I have figured out how to broadcast a voice chat session using Skype over Station Playlist Studio using two sound cards with no hardware mixer. This configuration was tested for the first time this afternoon during a four hour show on ACB Radio Interactive. Feel free to try this procedure and give us some feedback with your own results.
Sound card settings
Make the following adjustments to the sound card volume control in the Control Panel:
- Playback: Microphone and wave not muted. Reduce microphone volume to prevent distortion.
- Recording: What you hear selected with 100 percent volume setting.
Studio Settings
This configuration requires at least Station Playlist version 4.0, as it takes advantage of the software’s built-in mixing capability:
- Input > Mic Input tab:
- Recording mixer: “What You Hear”
- Output mixer: none
- Output > Mixer tab: Switch device to another sound card or possibly Null output. Switch the screen reader to the sound card selected on Studio’s Output > Mixer tab or a second sound card if null was selected in Studio. Use a second pair of earbuds or headphones to hear broadcast monitoring and speech from the screen reader.
Skype Settings
In Tools > Options > Audio, uncheck “let Skype adjust my audio settings”. This adjustment is necessary to prevent Skype from significantly reducing the volume during the broadcast.