What is the timeline for this to be fixed? Are Articulate staff members even trying to fix this? 9 months and counting is a huge amount of time for something so obviously broken to remain broken.
We have "workarounds". We can manually minimize the volume. By why should we have to? Why can't it just work properly?
You may find that audio for Articulate Engage interactions embedded in an Articulate Presenter course is a bit louder than the rest of the course. This is something that our QA Team is aware of and are investigating this issue. We'll post additional information in the this article as it becomes available.
Has a fix been implemented on this issue? I have a 32 hour online course with hundreds of engage interactions. I really don't want to touch every interaction if I don't have to. Status?
Found a batch processor that will reduce my audio files by about 6dB (there are other presets, but this is about right on to match presenter slides). It's called Acoustica Standard Version and it's only $39.00. You can find it at www.acondigital.com in the downloads section. Once batch processed, I'll re-import the audio files (much faster than manually reducing volume using audio editor inside of Engage), and then re-publish my presentation. This should do the trick. Good luck community!
You would hope paying $1000+ for a program means you wouldn't have to pay $40 for another program. My team and I have been waiting for a fix to this Engage issue for over a year; it is absolutely insane that it hasn't been fixed yet.
It's not even like everybody is waiting for a special new feature...we're just waiting for the program to work like it was supposed to when it was released.
Doug be careful about that because if you decrease the volume it can affect the sound on mobile. On the computer it will be better but if you play it on say an I-pad it will sound much softer
This is on another thread... exactly the same issues... Reducing volume = Flash output ok, HTML5 quieter - frustrating and unexpected that it's dragging on...
The problem with buying anothe program is not just the $40, it's the learning aspect as well. If Flash output and HTML output is different, even this patch fix isn't workable. I have spent hours guessing at volume adjustment and then when published it's still either either too loud or too soft. Not only is Engage not useable, I am going to have to redo all these slides and put them back into regular Articulate.
When using Acoustica, I lowered the volume approx. 6dB when batch
processing, before importing into Engage.
Something worth noting however is the 'louder than normal screen'
problem with Engage seems to be organically working itself out. I
eventually stopped using Acoustica and went with the factory (out of the
box) volume on Engage interactions. I have not heard from a single end
user any comments on this issue, so I am letting it work itself out
which it seems to be doing nicely.
Thanks so much for the response Doug. I did hear from the end user which is why I am still trying to figure this out. For now, I will just stop using Engage unfortunately, but I am hoping your other suggestion of "Levelator" will help me export the Engage files and import into standard Articulate format without having to play with volume again. Thanks so much for sharing.
P.S. - did you find variances of volume output between PC and devices as suggested by Graham?
"This issue is being addressed as part of a larger audio optimization effort. At this point I do not have an update on release timing, although all subscribers to this thread will be notified of any further developments."
We have encountered an even more puzzling issue. I am working with a professional audio editor who is ensuring that the voiceover and video audio is consistent AND we did some testing to determine that Quizmaker audio files should be -3db as compared to the Presenter audio files and the Engage audio files should be -6db in order to have an overall consistent volume. BUT we have encountered
that even with that level of attention to detail, random files in all three applications will be either super quiet or very loud (see image). There seems to be no rhyme or reason.
the wave form of the adjusted files seems MUCH larger in the audio editor (see image), but remarkably, most of the audio sounds comparable (barring the random exceptions mentioned above) - making it impossible to adjust volume based on viewing the waveforms
the video files do not seem to be effected by standardizing the volume...even when using the built-in audio editor in Presenter. I increased the volume of the videos 300% with no appreciable difference.
I don't see others commenting about this random behavior...is there something we are doing/not doing on our end that is causing these shifts???
Hi, Susan -- Thank you for your reply and for sharing the additional information and screenshot you have provided. Perhaps it might be best if you were able to work with our Support Engineers for a deeper evaluation of the experience you are having. Unfortunately, I do not see any adjustments that could be made from what you've shared, but perhaps they may be able to offer additional suggestions. Please use this form to upload your screenshot, and also use these steps to create a Presenter Package to be attached, and I will be on the lookout for your case to follow along.
Just stopping in to share an UPDATE from Susan's case for anyone who is following along here... Our Support Engineer, Ryan, shared the following:
"Thanks for patiently waiting. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a workaround for the issue. I have forwarded your case to our QA team who are currently investigating the issue. We'll post additional information in the following article as it becomes available: Volume of Embedded Interactions Is Louder Than the Rest of the Course."
19 Replies
You may find that audio for Articulate Engage interactions embedded in an Articulate Presenter course is a bit louder than the rest of the course. This is something that our QA Team is aware of and are investigating this issue. We'll post additional information in the this article as it becomes available.
Has a fix been implemented on this issue? I have a 32 hour online course with hundreds of engage interactions. I really don't want to touch every interaction if I don't have to. Status?
Hi Doug! I do not have an update and I responded to your post here as well.
Found a batch processor that will reduce my audio files by about 6dB (there are other presets, but this is about right on to match presenter slides). It's called Acoustica Standard Version and it's only $39.00. You can find it at www.acondigital.com in the downloads section. Once batch processed, I'll re-import the audio files (much faster than manually reducing volume using audio editor inside of Engage), and then re-publish my presentation. This should do the trick. Good luck community!
Thanks again for sharing Doug!
You would hope paying $1000+ for a program means you wouldn't have to pay $40 for another program. My team and I have been waiting for a fix to this Engage issue for over a year; it is absolutely insane that it hasn't been fixed yet.
It's not even like everybody is waiting for a special new feature...we're just waiting for the program to work like it was supposed to when it was released.
Doug be careful about that because if you decrease the volume it can affect the sound on mobile. On the computer it will be better but if you play it on say an I-pad it will sound much softer
Thanks Kevin. I'm on it. Gonna grab the iPad and get to testing. I appreciate the heads up.
This is on another thread... exactly the same issues... Reducing volume = Flash output ok, HTML5 quieter - frustrating and unexpected that it's dragging on...
The problem with buying anothe program is not just the $40, it's the learning aspect as well. If Flash output and HTML output is different, even this patch fix isn't workable. I have spent hours guessing at volume adjustment and then when published it's still either either too loud or too soft. Not only is Engage not useable, I am going to have to redo all these slides and put them back into regular Articulate.
We need a hero!
When using Acoustica, I lowered the volume approx. 6dB when batch
processing, before importing into Engage.
Something worth noting however is the 'louder than normal screen'
problem with Engage seems to be organically working itself out. I
eventually stopped using Acoustica and went with the factory (out of the
box) volume on Engage interactions. I have not heard from a single end
user any comments on this issue, so I am letting it work itself out
which it seems to be doing nicely.
Good luck.
Thanks so much for the response Doug. I did hear from the end user which is why I am still trying to figure this out. For now, I will just stop using Engage unfortunately, but I am hoping your other suggestion of "Levelator" will help me export the Engage files and import into standard Articulate format without having to play with volume again. Thanks so much for sharing.
P.S. - did you find variances of volume output between PC and devices as suggested by Graham?
Hi, all -- Just stopping in to link these 2 similar threads for anyone who may be following along here. :)
Doug and Donna, I can vouch that this is still an issue. :$
Hi, Susan -- Thank you for stopping in and unfortunately, I do not have any additional information or updates to share at this time.
Please see below for a remark by our Director of Technical Support, Justin Grenier, over here in this similar thread:
"This issue is being addressed as part of a larger audio optimization effort. At this point I do not have an update on release timing, although all subscribers to this thread will be notified of any further developments."
Christie,
We have encountered an even more puzzling issue. I am working with a professional audio editor who is ensuring that the voiceover and video audio is consistent AND we did some testing to determine that Quizmaker audio files should be -3db as compared to the Presenter audio files and the Engage audio files should be -6db in order to have an overall consistent volume. BUT we have encountered
I don't see others commenting about this random behavior...is there something we are doing/not doing on our end that is causing these shifts???
Hi, Susan -- Thank you for your reply and for sharing the additional information and screenshot you have provided. Perhaps it might be best if you were able to work with our Support Engineers for a deeper evaluation of the experience you are having. Unfortunately, I do not see any adjustments that could be made from what you've shared, but perhaps they may be able to offer additional suggestions. Please use this form to upload your screenshot, and also use these steps to create a Presenter Package to be attached, and I will be on the lookout for your case to follow along.
Just stopping in to share an UPDATE from Susan's case for anyone who is following along here... Our Support Engineer, Ryan, shared the following:
"Thanks for patiently waiting. Unfortunately, I was not able to find a workaround for the issue. I have forwarded your case to our QA team who are currently investigating the issue. We'll post additional information in the following article as it becomes available: Volume of Embedded Interactions Is Louder Than the Rest of the Course."
Hi all,
I wanted to provide an update here, as Studio ‘13 Update 8 was just released, and included a number of fixes which you can see in the release notes available here. The item you all may be particularly interested in is how it fixed an issue where Engage '13 interactions embedded in a Presenter '13 course are louder than the rest of the course. You can download the latest update here, and after downloading and installing the latest update you’ll want to republish any existing content to ensure that the updates and fixes are applied.
Let us know if you have any questions, either here or by reaching out to our Support Engineers directly.
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.