The Direct Connection

Apr 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Gino Robair

Six USB microphones that make recording easier.

Røde Podcaster
The Australian-made Røde Podcaster feels solid and is much heavier than the other mics in the roundup (see Fig. 4). Designed specifically for voice-over work rather than music recording, this neodymium-based dynamic mic has a 1.1-inch diaphragm with a cardioid pattern. It was designed for maximum off-axis rejection so that room tone and noise from shuffling papers wouldn't be prominent in the signal.

The Podcaster comes with a USB cable, a rugged mic clip that screws onto the locking collar at the base of the mic, and, when you register the mic online, a conditional ten-year warranty from the date of purchase. The mic clip gives you 180 degrees of positioning, which I found especially useful with an end-address mic.

On the side of the Podcaster are a stereo headphone minijack and a headphone volume control that lets you set the level of the combined signals of the mic and digital recording software. (You'll have to set the balance of the input and playback tracks within your audio application.) The onboard headphone output is designed to give you latency-free monitoring as you record. Considering that the mic is designed for use by nonspecialists, many of whom may not know about technical issues such as latency and buffer sizes, the onboard headphone jack is a very useful feature. On the opposite side of the mic is a status LED that indicates when the mic is receiving power.

The Podcaster is nearly 8.5 inches long and reminds me of that old broadcasting standard, the Electro-Voice RE20, in appearance. The published frequency response is 40 Hz to 14 kHz, with an 8 dB presence boost around 9 to 10 kHz. The response chart in the manual shows a 16 dB drop at the lowest extreme and about a 10 dB drop after about 12 kHz.

The capsule is not internally shockmounted and the mic is susceptible to handling noise. You'll want to use Røde's PSM-1 spider-style shockmount ($49) if floor- or tableborne rumble is an issue.

The manual is very useful and provides tips on using the mic with a Mac and PC, getting the best results when recording, and installing and using the Podcaster software for Windows users (available from www.rodepodcaster.com). The application, which boosts the level before the A/D converter to improve the signal-to-noise ratio, offers a volume control, a level meter, and a mute button.

Samson CO1U
Samson offers USB versions of two of its mics. Many of the specs of the USB and non-USB versions are similar, although the SPL is several dB lower and the self-noise is slightly higher in the USB mics.

Like the original CO1, the CO1U is a side-address mic with an electret condenser element, a 0.75-inch internally shockmounted diaphragm, and a supercardioid polar pattern (see Fig. 5). This type of pattern is useful for spoken-word applications, where you want a high degree of rejection of off-axis sound.

The frequency response is 50 Hz to 18 kHz. The included chart shows the low end dropping at 150 Hz to about -7 dB at 50 Hz. The upper end has a 2 dB presence boost at about 3 kHz and a 4 dB rise at 11 kHz, before dropping to -6 dB at 18 kHz.

When purchased as single units, the Samson USB mics come with a lightweight plastic mic clip, a USB cable, a tabletop tripod stand, Cakewalk Sonar LE, and a vinyl bag that is big enough for the mic only. However, the CO1U I received was part of the CO1U Recording Pak ($249.99). Along with the microphone, clip, USB cable, and Cakewalk Sonar LE, the package includes a weighted tabletop stand, a spider-style shockmount, and a locking aluminum flight case.

The CO1U feels solid and substantial in your hand, and the included base and clip hold the mic securely. As with the MXL USB.006, you attach the CO1U to the mic clip by unscrewing the base, setting the mic into the clip, and then reattaching the base.

Although its USB mics work fine on their own, Samson offers a freeware applet called SoftPre (Mac/Win) that gives you greater control over the gain within the mic's internal A/D chip. With a range of -62 to +48 dB in 1 dB increments for the CO1U and Q1U (and a range of -13 to +24 dB for the CO3U), the applet offers input metering with a clip indicator, a switch for inverting phase, and a low-cut filter (-12 dB per octave), which is continuously variable from 21 to 200 Hz.

Samson CO3U
Based on the CO3 design, the CO3U (see Fig. 6) has two 0.75-inch diaphragms. According to the published frequency response chart, it yields an overall flatter response than the CO1U, but with an 8 dB presence boost at 7 kHz. The CO3U lets you choose one of three polar patterns from a switch on the back: omni, supercardioid, and figure-8. On the front of the mic is a switchable -10 dB pad and a low-cut filter (-6 dB at 180 Hz).

The CO3U feels solid like the CO1U and comes with the same set of accessories. The CO3U is also available in a Recording Pak configuration ($344.99).

Samson Q1U
The Q1U is a dynamic end-address microphone that resembles a handheld vocal mic (see Fig. 7) but is not resistant to handling noise. It features a 1-inch element with a Mylar diaphragm. Like the other Samson mics, it comes with a mic clip, a USB cable, a tabletop tripod stand, Cakewalk Sonar LE, and a vinyl bag for the mic. It has a wide, supercardioid pattern, though the response chart shows that there is less off-axis rejection in higher frequencies.

The published frequency response is 50 Hz to 16 kHz. The chart shows a gentle rolloff beginning at 200 Hz and dropping -10 dB to 50 Hz. The presence boost starts at 1.5 kHz and reaches +5 dB at 5 kHz, rolling off to 0 at 10 kHz and dropping to -8 dB at 16 kHz from there. Like the previous two mics, the Q1U feels hefty and solid.

Idiotproof

I began the roundup by setting up each mic on my desktop and, one at a time, plugging them into the USB port on the back of my Mac G4 tower (running Mac OS X 10.3.9), my Mac G4 laptop (running OS X 10.4.8), and a Dell laptop running Windows XP. I wanted to know if the mics were truly hassle-free to set up, and to see if there were any obvious differences between them. All of the mics were immediately recognized by the computers and passed audio to my recording applications. From then on, I used my Mac laptop for the recording tests.

Initially I didn't use any additional software to bump up the signal. With the Mac, I increased the gain to maximum in the System Preferences→Sound panel whenever possible to test each mic's output limits. In the Input section of the System Preferences→Sound panel, I received an input volume control for the Snowball, Podcaster, and each of the Samson mics. With the MXL USB.006, however, a message reading “the selected device has no input controls” replaced the horizontal volume control. Perhaps that is because the MXL USB.006 has a level control on the mic that attenuates the gain to the internal A/D chip.

Surprisingly, the three Samson mics were significantly louder than the other mics when simply plugged into the computers. To get distortion-free recordings on the Mac, I brought the level down slightly using the System Preferences→Sound panel. In addition, I downloaded and installed Samson's SoftPre to get more control over the volume level and to use the highpass filter. Samson offers only a Universal Binary version for OS X, but I was assured it would work with a G4.

However, whenever I launched SoftPre, the overall level of the mics was reduced, forcing me to boost the signal when recording by about 20 to 30 dB on the CO1U and Q1U, and 10 dB on the CO3U. In addition, the mics didn't always behave properly, even when SoftPre wasn't launched.

According to a Samson spokesman, SoftPre installs a kernel extension, which in my case was conflicting with other software extensions on my laptop. He added that “a very small number of users that install SoftPre have encountered system conflicts. When this occurs, we recommend uninstalling SoftPre and using the mic without the application.” With Samson's help, I did the uninstall, though it required a few more steps than I had anticipated. (The steps to do an uninstall for Windows XP users are already online, and the OS X instructions should be online by the time you read this.)

Despite my troubles with SoftPre, Senior Editor Mike Levine had no issues when using it with his Samson CO1U and Mac G5. If you purchase a Samson mic, I suggest that you use it without SoftPre for a period of time and download SoftPre only if you really need features such as low cut or a phase switch.