USB Mics (yays-nays)

[ryan summit]

experiences with USB Microphones
whats good
whats not
how are you using them?
where? and whats your computer look like?

[Jero]

A friend of mine had the Blue Snowflake (or Snowball, can't remember). It was really quiet and would get too noisy when the pre-amp got turned up. Might have been a dud though. It was bought second hand.

[spacelordmother]

I had/have one of these and it pretty well as I remember: http://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/c75c5918ed57a8d0/index.html



I accidentally left it at a friend's house when I moved... I should get that back.

[The4455]

Most usb mics are designed towards vocal application. I wouldn't really recommend them for close micing of guitar amps, as a room mic, yes.

[zRobertez]

I had a blue snowball a few years ago that I got for real cheap on amazon. I never knew how to use it but most of the time, recording with an iphone sounded just as good or better. I think I still might have it somewhere

[zRobertez]

oops semi oldish thread but contributing despite!

[rfurtkamp]

I'd tell you to avoid them if you can.

In two years, they may be a paperweight.

A regular ol' mic will still work with whatever machine you've got then, in whatever interface. Chances are a $100 condenser and a $60 little Alesis mixer/USB interface will sound better (and give you two channels) than anything in that price range in a standalone mic...and it won't be a paperweight when your new operating system comes out.

It also allows you to upgrade a piece at a time, and not be saddled by the mic's cheapo USB A/D converter and sample rates.

My existing recording box computer-wise is getting torn apart on Monday when parts arrive.

I'm currently running a now-venerable AMD Phenom II 965 with a slattering of drives added as I needed space, with a string of interfaces chained together (which I don't recommend unless you like pain and are computer-saavy to a point where you don't have to ask).

i4770k workstation is going to replace it, with a 16 track Tascam USB interface in the next month or so as finances permit (and the new box is stable). It's way overkill but I like buying once every 4-6 years and being done with it.

I've been running 8ish tracks at a time on the existing box but I'm using them all, and want room to expand as I'm running enough parallel processing to maim.