## Microphones

Chordzy uses a microphone for one job: sending your sound to the other players in a [live Jam session](/jam). Microphones are used only by the desktop app, during those jams. No lesson or song listens to it. Grading reads your MIDI keyboard, which reports every key exactly, so nothing has to guess from a recording which note you meant.

The website and the browser version of the game have no microphone support at all. A browser will never ask Chordzy for one, and there is nothing to switch on.

The desktop app runs on macOS, Windows and Linux. Get it from the [install page](/install).


## Picking a microphone

The app opens a microphone as soon as it starts: the one you picked last time, or your system's default. To use a different one:

1. In the desktop app, click the person icon in the upper-right to open your account.
2. Choose the tab with the microphone icon. Its heading is **Voice**.
3. Pick your microphone from the list. Choose **None** to switch the microphone off.
4. Talk or play. The **Volume Meter** under the list should move.

Chordzy remembers the choice, and your next jam uses it.


## When the other players hear nothing

If the other players hear silence, look at the **Volume Meter** first. A meter that stays still means Chordzy is getting no sound, so the problem is on your computer.

Your operating system decides whether an app may use the microphone. If you refused, Chordzy gets silence, and no error message says why. The jam still starts.

- On macOS, open System Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Microphone, and turn Chordzy on.
- On Windows, open Settings, then Privacy & security, then Microphone, and allow desktop apps to use it.
- Unplug and replug a USB microphone, then pick it again on the **Voice** tab.

Too loud is a different problem. Any player can click you in the jam's member list and turn your sound down. If the sound arrives late or breaks up, the cause is almost always the connection. [Connecting to real-time jams](/help/jams/connections.md) covers routers, Wi-Fi and phone data.