If you’ve been trying to improve your audio quality on Discord, you may have come across the Automatic Gain Control option.
This option resides in the Voice & Video section within the app’s Settings and has more to do with sound quality than you might think. So should I leave this feature on or disable it?
This article will explain automatic gain control and help you improve the sound quality of your headphones without any additional software.
What is automatic gain control?
Let’s forget about Discord for a second and focus on the automatic gain control.
Automatic gain control, or AGC for short, is a closed-loop feedback circuit that regulates and adjusts the volume of an amplifier or chain of amplifiers. This type of circuit is used in mobile phone signal boosters.
If you’re not an RF engineer, and you probably aren’t, then the above definition doesn’t make much sense. So, let’s keep it simple.
Imagine that you have seen your friend across the street. Neither of them can get to the other side because the traffic is very busy at that time. So, they start talking 20 feet away from each other and wait for the opportunity to cross.
Since you are not that close, you should speak loudly so that your friend hears you and understands what you are saying. A few seconds have passed and the opportunity has presented itself. The coast is clear!
Your friend starts crossing the street towards you, and as he gets closer and closer, you lower your voice. You will do this, probably without even realizing it, until you are face to face.
The automatic gain control circuit works on the same principle but with mobile phone signals. It plays a vital role in maintaining the performance of your cell phone signal booster. Without AGC, you wouldn’t have the same audio quality when making long distance calls. Some signals, especially stronger ones, could even interfere with yours, making the other side of the call inaudible.
As the importance of this circuit grew over the years, it began to expand into other areas. So how did it get to Discord? Does it have the same role? The next section will give you an answer.
What does automatic gain control mean in Discord?
Discord connects gamers around the world, allowing them to talk to each other while playing their favorite games.
Often, people speaking in the same Discord channel are separated by continents. With this in mind, a system that regulates your shared audio signals is absolutely necessary. That system would have to amplify or decrease its signal as necessary.
With the above explanations, automatic gain control is a quite logical solution. To answer the question, AGC has the same basic function, but has been used in a slightly different way for platform purposes.
Although its benefits are obvious, Automatic Gain Control may actually do the opposite of what it is supposed to do. In other words, it could reduce the quality of your audio while you are in the game. So where does this contradiction come from? Should you even enable this option in Discord?
Should I keep automatic gain control enabled in Discord?
The Automatic Gain Control feature has turned out to be a big problem on Discord. The reasons why the developers have decided to include this feature are obvious, but player feedback tells a different story.
There have been more than a few cases where Discord users complained that the volume is automatically lowered when they talk to someone. This usually happens while they are in the game. The answer to why this happens is still unclear, but it could be because AGC misinterprets certain situations and the signal strength. And now that?
If you’re just playing with your friends, this wouldn’t be a big problem for you. But, if you’re recording audio and video for other purposes, such as YouTube videos, this could seriously compromise the quality of your content.
So, if you notice that the volume and sound quality often fluctuate while talking on Discord (and if this bothers you), try turning off the automatic gain control option.
Here’s how you’ll find it:
- Open your Discord app. This will also work on Discord Online.
- Click Settings in the bottom left corner of your screen. Another window will open containing a set of adjustable options.
- Select Voice & Video.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page and turn off automatic gain control.
After disabling automatic gain control in Discord, check if the issue still occurs.
You are now a Discord AGC expert
Congratulations! Now you know what automatic gain control is and how it affects signals in Discord. If you have been having any of the above issues with volume or overall sound quality, hopefully you have resolved them with the help of this article.
Have you ever noticed this problem before? Did turning off automatic gain control help? Tell us in the comments below.
