Windows and Mac Instructions PowerMic III Set-up and Use with

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PowerMic III Set-up and Use: Windows and Mac Instructions

To purchase the PowerMic III from Speech Recognition Solutions please use the following link:

http://store.speechrecsolutions.com/dictaphone-powermic-ii-p54.aspx

Overview: The Nuance PowerMic III handheld microphone is a high quality microphone which

works extremely well with speech recognition software. In addition to being very

accurate, the microphone element in the PowerMic III is somewhat buried in the

housing and, as a result, this turns out to be a very noise rejecting microphone. In

addition, when used with the following versions of Dragon there is a high level of

integration between the PowerMic III and the software:

• Dragon 10 Medical

• Dragon Medical Practice Edition (DMPE), DMPE2 and DMPE4

• Dragon Medical 360: Network Edition

• Dragon Medical One

• Dragon 15 Professional

• Dragon 15 Legal

Unfortunately, the PowerMIc, as supplied by Nuance, does not on its own integrate

particularly well with non-medical versions of Dragon prior to version 15 and with Mac

computers. There are, however, some simple work-arounds to allow the PowerMic to works in these

situations and they are described in detail below.

Drivers and button integration: the microphone does not come with any drivers. All needed drivers

will be installed automatically when using the PowerMic III with appropriate software. The exception

is Dragon Medical One (DMO), with which it will work without drivers when run locally, but if run

over Citrix you will need to obtain Citrix PowerMic III drivers from your IT administrator. For more

information, please refer to the chart at the end of this guide.

PowerMic III Set-up and Use with Dragon Medical Versions

When used with any of the medical versions of Dragon from version 9.5 and onward, a high level of

integration takes place between Dragon and the PowerMic III – so much so that there is even a

dedicated tab on the Dragon “Options” window for programming of the buttons on the PowerMic III

(see graphic at right).

Key Point: When using the PowerMic III with any medical versions of Dragon it is necessary to

formally select the PowerMic III as the sound source for a

user profile in order to have the added tab on the options

menu for advanced programming of the buttons on the

PowerMic III. If you don’t see the tab on your medical

version of Dragon, it means the PowerMic wasn’t properly

added.

Adding the PowerMic III to Dragon Medical

Selecting the PowerMic III as the sound source can be done

using one of two methods:

1. Preferred Method: From within an existing user,

change the dictation source by going to Profile > Add

dictation source to current user profile. You will be

presented with a window from which you can choose

“PowerMic III Microphone” as your new source. You

can thereafter choose whether to perform training or not. Selecting a “short” training is ideal

but not absolutely necessary.

[Note: in older versions of Dragon Medical a new source is added using a slightly different

method. Navigate to Profile > Open User Profile and then selecting Source > New on the right

of the Open User screen. From there select the PowerMic III as the sound source and follow

subsequent instructions.]

2. Alternative Method: Create a new user (Profile > Manage User Profiles > New) and select the

“PowerMic III Microphone” as the dictation source. Train the new user as usual. This method

takes a lot more time and creates a profile without the commands and personalized

vocabulary in your old profile.

Programming PowerMic Buttons (Dragon medical versions only)

Assigning functions in appropriate medical versions of

Dragon is the same as programming keyboard hotkeys.

Program buttons in Dragon 10 Medical as follows:

1. Open the PowerMic III tab in the options

menu by clicking on Tools > Options >

PowerMic III tab. You will see the Options tab

shown above.

2. On your PowerMic III microphone, push on the button you want to program. You will notice

that the corresponding button on the PowerMic III picture will turn green and the associated

drop down menu to the right will be highlighted

3. From the drop down menu, select the function you want to assign to the selected button.

4. If you want to program a button to cause a command to be initiated, go the “User Commands”

selection on the drop-down. This will then reveal the last 5 commands you used and any of

these can be selected. If necessary, therefore, in advance of programming a button, be sure to

use any commands you plan to assign to a

PowerMic III button.

5. If you plan to program a button to advance

sequentially through variable fields in a

document, make the appropriate selection

from the navigation category of the drop-down

menu (see image at right).

PowerMic Set-up with Non-Medical Versions of Dragon

As mentioned above, full programmability of the buttons on PowerMic III is

allowed only with the medical versions of Dragon, Dragon 15 Professional and

Dragon 15 Legal. For all other versions, the microphone and speaker will work,

as will the pointer stick and left and right click buttons. But nothing more.

Fortunately, there is an option to allow programming of the PowerMic III for

non-medical versions of Dragon and for other Windows applications – the use

of Octopus USB Controller (OUC). Octopus USB Controller is a third-party

software utility that allows you to assign functionality to the buttons or levers on any USB Human

Interface Device, including the PowerMic III. Among the functions you can program are the following:

• Insert boilerplate text (text of your choosing)

• Initiate any of a series of Windows activities, such as moving forward and backward through

open applications, opening the Task Manager, and other common Windows functions/activities

• Open any application, document, web-page, or folder

• Emulate any key or key-combination

• For Dragon users, initiate any Dragon Hotkey or command (including user created commands)

• Combine an unlimited number of the above functions into a single "script" initiated with a single

button, key or lever push

A fully functioning version of OUC is available for free download and can be used 5 times before

purchasing an activation code. For more information on Octopus USB controller, please visit the

product page on our site at:

http://store.speechrecsolutions.com/octopus-usb-controller-p164.aspx

NOTE: DRAGON MEDICAL AND WINDOWS USERS NEED NOT READ ANYTHING BELOW HERE.

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PowerMic III Set-up and Use for Mac Users

Mac Limitations

Although Dragon Dictate shares the same speech engine as its Windows-based cousin (Dragon

NaturallySpeaking) and provides high levels of accuracy when dictating, it lacks some of the functionality

seen in the Windows version. As relates to the PowerMic III, limitations include:

1. The inability to program any of the keys on the PowerMic III microphone to control the

microphone with Dragon Dictate

2. The inability to use any microphone (PowerMic III and others) in a “push-to-talk” manner.

3. The lack of drivers and functionality to allow programming of additional functions to the

PowerMic III buttons

Prerequisites for the Mac User

Thankfully, there is a simple way to get around these limitations, although it requires purchase of two

(relatively inexpensive) third-party applications. One application allows programming of PowerMic keys

in a Mac environment (including emulation of keystrokes.) The other allows keystrokes to control the

default Mac microphone in a push-to-talk manner. Here’s what you need:

1. USB Overdrive: this is a software utility that detects

the buttons on most USB devices, including the

PowerMic and allows you to program a variety of

functions to a button depression. This application is “shareware” and can be used for free,

but you will be forced to live through a short count-down every time you launch it. We

suggest you buy it for $20 and support the programmer. It can be seen and downloaded from

www.usboverdrive.com

. Once downloaded and installed, USB Overdrive will show up as a

system utility and is accessed through the Finder at Applications > Utilities. If the only thing

you want is to control Dragon Dictate with a PowerMic in a push-on/push-off method, USB

Overdrive is all you need. You will see that USB overdrive allows programming of lots of

functions to the keys on a PowerMic.

2. Push to Talk: this is a very inexpensive ($.99) application that is available

from the Mac App Store and which will allow you to assign any key

combination to control the assigned system default microphone in a push

to talk method. To be clear, Push to Talk does not interact with Dragon or

any other program but, rather, controls the default microphone at the

system level, activating it while a key or key combination is depressed and inactivating it when

the key or key-combination is released. If the default microphone is the PowerMic, then it can

be controlled in a push to talk method.

Find “Push to Talk” by searching on the Mac App Store. Once installed, Push to Talk is seen as a

small microphone icon on the top of your screen. It provides a visual indication of whether your

microphone is active or not and by clicking on the icon you can open its simple menu. You’ll

need push to talk if you want to control the Dragon Dictate microphone in a push-to-talk

manner.

Overview of the Setup for a Mac:

We recommend a strategy using the general flow shown in the figure above and programming USB

Overdrive and Push to Talk as follows:

1. Program one key on the PowerMic to issue the key combination needed by Dragon Dictate to

control the microphone in an on/off method (press once to turn on and again to turn off) – we

like to assign this to the transcribe key, but any key will work.

2. Program one key on the PowerMic to issue the key or key combination used by “push to talk” to

operate the default microphone input (PowerMic III) in a push-to-talk manner.

Practically speaking you will use the first button to turn on the microphone, and then use the second

button to actually activate the microphone input in a push-to-talk method.

Detailed Set-up Instructions:

1. Download/Install USB Overdrive

2. Download/Install Push to Talk

3. In order to have Push to Talk control the

PowerMic III it is necessary to select the

PowerMic as your default microphone from

the Mac sound control panel (see image at

right).

4. Open the Push to Talk Preferences menu as

shown below (if it isn’t obvious, the

application is viewable and accessed from the small microphone icon at the top of your screen)

5. On the Microphone control drop-down be sure “Hold down hotkey to activate mic” is selected.

6. Assign your desired hotkey by clicking in the clear area near

the bottom of the Preferences window and select your key

combination (shown above is the combination of

Ctrl+Shift+P.)

7. Open USB overdrive and program the button on your mic

to the key to you want to assign push-to-talk behavior (the

same key or key-combination assigned to the Press to Talk application.) Shown below the

“button 3” on a PowerMic III (the central record button) is assigned the same key combination

assigned by the Press to Talk application to control the microphone.

8. If you want to be slick, use USB Overdrive to program

one button to correspond with the keycombination

assigned in Push to Talk, and another button to

emulate the key combination set in the Dragon Dictate

preferences menu to cycle the microphone on and off.

In this scenario, you can use one button (the

“transcribe” button) to turn on the microphone in

Dragon Dictate, and then another button (the “Record”

button”) to control the microphone in the operating

system in a push-to-talk method.

Key Point: the “Push to talk” application actually controls whether the microphone is providing input to

Dragon Dictate (or any application) on your Mac. Even if Dragon Dictate shows the microphone as

green and “On” the signal won’t be getting through to Dragon until you have activated the key

combination (either on the keyboard or via the PowerMic through USB Overdrive) required by Push to

Talk. To use the two effectively, you will need to turn on the Dragon Dictate microphone with one key

and then actually control the microphone input using another key via Push to Talk.

Caveats:

1. This exact set-up can also work with other USB microphones. Unfortunately the Philips

microphones do not work with a Mac except in the context of the Philips Control Application. If

you program the record button on a Philips mic to emulate a key combination, rather than

directly control the Dragon Dictate microphone, you can use this button in a push-to-talk

method as described above.

2. If you are using the cloud-based speech recognition program built into your Mac, this same

system (Press to Talk, with of without USB Overdrive) will work just as easily. Simply apply the

same key or key-combination to activate speech recognition in both the speech recognition

software and in Push to Talk.

Overview of PowerMic III Software Compatibility

Software

Environment

Use of

Microphone

Use of

Speaker

Use of

Track

-Point

Stick

Use of left

and right

mouse

buttons

Basic

Programming

of accessory

buttons (1)

Advanced

Programming

of accessory

buttons (2)

Audio

programs in

Windows

XP, 7 & 8

Yes Yes Yes No No

Audio

programs on

Intel Mac

Yes Yes Yes No No

Dragon

Medical 10,

DMPE, &

DMPE2

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes

Dragon

Direct (3)

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes

(1) “Basic Programming” of the 10 accessory buttons means that standard functions which can be assigned to keys on the pc

keyboard can also be assigned to any of the 10 programmable buttons on the PowerMic III using the “hotkeys” tab on the

NaturallySpeaking Options window.

(2) Advanced Programming of the 10 accessory buttons means that a tab specific to the PowerMic III will be present in the

Dragon Options window and that keys can be assigned to affect a number of higher level functions within dragon,

including initiation of commands.

(3) When the local version of Dragon direct is run, Dragon direct will allow programming of 3 buttons at this time (Nuance is

gradually rolling out more button programming). When using the Citrix based version of Dragon Direct, it is necessary to

install dedicated Citrix drivers to allow functionality of the PowerMic on the Citrix-based application.