samson or snowball or something else

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me_101

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i have decided to buy a usb microphone. i few popular suggestions are - blue snowball and samson c01u.
does anybody have any other suggestions? and which mic should choose between these?
all help will be greatly appreciated.
i have a hp pavillon dv6 laptop with WINDOWS 8 on it. i dont want to buy a mic only to find that it wont work on my laptop. i use ADOBE audition cs6.
i know you dont need audio interfaces with these but is there anything else i might need to buy?
 
Well, you have to be more detailed, what are you using the microphone for? Vocals, instruments, drums or what? Taking into consideration that you might be getting a microphone for vocals, then you can try using the Yeti USB microphone or Samson C01U, its better in my opinion.

Cheers,
Darren.
 
thanks for replying. yes i will be using it for vocals only. yeti is outside my budget range. so my options are confined to snowball and samson....
so samson would be better?
 
Well the SnowBall IS useful due to its wide options, you have to try both the microphones out at the music store to see which fits your voice better. Don't be shy, because you don't want to end up regretting getting either later.

Cheers,
Darren.
 
Before absolutely committing to a USB microphone, have a read of THIS Faq.

Of the two mics on your shortlist, the Snowball has a much better reputation. However, be aware that you'll be stuck using MME drivers and looping your voice on a round trip via the DAW so you can monitor it which will result in latency that may or may not be acceptable. You'll only be able to do this in Multitrack view by the way--there's no loop through on Edit view. Also, be ready to do some careful setting up with Audition CS6 to persuade it to use one device for the mic and a separate one (i.e. the in built sound card) to provide you with a monitor feed.
 
Bobbsy said:
Before absolutely committing to a USB microphone, have a read of THIS Faq.

Of the two mics on your shortlist, the Snowball has a much better reputation. However, be aware that you'll be stuck using MME drivers and looping your voice on a round trip via the DAW so you can monitor it which will result in latency that may or may not be acceptable. You'll only be able to do this in Multitrack view by the way--there's no loop through on Edit view. Also, be ready to do some careful setting up with Audition CS6 to persuade it to use one device for the mic and a separate one (i.e. the in built sound card) to provide you with a monitor feed.
Click to expand...

bobbsy, does this mean i will not be able to record in the edit view? :o
and i think i am sure that i will need only one mic since i only sing as a hobby. in that case i guess it's ok to go for a usb mic?
 
When you buy a cheap usb mic, you are painting yourself into a corner.

A cheap usb mic is actually TWO devices, an interface and a mic.
So a $100 usb mic is a $50 interface and a $50 mic.

Cheap mic + cheap interface = meh....

Save your pennies and get a separate interface and a real mic.
 
me_101 said:
bobbsy, does this mean i will not be able to record in the edit view? :o
and i think i am sure that i will need only one mic since i only sing as a hobby. in that case i guess it's ok to go for a usb mic?
Click to expand...

You can record in Edit View but you won't be able to monitor yourself in headphones while you do it--making it a fairly pointless exercise.

Even with only a single mic, I assume you will want to record while listening to a mix of a backing track and your voice in your headphones--and such monitoring is the weak spot with the vast majority of USB microphones. You'll be limited to using the inbuilt MME drivers on your computer since ASIO drivers (which are designed for low latency monitoring) are limited to one device at a time. With the Snowball, you'd need to record the microphone (one device) but monitor via your inbuilt sound card (a second device).

If you could stretch your budget to the Blue Yeti, this provides headphone monitoring via the mic which would solve your problem. Otherwise, you might be better off looking at a single mic channel audio interface (like the M Audio Fast Track) plus a conventional XLR mic.
 
i can always use asio4all, right? and i fail to understand what you exactly you mean by 'monitor'....
 
When you record, you have to use headphones to listen to whatever music you're using as a backing track plus your own voice to check pitch and timing. This is your "monitor mix" and what I was referring.

Yes, you could use Asio4All which is a very clever bit of software to make gear with MME drivers only seem like they're using ASIO. However, down deep it's still MME and not as advantageous as using dedicated ASIO drivers.
 
i am going choose to ignore your advice because i really am tight on the budget. I hope I am not making a big mistake. Everything is a lot more expensive for me because I live in India and everything needs to be imported.
 
Bobbsy said:
When you record, you have to use headphones to listen to whatever music you're using as a backing track plus your own voice to check pitch and timing. This is your "monitor mix" and what I was referring.

Yes, you could use Asio4All which is a very clever bit of software to make gear with MME drivers only seem like they're using ASIO. However, down deep it's still MME and not as advantageous as using dedicated ASIO drivers.
Click to expand...

bobbsy, is this an audio interface that i should be looking for? it says 'Numark STEREO iO Analog-To-Digital DJ Interface'
please could you check out this link-

Buy Online | Lowest Price | Free Shipping| Numark STEREO iO Analog-To-Digital DJ Interface - Buy online at the guaranteed lowest price in India - BAJAAO - Buy online and Review Musical Instruments, Pro Audio, Studio, P.A. Audio Equipment in India
 
me_101 said:
bobbsy, is this an audio interface that i should be looking for? it says 'Numark STEREO iO Analog-To-Digital DJ Interface'
please could you check out this link-

Buy Online | Lowest Price | Free Shipping| Numark STEREO iO Analog-To-Digital DJ Interface - Buy online at the guaranteed lowest price in India - BAJAAO - Buy online and Review Musical Instruments, Pro Audio, Studio, P.A. Audio Equipment in India
Click to expand...

That is not the audio interface you should be looking for. You have to get an audio interface like the Steinberg CL1 that allows you to have a choice of how much you want of your DAW/music/mix and your microphone/instrument .

I have already attached what you should be looking for in the audio interfaces that you find/consider. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Darren.
 

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ohh i see. i guess these are going to be expensive...thank you for your help.
 
 
DarrenVocal said:
That is not the audio interface you should be looking for. You have to get an audio interface like the Steinberg CL1 that allows you to have a choice of how much you want of your DAW/music/mix and your microphone/instrument .

I have already attached what you should be looking for in the audio interfaces that you find/consider. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Darren.
Click to expand...

hi darren, will this work for me - Buy Online | Lowest Price | Free Shipping| ART Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp - Buy online at the guaranteed lowest price in India - BAJAAO - Buy online and Review Musical Instruments, Pro Audio, Studio, P.A. Audio Equipment in India
 
me_101 said:
hi darren, will this work for me - Buy Online | Lowest Price | Free Shipping| ART Tube MP Studio Mic Preamp - Buy online at the guaranteed lowest price in India - BAJAAO - Buy online and Review Musical Instruments, Pro Audio, Studio, P.A. Audio Equipment in India
Click to expand...

Look at the knobs, does it have any options for you to control the Mix? No. Just find audio interfaces that are good, because if you buy cheap ones, they will just suck, and your money will be wasted. Steinberg CL1 is a pretty decent one and is pretty cheap, too.

Cheers,
Darren.
 
me_101 said:
bobbsy, is this an audio interface that i should be looking for? it says 'Numark STEREO iO Analog-To-Digital DJ Interface'
please could you check out this link-

Buy Online | Lowest Price | Free Shipping| Numark STEREO iO Analog-To-Digital DJ Interface - Buy online at the guaranteed lowest price in India - BAJAAO - Buy online and Review Musical Instruments, Pro Audio, Studio, P.A. Audio Equipment in India
Click to expand...

That's an interface of sorts but it's aimed at DJs and only does CD players and record decks--it doesn't have a microphone input or monitoring out
 
Bobbsy said:
That's an interface of sorts but it's aimed at DJs and only does CD players and record decks--it doesn't have a microphone input or monitoring out
Click to expand...

sorry to bother you, but how about this for an audio interface-
"blue icicle - microphone preamp, 48V phantom power, fully balanced low noise front end, analog gain control, and driverless operation" will this work for me?
 
The Blue icicle is a decent enough A to D converter but, for me, it still has a couple of fatal flaws.

First off, like a USB microphone, it's a one-way only device without any monitoring output. This forces you to use whatever inbuilt sound card you computer has to plug in headphones (to listen while recording) or monitor speakers for mixing.

Second, the "driverless operation" they brag about is a downside. "Driverless" doesn't mean no drivers; it means it uses the inbuilt MME drivers on your computer. MME drivers are more suitable for Skype phone calls and watching Youtube than for any form of serious recording--and will give you a lot more latency in your working. (ASIO is the magic phrase for low latency recording).

Something like THIS may be more what you're after.
 
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