Windows 10 USB Microphone quietness + low quality (AT2020 USB)

fireberd said:

Although this is a USB mic, Microsoft changed some audio requirements (codec) in Win 8.1. With Win 8, the older Win 7 drivers worked OK, however starting with Win 8.1, new Win 8.1 specific drivers were required (or the existing drivers modified to be 8.1 compatible).

As the AT202USB has been discontinued and replaced by the AT2020+ USB, I wonder if AT recognized a compatibility issue that couldn't be fixed and resolved it with the 2020+ model?

As stated in the original post, I own the AT2020+ model and not the AT2020 standard USB microphone, so this can't be the case.

bro67 said:

The issue with this particular mice goes back before Windows 7. It is appearing to be the manufacturer that dropped the ball on this piece of hardware from all of the complaints that I saw when I did a search on it.

How come there was never an issue for me? I don't think the manufacturer would drop the ball seen as it's still being sold as a non discontinued product on Amazon. It's the only USB microphone they sell. Besides, after contacting them they said that they've only ever used effectively the default drivers for audio on Windows. This proves that something has changed since Windows 7.

As I mentioned there was been a change in audio codecs and how Windows handles some audio functions starting with Win 8.1.
There are many audio devices and software that work perfectly in Win 7 or Win 8 that do not work at all or partially in Win 8.1 and Win 10.

I had a Roland Edirol PCR500 MIDI Keyboard. I "had" as I had to dump it as it is not supported by Roland for Win 10. It worked fine in Win 7 and Win 8 but no Win 10 support. It is now being used by a person that remained on Win 7 due to his old hardware not being fully Win 10 compatible.

I missed the "+" in your original post. All I saw was reference to "AT2020".

Sadly, you have two options (1) replace the mic with something that is 100% Win 10 compatible or (2) Return to Win 7.
If you were to consider replacement I would suggest a "standard" microphone with XLR connection and a USB interface unit such as the Focusrite Scarlett units (Focusrite is a UK company and has superior support).

That's such a pity. I'm a student and I really cannot afford to replace the microphone in my current financial situation, and I'm unsure if I can roll back to Windows 7 as I bought this laptop with Windows 10 already installed onto it, and I'd feel uncomfortable rolling back and not being able to roll forward again.

One other comment on digitally boosting the volume. That is very common with recording studio software. I record at 24 bit 44.1Khz and usually record around -12db. -12 is a general level many use. When I get ready to finalize the tracks and mixdown I then raise the individual tracks if needed. This does not introduce any noise, distortion, etc.

My recording studio program is Cakewalk Sonar Platinum but I also have Presonus Studio One 3 and a lite version of Ableton Live 9 and they all work perfectly with the recording level and increasing levels as needed.

The best result I had was recording at roughly the same db. I guess I'm just going to have to deal with this until I can afford another microphone, though ideally I'd like to have another USB one - I was looking at the Rode NT-USB.

So some information surfaced about a very possible fix for this problem, but I'm really not that experienced in the way to do it. The fix is disabling Cortana in its entirety on Windows 10. Now this has been made much harder in Windows 10 anniversary update, though it can still be done through the Group Policy Editor and the Registry.

Now I am aware that the Group Policy Editor is only available for Windows 10 Pro, and the irritating thing is, the person who has fixed the exact problem I have uses Windows 10 pro. I have Windows 10 home. Now as I said before, there are 2 ways of doing it that I am aware of. I have attempted the registry edit for disabling it - which successfully disabled Cortana - but didn't fix my problem in the slightest.

Any help on a way I could do this in Windows 10 Home?

I have Pro so I can't help you with that (if it really is a fix). This would be best handled as a new thread since its about a system tweak and not directly about the microphone.