v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold volume

[ozaddy]

Hi, I am using v11 and have a Ring group setup to ring all phones, with no answer going to a Call group that automatically plays a all representatives are busy and then plays our music on hold generic audio file. Now, when we take a call, put the call on hold, the exact same music on hold file plays at an appropriate volume without skipping. Now when we place a call in a parking slot, which we prefer to do using BLF to pick up from any extension, the volume of the hold music is louder and scratchy. Does anyone have any ideas? I have 2 music on hold files, that I want to be played randomly.

 

[lneblett]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

To be clear, you have a scenario where the same music file is used to accommodate both the standard on-hold instance and the wait or on-hold instance initiated by being in a queue and while the same wav file, they play at different volumes depending on the "wait" type.

 

[lneblett]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Sorry, was not finished"........

I was a little confused when you ended indicating you have two files you want to play randomly as I no longer get the question. When listening to the "same" on-hold music as initiated by both methods, are you listening to the variation using internal extensions, external, both? I would tend to think that regardless oh how the music is initiated, if the same and listened to in the same way, then there should be no variation.

If the issue is noticed when listening via an external extension, then more variables may come into play as you do not indicate if you use PSTN o, SIP, etc. it could be a line gain issue, but this would increase all audio and not just music. It could be the phone type, but again more likely to affect all audio and not just music.

I guess 3cx could have done something programatically to make one louder than the other, but I don't have knowledge of this. Assuming that all you have indicated is indeed true, and you want to minimize the variation, you may need to get a wav file editor such as Audacity and edit the on-hold wav and save the edited copy as on-hold1.wav. Then you can have the same music score playing at more equal volume levels.

You may also need the editor program for your custom files to help optimize how they sound. Just make sure you follow the recommended recording criteria as found in the blog.

 

[ozaddy]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Hi, sorry I will detail further. The tests I was doing was calling from an external phone to our internal PSTN number which is ported to Voip provider. I call our dial in number, place the call on hold and it plays the first audio file listed under Settings > General > Music on Hold (music file for music on hold). I also have a music on hold file specified under music file 1 for music on hold in the Settings > General > Music on Hold section. The other place I have specified the 1st music on hold file is under my CallGroup music on hold settings. I used Audacity and the instructions from the following post http://www.3cx.com/forums/moh-plays-at-volume-11-in-3cx-v11-29397.html to convert my mp3 files to appropriate wav format. I guess I dont understand why when i transfer the call to the shared parking, it doesnt sound the same as putting call on hold. My comment about 2 music on hold files is that I defined 2 MOH files, as I wanted to give variety to the caller. It seems to only play the first file though. Thanks for giving your time to help me solve the issue.

 

[lneblett]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Ok, got it.

A couple of things -

The way the moh feature works is that when you select random per call, the system will look at the available choices and pick one randomly and play only that choice for that particular call. The next call, will go thru the same process and dependinging upon the "randomness", which is also highly dependent upon the number of available selections, may or may not get the same moh selection.

Random per day, simply means that all calls received on a given day will get the same moh, but that each new day offers the possibility and probability of getting a different moh from the day before.

To do what you want, you should look at the 3CX audio service and see how you can integrate this aspect to better meet your need.

As far as volume variation, listen to the files under your scenarios using internal extensions only. I would like to think they will be the same. If they are, then focus on how the external connections are achieved - is moh only that is louder or all audio, are phone settings and types the same, making the same call using the same equipment multiple times results in the same issue (routing by PSTN provider different), etc.

 

[ozaddy]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Hi, I have tested the on hold music and parking music internally, and it is the same as externally. On hold is fine both for internal and external calls, while parking calls are distorted and too loud, even though using the same music on hold files. Any ideas?

 

[lneblett]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

OK, to be certain I follow -

A call comes in from either an internal extension or from an external number and I place that call on hold using the phone's hold button, the music file 123.wav plays and all is well as both callers (internal and external) hear the same volume (not too loud) and no distortion.

If a call comes in from either an internal extension or from an exterenal number and I place the call into a parking orbit, the music file 123.wav (exact same file as from above and taken from the same folder location) is then too loud and distorted for both callers.

If this is indeed the case, then unfortunately no, I have no idea why this would occur. I did the above scenario on my system and I am using a custom on-hold wav (which I originally did have to lessen the volume), but I do not experience any variation in how the audio comes across with either on-hold or parking orbit.

I am running v11 on a WIN 7 machine with plenty of RAM and CPU. It is shared with a bunch of applications that are constantly in use.

 

[ozaddy]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Thanks for your input lneblett. You have understood the problem correctly. I am running the 3CX as a Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V virtualised workstation operating Windows 7 Ultimate with 2GB of RAM and only sharing CPU with 1 other virtual machine. This is the same setup as before the upgrade from v10 to v11 which didn't have the issue with parking. I will try and give it more RAM, but I again I dont understand the system enough to identify why it would be different parking a call to putting the call on hold. I might remove all MOH files and re-add them.

 

[lneblett]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Sorry I could not help, but if that does somehow solve the problem, please post back. The solution may help others should they have the same problem.

 

[lneblett]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

I have a client with a similar configuration, he does have more memory and does not seem to have the problem, so maybe you have something. He is running on a SuperMicro platform.

 

[ozaddy]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Hi,

The issue is fixed. I ended up removing all the MOH files and then put it back and I wasn't getting any MOH for parked calls, then I realised that it is set elsewhere in settings, and noticed it was using a different file (i.e. one that hadn't been exported properly), once I put back the file that is working for MOH it worked correctly using park. So basically it was my own fault in that I forgot about the call park settings and was assuming it was using the general MOH setting. I now realise I haven't gone over the v11 enough yet.

Adam

 

[lneblett]

Re: v11 Parking Music on Hold volume not same as On Hold vol

Another mystery solved. Glad you found it.