If you play CS:GO at least some time, you will most likely have a question about how to turn on the microphone in CS:GO and what settings for it is better to use. Since Counter Strike – is a team game, effective communication with other players is essential for success. Consequently, it is worth checking in advance how the microphone works, understand what scheme of its use is more convenient, and set the necessary settings.
Sequence of actions
The easiest way to turn on the microphone in ks go is to connect it to the computer before starting the game. In this case, the program will most likely recognize it immediately and it will appear in the settings. You can check it out on Discord or another voice communication program. After making sure that the microphone works, you can move on to its settings in CS:GO.
Go to the game, open the sound settings and see what is specified in the parameter «Microphone activation». Many players are interested in how to turn on the microphone in CS:GO key, because this is the most convenient option. If the microphone is on all the time, other players will hear a lot of extraneous noises that will distract them. Therefore, it is more convenient to use the microphone in walkie-talkie mode so that other players can only hear you when you press a key. To make it work this way, select «with the key» under «Activate microphone».
In addition, you should check what voice chat settings are set in Steam. Note that the settings you need are hidden not in the main client settings, but in the chat with friends settings. Open «Voice Chats», to see the settings required to enable the microphone in CS:GO. Specifically, you will be prompted to select the following characteristics:
audio input and output volume;
type of voice transmission (constant or push-to-talk);
noise reduction threshold.
You can also separately enable or disable echo cancellation and noise reduction if you only need one of these components. Please note that the setting «Voice transmission type» works separately from the same setting in the game.
Additional microphone settings
Counter Strike: Global Offensive itself does not have detailed microphone settings, so if you are not satisfied with its sound, you need to refer to the system settings. For a comfortable game will need not only to enable the microphone in CS:GO, but also to customize it, and for this purpose the following tools will be useful:
sound manager;
microphone settings in the control panel;
sound settings in the system settings.
In Windows 11, the sound settings are in the system settings. If there is more than one microphone (for example, there is the laptop's built-in microphone and the microphone of the headset you connect to it), here you will be able to select which one should be used, as well as choose its volume.
More detailed settings can be found in the control panel. Here you can test how sound is recorded and played back from connected devices, and in the case of a laptop – make sure that the microphone settings will not change when switching to battery operation.
How the Sound Manager will look like will depend on the sound driver. Both personal computers and Windows laptops most often use the Realtek audio driver. When you open the Sound Manager, you will be able to specify the following parameters there:
Balance, i.e. the ratio between the sound volume on the right and left channels. You need the slider to be in the neutral position.
Microphone effects can reduce the presence of noise and interference.
Amplifying the microphone will help if you are hard of hearing.
The audio level determines how loudly the sound coming into the microphone will be transmitted.
Console commands to customize the microphone
In addition, to enable the microphone in CS:GO and change its settings you can use console commands. It is better to experiment with them before the match to find the combination that will give you the best sound quality.
Using console commands you can perform the following actions:
listen to your voice (voice_loopback);
mute extraneous sounds (voice_overdrive 1) for a certain amount of time in seconds (voice_overdrivefadetime 0.4);
customize how the voices of teammates will sound (voice_maxgain 1- 5);
exclude sharp drops of the voice wave (0.1 – 0.5) to get rid of interference and extraneous noises;
set the microphone fadeout time in seconds after you release the key (voice_fadeouttime 0.1).
Most often you have to try to find the right settings, but it won't take much time. Try a few variations until you realize which sound you like best and allows you to clearly distinguish your voice. Very useful for this command voice_loopback, with which you can easily check the microphone, even if you went to some map alone.
Does not work microphone in CS:GO
If you suddenly found that the microphone in CS:GO does not work, it is not difficult to cope with this problem. First of all, check the condition of the device itself: the wire that was used to connect the microphone may have been pulled out of the socket or frayed, or the microphone may be disconnected. If the microphone has its own volume control, check which position it is in. Go to the sound settings in Windows and make sure your microphone is listed and selected as an output device.
After making sure that the device itself and its settings in the system are OK, go to the game settings. If you previously configured to enable the microphone in CS:GO by key, change the key to another – it is possible that the one to which this action was set does not work for some reason. Also check that the correct input and output devices are specified in the settings. Sometimes problems occur if you connect the microphone after you have started the game – then it may not recognize the new input source.
You may also find the command voice_enable 1 useful. It includes all voice chats and sounds. It may turn out that they were accidentally disabled as a result of some settings change, in which case this console command will solve the problem.
If the microphone still doesn't work, checking the integrity of the game files or reinstalling the game completely may help. If the failure was due to corruption of any of the files, this will help to fix the problem. But usually there is no need for such drastic measures, because the problem is eliminated earlier.
Learning to turn on the microphone in CS:GO key, you will make its use in the game as convenient as possible. As for the question of which button to tie its activation to, that's a matter of personal preference. For example, if you are using a gaming mouse, you can tie the microphone activation to one of its side buttons, so that you do not remove your hand from the key position on the keyboard.
It is enough to learn once to turn on the microphone in ks go, so that after that you can quickly cope with its setting, even after reinstalling the system. In addition, this knowledge will also help with connecting the microphone in other games, as the order of actions is likely to remain similar.
