The M-Audio Nova is a large diaphragm condenser microphone that is designed for use in the recording studio. I've only used it in the recording studio and I wouldn't recommend using it for anything else unless you are doing a live show in a remote place. This being said, if you want to get creative and use it for live shows it wouldn't be too bad as this microphone is cheap enough where you could experiment with it if you wanted to.

OVERALL OPINION

I've been using the M-Audio Nova for about a year or two and while there are ton of other microphones that I would rather use, this microphone is a great deal for the price. It is perfect for home studio owners looking for a dirt cheap microphone to add to their collection or for the project studio owner who has a small set up and needs a cheap condenser microphone to get ideas down. M-Audio isn't exactly known for making microphones, but they provide the home studio world with a cheap line of microphones that sound pretty good for the price. Don't get me wrong, the sound quality of the M-Audio Nova is far from perfect, but the price makes up for it in every way as it is pretty much as cheap as it gets when it comes to large diaphragm condensers. Even so, I would really only recommend it for those who really have nothing to spend but need a microphone to get ideas down or to record demos with as there are some other microphones for the same price or for a little bit more that I would recommend before this one, including the Rode NT-1A which although is more expensive, has a superior sound quality. Overall, the M-Audio Nova is a decent microphone for an extremely cheap price.