Frequently Asked Questions
A. General
A1. What is SoliCall good for?
A2. How does it work?
A3. When to expect better performance?
B. SoftPhone Add-on Issues
B1. How do I configure SoliCall to work with my VoIP programs?
B2. Add a new Speaker - how to record a sample of my voice?
B3. What if there are multiple users on the same computer?
B4. What modes does SoliCall have?
B5. What can I learn from the different icons?
B6. Why do I get a popup message during installation saying that the driver was not certified by Microsoft?
B7. SoliCall stays in Connecting mode and doesn't turn on. why?
B8. I've configured my VoIP program but now my micrphone or my speakers don't work. What's wrong?
B9. The person I'm speaking with hears echo. What can I do?
B10. I'm hearing echo. What can I do?
B11. I cannot hear the other party and vice versa. What could be the problem?
B12. The other party can hardly hear me, or the begining of my sentences is cut. why?
B13. When I make a conference call with Yahoo Messenger, SoliCall doesn't seem to work. How come?
B14. How to record my conversations?
B15. Recording files creation. How is it being done?
B16. When I play my recorded calls, I only hear one party. Why?
B17. The recording feature was on, but SoliCall did not create the recorded file. Is it lost?
B18. What if I still cannot merge the .MIC & .SPK files ?
What is SoliCall good for?
A1. Ever get frustrated by the noise of your children when making a business call from home?
Have you ever
participated in a conference call with some annoying noises in the background?
With SoliCall you will sound more
professional and allow yourself the flexibility of conversing without worrying too
much about background noises.
How does it work?
A2. SoliCall is designated to reduce noises that do not belong to the primary speaker.
The default mode is "Anybody"
which means that SoliCall will transmit all human sounds, and so it will narrow
its focus on reducing other background noises (e.g., the ticking noise of your keyboard,
running water, car horn).
By recording a sample of your voice, SoliCall will be able to learn and analyze the acoustic
parameters of your voice and to minimize other noises during the call.
When to expect better performance?
A3. In general, the software will deliver more as the conversation lingers. That's why sometimes some noises will not
necessarily be screened out at first, but once SoliCall is able to identify more parameters in your surrounding
which increases its confidence to filter out or minimize more ambient sound.
Also, Echo problems, bad communication lines and PC-to-Phone calls (where quality tends to be lower), are all
circumstances in which the use of SoliCall will help you conduct your conversation with less interferences.
How do I configure SoliCall to work with my VoIP programs?
B1. That's easy. Go to our Integration page and we will guide
you through the process.
Add a new Speaker - how to record a sample of my voice?
B2. Adding a new speaker is simple. Go to Action --> Add Speaker. You'll be prompted
to a walk-through process
that will take less then a minute. Once you're done,
you can change the default speaker to any person who has
a recorded sample of his voice. The information gathered during the registration process will be
stored as part
of your speaker profile for later use.
What if there are multiple users on the same computer?
B3. No problem. Each person can register and record his/her voice separately so every
user will get his/her own
speaker name. That's why we don't require a password - SoliCall is trained to
recognize the speaker's voice only,
so no one will benefit from falsified use of your SoliCall identity.
What modes does SoliCall have?
B4. The "SoliCall On" mode is the default mode which reduces background noises coming from your end.
While in this mode you can turn on the Screen Incoming feature which will improve the
quality of the incoming audio by reducing noises coming from the other parties. You can turn SoliCall off at any time, including during a call, if you want the other party to hear your
ambient sound clearly.
What can I learn from the different icons?
B5. ---------> SoliCall is on, but is not transferring audio to the other party (either because no conversation
is
currently being held, or because the speaker was not recognized).
Or ---> SoliCall recognizes your
voice (in different levels of certainty). Note: these modes can last a few
seconds after you stop talking.
-----------> SoliCall is off, and no filtering is being made, but SoliCall Audio Device will continue
to work. While in
this mode, you can not record calls or add new speakers to SoliCall. Do not exit
from SoliCall, or else SoliCall
Audio Device will be neutralized (and the VoIP program that was configured to work with SoliCall will not transmit any audio).
Why do I get a popup message during installation saying that the driver was not certified by Microsoft?
B6. During the beta period, changes are being made to this driver, hence there is no point in certifying an unfinalised version.
SoliCall stays in Connecting mode and doesn't turn on. why?
B7. Especially during our Beta period, we want you to have the most up-to-date version, hence establishing connection will make sure you are
notified when the latest version is available for download. If it stays in Connecting mode for more than a minute, make sure you are
connected to the Internet and that you can
access www.solicall.com with a browser. If you can not access our website, please try again later. If you can access the
website you need to verify that solicall.exe is not blocked by your firewall (via port 80) or by any other program.
If the problem remains, please let us know at support@solicall.com and state the time (EST or GMT) and the date when
the problem occured.
I've configured my VoIP program but now my micrphone or my speakers don't work. What's wrong?
B8. This can happen if you have more than one microphone/pair of speakers. You need to make sure you have configured
SoliCall to the mic/speakers you want SoliCall to work with.
Go to Tools --> Options, and under the subsection Sound Devices choose the right device.
The person I'm speaking with hears echo. What can I do?
B9. Try to turn the volume of your microphone down (by using the Volume In slider in
SoliCall's main window). Also,
make sure that the Volume Out slider (which controls
your speakers) is set to allow you to hear the other person
conveniently (not too low, but not too high either).
I'm hearing echo. What can I do?
B10. When you hear echo, the problem usually originates at the far end.
In case you get echo in a specific call, we recommend that you ask the other party to:
(1) Set his/her speakers’ volume to a comfortable level (not too high).
Also, they should try to keep their speakers away from the microphone.
(2) Reduce the volume of the microphone.
(3) If the problem remains, the other party should either install SoliCall as well
(since SoliCall has built-in algorithms that reduce echo as part of the background noise)
or use a headset for the specific call.
I cannot hear the other party and vice versa. What could be the problem?
B11. Make sure that SoliCall's application is running. The mode can be either ON or OFF,
but SoliCall has to run
(an easy way to tell is if the icon appears on your task bar). Another issue might be that you are currently
adding a speaker. You have to complete or abort the process in order to conduct your call.
The other party can hardly hear me, or the begining of my sentences is cut. why?
B12. Change the speaker to "Anybody" and readjust the Volume In slider. If this solves the
issue there might be
a problem with the speaker you are using. Record new voice samples. However, if the problem remains there might be a problem with
the sensitivity of your microphone. If you are using a low-sensitive microphone, talk directly into the
mic (don't turn your head away from the mic too often). If SoliCall's gray icon turns yellow when you talk, it's a good indication
that your voice is being transferred. If the problem happens for certain periods during your call, turn
SoliCall off for a few seconds and then turn it back on (in a sense, it's like rebooting your computer).
When I make a conference call with Yahoo Messenger, SoliCall doesn't seem to work. How come?
B13. When you invite all the participants to start a conference call at once, we found out that in some versions Yahoo makes the
call go through Microsoft audio devices and not through Solicall. The solution is to invite people separately
(i.e. start a regular call and then add more people).
How to record my conversations?
B14. With SoliCall each user can record his conversations regardless of the VoIP program they
use. Just right click on
the SoliCall icon and choose "Recording Enabled". From that point on, all your
conversations will be recorded in
one library (you can change the default library at Tools --> Options). Each
session will automatically be saved
under the speaker's name. You can stop the recording feature
by choosing the "Recording Disabled" option.
Recording files creation. How is it being done?
B15. There are two main recording formats: WAV and MP3 (Stereo and Mono). You can choose to have more than one format
(all it takes is space on your hard disk).
WAV Format - SoliCall creates two files, one with speaker extension (*.spk) and the
other with microphone extension (*.mic). When the call ends, SoliCall merges them
into a single wave file. It may take a few seconds, depending on the length of the call.
MP3 Format - SoliCall is using LAME as a stand-alone application (lame.exe) distributed from www.mp3dev.org
When I play my recorded calls, I only hear one party. Why?
B16. That's because you listen to it in mono. Make sure you have two speakeres plugged-in and turned-on,
and that your settings allow you to hear audio in stereo. Another option is to change the Recording Format to MP3 Mono.
The recording feature was on, but SoliCall did not create the recorded file. Is it lost?
B17. This is a rare scenario so please make sure you have waited a few minutes after the end of the call and that the size
of the .TMP file is not changing (i.e. SoliCall is still working on the file).
If there are no .MIC & .SPK files but
only .TMP, you should rename the suffix of the .TMP file to either .WAV or .MP3
(depending on the format that you are using).
If there are .MIC & .SPK files, you should do the following:
(1) go to the recording library and delete the .TMP file (if exist). WARNING: do not remove the
.MIC & .SPK. (2) Exit SoliCall (right click on the icon). (3) Go to Windows "Start" menu, choose "Run" and copy paste the
following command as is:
"C:\Program Files\SoliCall\bin\solicall.exe" emergency
What if I still cannot merge the .MIC & .SPK files ?
B18. Please follow these instructions. Whenever it says "anybody_1" please replace it with the exact name of the file you have.
1. Remove the anybody_1.tmp file from the recording library (note: do it only if have the .spk & .mic files).
2. Go to Windows "Start" menu, choose "Run" and write "cmd". A command window will open.
3. Use the command "cd" (Change Directory) to go to the directory where the recorded files are stored.
4. In the command window copy paste the following command as is:
If you were using high recording quality -
"%SOLICALL_BIN%bwavemp.exe" anybody_1.mic anybody_1.spk anybody_1.wav anybody_1.tmp anybody_1.mp3 anybody_1_mono.mp3 16000 1 1 1
If you were using the low recording quality -
"%SOLICALL_BIN%bwavemp.exe" anybody_1.mic anybody_1.spk anybody_1.wav anybody_1.tmp anybody_1.mp3 anybody_1_mono.mp3 8000 1 1 1
4. The .spk and .mic files will be merged - into wav & mp3 files. It might take a couple of minutes (depending on the size of the file).
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