New Phone - Merlin ID app STILL not working (7 Viewers)

[akwe-xavante]

Hoping for a little help.

I've bought a new phone because the Merlin App was crashing my old phone within just a few seconds after the very recent update.

My new phone is new rather than new to me! It's a Galaxy A56 5G with 256GB memory.

Downloaded and installed the App, signed in. Downloaded the smallest regional offline sound pack for my location, UK & Ireland, for now.

Restarted the phone.

The app is not crashing the new phone, but it isn't working either.

It starts listening, it can hear birds and i can see my local garden birds singing on the sonograph, but it isn't listing the birds it is hearing onscreen. Now there are at a dozen birds singing that i can hear, and they'll a good few others that i can't hear because i can't hear them any more. I can see them.

With a little more thought, the sonagraph is displaying the birds it can hear but not very strong patterns. Could the problem now be that the inbuilt mic is not best suited for this app. Is it possible that i need an external microphone? If so, i'm not sure that i want to go for an expensive microphone at this stage.............. I've spent enough already at this time.

Can anybody recommend an omnidirectional usb-c microphone to try?

Am i missing something? Is there anything i can do?

Or is the App now totally pants!?

I bought this new phone specifically to get this App working again, i had no other reason to buy a new phone as the old phone was otherwise working perfectly!

 

[njlarsen]

One comment: you may want a directional rather than an omnidirectional microphone. This will allow you to focus on some sounds (the birds) and get less of the ones you don't want (cars on a street behind you).
Niels

 

[Mark Harper]

Worth checking the microphone settings within your phone. You may be able to increase sensitivity, which may help or you may find something else in the settings is causing the issue.

 

[Jim M.]

I don't think you should need an external microphone to get Merlin to work. It works fine on my slightly lower end Galaxy A16 5G. In addition to checking settings, make sure your finger isn't over the microphone. Also, walk around and try Merlin in various contexts, sometimes it can be finicky for unknown reasons.

By the way, the battery in your old phone was likely near the end of its life, and more apps were likely to stop functioning in the future, so you are getting more benefits from getting a new phone than just Merlin.

 

[YuShan]

You really shouldn't need an external microphone. Even with a quite weak sonograph, my experience is that at least some birds usually do get recognised.

• For ID recognition, you must have the correct regio pack downloaded, installed and enabled. Did you do that?
• Also, Merlin needs to know your location. Does it detect your location?

 

[akwe-xavante]

Thank you njlarsen, i'm exploring what options there are and i'm also exploring if i can tweak the integral microphone too.
Thank you Mark Harper, i'm having a look at this today and at the Mo i can't find anything that allows the tweaking of the microphone settings yet but i'll be googling this later today to see if i can find something.
Thank you, Jim M., The phone upgrade has brought to life a number of apps that i was using with lots of additional features that i was unaware that i was missing. The GPS is lightning fast and amazingly accurate, the integral compass is going to be very useful indeed.

Been trying to use the Merlin app over the weekend and friends are telling me the app as it is, is pants compared to the older version on the old phone. The Merlin app and i are missing out on so much as the app over the weekend only identified just one bird and just once only.

You really shouldn't need an external microphone. Even with a quite weak sonograph, my experience is that at least some birds usually do get recognised.

• For ID recognition, you must have the correct regio pack downloaded, installed and enabled. Did you do that?
• Also, Merlin needs to know your location. Does it detect your location?

I live in the UK and on the old phone i had the "The Western Palearctic" region installed. I initially tried the same region on the new phone, and it failed to work so i removed it and changed it to the "European" region, which also failed so i removed it and reduced the regions size further and installed the "Britain and Ireland" regional pack. Still no joy. If / when i get this working i'll re-install the "The Western Palearctic" region and try again.

The App knows my location.

Now that the Easter weekend is coming to an end and family are packing up to go home i'll have more time to explore the phones' microphone settings if there are any to find and try again.

 

[akwe-xavante]

I have now looked at my phone's settings re specifically microphone and can find nothing other than settings specific to voice input and controlling the device via voice commands and dictation etc.

I've googled, and i've googled, and i can find nothing that works on my A56. Plenty of posts on how to get to microphone settings on a variety of older Samsung phones, none of which applies to the A56.

I can find nothing at the moment that gives me control over the sensitivity etc of the input via the microphone.

I will try again later. Off to see the Subalpine warbler at Filey and catchup with the weekend's other arrivals.

 

[Jim M.]

I have now looked at my phone's settings re specifically microphone and can find nothing other than settings specific to voice input and controlling the device via voice commands and dictation etc.

I've googled, and i've googled, and i can find nothing that works on my A56. Plenty of posts on how to get to microphone settings on a variety of older Samsung phones, none of which applies to the A56.

I can find nothing at the moment that gives me control over the sensitivity etc of the input via the microphone.

I will try again later. Off to see the Subalpine warbler at Filey and catchup with the weekend's other arrivals.

This thread inspired me to check the settings on my phone as well, and the information I got from Internet searches was that my Samsung A16 5g doesn't have microphone settings. So it may well be that your model lacks them as well.

I see another person with an android phone reported problems with Merlin on your previous thread, so perhaps this is just a software issue with the new update that the Merlin folks need to solve.

 

[Montereyman]

On the iphone the volume control changes the listening sensitivity of the internal microphone. The external USB mics are a waste of time and money.

Not terribly compact but this dish and mic will actually improve recordings and bird ID with Merlin

Birdmic - BIRDFOX

The BirdMic Complete Pack is the complete parabolic microphone system with an audio interface for enjoying the sounds of nature. Compact,

www.birdfox.tech

 

[akwe-xavante]

Bought a Rode VideoMic NTG. Alls now working perfectly, after a couple of phone calls to Rode Support. Who were very helpful and even phoned back unexpectedly a couple of hours later to ask how i was doing.

The mic was unexpectedly not plug and play on the Samsung A56. I've had to install the Rode Reporter app configured to start when the mic was plugged in which switched the mics over from the integral mic to the external Rode mic before starting Merlin manually.

Been using it for a couple of hours or so this afternoon in my garden and i'm very impressed indeed. Crystal clear sonograph, fast to identify the birds in the garden, Filters work very well too.

 

[delia todd]

Bought a Rode VideoMic NTG. Alls now working perfectly, after a couple of phone calls to Rode Support. Who were very helpful and even phoned back unexpectedly a couple of hours later to ask how i was doing.

The mic was unexpectedly not plug and play on the Samsung A56. I've had to install the Rode Reporter app configured to start when the mic was plugged in which switched the mics over from the integral mic to the external Rode mic before starting Merlin manually.

Been using it for a couple of hours or so this afternoon in my garden and i'm very impressed indeed. Crystal clear sonograph, fast to identify the birds in the garden, Filters work very well too.

I'm so pleased to see you're now finally sorted.

Thanks for telling us.

 

[Jim M.]

Bought a Rode VideoMic NTG. Alls now working perfectly, after a couple of phone calls to Rode Support. Who were very helpful and even phoned back unexpectedly a couple of hours later to ask how i was doing.

The mic was unexpectedly not plug and play on the Samsung A56. I've had to install the Rode Reporter app configured to start when the mic was plugged in which switched the mics over from the integral mic to the external Rode mic before starting Merlin manually.

Been using it for a couple of hours or so this afternoon in my garden and i'm very impressed indeed. Crystal clear sonograph, fast to identify the birds in the garden, Filters work very well too.

Yes, glad to know it is finally working for you. Possibly there is some problem with the built-in microphone on your A56; my Samsung A16 continues to recognize songs and calls very well through Merlin (even some too high-pitched for me to hear), without an external microphone.

 

[GabyVerd]

Bought a Rode VideoMic NTG. Alls now working perfectly, after a couple of phone calls to Rode Support. Who were very helpful and even phoned back unexpectedly a couple of hours later to ask how i was doing.

The mic was unexpectedly not plug and play on the Samsung A56. I've had to install the Rode Reporter app configured to start when the mic was plugged in which switched the mics over from the integral mic to the external Rode mic before starting Merlin manually.

Been using it for a couple of hours or so this afternoon in my garden and i'm very impressed indeed. Crystal clear sonograph, fast to identify the birds in the garden, Filters work very well too.

My external microphone doesn't help. It's a A56 issue, I understand.

 

[Peter.home]

Amazed you have had so many problems with this, when for others it just works! But well done for persevering to a solution.

I have a zoom h1e recorder, which works well as an external usb mic for the phone/Merlin app. Definitely identifies birds beyond my hearing range, and beyond the phone's internal mic capability.
The zoom also allows for any mic to be added, though it starts to become overkill at this point perhaps.

 

[HillDonna]

Hoping for a little help.

I've bought a new phone because the Merlin App was crashing my old phone within just a few seconds after the very recent update.

My new phone is new rather than new to me! It's a Galaxy A56 5G with 256GB memory.

Downloaded and installed the App, signed in. Downloaded the smallest regional offline sound pack for my location, UK & Ireland, for now.

Restarted the phone.

The app is not crashing the new phone, but it isn't working either.

It starts listening, it can hear birds and i can see my local garden birds singing on the sonograph, but it isn't listing the birds it is hearing onscreen. Now there are at a dozen birds singing that i can hear, and they'll a good few others that i can't hear because i can't hear them any more. I can see them.

With a little more thought, the sonagraph is displaying the birds it can hear but not very strong patterns. Could the problem now be that the inbuilt mic is not best suited for this app. Is it possible that i need an external microphone? If so, i'm not sure that i want to go for an expensive microphone at this stage.............. I've spent enough already at this time.

Can anybody recommend an omnidirectional usb-c microphone to try?

Am i missing something? Is there anything i can do?

Or is the App now totally pants!?

I bought this new phone specifically to get this App working again, i had no other reason to buy a new phone as the old phone was otherwise working perfectly!

I can't help but I am having similar problems with my new A56 5g. Never had a problem with my old A33. Also when I playback it's at speed x2. It's frustrating to be sure. Hope you find a solution.

 

[delia todd]

I can't help but I am having similar problems with my new A56 5g. Never had a problem with my old A33. Also when I playback it's at speed x2. It's frustrating to be sure. Hope you find a solution.

Hi Donna and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators. Sorry to hear you're having problems too. I have to upgrade my phone soon, as it's not 5G ready, so hopefully I manage to get one that is issue-free with the updated Merlin. Think I won't go for an A56 though LOL.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.

 

[simonperry60]

Hoping for a little help.

I've bought a new phone because the Merlin App was crashing my old phone within just a few seconds after the very recent update.

My new phone is new rather than new to me! It's a Galaxy A56 5G with 256GB memory.

Downloaded and installed the App, signed in. Downloaded the smallest regional offline sound pack for my location, UK & Ireland, for now.

Restarted the phone.

The app is not crashing the new phone, but it isn't working either.

It starts listening, it can hear birds and i can see my local garden birds singing on the sonograph, but it isn't listing the birds it is hearing onscreen. Now there are at a dozen birds singing that i can hear, and they'll a good few others that i can't hear because i can't hear them any more. I can see them.

With a little more thought, the sonagraph is displaying the birds it can hear but not very strong patterns. Could the problem now be that the inbuilt mic is not best suited for this app. Is it possible that i need an external microphone? If so, i'm not sure that i want to go for an expensive microphone at this stage.............. I've spent enough already at this time.

Can anybody recommend an omnidirectional usb-c microphone to try?

Am i missing something? Is there anything i can do?

Or is the App now totally pants!?

I bought this new phone specifically to get this App working again, i had no other reason to buy a new phone as the old phone was otherwise working perfectly!

Ive got exactly the sane problems with a Samsung A56! Worked fine on old A12. Nothing I can change on microphone settings and yes weak sonogram and says hearing birds...exactly my experience! Have you found a solution? Thanks

 

[Jim M.]

Ive got exactly the sane problems with a Samsung A56! Worked fine on old A12. Nothing I can change on microphone settings and yes weak sonogram and says hearing birds...exactly my experience! Have you found a solution? Thanks

See post 10.

I wonder if Samsung added some sort of especially strong noise canceling technology to the A56 that muffles "extraneous" distant noises to improve voice quality when speaking – but with unintended effects for Merlin.

 

[carothelibrarian]

Issues with this combination of app and phone here too. Has anyone come up with any sort of solution? An external mic isn't really an option as I tend just use the app ad hoc and and when I hear something. Annoyed if it's now unusable...

 

[bittern]

Hoping for a little help.

I've bought a new phone because the Merlin App was crashing my old phone within just a few seconds after the very recent update.

My new phone is new rather than new to me! It's a Galaxy A56 5G with 256GB memory.

Downloaded and installed the App, signed in. Downloaded the smallest regional offline sound pack for my location, UK & Ireland, for now.

Restarted the phone.

The app is not crashing the new phone, but it isn't working either.

It starts listening, it can hear birds and i can see my local garden birds singing on the sonograph, but it isn't listing the birds it is hearing onscreen. Now there are at a dozen birds singing that i can hear, and they'll a good few others that i can't hear because i can't hear them any more. I can see them.

With a little more thought, the sonagraph is displaying the birds it can hear but not very strong patterns. Could the problem now be that the inbuilt mic is not best suited for this app. Is it possible that i need an external microphone? If so, i'm not sure that i want to go for an expensive microphone at this stage.............. I've spent enough already at this time.

Can anybody recommend an omnidirectional usb-c microphone to try?

Am i missing something? Is there anything i can do?

Or is the App now totally pants!?

I bought this new phone specifically to get this App working again, i had no other reason to buy a new phone as the old phone was otherwise working perfectly!

I recently bought a A56 phone and it works well with Merlin. I had used Merlin previously on a very old OnePlus phone and I haven't seen any significant differences between the two. Merlin can throw up some surprises however and there are some species that it has problems with, it has problems with really loud Great Reed Warblers, and surprisingly needs to be quite near calling Cuckoos that I can hear easily from far away. Sometimes it does invent unlikely species in regions or biotopes where they are most unlikely. I have never used a separate microphone nor would I bother...
Mike