domandri

Q: Issue with USB mic when Facetime calling from Yosemite with continuity (over iPhone via wifi)

Hi all

This is my system:

iMac 27, Late 2012

Processor 3,4 Ghz Intel Core i7

32 GB of RAM

Graphic card NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB

 

OS: Yosemite 10.10

 

Issue: USB microphone not working with Facetime when using continuity

 

I was really happy when i tested for the first time the new possibilty of a real call from my Mac.

I have a Mac, an iPhone 5 and aniPad Air 2. They are all set up with my iCloud correctly. They are all under the same wifi network.

 

I tested the new feature for a while, and it worked fine. I can now receive calls on my iPhone, as usual, but i can answer from my Mac or iPad. I can even start a new call from one of those. Here comes the issue.

 

"Why not to use a Usb headset for the Mac?" - The audio quality when calling with a Mac is not great, considering my room (too much reverb). So i decided to buy a nice headset. Since the Mac has just one audio port (jack 3,5) i went for a USB audio input/output.

 

I plugged it in and started playing with my preferences. It all went good. I even recorded something on Garageband, just to test the mic. The sound in my ears was good too.

 

I decided to test it on Facetime. It did not work in the beginning, cause i realized after a while that Factime has a specific panel into its preferences where to set the Microphone source, separately from the whole system. But that's ok. I did change that, and it was fine.

 

Finally i decided to test it making a real phone call via Facetime - continuity (iPhone). Guess what. The mic was not working. Bad sound. I could hear them perfectly but my voice was captured by default Mac mic. I spent some time trying to figure it out.

 

No preferences available, all settings were ok. The mic was working fine in every other application, and even in Facetime if no continuity call were made (just normal). I was depressed, cause i spent some money for that headset and i was trying to solve a problem in my house (law cellular signal).

 

Anyway i've read plenty of discussions about this same issue with Yosemite and i am wondering if you do have the same problem. And if you do, is there any solution? Any official position by Apple?

 

Thanks

Domenico

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 31, 2014 11:27 AM

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Q: Issue with USB mic when Facetime calling from Yosemite with continuity (over iPhone via wifi)

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  • Helpful answers

  • by fsmith123nyc,Helpful

    fsmith123nyc fsmith123nyc Nov 3, 2014 1:32 PM in response to domandri
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 3, 2014 1:32 PM in response to domandri

    Same here! Expensive video cam with mic (USB) works fine in FaceTime alone and everywhere else. Under Video menu in FT it's set properly. Can not call out nor use this mic when a call comes in. Continuity seems to function fine otherwise. In earlier beta builds, the mic worked fine despite a Chipmunk quality to my voice according to others and similarly that's how I heard the callers.

  • by VWright182,

    VWright182 VWright182 Nov 17, 2014 9:53 AM in response to fsmith123nyc
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 17, 2014 9:53 AM in response to fsmith123nyc

    IF you are using boom quit that app and remove from startup items then reboot that fixed it for me im using a logictech 270 with usb mic builtin.

  • by xrizb,

    xrizb xrizb Nov 27, 2014 12:53 AM in response to domandri
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 27, 2014 12:53 AM in response to domandri

    Same problem here with a mid 2011 MBA. All setting point to use the USB headset mic which is connected via a Thunderbolt display. But when initiating or receiving a continuity call via iphone the MBA internal mic is used. OTOH plugging the analog iPhone headset into the MBA works fine. But this is not the solution I'm looking for.

  • by flounder99,

    flounder99 flounder99 Jan 16, 2015 11:47 AM in response to domandri
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 16, 2015 11:47 AM in response to domandri

    Same problem with a Logitech Webcam C932e.  I select it as the input audio device both in the FaceTime app AND in the system preferences sound pane (under input devices).  The webcam microphone accepts audio in EVERY instance, including FaceTime.  EXCEPT if it is an iPhone continuity cell call.  Then my laptop reverts to the internal microphone.

     

    I have found no solution and I filed a bug report with Apple.

  • by stagl,

    stagl stagl Feb 12, 2015 7:42 PM in response to flounder99
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 12, 2015 7:42 PM in response to flounder99

    I too am having this problem with my Logitech c920 camera. Its' microphone is checked under "Video" in the menu, but I noticed that when I have my laptop closed, no one can hear me during my calls. It's really a bummer because the internal mac mic isn't all that spectacular and one of the reasons I switched back to iPhone was for the continuity.

     

    Hopefully this gets resolved soon.  

  • by flounder99,

    flounder99 flounder99 Feb 13, 2015 1:04 PM in response to stagl
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 13, 2015 1:04 PM in response to stagl

    I have news for everyone.  As mentioned, I filed a bug complaint on this subject to apple via my developer account.  Apple reported back that this is a known bug...and that someone else had filed it before me.  So there appears to be no fix or workaround at this time.

     

    I don't have any inside info on how bugs get prioritized to be fixed, but I'm pretty confident it's a squeaky-wheel-gets-the-most-oil kinda thing.  So if you want to make your voice hard and gets some oil to our squeak...

     

    http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

  • by darknater,

    darknater darknater Feb 13, 2015 3:04 PM in response to flounder99
    Level 1 (14 points)
    Feb 13, 2015 3:04 PM in response to flounder99

    From another source it appears that sudo killall coreaudiod at a shell prompt works around this. 

  • by flounder99,

    flounder99 flounder99 Feb 13, 2015 3:10 PM in response to darknater
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 13, 2015 3:10 PM in response to darknater

    That appears to have worked for me.

  • by StumpyBloke,

    StumpyBloke StumpyBloke May 19, 2015 12:54 PM in response to flounder99
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Mac OS X
    May 19, 2015 12:54 PM in response to flounder99

    I have reported it as a bug too.