Communicating: Voice Chat (Broadband Only)

Want to actually talk to your friends in There, or sing your heart out at Thereoke (it's fun!) and attend other Voice-only events? To get the Voice feature, you must be a Premium Member. Not a Premium Member yet? Sign up! 

Voice Requirements

To use the Voice feature, you need:

• A broadband Internet connection (e.g., cable modem, DSL, or T1)
• A computer microphone (preferably a headset microphone)
• 1.1 GHZ Intel Pentium III or Athlon XP CPU (or faster)
• Compatible sound card (see below)
• A Premium Membership account with There

Getting Started (Voice Trainer)

To set up your Voice Chat feature, follow these simple steps:

• Make sure your microphone is plugged in and the volume is on.
• Click here to open the Voice Trainer. You can also access the Voice Trainer from the Action Bar.
• Follow the directions to set the levels of your microphone (if you have problems, see "Troubleshooting" below).
• Once you're finished, you should be ready to start talking!

Activating the Action Bar 

The controls for the Voice feature are contained within the Voice tab on the Action Bar. To activate this bar, go to People (on the bottom menu bar) > Action Bar, and click on the Voice tab.

Using Voice

There are two basic ways to use voice: normal mode (like a walkie-talkie), or hands-free.

• In normal mode (hands-free is off), click and hold the "Talk" button from the Action Bar when you want to talk. You can also hold down the "PageDn" button on your keyboard.
• For hands-free, click "Turn Hands-free On" from the Action Bar. This will allow you to speak without holding down any buttons, leaving your hands free to type smileys, drive a Buggy, or whatever you like. To turn Hands-free off, click the button again. This will return you to normal mode.
• Use "Turn Voice Off" to stop hearing speaking avatars around you, and to stop transmitting voice yourself. This will disable the speaking buttons on the Action Bar. You can turn Voice on again anytime by clicking "Turn Voice On." Voice still works over IM in both cases.
• Volume: You can adjust the volume of what you hear by going to There > Customize > World > Volume. The three sliders adjust Voice, Music, and Environmental (ambient) sound separately.

Finding Others with Voice 

Everyone who has Voice (turned on) in There will have a speaker icon in their nametag. Just walk up to them and start talking! There are even Voice-themed clubs!

Voice-only events are another great way to meet other Voice-enabled members in There. From Thereoke to Tune that Name, hit What's Happening Now to find them all!

Note: Members without the Voice feature will still see the speaker icons and can view Voice bubbles and animations when Voice-enabled members are talking.

Troubleshooting

Voice Trainer

If the Trainer says you are too quiet, try the following:

• Use the Microphone Volume link to turn your microphone volume up.
• Move the microphone closer to your mouth.
• Make sure your microphone is plugged in correctly.
• If there is an "Advanced" button below your microphone volume slider, click it. If there is a "Boost" option, make sure it is checked.

If the Trainer says you are too loud, try the following:

• Use the Microphone Volume link to turn your microphone volume down.
• Move the microphone farther away from your mouth.
• If there is an "Advanced" button below your microphone volume slider, press it. If there is a "Boost" option, make sure it is not checked.

Note: Once you have run the Voice Trainer, you should re-run it if you change your microphone settings.

Connection Speed

If your connection speed is set to 56k or ISDN, voice is disabled. You should make sure that your connection speed is set to Broadband when using voice. You can do this by clicking on There > Customize > Connection in the blue toolbar when you are logged on as your avatar.

Speaking

If you're too loud or too quiet (as other members may tell you), try running the Voice Trainer again. If that doesn't help, send an email to help@there.com and describe the situation. Please include the day and time, location, number of avatars nearby, and your sound card model (see below for instructions on how to find this out).

If you hear an echo, someone you are talking to probably has their microphone too close to their speakers. Try asking them to move these farther apart, or to switch to headphones.

General

In general, a headset (including headphones and a microphone) will give you the best Voice experience in There, including more consistent volume, better sound quality, and convenience.

SSE Support

SSE Support is required for Voice in There. The SSE instruction set was originally designed by Intel for use with its Pentium 3 cpu chips, and was later licensed to AMD for use in Athlon XP 1500+ and later. The SSE instruction set speeds up multimedia functions, allowing those functions to take up less cpu processing power.

The following cpus are the minimum requirements for voice:

Intel Pentium 3
Intel Pentium 4
AMD Athlon XP 1500+ or higher
AMD Athlon 64 / Opteron
AMD Duron 1.1Ghz or higher

If you do not have one of these CPU's in your computer, you may receive an error saying that your computer does not have SSE. You should check with your computer manufacturer for more information, including whether or not your computer can be upgraded with an SSE-compatible CPU.

Sound Cards

To check what kind of sound card you have, go to Control Panel > System (or System Properties) > Sounds and Audio Devices. Click the Audio tab, and check what you have listed as your default device. The following is a list of sound cards that are known to work well with Voice in There:

• ADI SoundMax Cadenza (on Intel D845 - series motherboards, and others w/ specified chipset)
• Chaintech AV512, Hercules GameSurround Muse-series (and all C-Media CMI8738 - based cards)
• Creative Sound Blaster 16 PCI (and all Creative CT4810 - based cards)
• Creative Sound Blaster PCI 512, Creative Sound Blaster Live! - series (and all Creative EMU10K1 - based cards)
• Creative Sound Blaster Audigy - series (and all Creative Audigy / Audigy 2 - based cards)
• nVIDIA nForce / nForce2 (on Asus A7N-266, Compaq D315, and others w/ specified chipset)

Generally, the newest versions of sound card drivers are best for Voice performance in There. If your sound card is performing poorly (or not working at all) in There, you may want to upgrade your drivers. These upgrades are usually available via the website of your sound card manufacturer.

The following is a list of sound cards that are known to NOT work for Voice in There:

• ASound Express II (and all boards using Crystal CS4281 chipset)
• Creative AudioPCI 64V (Win98SE only, and all boards using ESS Technology 1371 chipset)
• ADI SoundMax 1885 (Win98SE only, on Intel 810 / 850 - series motherboards, and others w/ specified chipset)
• Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, Hercules Digifire 7.1 (and all Cirrus Logic SoundFusion CS4624 - based cards)

If your sound card is not on either of these lists, we cannot guarantee that it will work for Voice. If you would like us to check, please send an email with your sound card model to help@there.com.

Still need help? Contact us at help@there.com.