question about usb condenser mic

[oyeloclaro]

wassup yall, i need some opinions here.

i've been doing a lot of research. you see, i need a mic to record vocals at home quite soon, and also for podcasting. so i asked a friend who's a music student and she gave me advise, like this:

- "dont use a dynamic mic for home recordng"
- "you want, you can get a cheap condenser mic"
- "and get one that is usb"

but she also told me this

- "you better hope your com can take the usb mic cuz if the soundcard doesnt supply enuf power to the mic, a surge may occur and the mic is dead"

i've done research and i know that usually mics need phantom power from an audio interface but usb mics dont need an audio interface


i found out that sim lim sells audio technica AT2020 and CAD U37, but i'm more interested in samson co1u from swee lee because the reviews on youtube seem good.

ok anyway, my friend isnt very knowledgeable about hardware, but she said that last statement, so my main question is this:

"will the mic really die if my laptop soundcard doesnt supply enuf power?"

my laptop is quite... X_X
(it's not the high end type...)

and since i need to record quite urgently i dont intend to get a new laptop... and i dont have enuf money to spend on an audio interface.

phew that was a long post. what say yall?

 

[blueprintstudios]

read http://tinyurl.com/diyrecording yet?

usb mics are mic+preamp+audiointerface all in one, and USB powered by your laptop powersupply/mainboard. not your soundcard. indeed your ideal options and i doubt your laptop soundcard will kill your mic. not that I heard of such a thing before...

 

[oyeloclaro]

read http://tinyurl.com/diyrecording yet?

usb mics are mic+preamp+audiointerface all in one, and USB powered by your laptop powersupply/mainboard. not your soundcard. indeed your ideal options and i doubt your laptop soundcard will kill your mic. not that I heard of such a thing before...

hi blueprintstudios. yes i've read that. i didn't fully understand everything because i'm not so much a hardware person, but i kinda guessed that the power comes from the laptop's power supply and not my soundcard. my friend isn't very knowledgeable in hardware either so she must have just said soundcard by accident.

but on a whole, yes, i think a usb condenser mic wld meet my current needs. if the power supply isnt a big issue then i would go ahead and buy a mic.

 

[widdly]

If you check the details here..
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810

The mic draws 26mA. USB provides 100mA per unit and 5 units can be drawn by a single port. So you should have no problems unless you are sharing a LOT of other USB devices on the same port

 

[oyeloclaro]

If you check the details here..
http://www.samsontech.com/products/productpage.cfm?prodID=1810

The mic draws 26mA. USB provides 100mA per unit and 5 units can be drawn by a single port. So you should have no problems unless you are sharing a LOT of other USB devices on the same port

ok. thanks for the info!

 

[oyeloclaro]

hey yall.

i spoke to a man who's quite familiar with hardware and computers. he said if possible, i get a usb cable that has 2 usb jacks.

you know, some external harddisks have a cable that come with 2 usb jacks? the extra usb jack is to supply extra power to the external harddisk if needed.

is there such a cable for usb condenser mics? (i'm almost decided on getting the samson co1u)

to play safe i will bring my laptop to the shop to try the mic before purchasing it.

 

[blueprintstudios]

oyeloclaro : that usb cable is only for hard disk! your usb mic is not a hard disk.

the reason why there's 2 is because one transfers data, and the other one focuses on powering up the notebook hdd. often cases notebook hdds just use 1 usb cable to power + data at the same time.

widdly here is if i don't recall wrong, quite the electronics guru.

i'm no guru but as a pc technician for a decade now, "So you should have no problems unless you are sharing a LOT of other USB devices on the same port " <-- i 2nd what he said.

"to play safe i will bring my laptop to the shop to try the mic before purchasing it. " <-- definitely not a prob, just don't use that "dual usb cable" if your laptop fries their mic instead, you may find yourself end up having to pay for a new one which you made faulty.

 

[oyeloclaro]

a'ight! got it. thank you! =D

 

[widdly]

You definitely don't need one of those dual plug things. That mic draws 26mA which is less than an optical mouse (60mA).