USB microphones

Dynamic mic (4 positions: stereo, cardioid, omni, and figure-8), very versatile. OVERALL OPINION I've had it for a week and I'm amazed by the quality of live recordings (vocals-guitar). To be honest, given its price, it's the best investment I've made in ages. The only con is that you'd better have a laptop to use this type of USB mic, since you need a really quiet room to avoid a huge reverb, given the high sensitivity of the mic (so, if you only have a huge desktop computer in a tiled room with a bay window: Forget it).

The Blue Spark Digital is truly a plug and play interface. No fiddling with configurations, settings. Plug it in and choose it for the input device. The recording is a bit on the brittle, thin side. The volume on this was extremely low. Had to turn everything all the way up. Still, the sound was still pretty good. I think that you would really hear the thin/tinnie sound build up after recording a few multiple tracks. I couldn't get much depth to the sound and multi-tracking tended to emphasize the brittle(?) sound. For a single recording it did a very good job of capturing the guitar and vocals. I could see this mic would be of benefit for voice over, DJ, or pod-casting because of the ease of setup with the sound quality and the portability. I did a video comparison with the Blue Spark Digital alongside a Rode NT1a using the Zoom R-16 interface. You can see the video review I posted https://youtu.be/8hQQd3vv_EA

The Snowball is a Usb microphone, it's very easy to use, has a pretty decent sound and a very affordable price that's hard to compete with. The installation is simple, it's plug in play (via the usb). Any recording application you have should be able to recognize it once installed, but if it doesn't... just go into properties and tell your soundcard to listen to your usb port (problem solved) It's a very stable mic surprisingly Blue has always been good at building projects that last (that's one of their trademarks) OVERALL OPINION I hated most about this mic was it's design. I can't stand the way it looks or it's build. It's just... clunky. The audio quality isn't too bad it's very usable especially if you're podcasting or just using the mic for some basic voice overs. I hate the fact that you can't mount this mic to a mic stand. It's meant to be a desktop/table top mic but they couldn't made it a little more versatile. I've used several different usb mics (condenser and dynamic) before using the snowball and they all had more features and a much better sound to me. The other thing I didn't like too much was the snowballs super low recording levels. I found myself nearly kissing the mic in order for it to pick up of a semi hot signal. Blue is known for making quality gear (mics, cables etc). I don't know what the aim was when this was created. If they were going for a regular podcast mic cool but people that use them/trust them expect studio mics or mics that can adjust to a studio environment and that is not the case with the Snowball. If I had $100 in my pocket and needed a usb mic today the snowball would not be my mic of choice

Audio-Technica AT2020 is a USB condenser microphone. This microphone has very low noise and has never let me down. It has a Cardioid polar pattern that will reduce the amount of sounds that it picks up from behind the microphone or from the sides of it. The sound quality really surprised me with it being a USB microphone because I have used other USB microphones in the past that just sound horrible and sound like a cheap karaoke microphone. You will not get radio quality with this microphone but you will be able to record some pretty decent demo quality stuff or in my case some sample sets that I give out to friends and family so they can check out my mixes. The Audio-Technica AT2020 is very affordable you can purchase it for 150 dollars and I have been using this microphone since the spring of 2011. It has held up very well for that price and I have used it over a hundred times. OVERALL OPINION You can use this microphone for a lot more than just vocals, I have seen it used for acoustic guitar and even bass. When you purchase it , it will come with a USB cable and a small tripod that will hold the microphone for like if you put it on a desk. It will also come with a small pouch to carry it in. Sometimes less is more in some situations, and in stead of spending a lot of money on a microphone and a mixer for your home set up, you can just purchase the Audio-Technica AT2020 and get almost the same quality and it will work for you (if you only are tying to record 1 track at a time). There really isn’t a need to spend a lot of money on all those other things when you can just get a USB microphone. Don’t think that you can just get any USB microphone though, some of them are really trash! Get the AT2020 by Audio-Technica.

The Go mic is not your typical USB condenser mic it's a simple usb mic made for recording vocals/sounds. I found it very useful in terms of conducting skype meetings as well as podcasts. It comes with a mic clip attached to it making it easy to clip to a laptop or other thin edge object (this way you're not holding it in your hand) I love the fact that the go mic is plug and play (no manual driver installation) as with most other usb mics on the market. I also love the fact that it's light weight making it easy to carry around and small enough to fit into a laptop bag (or pocket) – Making it easy to record ideas when I’m away from my studio. What I like least about this mic is it doesn't have a lot of mounting options such as mic stands, desk mic stands etc. OVERALL OPINION What I like least about this mic is it doesn't have a lot of mounting options such as mic stands, desk mic stands etc. This is a good mic for those who are creating podcasts, online tutorials or engaging in Skype meetings. I would not use this mic as a studio recording mic as you want get the same results you would with something more professional. It's really hard shopping for mics (quality vs price tag) there are some good ones out there as well as some really bad ones. I originally purchased this mic because it looked cool (yes because it looked it cool) and it was only $30.00. I figured it be great little podcasting or talk back mic to use in my recording studio plus I'm a gadget freak. I love usb devices regardless of what purchase they serve I've worked with other usb mics and honestly this one is by far the smallest and the most unique designed mic I've some across. I feel $30-$40 it's worth the price.

The Blue Microphones EyeBall 2.0 is a unique condenser microphone and camera combination, designed to sit on the top of your computer monitor like a webcam. It’s a cool like device that enables you to always have a camera and microphone set up and ready to go for getting quick ideas and otherwise. The mic only records at a 44.1 kHz, 16 bit sample rate but this shouldn’t be a problem if you are using this properly. It’s got a cardioid pick up pattern and a frequency response from 35 Hz to 20 kHz. It’s got full HD video capabilities and a built in USB port to connect it to your computer. OVERALL OPINION The Blue Microphones EyeBall 2.0 is an inexpensive way to get a pretty decent mic and video camera combination. I’ve been told that the video camera is the same that is found on the iPhone 4, so it’s a pretty decent little camera and the microphone sounds pretty darn good considering the format that it comes in. It’s a simple USB device that makes it easy to quickly record video and/or audio. Don’t consider it to be a professional version of a microphone or camera but it’s still good enough to get basic ideas down in either medium. The best part of the Blue Microphones EyeBall 2.0 is going to have to be the price as you can get one of these for quite cheap. If I didn’t already have a webcam with my Mac Book Pro, I’d definitely consider adding it to my computer. Even so, it’s a better quality camera than my computer from what I can see so it’s possibly I’ll get one anyway at some point, even if just to have a decent sounding microphone set up at all times for quick recording of new song ideas. I’d check it out if any of the aforementioned applications sound like something you need!

First things first. The reason I wouldn’t give the Meteor mic a perfect rating is because The included cable is horrible. Its very thin and was picking up a lot of interference in the form of a high pitched whine. Switched out for a better shielded cable I already had and viola! No noise and sounds great. Aside from the cheap cable this mic sounds great! Works perfect for my needs(Acoustic guitar, voice, basic drums and small guitar amps).The mute function is great as I don't want to hear anything but the playback from Garageband when I'm not recording. OVERALL OPINION It's really well build and has a nice weight to it, doesn't feel cheap at all. Even the volume knob is nice and solid feeling, unlike some USB mics with the same feature this doesn't feel like I'm going to break it. The mic stand mount on the bottom is a great thing along with the built in legs, and the placement of the USB and Headphone Jacks couldn't be better, their out of the way as they should be. Overall I love the Meteor! Best deal I have found so far this year! If you need a simple solution for recording and don't need a ton of gear buy the Meteor! Don't forget to get a better USB cable. But if you can get a better chord you will love this mic. I never thought a USB mic could be this powerful but its true, not to mention there is no latency involved. Most usb stuff that goes from hardware to software has some sorty of latency that’s why they say midi and firewire are better than usb. But with this I detect no latency at all and im very pleased with it. Might look into getting a second one of these in the near future.

This studio condenser mic is an affordable option for the musician looking for quality playback. A built in USB interface makes your life simple with a cord running from mic to computer identical to your printer cord. The 19mm diaphragm is equipped for sound pressure levels as high as 136db, yet contains the sensitivity to get the punch you want, as well as the subtle background sounds, equally as precise. Sound sources can be spread out and directed in all direction thanks to its wide spread hypercardioid pickup pattern. OVERALL OPINION The best part about this mic is its convenience and affordable price. For a hundred dollars or less, one can begin recording with the plug-in of a cord. I reccommend downloading the free software Samson offers at their website to go along with the USB interface to insure you are getting the most out of your recording. For the amateur or intermediate studio musician on a budget, this should tie you over for awhile. I personally recorded several songs with acoustic guitar and vocals with results good enough for me to post the songs online confidently. Although, I did deal with some minor phasing or wahing kind of sound with some of my recordings which could have been due to my product's old age. For the pro's, there is a whole other spectrum of quality microphones and this one may just be easy to skip by. The cheap built in USB interface convenience loses its attractiveness as the wallets get fatter. To conclude, I don't at all regret my purchase but I may have been more satisfied saving up and spending a bit more money on a higher quality Samson USB Microphone or even a Shure PG42USB Condenser Mic.

USB mics have been mostly ignored by established studios. Many of them are considered toys or something an amateur would use. The Samson G-Track is trying to change that perception. The G-Track has a large diaphram condenser that that has a 19mm capsule and a supercardioid pickup pattern. Because of the supercardioid design the mic does not pickup sounds from the side so this is ideal if you are using it next to a computer. The construction is heavy and strong and it has plug and play operation across operating system platforms. It has a volume control that changes the monitor volume. Below that that is the instrument knob which controls the input level and finally a mic level. It can handle moo or stereo instrument line inputs by the switch on the body of the mic. It has line inputs with monitoring and level controls. The onboard stereo head phone jack lets you monitor directly from the mic or you can use it with a set of speakers. It's USB connection is where you would find an XLR jack on most microphones. It takes some software tweaking to get the best sound from this microphone. Without tweaking you can get some strange background noise in your recordings. OVERALL OPINION This mic is good for quick recordings when you need to get an idea down. With tweaking and smart use you can get a professional sound from the G-Track. This is probably the best USB condensor mic on the market and can be a good start to your computer based recording studio.

This is a really cool new microphone designed by Blue. They have an amazing selection of microphones, and this one, while a lot different from most of the other microphones I've tried, has a lot going for it as well. It's a USB condenser mic, which wasn't even in existence a few years ago. It's an attempt to bring more clarity and depth to the sounds that can be achieved with a USB microphone. I must say that it succeeds very well. I'm surprised that it costs so little as well, since it has such a rich sound for a small microphone. OVERALL OPINION This is a great microphone to purchase if you frequently are talking over the internet via SKYPE or Google voice chat. While the built-in computer mics of today are getting better and better, having a nice clear microphone can make these conversations much more enjoyable. If you have to record narration for a presentation, have a meeting online, or need some way to make your voice sound better without buying a whole lot of equipment, this is a great mic to have. I was also surprised at how well it worked as a mic for music. It can realistically record vocals, guitars, and can actually pretty accurately pick up a whole room sound. I use it in Garage band with good results. These are really only demo quality, and for that they work great. But you could record videos to put on youtube with this mic and have great sound with it. Overall this is just a great addition. While USB mics aren't really known for great sound, Blue has made a product that, for me, disproves the idea that they can't make sound great. While they aren't suited to record professionally, they can make your internet life much easier, and they can prevent you from having to setup a Pro Tools session if you want to make a quick demo.