Mumble VoIP Software
Mumble is a VoIP package that allows client programs to freely communicate with each
other across the network. The primary users of Mumble are Internet video gamers who
want to have voice and text chat conversations during game play. However, it can also
be used as a non-gaming VoIP service which does not require that an IP-PBX server
exist on the network. Mumble is open source software that is available for Linux,
MacOS, and Windows systems. Mobile apps are also available, such as Mumblefy for
iPhone and Plumble for Android.
Using the Mumble Client Program
After starting the Mumble
client program, open the
Mumble Server Connect
display to select a server.
This display lists the
available servers and shows
how many users are
currently connected to them.
You can use your call sign
as the username when
connecting.
You can also connect to a Mumble service by clicking on the service link from the
AREDN® Mesh Status display. Since the service protocol is “mumble://”, the web
browser will automatically try to open the Mumble client program if it is not already
running on your computer.
Type in the chat box to send text
messages to other users on the server or
channel. If you have “Text-To-Speech”
enabled, incoming messages will be read
to you automatically by your computer.
You can set the location of the chat box
and other layout features by clicking
Configure > Settings > User
Interface on the program menu bar.
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To change the settings of your Mumble client, click the settings icon or select the
Settings option on the program’s Configure menu. On the Audio Input tab, make
sure you have selected the correct audio input/microphone device. If you do not see the
device selection dropdown box, you may need to click the Advanced checkbox in order
to display some configuration options. You can also set Push To Talk, VOX, or
Continuous mode for your microphone. Understand that Mumble allows multiple users
to talk simultaneously, so decide which audio mode is best suited for your specific
network connection and purpose.
The User Interface tab allows you to customize the program’s look-and-feel to your
liking. The Shortcuts tab lets you set keyboard shortcuts. For example, if you have
Push-To-Talk enabled you will probably want to set a keyboard shortcut so you can
begin your conversation with the push of a key rather than a mouse click. It is
recommended that you choose a PTT key which is not typically used when typing text
chat messages, because each time the key is pressed your microphone will open.
When you begin a voice
conversation and your
microphone is open you will
notice that the mouth icon
changes color from gray to
red. This indicates that your
voice is being transmitted to
everyone listening on the
channel. Remember that all
users are allowed to talk simultaneously. In order to avoid confusion, however, it may be
a good practice to adopt typical amateur radio protocols in use for net control.
Under the Self menu option, or by clicking the appropriate icon on the menu bar, you
can mute your microphone (Mute) or your headset (Deafen). You can also create an
audio recording of the conversation, if needed, by selecting Recording or pressing the
red Record icon.
Configuring a Mumble Server (Murmur)
Client programs connect to each other through a server, which can be hosted locally by
downloading and configuring the open source Murmur or 𝛍Murmur software. There are
many online sources of information and tutorials for installing and configuring Mumble
servers on different platforms (https://wiki.mumble.info/wiki/Installing_Mumble and
https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-mumble-server/).
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In contrast to typical IP-PBX servers, Murmur does not require any special skills to
configure and it is a very lightweight process that does not tax limited computing
resources. Mumble uses a low-latency audio codec (Opus), and the number of users
and amount of bandwidth allowed per user is configured by the server owner based on
the characteristics of the network on which it is deployed.
Murmur configuration settings are stored in an INI file. The default settings will work in
most cases, but they can be edited as necessary. The following shows some of the
settings that you might consider changing for your specific implementation.
# Welcome message sent to clients when they connect.
welcometext=”<br />Welcome to <b>Mumble</b>.”
# Uncomment ‘registerName’ if you wish to give your “Root” channel a custom name.
registerName=Mumble Server
# Maximum bandwidth (in bits per second) clients are allowed to send speech at.
bandwidth=72000
# Maximum number of concurrent clients allowed.
users=100
If you change any settings in the INI file, save the changes and restart Murmur.
Server owners can create as many sub-channels as necessary for grouping
conversations (for example, by topic, location, or tactical purpose). Once channels have
been created, users may join them in order to participate in relevant conversations.
If you want to communicate with a specific group of users, then they must all be logged
into the same Mumble server and channel. While it is possible for any user to run a
separate Mumble server, it is not often practical or necessary. A team should have a
primary server on a robust network link, with one or two backup servers that can be
used if the primary becomes unreachable. Confusion can be minimized by
standardizing on the primary/backup servers being used for normal operations.
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