The weirdest microphone ever.

T

tombutler

Registered
Okay... I've discovered a problem that makes absolutely no sense.

I was trying to use a program (SoundStudio) to record sound non my iBook like I have done many times in the past. At first, I thought that the internal microphone didn't work, then I realized that it (very VERY strangely) did. Here's what happens:

By tapping the screen or blowing into the microphone hole, there is no sound. (I am listening through "soft playbook", which plays the sound back through headphones with a split-second delay.) But... the strange part... when I tap on the lower part of the unit, below the keyboard and to the left of the trackpad, there is the tapping sound.

I can notice the sound anywhere on the lower half of the computer, but it is clearly loudest to the left of the trackpad. What in the world is that?

The only explanation I can even start to fathom would root back to when I sent my machine to Apple for a repair on the screen. Could someone have done something weird to confuse me? There is no externally obvious problem like a wire running anywhere around the hinge. So what is up? HELP!

Thanks,
Tom Butler
 
Yes, more than likely when they were working on the screen they never placed the microphone back into the surround of the screen. This happened to an iBook that a friend of mine had.
 
Hmmm...

My TiBook 500 registers audio when tapping the bottom half (especially to the left of the trackpad, like you said) and it doesn't even have an audio-in.

Turning soft play-thu on creates a very pretty swell of spaceship-esque feedback. I'll have to use it in a recording some day.

Turning on hard play-though... Wow. It doesn't seem to do anything -- until you move your hand near the left speaker. Depending on how close you are to the speaker, you can make the feedback whistle or squeal.

This is with the volume up just one step above muted.

Anyone who can tell me how to make it respond to the hand motions in a wider field while changing the pitch of the feedback instead of the volumes gets a prize. A terrific prize.

Oh christ I'm makin' so many cool noises right now. I'll record some and let you kids hear 'em!
 
Oh wow, wait a minute, does the TiBook 500 have a built in mic and I just never knew about it? I can record things outside the computer too now... Heh.

:: feels dumb ::

I've put some "songs" (it's art, goddammit!) on my server. The server is not up all the time, but they're not very cool songs anyway, so if you can't get to 'em, you're not missin' much.

If I were you, I'd play this with a hand on a volume knob, if you've got one. Some of the sounds are very quiet, and some are painfully loud.

The sounds are of me moving my hand toward and away from the speaker, scratching at the speaker holes, and twiddling the volume keys with soft play-thu on checked in Sound Studio.

http://pedestrian.homeunix.com/tibook/
 
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