Phantom power?

Good thing you asked first. Condenser mics generally need phantom power, and microphones in general need microphone preamplifiers to boost their signals. You have several options. First of all, don't try to solve this piecemeal. If you just buy a phantom power supply you'll still need a mic preamp, which will likely have phantom power built in. Theoretically you could get a preamp and connect it to your 222, but by far the better option is to buy a proper recording audio interface, which will have all the facilities you need to record microphones, monitor live inputs and play back from your recording software, all at once. As an example, check out the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. There are others but that gives you an idea what to look for.

Strongly agree with Bouldersoundguy here -

Yes, the C02 is a condenser mic, and needs phantom power (48 Volts thereof);
Yes, an interface with a good mic preamp and switchable phantom power is the way to go;
The current ("second generation") Focusrite Scarlett interfaces have by far the best microphone and instrument preamps of anything anywhere near the price.
 
"Focusrite Scarlett interfaces have by far the best microphone and instrument preamps of anything anywhere near the price."

That ^ is a totally unsupported and misleading statement. F'tites mic amps ARE good but so are the ones in the Steinberg AIs and my NI KA 6 is quiet enough for gently picked acoustic guitar from an SM57 (not MY choice. Son preferred it over an AKG P150!)

The high impedance inputs of the low end Focusrites are nothing to write home about from what I have read. The Mk1 early 2i2 would overload if a fly landed on the A string and farted. They fixed that, a bit but I don't think the headroom on even the Gen lls is all that impressive?

The company makes very good stuff but from my limited experience but a LOT of forum infestation, no better than Tascam, Zoom and many others.

Dave.
 
Hardware is mostly the same quality with most brands...

Where FR shines, is drivers and support. When you call them, you are actually talking to a FR employee and one that knows what he's talking about. Most of the others either don't have phone support, or it sucks.

In between is Behringer. They are trying hard to build a worldwide support system. Depends on where you are, when you call, what product etc. Had to call them with questions about the X32 and that went well.
 
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