KVR Audio

Karl the Hermit · Post by **Karl the Hermit** » Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:20 pm

Looking for a cheap-assed condenser mike to use for a musical project. It will be used mostly to drive a voice-to-midi app and doesn't have to be top-of-the-line. However, I will be doing some vocal recording and need something that will catch at least some of my vocal nuancing.

BTW, I'm in the US and will most likely be picking up at my local Guitar Center, so something they sell would be even more helpful.

Thanks!

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:37 pm

Depends what you mean by "cheap assed" ... Behringer C1 is possibly the cheapest. I'm currently using a Rode NT-1, which was reasonably priced, but sounds really good. The C1 is way less detailed (but much cheaper).

Karl the Hermit · Post by **Karl the Hermit** » Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:45 pm

thecontrolcentre wrote:Depends what you mean by "cheap assed" ... Behringer C1 is possibly the cheapest. I'm currently using a Rode NT-1, which was reasonably priced, but sounds really good. The C1 is way less detailed (but much cheaper).

Doing some shopping right now and it looks like the MXL 990 Blizzard Limited Edition Condenser Microphone might be a solid candidate. Not sure what they mean when they mention a "FET preamp," but I do have phantom power, so I'm only curious, but no worried about it.

VariKusBrainZ · Post by **VariKusBrainZ** » Mon Dec 11, 2017 2:54 pm

Neewer do really cheap but not totally shit mics. Got mine for £16

thecontrolcentre · Post by **thecontrolcentre** » Mon Dec 11, 2017 3:02 pm

SOS did a review of the MXL mics ...
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/mxl-v6-990-992

AsPeeXXXVIII · Post by **AsPeeXXXVIII** » Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:34 pm

The Superlux E205 isn't too pricey, but I'm not entirely sure as to how well it picks up subtle shifts.

JCJR · Post by **JCJR** » Tue Dec 12, 2017 4:13 pm

Karl the Hermit wrote:Not sure what they mean when they mention a "FET preamp," but I do have phantom power, so I'm only curious, but no worried about it.

Condenser mic capsules are at least a couple of different kinds. The "old original style" is a very thin metal-coated plastic membrane stretched "real close" to a metal plate. This makes a capacitor and they apply a voltage between the two plates of the capacitor. When sound moves the thin mylar diaphragm (or whatever plastic) the audio changes the value of the capacitor and a preamp inside the microphone is needed to boost this tiny signal big enough that a mixer or mic preamp has enough gain to deal with it.

The other version of capsule is a variation called an electret, where (I'm foggy on the details) thru the magic of chemistry they manage to talk the diaphragm into holding a semi-permanent charge, though even the electrets need voltage applied across the two plates of the capacitor in order to work as a microphone. Some reallly good electret mics have been made. If you see a mic you might like, if it turns out to be electret don't let that automatically kill the sale without further investigation.

In addition to a little preamp in a condenser mic body, POSSIBLY some condenser elements need more voltage across the capsule than delivered by phantom power. So some of the condenser mics might have voltage-multiplier circuitry in there if the manufacturer thinks the capsule needs more voltage than phantom voltage. I don't know that for a fact.

Since it is a capacitor and no DC voltage flows between the plates, even if one uses high voltage, it is "nearly nothing" so far as power draw from the phantom power, because it would just be boosting the internal voltage, but the high voltage is just "sitting there" doing nothing and expending no power, just keeping the mic capsule biased.

It also goes back to some phantom power is not full voltage. A full voltage phantom power would be something like 48 volts capable of delivering 1 or 2 milliamps current. Some inexpensive, otherwise nice preamps or mixers might only have 15 volts phantom power or some other lower level than 48 volts. Some condensers work just fine at reduced phantom voltage and some do not. Sometimes a mic's ad copy will mention whether the mic is friendly or intolerant to wimpy phantom power.

Sorry probably not explaining well-- The FET preamp thang-- That charged up capacitor when wiggled by audio hitting the diaphragm is a VERY weak signal, and it is very high impedance, which means the little capacitor motor cannot deliver much power and the output gets even worse if you load it down with a low-impedance internal preamp.

A FET is a kind of transistor where the input terminal is a capacitor and has no direct electrical connection to the output terminals. Because of this it has an input impedance typically many millions of ohms. You can hook up a fet to that capacitor capsule without loading down the capsule. So the FET "sees" the capsule output as loud as its gonna get, and then the FET amplifies that tiny signal louder. It would be common for the tiny little preamp to have more than one transistor, maybe all of em FETs or maybe just the input transistor. The combination by the time it gets done, has amplified the capsule voltage and also added "low impedance power drive" so you can go into a mixer or mic preamp nominal 600 ohm, more practically a few thousand ohms. The preamp adds voltage and also adds "oomph" power to drive low impedance loads without wimping out.

Vacuum tubes also have the good high-impedance characteristics as FETs, and all the old Condenser Mics used tiny vacuum tubes inside the mics to do what a FET might do today. There are ways to get a high impedance input circuit without tubes or FETs, so as with "electret" there may be many fine condenser mics which are neither tube nor FET mics.

Mister Natural · Post by **Mister Natural** » Wed Dec 13, 2017 2:02 am

I used to have one of these & found it decent : https://www.ebay.com/itm/Audio-Technica ... SwXPNaL1JV

best of luck !

Down and Dirty... Condenser Mikes