Configuring Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.5 Windows, USB Mic, Windows 7, and Lion

T

Turtleboy

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I'm trying to figure out the best way to configure Parallels (7.0), Dragon Naturally Speaking 11.5, OS X Lion, and an external USB desktop Microphone.

Step 1. Configure in Lion
Both the sound preference panel and the speech preference panel have the USB microphone selected as the default input. Here, I'm good.

Step 2. Configure in Parallels.
In the Configuration window, in the hardware tab, for "Sound" on input do I choose "Default" or do I choose the USB Microphone?

Step 3. Configure in Windows VM
After answering #2 above, once I'm running Windows do I use the USB menu in Parallels to separately connect the USB microphone, or do I leave it unconnected and have it run through Parallels itself?

Step 4. Configure Dragon Naturally Sepaking
Dragon now asks me to choose a speech device. The choices are:
Mic-In Jack (Most common)
USB
Bluetooth
Dragon Remote Application
Line-In Jack (Not recommended)

It seems to get it to work I either have to turn on the USB Mic, bypass Parallels, and choose it on Dragon - which only sometimes works, or choose the "Line-In Jack" which is not recommended and gives me crappy audio quality.
 
I have the same setup and can't get Dragon to work consistently. There's always a bunch of issues getting the mic working correctly. Anyone have the correct setup/config procedure?

Thanks!
 
Setup for Parallels 7, Lion, Dragon 11.5, Windows 7

I actually just got done setting up my system with the exact same setup. I am using a Plantronics .Audio 400 DSP USB mike and Dragon 11.5 Legal. I am running OS X Lion and Windows 7 under Parallels Desktop 7.

The ONLY way I was able to get things working reliably (at least so far) is as follows:

1. USB headset connected to Lion. Configure properly in Sound Preference Pane. Test it out under Lion. As long as it is working reliably there, you should be good to go.

2. Do NOT connect the USB device to the Windows 7 VM. Keep it connected to Lion.

3. Run Dragon and set it up using Microphone connected to Line In.

If it is giving you crappy quality, I am guessing that you have the USB device connected to the VM. I have read that there are a lot of problems running audio devices through the VM. That is why I run it through Lion only. Sound quality (both recording and playback) are excellent. Although Dragon says it is not recommended, Line In is apparently the only way to have it pick up the mike from Lion.

Hope this helps.

Jonathan
 
Thanks Jonathan... anytime I have tried connecting the mic to the Lion side Dragon reports poor quality and when I check the playback when I try and setup the mic in Dragon, I can hear how bad it is.

I'll try it again and see what I can do.
 
Hi Turtleboy.

I only just saw this thread and I'm hoping this may help. I have been running DNS on various versions of Parallels since DNS 8.

At present I am running Parallels Build 8.0.18101, OSX 10.8.2, Windows 7 64 bit and DNS 12 on my mid-2010 MBP 15", 2.6 ghz core i7. I have 8 g ram. I recentlt upgraded form DNS 11.5, and before that DNS 11. By the way, until recently I was using a Plantronics 400 DSB like you - I am now using the Plantronics C620.

There have been various tricks over the years but the seamless way of running DNS 11.5 and DNS 12 is as follows:

Do NOT, repeat NOT, try to run DNS with the USB headset connected to the Mac. This USED to be what you had to do with earlier versions of Parallels/DNS. DON'T do it with DNS 11, 11.5. or 12 and v6 or later of Parallels.

1. Configure the hardware panel in Parallels for sound as "default".

2. In the "Devices" menu in Parallels, select the USB headset in the USB menu. This will connect the headset to the VM and disconnect it from the Mac.

Dragon should now give you the specific option of your USB mike - named - because it is connected to the VM and Dragon can see it.

I appreciate that this advice contradicts some of what is said above, but it works, and has worked, seamlessly for me for some years.

I am getting dazzling results from DNS 12 BTW.

Tom
 
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