avoiding latency with a usb microphone? other options?

newpollution · 11th December 2009, 01:15 AM

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to buy a microphone as a gift for someone. He wants to do jamming and looping on his computer, using a program like Max/MSP basically as a fancy looping/delay pedal. He doesn't have a microphone beyond the computer's built-in one and I'm trying to figure out a cheap option to use in this context.

Since he also doesn't have an interface of any kind, I figured a USB microphone for 40-100 bucks might be my best option. However, I'm a little worried about latency issues, since the main thing he'll be doing is overdubbing many loops on top of each other. I was thinking of getting the Blue Snowflake microphone or something like that. Do you think this would cause some latency problems (assuming he's just monitoring out of the 1/8" laptop output on headphones or computer speakers)?

If this is an unavoidable problem, what other options do I have? Would the only solution be to get a cheap interface and mic? I'm trying to keep this under 100 dollars. I know that's pretty limiting, but any suggestions or ideas are much appreciated. Thanks!

aof21 · 11th December 2009, 06:00 AM

Shure | X2u - XLR to USB Microphone Signal Adapter | X2U | B&H

You could try something like this. Already $99 by itself and doesn't include the mic, but it has a monitor wheel where you can mix the output signal from the computer with the sound straight off the mic so you can monitor yourself with no latency.

Tried it with a mac, it's plug and play there, works and sounds good. Tried it with a windows xp machine too, but couldn't get it to work right. Got some sound but it was all scratchy and really low levels, so I wouldn't recommend it for a PC, but maybe I just have to install drivers (but it said I shouldn't have to..?)

joeyjazz · 11th December 2009, 07:04 PM

According to the manual the X2u requires XP SP1 or more recent otherwise you have to get some USB Audio Driver from MS. It's a really nice and very convenient thing to have around when I want to do a quick demo and don't feel like setting up my full rack mounted firewire interface since I'm just a home studio guy that can't afford a dedicated space of my own. The only drawback for the budget listed is it costs a little over $100 by itself and you'd still need a microphone. The advantage of that would be that if your friend ever wants to upgrade to a nicer microphone he'd still have a nice interface to use it with.

aof21 · 12th December 2009, 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeyjazz

The advantage of that would be that if your friend ever wants to upgrade to a nicer microphone he'd still have a nice interface to use it with.

yeah, that's exactly what I'm thinking too. with a usb mic you are stuck. with this, you can start with a $25 mic, making the total package about $125 and and down the road upgrade to something nicer.

rackdude · 12th December 2009, 12:28 AM

The at2020 is a great usb mic and you can avoid latency using ASIO4ALL.

11th December 2009, 01:15 AM	#1
newpollution Gear Head Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 67	avoiding latency with a usb microphone? other options? Hi everyone, I'm trying to buy a microphone as a gift for someone. He wants to do jamming and looping on his computer, using a program like Max/MSP basically as a fancy looping/delay pedal. He doesn't have a microphone beyond the computer's built-in one and I'm trying to figure out a cheap option to use in this context. Since he also doesn't have an interface of any kind, I figured a USB microphone for 40-100 bucks might be my best option. However, I'm a little worried about latency issues, since the main thing he'll be doing is overdubbing many loops on top of each other. I was thinking of getting the Blue Snowflake microphone or something like that. Do you think this would cause some latency problems (assuming he's just monitoring out of the 1/8" laptop output on headphones or computer speakers)? If this is an unavoidable problem, what other options do I have? Would the only solution be to get a cheap interface and mic? I'm trying to keep this under 100 dollars. I know that's pretty limiting, but any suggestions or ideas are much appreciated. Thanks!

11th December 2009, 06:00 AM	#2
aof21 Lives for gear Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 557	Shure \| X2u - XLR to USB Microphone Signal Adapter \| X2U \| B&H You could try something like this. Already $99 by itself and doesn't include the mic, but it has a monitor wheel where you can mix the output signal from the computer with the sound straight off the mic so you can monitor yourself with no latency. Tried it with a mac, it's plug and play there, works and sounds good. Tried it with a windows xp machine too, but couldn't get it to work right. Got some sound but it was all scratchy and really low levels, so I wouldn't recommend it for a PC, but maybe I just have to install drivers (but it said I shouldn't have to..?) __________________ Alden F soundcloud.com/aldenf

12th December 2009, 12:28 AM	#5
rackdude Lives for gear Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Orange County, CA or Oberlin, OH Posts: 1,752	The at2020 is a great usb mic and you can avoid latency using ASIO4ALL. __________________ Just having fun!

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11th December 2009, 07:04 PM	#3
joeyjazz Gear nut Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 103	According to the manual the X2u requires XP SP1 or more recent otherwise you have to get some USB Audio Driver from MS. It's a really nice and very convenient thing to have around when I want to do a quick demo and don't feel like setting up my full rack mounted firewire interface since I'm just a home studio guy that can't afford a dedicated space of my own. The only drawback for the budget listed is it costs a little over $100 by itself and you'd still need a microphone. The advantage of that would be that if your friend ever wants to upgrade to a nicer microphone he'd still have a nice interface to use it with.