Original Sound by Default

So it's now 2024 and this still hasn't been fixed. It's an absolute nightmare for myself and students having to always remember to turn on original sound on when starting each meeting. Why would you need the option available to you if you didn't want it on by default? If I'm using the same input/output device as I did in the previous meeting, why would I want original sound to default to OFF? 

Look, all we want, and desperately NEED, is a checkbox on the Audio Settings page that says "Default to Original Sound ON." You can leave it unchecked and let us decide whether we want this or not, that's fine. But we need the ability to place a check in such a box so that we don't have to deal, over and over, with multiple Zoom operators, week after week, forgetting to turn on Original Sound until a parishioner, halfway through the service, says in the chat that they can't hear the congregational singing.

What is most frustrating is that we HAD this ability when we created our Zoom installation, and when we realized it was going away tried to retain it by disabling updates. But eventually, Zoom ignored that and updated anyway, and it became a whack-a-mole problem that we couldn't keep up with.

So, Zoom Developers, ye gods of interactivity, how about it? Can you give a little love back to all the folks who truly love (and pay for) your service, use it every week religiously (so to speak), and desperately need this already-exists-but-just-needs-a-checkbox feature to get its well-deserved appearance on the audio settings page?

Thanks but already have mine set.  I continue to campaign for Zoom to listen to its customers and provide an EASY way for customers to switch OS on by Default.  If you are wasting time teaching your Students how to do this and continually repeating yourself you are wasting your time and theirs which they are paying you for.  Come on ZOOM just do the right thing. 

And of course, still no response from Zoom in over 3 months.  I'm afraid they will never fix this issue.  It's clear they don't really care about our concerns.  And now they took the Meeting tab away from the app, and will probably gaslight us with that for the next two years too.

Thank you for following this thread.

We understand your frustrations and we’re sorry for the inconvenience. Zoom's audio team made a change to the Original Sound feature so that it automatically turns OFF between meetings. They did this to help avoid situations where users mistakenly turned it on when they shouldn’t have, which caused bad audio for everyone. For example, a music student might enable Original Sound for their music class, but then forget to turn it off for history class, leading to echo problems that disrupt the meeting. It’s tough when something that works for some people creates problems for others and it has been decided not to change the current settings.

To help with this, Zoom has released an app called Remote Settings Control. This allows the host, like a teacher, to manage settings—including Original Sound—for everyone in the meeting or webinar. This means a teacher can enable Original Sound for all their students at once or choose individual settings.

If you’d like to use this tool, you can find it in the Zoom App Marketplace. For more details, check out the support article.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us, and we’re committed to supporting all the different ways people use Zoom!

We tried adding the "Remote Settings Control" app. During the trial, my husband was logging in with his iPhone. He received a notice from Zoom that the app doesn't apply to "mobile devices." Probably 75% of my remote piano students use 2 mobile devices to join lessons: mobile phones and a tablet (iPad or Fire Tablet).
Not a viable solution for most of my students. : (

Hi PRM-KS,

You're not alone in noticing this change—many users appreciated the previous Zoom behavior where "Original Sound" stayed enabled by default after being set once. Having to manually turn it on every time, especially during audio-critical sessions like music workshops, can be frustrating and interrupt the flow of meetings.

Unfortunately, with recent Zoom updates, this setting seems to have reverted to requiring manual activation. While there's currently no permanent toggle to keep it on indefinitely, it's worth checking Zoom’s audio settings under "Music and Professional Audio" to ensure the correct options are selected to streamline the process as much as possible.

Hopefully, Zoom will consider bringing back the persistent setting in a future update. Just like how Snapchat prioritizes smooth user experience in the middle of fast-paced interactions, Zoom should focus on minimizing friction for users who rely on consistent audio quality.

Regards

Every time Original Sound gets "improved" it gets worse for my music teaching practice. There used to be button that said "original sound" that could be clicked to toggle between On and Off, but now I have to drill down through Audio drop menu to switch its state. Moreover, I only turn this on to play a live musical example to a student, otherwise I want it off to prevent noise from the street and the kitchen interfering with dialogue, also not all my Zoom calls are music lessons. Worse still, it remembers the last state I left it in more precisely than I do, meaning it can be randomly still on or off when I start a new meeting. Another negative is the reduction in audio level from the other side when OS is on from my side.

For this OS feature to be any use to me, I would at least like the choice between "OS on at launch", "OS off at launch" and "Retain last OS setting at launch". I would also like the OS button reinstated so I can click or tap it on or off without having to hunt for it in a menu.

If this is not fixed soon, i am going to have to consider a rival music teacher's product "Mooz".