Will an XLR to USB cable work with my AT2020?

[Tony Edwards]

Hi,
I just bought my first studio microphone along with an XLR to USB cable (heard some mixed thoughts about it, but worst comes to worse i wasted 10 bucks) but i'm not entirely sure it will work.

The cable i bought is called Neewer 3M USB Male to XLR Female Microphone USB MIC Link Cable, look it up on amazon if you wish.

 

[Chili]

Do you plan to record or podcast with it??

If you want to record then No, won't work because you won't have any means of a monitoring the playback channel.

If you're podcasting then it probably won't matter.

Most, if not all, DAW's allow only one interface at a time. Your cable (with a built in A/D converter) would be that interface. But the cable doesn't have D/A capabilities, so you won't hear what you're recording. It's not like you can have one interface for the inputs and another for the speakers. Both inputs and outputs have to go through the same interface. Can't do that with this cable.

 

[Tony Edwards]

What i'm actually doing is recording live youtube videos (lets plays) and talking on skype and all that stuff. All i want to know is if i can actually record with my recording program (audacity for microphone, dxtory for video, stereo mix, and sometimes mic) and that quality is good.

 

[Bobbsy]

No, that won't work for you.

The AT2020 is a condenser mic and needs a source of phantom power. Nothing I can see in the sketchy details on Amazon suggests that it can provide phantom for you.

There are devices that can provide phantom that you could put in between the cable and your mic but, frankly, you'd be better off getting a proper interface with phantom included since that would also fix the monitoring issues that Chilli has mentioned.