Installing MIC+ Sound Card on current Raspberry Pi OS
Edit Config File:
You can edit the config.txt file by inserting your SD card in your desktop computer and making the following changes with any file editor, or directly within Pi OS:
Open a terminal window and type:
sudo nano /boot/firmware/config.txt
Comment out the existing audio line by adding a # in front:
#dtparam=audio=on
Add the overlay for the sound card:
dtoverlay=googlevoicehat-soundcard
Reboot your system.
Playing Audio:
After rebooting, check if your sound cards are recognized. You should see the speaker icon on the desktop.
To test, open a terminal window and type:
speaker-test -l5 -c2 -t wav
You should hear “left” and “right” from your speakers.
Recording Audio:
Volume control is managed by PulseAudio in Raspberry Pi OS, serving as middleware between the hardware and software. Enable PulseAudio in the raspi-config menu in Advanced - Audio Config:
MIC+ V3:
Gently operate the micro switches on the back of the board. Move the switch toward the “ON” marking to enable the onboard speakers, and the opposite direction to disable them:
MIC+ V2:
It is possible to disconnect the hardware speakers and enable the jack only. Locate the labels ‘JP3’ and ‘JP4’ on the back of the board. Using a sharp blade, carefully cut the track associated with these labels. If needed, you can reconnect the track later with a soldering iron.
It may not interfears wih your RC522 module, but if it does you will still be able to removed the led with a soldering iron or go brute force and cut/ destroy the led with a cutter.
I finished the installation and then did the test. The test worked fine, as shown in the video.
But now my raspi shows ‘No volume control on this device’ on the audio icon at the top right corner. And I dont see any audio preferences.
Any advice on how to resolve this issue would be greatly appreciated!
Edit: One more issue I wanted to add to this - The test gives an ‘Overrun’ error several times. And the microphone recording is too noisy. Is there a way to resolve these issues too?
First enable the audio control, you need to go on the desktop-preference-Audio Device settings then click on “Select Control” and check both “Master” an “Micro”, then if you want to change the volume from your desktop you need to make a right click on the bluespeake iconr to open Audi Device Setting and adjust the sliders. let me know if it helps,
this is a generic Alsa sound device, if you google “raspberry arecord” you will find plenty of examples
for example you can try:
arecord -d4 --rate=44000 test.wav
then play it:
aplay test.wav
if you prefer a software with graphic interface I recommend Audacity
Have the Mic+ working on RPI3b+ and Ubuntu 20.04. There is a faint whizzy gurgle noise coming from both speakers when it boots and stays like that until turning it off. Note i am only using external speakers and detached the mic mini board.
Note the speakers are working perfectly and the microphone is working perfectly, it is only the faint whizzy gurgle noise that is causing issues currently.
Note is it only having the strange faint background noise on the external left speaker. The sound is similar to when one puts their ear next to a sea shell. Replaced for the backup Mic+ (lucky i ordered 2), and noise is gone. Must have been faulty.
Hello Will,
If you have noise a good temporary test to do is to try to use as USB battery pack instead of a plugged usb charger. If you have no noise with the battery it means that you could solve the issue with a different usb cable or usb wall charger. On the other hand if you still have the nois the unit might be defective so send if back to Amzon for replacement.
If you use external speaker also try to use differnet cable lenght or shielded cable as you might have an harmonic with your power supply.
For Rune Audio have you tried this (as i’m writing this message their site seems to be down)
But in the past others have done this:
-edit the file /etc/modules-load.d/raspberrypi.conf (with nano for example)
and change the line “snd-bcm2835” by “#snd-bcm2835”
save
-edit /boot/config.txt
and change the line “#dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac” by “dtoverlay=hifiberry-dac”
The MIC+ should be able to be inserted directely on the RPI3.
But if you need to connect the MIC+ away form the RPI you can off course just plug every pins mentioned in the documentation. Or I personnally like to use a 40 pins ribbon cable like that that will connect on top of the MIC+ :
Hello, I purchased several MIC+ on Amazon.
MIC+ basically works. However when I plug the cable into the LINE OUT jack, the speakers still play sound. Is it the designed behavior?
Typically when the line out is plugged the speaker should mute. It is confusing that the speakers are not muted.
Is there any way I can mute the speaker when LINE OUT is plugged in?
If there’s no way I can do it can I return the products?
Hi Wangpy,
updated :08/07/23
The MIC+ have no jack detection system (unlike the ULTRA+) so it’s not possible to mute the speaker by software. Nevertheless it is possible to disconnect the hardware, to do so on the back of the board you have 2 labels on the back of the board ‘JP3’ and ‘JP4’, using a sharp blade cut the track, if you need to revert the modification use a soldering iron to reestablish the connection.
Thanks for your prompt response and confirmation. I know you have provided the information to turn off the speaker. Just an additional question regarding this: Does unsoldering CUTL and CUTR disconnect the external speaker ports as well?