Hi. Its been a problem since I bought the Mic yet Samson have told me throughout that I should be able to adjust the volume by using the system tray option.

The thing is that the Samson C01U was not designed for live applications. Your solution, if you like delayed sound, is to use Virtual Audio Cable. Otherwise, I would get either a Samson GTrack, or invest in a cheap but functional mixer with a good mic. If you want to record however, you go into your audio recording settings and select the C01U as the recording mic. If you record and hear little sound, go into sound manager... Click on properties and select on Samson C01U. A one channel volume control will pop out. change the volume and record. BTW, a good audio program is Audacity... It's free. I hope that I have helped you...

You can use it with a portable stereo that has a microphone input socket - just plug it in. You may need to adjust a mic volume control - this will vary from one system to another.

With a computer just plug it onto the microphone input socket (usually colour coded red or pink)

You will also need to enable it in 'control panel' - see below.

Using a microphone with computer

To use any microphone with your computer you will need to enable it in control panel. The following instructions are for Windows XP but are broadly similar for Vista and Win7

Click START, CONTROL PANEL, SOUNDS & AUDIO DEVICES

Click VOICE

In Sounds & Audio Devices Properties window locate SOUND PLAYBACK box. Click the VOLUME button. Make sure that there is not a check-mark in the MUTE box against microphone in the list of devices and that the volume slider is at the top of the scale.

Make sure the MUTE ALL box isn't checked before closing the window.

Now click the VOLUME button in the SOUND RECORDING BOX. Here SELECT microphone as an input source for recording (as opposed to un-checking mute in the playback controls).

NOTE if your microphone is not listed in the 2 sets of volume controls click OPTIONS, PROPERTIES on the tool-bar and place a check against microphone in the list entitled 'show the following volume controls' and then click OK. Same applies for Internal mic.

That should be it.

To adjust audio volume generally.

Under VOLUME tab adjust Device Volume as necessary. Also (under Loudpeaker Settings) click Speaker Volume and adjust slider to suit.

You might put a check mark in the box to show the volume control on the Task Bar so you can go straight to it to make adjustments in the future.

Make sure the webcam mic is set as default
TEST SPEAKERS
Right click on speaker icon in System Tray or from Control Panel
Select "Playback Devices"
The speaker icon ( checked as working) and volume level graph should be visible
Right click on the volume graph and click "Test"
Left hand speakers followed by right hand should be heard

SET DEFAULT & TEST MIC
Click "Recording" tab.
To set required (webcam) mic as default - click on mic font to highlight and click "Properties"
In lower dropbox display "Use this device enable" click 'OK'
Click "Levels" tab and ramp up sliders ( adjust to suit later)
Return to "Recording". Test mic by speaking and make sure volume graph displays

Restart computer

You may be getting feedback from your speakers to your mic
Check by using a headset

Welcome to the world of STUDIO microphones. Super quality BUT you must have a studio to use them. You can't have any local speaker playing into them. You often use headphones lest your monitor speakers will feedback. At the high frequency capability of these mics, you can fry your amps with oscillations above what you can hear!

try this;

1.using different usb inputs on your pc desk top
2.update drivers on both your desk top and laptop
3.using a different usb cable

if it works fine on your friends computer most likely its not the mic

yeah that is quite interesting on what you got there but chances are i really think its the operating system since this is a plug and play device, what instrument are you actually connecting to it? are you using any adapters or is it a direct cable USB attachment from the device to your computer?

need pre amp with it boost ya and to get it in sterio way should be are u running it direct in usb port and u have usb 2.0 outlets corect

It's supposed to only record on the left side. When it's in "INST/MIC" mode the left channel has your mic on it and the right channel has your instrument, so you can mix them separately. Just configure your recording software to put the left channel on one track and the right channel on another track.

Here are some instructions relayed from someone who was able to fix a similar problme with help from Samson tech support:

The C01U is a WAV device. Therefore, adjusting the slider for your default MIC input level on the volume control applet does not adjust the gain on the C01U. You access the actual volume control for the C01U as follows:

Start, Settings, Control Panel, Sounds and Audio Devices
Click on Audio tab.

Under "Sound Recording", insure that Default Device is selected as Samson C01U.

Once Samson C01U is selected as Default Recording Device, click on the Volume button just below the name. A new window will pop up, with a vertical slider. This window will be labelled "WAVE IN", however it actually does control the MIC volume for the C01U.

The key here seems to be that the USB device that represents the Microphone input (as far as Windows is concerned) is not a traditional microphone, but (as mentioned above) a WAV-IN device.

is the light indicator on?