This is a bug that's been there since the game came out. They weren't able to fix this. Instead, they added a gain setting in the options menu. This will allow you to boost your guitar's signal -- it'll have you recalibrate after that. "It's not a bug - it's a feature" No seriously... I really think this is exactly the the way it is intended to be. When Rocksmith is started, it takes controll over your input and output devices in an "exclusive mode" to gain priority. I once unchecked the box " Applications in exclusive mode have priority" in the advanced settings of my speakers. The result was a noticable sound-delay ingame. Thus this priority mode seems to enable the delay-free treatment of the in- and output signals. About the mic volume level: I guess the value is set to the one determined by the soundcheck ingame. All in all, you cannot change the mic volume in the system settings because of the exclusive mode - but that is a useful thing! Nevertheless, you can still control this slider by the ingame stetting "real tone cable gain" - it directly changes your system mic volume. This way you have full control over your input volume :wink: but after Rocksmith changes it to 17 I can go there and re-change to an upper level (btw thats what I do every single time)