tblack wrote: "Sorry, but that's the whole point - DON'T select "default" as the input microphone in devices>sound or devices>USB. Select your actual USB mike! And select your USB mike in the Windows sound control panel as well."
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It seems that my USB audio device can only be used by OS X only, or Windows only. Therefore, if I want to select my USB device (iMic) with the Parallels Sound configuration icon located in the cluster at the bottom of the window, the device would have to NOT be connected to the virtual machine. If its NOT connected to the virtual machine, then Windows doesn't even know it exists, and only sees a device that I am not using for a microphone.
I've read through this thread and it has confused me. As a result I've set out on my own to debug my problems.
Through trial and error, I've learned that for my system, the iMic device I have plugged in to the USB bus needs to be plugged into the right USB port on my computer. If its plugged into a hub, I get faster, noisy playback of my voice after recording. But when plugged into the right-side USB of my Macbook Pro, the sound is wonderful.
End of problem. No linking of the USB device between OS X and Windows is even possible. The iMic USB device is either connected to OS X, or it is connected to Windows. I can't record any other way, with my iMic device.