundflower is an extension NOT an application.

I'm using iphone headphone/mic or MacBook built in speakers--super easy. The included headset is garbage.

Thanks again!

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Answer 11

heyisa

Level 1

0 points

Apr 10, 2011 6:17 PM in response to mkolegue

I just want to confirm that setting the mac sound to "Line In" (System Preferences > Sound > Input) and then opening the Rosetta stone program and then setting the Rosetta Mic settings to -Internal Microphone works. I had the stuttering issue until then, but now it seems to be working well.

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Answer 12

cliotech

Level 1

0 points

Apr 28, 2011 11:54 AM in response to hailflex

Have you tried uninstalling RS and reinstalling? If RS isn't even recognizing the microphones, that may be your best bet. Just be sure you understand how RS deals with reinstalling and such. Check out http://support.rosettastone.com/ics/support/default.asp?deptID=14042 . It can be a nightmare if you uninstall and reinstall without first getting a new activation code. I had that problem when I had to restore my system from a Time Machine backup. It took almost 8 weeks to get the problem resolved with RS.

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Answer 13

May 6, 2011 8:24 PM in response to jshrader90

My problem was that both internal and USB microphones were showing up when I went to Rosetta Stone Preferences, but Rosetta could not hear them when I went to Microphone Setup. This was on Rosetta Stone version 4. The cause of this was that RosettaStoneDaemon was running under a wrong user (the same computer is shared between adults in our family who do not use Rosetta Stone, and our daughter who does, but she uses a separate account to hopefully avoid breaking the computer). The fix was to move LaunchAgent for RosettaStoneDaemon to only launch when our daughter logs into her account:

Logged in as her:

$ cp /Library/LaunchAgents/com.rosettastone.rosettastonedaemon.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents

Logged into an account that has Admin privleges:

$ sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/com.rosettastone.rosettastonedaemon.plist

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Answer 14

Jul 4, 2011 3:21 PM in response to RocknRolla1950

Thanks for the solution questionmarq, it was very helpful. The soundflower/linein worked like a charm. I found that you still might have to fiddle with the system preferences > sound > input settings as well. Hope everyone enjoys learning a new language! 🙂

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Answer 15

Sep 21, 2011 11:56 PM in response to questionmarq

Dear all friends,

I have trouble on it lastnight on my MBA with Lion , and solve it by following:

(1) upgrate to RS 3.4.5

(2) follow instruction from questionmarq

Here I confirm that RS 3.3.5 is not working with Lion.

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