Shure SM57 with MicroKorg XL's Vocoder

[modularjack]

Not 100% as I don't own a MicroKorg, however that bendy mic looks like it could be a condensor mic and would therefore be using phantom power. Do you have a mixer around there? I would try running the Shure through a mixer and then into the MicroKorg and see if that helps. Or if there's a phantom power switch on the back of the MicroKorg, try flipping it the other way. It's also possible your mic is bad or your cable is bad. Or even that you accidentally turned down the 'input level' on the microkorg. There are quite a few possible causes for the symptoms you are describing.

[soundxplorer]

Also, the 57 has a huge dropoff in level if you are more than just a couple of inches away from it. For speech/vocals you have to pretty much be kissing it to get a decent signal.

[Teknobeam]

Modular jack is right. The input is optimized for a condenser mic. Many mic. inputs with phantom also allow a dynamic mic. to be amplified, but my guess is that Korg didn't go to those lengths and assumed that most people would simply use the supplied free condenser microphone. The phantom power won't hurt the 57, but just don't plug in a ribbon mic. You will probably need to use a mic. pre into the input in order to achieve the gain you need. I have never heard the condenser mic. with that unit. Is it really that bad? It would certainly be low cost given the overall package. Can't go wrong with the eq curve inherently with the 57. it's not a hypercard, but you do need to pay attention to the polar pattern and stay on axis.

[andreasfrantz]

Thanks for the replies. It was as simple as the cables I tried it with was faulty. So I tried another cable and it worked great.

The reason I want to use another mic is that I'm using another synth to trigger my microkorg (when I play live) and I wanted to be able to use the vocoder from the distance (if you you what I mean)

Thanks anyhow.

Best regards,

Andreas.