I also recently got the same from Art-Tech for my Grandson. I have similar challenges with the audio, but I cured my problem.. I simply interfaced one of my old Futaba's (Mode 2) by running a mono cable from the buddy jack to the mic on the PC ... instantly worked and adjusted sound level with Sound Recorder, when done, I closed sound recorder and muted the mike (yes), then loaded FMS and calibrated. All is fine EXCEPT that the Cessna 182 supplied on the CD was a Version 7 (yuk) I found a Par8 one by Gary Gunnerson (the exact plane) on his site that I downloaded.
I still haven't had time to fugure out what is wrong with the Art-Tech output --- probably a bad connection somewhere ....
Ray