The 99¢ K-Micro condenser mic. Yep, 99 cents.

TravisinFlorida said:
50-13 seems pretty crumby. :D where's the audio samples? also "first 1000 $0.99 each after that $5.00 each". i think we could roll our own for $5.
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That's kind of life with the available 6mm cardioid capsules, sort of why I shied away from them. I did just order a batch, so we'll see.

As far as specs, the self-noise and SPL specs seem a little generous, from my experience. Heck, my Shure KSM141 is 0.7% THD at 125dBSPL, my tests might be a little high since my woofer, although a very high quality unit, probably isn't test grade. Also I wonder why the sensitivity is so high. That points to gain in their circuit.

You can build your own MSH-1A for about $5 in parts and select whatever capsule you want to use. Obviously their production costs are much lower, using SMT and PCBs, mass production and Chinese labor. I am happy using metal film resistors and low-ESR caps. Even so I'd expect them to run a much bigger batch than 1,000 if they want to make money at it. I'd guess it's more for the marketing of their other mics.
 
TravisinFlorida said:
was a specific frequency response for the new batch mentioned?
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He will not know until they get the new batch and do some testing. But it will be better.


SMX_Dizzy said:
If you call sales do you still have to pay for shipping? Is it even still worthi t for $5?
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Shipping will only be $3 to $4 in US




I think he (the guy I talked to on the phone) said the next batch will be 2500 units
 
mshilarious said:
You can build your own MSH-1A for about $5 in parts and select whatever capsule you want to use.
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Is there a thread or a website somewhere that shows how to do this? I'm really interested in buying (or making, now) low-cost small mics for my toms.

Sorry if a simple answer is "search" but I'm not exactly sure what to search for.
 
SMX_Dizzy said:
Is there a thread or a website somewhere that shows how to do this? I'm really interested in buying (or making, now) low-cost small mics for my toms.

Sorry if a simple answer is "search" but I'm not exactly sure what to search for.
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Schematic is here:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/showpost.php?p=2127431&postcount=60

I have since changed R4 and R5 to 680, because while 470 gave good specs, it also led to wildly inconsistent batches, causing me grief in matching and lots of rework. I am also evaluating slightly lower values for R1 and R2, but the circuit in the schematic definitely works as specified in that post.
 
I think the next batch of Karma $0.99 err........$5.00 mics will ship today.
I dont know the new specs yet. I think I will call them this afternoon and see If I can get ant more info.
 
Another question, how are you going to arrange the air flow to the back of the capsule in the cardioid version? I mean you need holes in the case, otherwise it will not work as cardioid.
 
mhelin said:
MSH, which capsule you use on MSH-1C? Did you find a better one than Karma uses?
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I don't know what Karma uses. If I were a betting man, I'd guess they bought capsules from Horn, which is a Chinese manufacturer of capsules (probably lots of other stuff too). You can order Horn capsules spec'ed a number of different ways, for tolerance, sensitivity, etc. So I can't say exactly what they'd use. Or maybe another manufacturer, but there aren't large differences even between the Horn capsules and Panasonic . . .

I am using Panasonic WM65, and I drill holes in the plastic boot to vent the back of the capsule. It's the patterns of holes that is the last holdup in development, but I am pretty close.
 
i ordered 4 today when i saw this thread and my gal wasn't available for lunch. 28 bucks total including shipping. lordy - even for 'trick' mics...that nuts cheap.

"50-13 seems pretty crumby"

seems like it may take a lotta bleed outta tom mics. i'm betting my 28 bucks on em...

Mike
 
TravisinFlorida said:
exactly. hell i've used a $2 pc mic to mic a guitar amp and was fairly happy with the results. bottom line, you won't know until you try. at $1 a mic, where's the risk?
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same here, back in the day that's how I used to record by micing up my Crate 15 watt amp with a cheap computer mic and I have to say it sounds good after all these years (about 3-4 years ago, when I started playing)

I'll rip it from the CD I made and post a clip later :)
 
...I got 2 of Karma's first production run ($.99 each) and I''ve been using them as supplemental overheads on live gigs with great results (to fill out the sound field)...my sound engineer is ordering more from the second production run...c'mon...$5 each...you can't lose...try 'em, you'll like 'em ;)
 
i've had a great experience with this company-- i picked up two k-6's which are awesome sounding and well constructed mics during their promo. they come in these little foam padded suitcases with combination locks. i also just got a k-58 multipattern tube mic. i'm hoping to get some real testing in with these this weekend. i have five of the ($5) micros coming to me and i'm psyched to try these out too. these folks also make halo guitars, pro tone pedals, and i think they also might make phoenix drum mics (?). to be clear, i am not affiliated with them in any way-- i love their mics (have not tried the guitars or pedals), and they are very cool, chill people to deal with.
 
Anybody have any clips yet using these mic's? I ordered 2 for the hell of it.... but certainly would love to here some examples of what the mic sounds like.

Thanks,

Mike
 
...check out this other thread on the Gearslutz site...Geoff Tanner (former design engineer for Rupert Neve, not to mention his own highly respected Aurora Audio line) chimed in yesterday and gave props to the K-Micro $.99 mic (jeez, the guy's a living legend in pro audio circles)...

Geoff_T said:
I've been using the 99c mic with a talkback amplifier (c/w opto compressor) I've made and it sounds bloomin' amazing... as I knew it would because I've cobbled these things together myself in the past. Using his XLR based version saves me a lot of bother!
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http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=81204
 
Look at that kidvybes, He even gave you a response over there.

BTW I ordered 5 of these. i got an email the other dat stating they have shipped to me.
I wonder if they are shipping from Karma in California, or direct from manufacturer?

I'm actually kind of excited to try these out. If anything they will (evidently) make a great talkback mic.
 
cello_pudding said:
why does it say 48v phantom power?

that would use my entire amount....
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Well in that context it should be called Phantom Voltage.... not Phantom Power.

48v of power is just wrong.
You can be pretty sure your phantom power has enough Current to supply many K-Micro (or any other phantom powered mics).
 
Anyone seen a graph on these? Just curious as the high end only goes to 13khz. I figured "what the hell" and bought 6. Gonna try them on toms.
 
PhilGood said:
Anyone seen a graph on these? Just curious as the high end only goes to 13khz. I figured "what the hell" and bought 6. Gonna try them on toms.
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They might not work as good as you want, but who knows? they might be pretty good.
They roll off at 50hz, and have a 125dB SPL rating.
With those specs, I think it will not be so good for toms.
But the super small size, and metal construction I think they'll be great for positioning.
 
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