Just looking up some sites now (UK only, yes). Any recommendations from these pages?
Reminder of what I want:
-Excellent quality mic.
-Max to spend would be 100 pounds.
-Has to work with PC (See Redeye''s help above - I''ll just ask whomever I buy off about this).

http://www.bluearan.co.uk/sales/microphones/index.htm

http://www.applesoundshop.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Sennheiser_Evolution_Wired_Microphones_6.html

http://www.elmusic.co.uk/microphonesdept/mics2001.htm

I´m using an AKG C3000B.
And I´m very satrisfied with it. The price is nearly 100 pounds for a new one. But you need phantom power because it´s a condenser mic...

I also have bought the Antares mic modeler plugin. The c3000b mic is included there so I can map the sound of the most expensive microphones to my akg. This really creates a fat and bright vocal sound.

CU, Jochen

Phantom power?

I''ll do a few searches for the mic and specs you recommended, thanks.

I found a music store in the city, hooray, and found some good mic''s- mostly shure sm58''s, which I may go for, but was at a loss as to what jack to say I needed, though the guy didn''t have any for computers anyway.

A hardware veteran on ICQ : "you need an adapter from whatever it is to 1/8" (soundcard/headphone jack). just attach an adapter and plug it into your Audigy''s mic hole"

Does that description sound corect for what I need to ask for?

More specifically, you need an adapter that is female XLR (to connect to the microphone) to male 1/8" (to plug into the mic- in on the soundcard). The other part of the signal chain is that the microphone signal needs to be fed through a preamplifier. The mic-in on your soundcard includes a mic preamp circuit, but on Soundblaster cards its really not a very good quality one. Check out the sound, it might be good enough for your purpose, but if you find it to be too noisey, or just to "grainy" sounding then your next investment should be microphone preamp device. There are mic preamps ranging in prices from about $75US all the way up to $1,000''s. But even the $75-150.00 types will sound better than a Soundblaster or Audigy. Note: If you plug the mic into a preamp then the preamp will plug into your soundcard''s line-in.

Best of luck to you.

www.sonicfarms.com

Sonic Lab: (Not my post but I do have a question... ) Is it possible to in any way damage your sound card by running a pre-amp''ed signal into the line in, by for example turning it up too loud or by using a pre-am with incompatible electrical specs? I guess this may be paranoid, but I have a really, REALLY cheap amp (I mean something like $20 or less, it fits in my hand and has tons of distortion; it''s just for fun really) that I think it would be neat to go through for cool distortion sounds but I want to make sure I''m not going to kill my Creative SoundBlaster Audio PCI 64V. I don''t know the specs on either. By the way, I have a Labtech "stick mic," can you run PC mics through a pre-amp or can you only use non-PC mics this way? As you can tell I''m not exactly a mic/amp expert by a long shot! I just want to have fun without destroying anything.

gee... i like destroying things...

but, no, i dont think you can destroy your soundcard with it. well, you could, but i think it would be pretty tough. most cards have some built-in limiters. even if they dont, it shouldnt matter. i dont think your amp puts out that much power for 20 dollars. just start with no volume and gradually turn it up and see what happens. if your comp blows up, stop.

and any mic should work with any input, but you might need an adapter. use common sense here. buy what fits. i imagine the mic has a 1/8 male jack, and you are probably plugging into either a 1/4 or 1/8 female jack. in case you didnt figure it out, male and female match up pretty well. you might have an xlr thing on the end of your mic cord (three prong-things) but like i said, just buy what fits and you cant go wrong.

good luck to you and sa-magic!

-geo


[edited by - redeyegames on December 22, 2002 11:44:30 PM]

Bob III,

I have to agree with Redeye, I don’t think your mic could damage your Soundblaster, however, it is possible to damage your soundcard by sending too high a level into it’s line-in (or mic-in) but most microphone preamps have a fixed “line level” output which wouldn’t become high enough to cause that problem. So if your amplifier is something that has non-line level outputs it might be capable of sending too high a level and overdriving your soundcard. Check the amp you have, the line level out will usually be labeled as such and typically be in the form of RCA or maybe XLR jack outputs.

As to your stick mic….. typically any mic, even the inexpensive ones that come with your computer are made to plug into a soundcard mic-in or into a mic preamp, rather than straight into your soundcard line-in. (The mic-in on your Soundblaster includes a mic preamp circuit already)

Hope this helps


www.sonicfarms.com

Yeah, that was informative. Any idea how I could find out the line limits for my soundcard? It didn''t show up under the Control Panel->System. As for the amp, I don''t think it was intended to work with a PC; I may be wrong, but I think it''s really just a toy to use with an electric guitar or the like.

Bob III, here’s a link to Creative’s Hardware spec page for your SB PCI 64 card
http://www.americas.creative.com/support/specs/hardware.asp?Centric=16⊂=101&SearchSite=
You can read what it says about the line inputs, but if you don’t have a way of measuring the output of your amp then these values probably may not help you. If your amp does not offer a line level out specifically then you run the risk of overdriving the input and causing damage. If it’s meant for a guitar you might look for a pre-amp out or recording out. If it has something like that then they would be line level outputs.



www.sonicfarms.com