WykedPT
Member
Hey Is it possible to convert a usb mic to use reg phantom power, to use in a mixer or is it a waste of time? A friend gave me a usb condenser mic and I was just wondering.....thanks
darrin_h2000
Banned
Id suppose that maybe you can get it to work...but usually its only the bottom feeders that get the USB in the first place.
antichef
pornk rock
that sounds like a big, risky, tedious job with a doubtfully satisfactory payoff -- just my type of project!
I've never seen the inside of one of those, but in principle, I'd expect to see a bunch of surface mounted circuit board action, with components performing the normal functions of a condenser mic, along with other components handling additional preamplification, analog to digital conversion, and USB interfacing -- it's those additional components you'd want to identify and isolate, then somehow graft in an XLR jack and patch the pins to the appropriate place on the circuitry that represents what you normally find in a condenser mic (which hopefully will run on 48v phantom power - there's no reason why it should, if you think about it, other than perhaps the designers of the USB mic started with a standard condenser mic design and built on it -- rather, it seems likely that it would want less voltage, and you'd have to add some components to protect it from the 48v).
Of course, none of this would work if the various components I mentioned were not discrete enough to separate from one another. Chances are good that I would brick the thing while I was trying to find out, and if not, then it would be likely that I would trash the body trying to force-fit the XLR assembly, and if not, then at best I'd have a kind of crappy-sounding and very fragile frankenstein-looking mic at the end, but a whole lot of bragging rights!
(I could brag to myself, anyway, if not to the other folks on the board here who could guess how much time I just spent on it)
I don't mean to discourage you. I could be fun...
I've never seen the inside of one of those, but in principle, I'd expect to see a bunch of surface mounted circuit board action, with components performing the normal functions of a condenser mic, along with other components handling additional preamplification, analog to digital conversion, and USB interfacing -- it's those additional components you'd want to identify and isolate, then somehow graft in an XLR jack and patch the pins to the appropriate place on the circuitry that represents what you normally find in a condenser mic (which hopefully will run on 48v phantom power - there's no reason why it should, if you think about it, other than perhaps the designers of the USB mic started with a standard condenser mic design and built on it -- rather, it seems likely that it would want less voltage, and you'd have to add some components to protect it from the 48v).
Of course, none of this would work if the various components I mentioned were not discrete enough to separate from one another. Chances are good that I would brick the thing while I was trying to find out, and if not, then it would be likely that I would trash the body trying to force-fit the XLR assembly, and if not, then at best I'd have a kind of crappy-sounding and very fragile frankenstein-looking mic at the end, but a whole lot of bragging rights!
(I could brag to myself, anyway, if not to the other folks on the board here who could guess how much time I just spent on it)I don't mean to discourage you. I could be fun...
mshilarious
Banned
Just dump the existing circuit and replace with a standard phantom powering circuit. There is no reason to try and hack the existing circuit, other than the capsule FET the rest will be completely unsuitable for what you are trying to do, and FETs cost less than $0.25, so . . .