Anyone using Apogee Mic?

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Well I've decided I can't live with the onboard mic for recording vocals and I'm very close to buying one of these. It's more than I wanted to spend but I've managed to sell a few bits and I want something compact that's just gonna plug in and work amd give me a good quality recording. I don't want to be bothered with powered hubs or camera connection kits...

The one thing that's slightly bothering me is working with no zero-latency monitoring. I guess it will be like going back to my DJ days with my headphones half on!!

Anyone using one of these? Anyone bought it and regretted it? How do you manage latency? (I'll be using it with Garageband and Loopy on an ipad 3)

cheers guys!

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I was curious to see what issues the mic may be having so I checked the Apogee support page and found the following potential issues:

iOS Device Trouble Shooting

No audio input with GarageBand and MiC

Symptoms - If you are using iOS 4 and connect an Apogee MiC, GarageBand may display a message to connect a microphone or other input device. If you press record, you may see a message that the device does not have an audio input and that you cannot record. Resolution - This issue is resolved in iOS 5.

MiC not initialized (no blue LED) after a cold start of the iOS device

On iOS devices updated to iOS 5, MiC may not be initialized after starting the iOS device from a powered-down state. In this case, MiCʼs LED indicator is not illuminated blue (as should be the case). Simply disconnect then re-connect MiC, or connect MiC after the iOS device has completed its start- up sequence.

After sleeping then waking an iOS device while GarageBand is open, audio may become distorted

Symptoms - After an iOS device goes through a Sleep/Wake cycle, audio may become distorted. Resolution - Quit all audio apps (see clicks and pops below) and re-launch GarageBand

No input after connecting Apple headphones with mic

Symptoms - After connecting Apple iPhone headphones, or other headphone equipped with a built-in mic, audio apps donʼt accept input from MiC. Resolution - iOS devices accept audio input from the most recently connected peripheral, in this case the built-in mic. To re-establish input from MiC, disconnect and re-connect MiC.

Clicks and Pops on iOS devices

Tip - When experiencing clicks and pops on iOS devices, try closing all apps and re-starting the audio app with these steps: 1) Press the Home button to return to the Home screen 2) Double-tap the Home button to display recent apps 3) Tap and hold the affected app until the red minus appears 4) Tap the red minus to quit the app.

GarageBand and Airplay - Bluetooth - HDMI equipped output devices

GarageBand 1.01 and higher offers the capability to output to external output devices equipped, including Airplay, Bluetooth and HDMI-equipped media devices. When using any of these devices there is no support of audio input, including MiC. See the Apple Support article which describes this functionality here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4622.

Latency

Weʼve measured latency from MiC through GarageBand iPad to iPad headphone output to be 23ms. We havenʼt found instances of latency inconsistency, though there are reports from the field indicating that latency can increase.

I hope these support suggestions help you weigh your options.
One other issue (minor) to think about, but is important to me is the usb cable length of 3 meters. This is not a big issue for most people, but sometimes it is necessary to be able to monitor from the next room and usb mics will all have this limitation.
"All generalizations are false".
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Thanks for.that martygras. 23 ms will be a little annoying and seems not really usable for a tight vocal performance. it seems strange to me that Apogee would make a mic for the iPad with no solution to the issue of latency! However, reviews all seem positive so I guess people are finding it workable... There's a video on their site of a singer songwriter using mic with GB who seems to be having no issues whatsoever! i would be using it to layer vocals so timing would be crucial.. If anyone could chime in who actually uses one of these I would love to hear from you!

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Well you could always try out iRig Mic, iRig Mic Cast or even iRig PRE if you want to use it with a normal XLR microphone. It even supplies Phantom power for condensers.
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Hi Obik, how is the irig mic with GarageBand? I read that it didn't perform well with GB?

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There are also the microphones by Blue.
Spark Digital and Mikey Digital.
http://bluemic.com/iOS_devices/

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Thanks for that Resonator. I much prefer the look and form of the Apogee mic but the Spark Digital has the zero latency monitoring so would probably be a better option. It would also be compatible with my PC and laptop so that's another plus... It's pretty pricey here in the UK tho... £199

I'd love to know how the sound compares to the Apogee but it's only just come out so I'll have to wait a bit for a detailed review I guess

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I personally use my Apogee Jam with this adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-CP ... B0002CZYFC

If the link doesn't show up, it's an Audio Technica CP8201 low z-high z impedance transformer.

I'm sure the Apogee Mic is good, but this way I can choose any mic I want to use, and I can still use the Jam for my instruments as well.

Works fine on my iPad, my Kemper, a guitar amp input, etc. I don't sing, but I use it to mic acoustic guitar and harmonica.

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Definitely stick with the mics that connect through the dock connector, as they will have better sound quality than anything going through the headphone jack.

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ah, ok... well, both the Spark Digital and the Apogee Mic connect through the dock. Sound quality on both should be pretty great really. It's just this damn latency that's bugging me! Just don't know how much of an issue it would be.. I might just buy an Apogee Mic and try it out. I'll let y'all know how it goes!!

Thanks for everyone's input. Oh, and I'd still like to hear from anyone who's using either the Apogee Mic or any new Blue Spark Digital users

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sazb30 wrote:Hi Obik, how is the irig mic with GarageBand? I read that it didn't perform well with GB?
iRig Mic works very well with Garage Band, we tested all our products with GB as soon as it came out and we still find them working very well.

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