usb mics

[jaz49]

Anyone tried one of the usb condenser mics? I don't have a line input on my laptop so I need to go usb. I will either go with a usb condenser mic, or get the e-mu0202 usb interface and use my Sennheiser dynamic mic. Which would be the best way to go? The mxl/marshall usb mic costs about the same as the emu usb interface. Thanks

 

[dgatwood]

Anyone tried one of the usb condenser mics? I don't have a line input on my laptop so I need to go usb. I will either go with a usb condenser mic, or get the e-mu0202 usb interface and use my Sennheiser dynamic mic. Which would be the best way to go? The mxl/marshall usb mic costs about the same as the emu usb interface. Thanks

Get an interface. With a USB mic, you're paying for an interface and a microphone but can't use them separately. Thus, you're stuck with whatever crap microphone element and circuit came with the USB mic... and they generally are craptastic elements from what I've read.

If you were getting one cheap via the group buy that just ended or something, that would be a little different, but buying one retail is really a poor investment, IMHO, unless you're just planning to use this for voice-over work or something, in which case I'd still want to try it and see if it sounds decent.

 

[jaz49]

"they generally are craptastic elements from what I've read." Thanks for the input dgatwood. Using the emu interface I would be getting decent pre's and A/D converters I think. Using a usb mic maybe the converters are not as good. I don't want a noisy mic, so maybe a usb mic is not the best choice. You can hear my vocals with the Sennheiser dynamic mic here: http://www.myspace.com/lejaz

 

[chance]

Quite a few people, including myself, ordered the ACM-510 USB LD (32mm) condensor mic in the "group buy". We'll post how good they are when they arrive.