Audio device management

Allow players to select audio input and output devices.

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Last updated a day ago

The Vivox SDK automatically uses the system’s default audio input and output devices. You can override this behavior to give users a choice of which audio device to use for group voice chat, independent of the audio devices used for the game. To perform this override, build a user interface in the game that displays a list of available devices to users from which they can select a device. Build this user interface for InputDevices and OutputDevices, and utilize the

VivoxService.Instance.AvailableInputDevices

and

VivoxService.Instance.AvailableOutputDevices

to return a ReadOnlyCollection of either the

VivoxInputDevices

VivoxOutputDevices

, then populate the UI with the names of these devices. This user interface should be subscribed to the

VivoxService.Instance.AvailableInputDevicesChanged

and

VivoxService.Instance.AvailableOutputDevicesChanged

actions, and refresh the UI with the new lists from

VivoxService.Instance.AvailableInputDevices

and

VivoxService.Instance.AvailableOutputDevices

to catch any additions or removals from the lists of AudioDevices. After a user has selected a device from the list, use

VivoxService.Instance.SetActiveInputDeviceAsync(VivoxInputDevice device)

to set an input device or

VivoxService.Instance.SetActiveOutputDeviceAsync(VivoxOutputDevice device)

to set the output device. The following example covers how an audio device should be set after it has been chosen from the list. This also includes a check to ensure that the audio device is still on the list of devices to ensure that a change in the audio devices didn't happen while the user interface was loaded.


async void SetVivoxInputDeviceAsync(VivoxInputDevice device){    if(VivoxService.Instance.AvailableInputDevices.Contains(device))    {        await VivoxService.Instance.SetActiveInputDeviceAsync(device);    }}await void SetVivoxOutputDeviceAsync(VivoxInputDevice device){    if(VivoxService.Instance.AvailableOutputDevices.Contains(device))    {        await VivoxService.Instance.SetActiveOutputDeviceAsync(device);    }}

The Chat Channel Sample has an example of a UI object controlling the AudioDevice list in

AudioDeviceSettings.cs

Identify effective device

Participants can use a virtual device such as

Default System Device

Default Communication Device

as their active device when using voice chat. Sometimes, you might need information about the physical device represented by a virtual device, like when trying to troubleshoot a device-specific bug. The physical device is known as the effective device within the Vivox SDK. The Vivox SDK contains properties and events that can check the effective input and output devices, and subscribe to their changes.


VivoxService.Instance.EffectiveInputDeviceChanged;VivoxService.Instance.EffectiveOutputDeviceChanged;VivoxService.Instance.EffectiveInputDevice;VivoxService.Instance.EffectiveOutputDevice;

As an example, when a player selects the

Default System Device

as their in-game input device, the underlying microphone set as the

Default System Device

in their system settings will be the real device used. In this situation,

VivoxService.Instance.EffectiveInputDevice

returns an object representing the real input device being used. The image is what this looks like in the Chat Channel Sample:

A screenshot of the Chat Channel Sample Audio Device Selection Menu with Effective Device Showing.

The effective device can change even if the available device list or the active device doesn't, such as when a user adjusts the

Default System Device

in the System Settings on Windows machines. In this case, neither the available device list or the active device changes but the effective device does because the real device that's used by

Default System Device

has changed.

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