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dvine01's avatar
dvine01
5 years ago
Solved

Madden 21 Series X has no Commentary Audio

Product: Madden NFL 21
Platform:Xbox Series X
Which console generation do you have? Microsoft Xbox Series X
What is your gamertag/PSN ID? Dvine99
Date/time issue occurred 6/24/21 onward
What type of issue do you have? Audio Problems
Which mode has this happened in? Play Now
Summarize your bug Actually occurs in every play mode where commentary should be applied-The commentary track cannot be heard. I'm on a Dolby Atmos system, and all settings are correct as madden previous gen on Xbox One is fine. All other games are fine. Tried all Audio settings, Uncompressed 7.1, 5.1, Stereo (This one, the commentary is there, but very low). Bitstream (Atmos) No commentary track, all other audio is present. This has been since the initial installation of the game on the Series X. There must be a problem in how the game is feeding audio, through what channel. Also, under accessibility options the narration is muffled, may be connected. Also, don't know if this has anything to do with it, but figured it's worth mentioning, The description for commentary audio is related to the play clock, not audio at all. Audio soundtrack is set at broadcast.
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Launch a game in either franchise or play now, There is absolutely no commentary. (Heard it low, briefly when changing audio to uncompressed stereo, but this IS NOT a solution for this problem.
What happens when the bug occurs? No commentator audio (100 percent of the time)
What do you expect to see? I expect, especially on the next generation console, to have commentary.
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I purchased an Xbox Series X on Wednesday this week.  Downloaded and installed Madden 21, and have not had commentary in a single game.  I've since deleted, and reinstalled the game, checked over all sound settings from within the Xbox Settings, as well as the game settings, no change.  It's as if the commentary track which should be pumping through the center channel is pushed through some other channel, if any channel at all.  

  • dvine01's avatar
    dvine01
    5 years ago
    @EA_Barry Just a quick update...your post did actually make me curious. Knowing that commentary would have to be encoded through a center channel, I pulled my Stand out to look at all my speaker connections into the receiver, and lo and behold, the center channel had come disconnected. Plugging that back in, and viola. sometimes we've got to go back to the basics. Thanks for your time, just wanted to let you know.

3 Replies

  • EA_Barry's avatar
    EA_Barry
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    5 years ago

    @dvine01 

    Commentary can be an issue with multichannel audio setups. 

    Start with a Stereo setup and try to simplify your audio path (physically and in relation to additional audio software or processing) as much as possible in order to find what may be reducing the volume.

    As you are getting some commentary in a stereo setup, check that the polarity of the wires going to your speakers is correct (or at least matches with the other speaker).

    Thanks.

  • dvine01's avatar
    dvine01
    5 years ago

    so, I appreciate you getting back to me so quickly, But this has nothing to do with my audio set up.  I've been playing madden 21 fine on the Xbox One, and on the Series X all other games audio is presented as expected.  I should not have to play the game in Stereo when having a multi Channel dolby Atmos set up, which works for every game, including Madden 21 on current gen.  When I mentioned getting some commentary in stereo, that is not permanent.  After a period of time, even in stereo, the commentary is gone.  There appears to be something in the code of the next gen version of the game that's causing this. 

    Just FYI, not to be an A-hole about this, but to put it into context, I'm an audio engineer, and have worked with multichannel encoding/decoding since the early to mid 90s.  On.a hunch, i switched to the HDMI cables the Xbox One was connected with hoping that maybe the cables coming with the series X might have been the culprit, but no change...And again, this is only affecting Madden 21 Next Gen.  Sound on every other game has been fine...Sound in madden 21 Xbox one is fine.  

    I've seen a number of posts online with this same description of an issue, some saying the resolution is to change to Uncompressed Stereo...That is not a solution.  There is no reason you should have to play a next generation game on a 4K system in stereo.  And for my situation, that's not a long lived solution anyway.  

  • dvine01's avatar
    dvine01
    5 years ago
    @EA_Barry Just a quick update...your post did actually make me curious. Knowing that commentary would have to be encoded through a center channel, I pulled my Stand out to look at all my speaker connections into the receiver, and lo and behold, the center channel had come disconnected. Plugging that back in, and viola. sometimes we've got to go back to the basics. Thanks for your time, just wanted to let you know.

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