Been hearing about USB mics lately, and wondered if anyone had thoughts.
They mostly seem to be low-end models. Is the idea that a USB powered
microphone does not need a preamplifier and power supply?

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated.


C.A.

Charles Adams wrote:
Been hearing about USB mics lately, and wondered if anyone had thoughts.
They mostly seem to be low-end models. Is the idea that a USB powered
microphone does not need a preamplifier and power supply?

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated.


C.A.

i checked one out in a local sam ash with a buddy of mine who works
there. i was afforded
a time frame and a patching freedom perhaps not given to an
off-the-street customer......
i tried it into a couple PCs running SONAR, Cubase (the lower end
vesion i think), PC ProTools LE and one other one that i don't remember
that was basically a 2-track program like SoundForge.
i didn't get to test drive it on a mac with my program-of-choice, DP.

the latency makes these things unusable in my opinion. just the mic
through a couple of different sound card that were latency optimized (a
MOTU 896 and an RME something or other, i'm not all
too familiar with them but i understand them to be the 'nads) had an
unacceptable latency factor.

i never really even did listen to hear what the mic sounded like. i
couldn't get past the delay.


gary0

In article .com,
wrote:

Charles Adams wrote:
Been hearing about USB mics lately, and wondered if anyone had thoughts.
They mostly seem to be low-end models. Is the idea that a USB powered
microphone does not need a preamplifier and power supply?

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated.


C.A.

i checked one out in a local sam ash with a buddy of mine who works
there. i was afforded
a time frame and a patching freedom perhaps not given to an
off-the-street customer......
i tried it into a couple PCs running SONAR, Cubase (the lower end
vesion i think), PC ProTools LE and one other one that i don't remember
that was basically a 2-track program like SoundForge.
i didn't get to test drive it on a mac with my program-of-choice, DP.

the latency makes these things unusable in my opinion. just the mic
through a couple of different sound card that were latency optimized (a
MOTU 896 and an RME something or other, i'm not all
too familiar with them but i understand them to be the 'nads) had an
unacceptable latency factor.

i never really even did listen to hear what the mic sounded like. i
couldn't get past the delay.


gary0

Never considered latency. I guess for VO only it might not be a big
factor... depending on one's habits, but definitely a issue to be wary
of. Thanks for the observations!

C.A

Charles Adams wrote:
Been hearing about USB mics lately, and wondered if anyone had thoughts.
They mostly seem to be low-end models.

Yuup

Is the idea that a USB powered
microphone does not need a preamplifier and power supply?

It doesn't need an external preamplifier and power supply. All the
amplification it needs is built into the mic, along with an A/D
converter and a USB interface. It takes power from the computer.

This is a product that's designed to make it simple for podcasters to
use a better microphone than what they can plug into the little jack on
their computer. For the most part, they're podcast quality.

Charles Adams wrote:
Been hearing about USB mics lately, and wondered if anyone had thoughts.
They mostly seem to be low-end models. Is the idea that a USB powered
microphone does not need a preamplifier and power supply?

The idea is that you can plug it into your PC and go, with no other work.

Any thoughts or experiences are appreciated.

All of the ones I have heard (and that is three of them so far) have
sounded just godawful. First of all there is the issue that it is hard
to build good preamps and converters in such a small place with so little
voltage, and secondly there is the issue that because there is no gain
control anywhere, you need excellent preamps and converters to get wide
dynamic range. Also none of the ones I have seen have had much effort spent
on acoustical design either, but that's a seperate issue.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."