Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone

Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone

The C01U USB Studio Condenser Mic is the first affordable studio condenser mic with a USB interface.

For the first time ever, musicians who record music on computers have a simple, affordable way to capture high-quality vocal and acoustic instrument performances.

Seamless integration was the idea, and it was obtained by creating a studio condenser microphone that can be plugged into any computer with no in/out boxes, no expensive computer pre-amps, just a USB cable.

The C01U condenser microphone is based on our wildly successful C01. It features a 19mm internal shock mounted diaphragm with a cardioid pick up pattern ensuring pristine studio quality recordings.

The C01U works perfectly on any computer, Mac or PC, and with any DAW software program. It immediately solves a huge problem for users of many laptops, many of which have no other input method for audio devices.

It’s a must for any musician on the road or in the project studio, but the C01U is going to offer solutions to more than just musicians. The mic opens up possibilities for anyone who records audio—from Podcasters, journalists, students, and business people adding audio files to websites and multimedia presentations.

Feature List

• Large Diaphragm, 19mm, Studio Condenser with USB Digital Output.
• Compatible with any computer based Digital Audio Workstation.
• The extremely detailed sound reproduction makes it ideal for recording vocals, acoustic instruments and just about any other sound source.
• High Quality AD converter with 16 Bit, 48K sampling rate.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Does Not work with Vista
“Samson C01U USB mic records low volume on Vista.

This is a known behavior with the Samson Mic and the Vista operating system and is not specific with Camtasia Studio. Be sure to turn your recording volume up and speak directly into the microphone to obtain a good recording level. ”

The above is copied from the Camtasia Web site. This is apparently a well known problem with Vista. I’m encountering it too.

5 Stars Gain problem on Mac solved
On my Mac iBook G4 running 10.5.8 there had been a problem with these Samson USB CO1U mics that first came up when I switched them between laptops. The problem was there with Audacity and SoundStudio and it may be the same issue with other apps. I am using two of these mics for stereo recording, but the fix is the same for a single mic. The source of this problem is the fact that even though these are mono mics they have two output channels, and both channels must have their gain all the way up in order to have full gain from the mic. Setting gain in the system sound preference does not seem to accomplish this.

Go to the AudioMIDI Setup Utility in the utilities folder, select the Samson mic in the “Properties For” dropdown. Under “Audio Input” you will then see the option of 1 or 2 channels. Select 2-ch, then below to the left the L & R volume sliders for both channels should be all the way to the right. You can now put the mic setting back to 1-channel without affecting overall gain.

If you use two mics for stereo recording just set each mic like this individually, go to the Aggregate Device Editor under “Audio” on the menu bar, aggregate the two mics, and you’re done. If you need to balance the gain on them afterward you can do so by selecting them individually to make any changes. Make sure “Default Input” remains “Aggregate Device” (which BTW you can rename by going back to the “Aggregate Device Editor” and double clicking.) Unfortunately, on some Macs this resetting of mic gain has to be redone every time they are unplugged and plugged back in, but it’s quick and easy once you’ve done it. Hope this helps!

5 Stars Nice low cost mic
It took just a little playing to get the mic placement figured out, but now it produces nice sounding audio. What works well for my screencasts is to set it on the table right in front of me at about a 60 degree angle tilted away from me. So the green light on the front is pointed towards my mouth, but I talk over it. I look at the computer screen, so the main acoustic energy is flowing about 5 inches above the microphone rather than aimed straight at it. I also bought the windscreen for it to help smooth any acoustic bursts.

It works perfectly with Windows and Linux. Supposed to also work with Mac. For me, a big concern before buying a microphone was that it works with Linux. I didn’t have to do anything to get it to work with Linux. I just plugged it in and used the ALSA mixer to turn it on and used it with Audacity and RecordMyDesktop.

The graphical mixer tools work well to turn it on or off, but to make sure I get the same a good volume setting each time, I made a couple simple shell scripts after experimenting with the right volume setting.

$ cat micon

amixer -c 1 set ‘Mic’ 48 unmute cap on

$ cat micoff

amixer -c 1 set ‘Mic’ nocap mute

Then in recordMyDesktop, either specify hw:1,0 in the device box (graphical version) or from the command line, use -device hw:1,0.

Here is a sample of one of my screencasts with this mic using recordMyDeskTop in Linux. My voice is pretty deep, so that’s just me, not the mic.

[...]

Here is one where I compare it to two other mics. I did this one right after I got it, and hadn’t figured out the mic placement yet. I did this one in Windows. You can also find this recording on YouTube.

[...]

5 Stars Great mic at a great price
I was looking for a good high-quality condensor microphone. This is it. USB connected for digital no-noise signal. Standard size fit my stand and vibration mount. The sound is clean and perfect for voice applications. Highly recommended!

5 Stars Received right away and works great!
This was sent out fast and we were very happy with the promptness and condition of the product.

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Samson C01U Recording Podcasting Pak

Samson C01U Recording Podcasting Pak

C01UPAK C01U Microphone and Podcast Pack comes with CO1U mic, Cakewalk Sonar LE software, Desktop mic stand, mic clip, shockmount, USB cable, aluminum case.The C01U works perfectly on any computer, Mac or PC, and with any Digital Audio Workstation software. It immediately solves a huge problem for users of many laptops, many of which have no other input method for audio devices. For the first time ever, musicians who record music on computers have a simple, affordable way to capture high-quality vocal and acoustic instrument performances. Seamless integration was the idea, and it was obtained by creating a studio condenser microphone that can be plugged into any computer with no in/out boxes, no expensive computer pre-amps, just a USB cable. It features a 19mm internal shock mounted diaphragm with a cardioid pick up pattern ensuring pristine studio quality recordings. It’s a must for any musician on the road or in the project studio, but the C01U is going to offer solutions to more than just musicians. The mic opens up possibilities for anyone who records audio from Podcasters, journalists, students, and business people adding audio files to websites and multimedia presentations.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great Value
Just confirmed what most other reviews agree on: this is a high quality product for its price, while it’s only con is the software it comes with, which is not only bad, but also a trial version.

The voice over we recorded as a test came out clean and detailed, although I’m sure we still have to fine tune placement and levels to get the best out of it.

4 Stars Read this before you buy it
1. I found that I needed to remove the center insert from the stand’s tube with a small coin to unscrew the little inset. Had to call international long distance to get support on it.

2. I found that even if you plug it in, the Macintosh doesn’t automatically switch over to it, and I had to choose it in Preferences on the Mac.

3. The included software for the Mac was kind of inadequate.

Other than that, this product deserves its good rating! For me, RTFM the next time…

5 Stars Great Mic
Great mic i love it its bin working so good for me great sound its perfect

4 Stars A great product!
The microphone works great! It got a little banged up in shipping, however… it seems that the mic stand base shifted out of it’s place in the case (see picture)… it must of bounced around and hit the mic and dented it a little bit, but doesn’t affect the performance of the mic. It’s a solid, pro-quality microphone and very easy to hookup via the usb connection to your PC. I’m not fond of the recording software it comes with… there are better ones out there.

5 Stars Awesome studio quality mic!
I was looking for a good quality mic to do voice over work and play around with guitar recording just for the fun of it and wow did I make a perfect choice. I can’t tell you how high the quality of an acoustic guitar is over this mic! The overall quality of this product is ridiculous! Plug and go.

Now if I could just figure out how to get that bassy/warm radio announcer effect…

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Samson CO1U USB Condenser Mic Sonar Le Software Samson Windscreen Unique Squared Vinyl Stickers

Samson CO1U USB Condenser Mic Sonar Le Software Samson Windscreen Unique Squared Vinyl Stickers

For the first time ever, musicians who record music on computers have a simple, affordable way to capture high-quality vocal and acoustic instrument performances. Seamless integration was the idea, and it was obtained by creating a studio condenser microphone that can be plugged into any computer with no in/out boxes, no expensive computer pre-amps, just a USB cable. It features a 19mm internal shock mounted diaphragm with a cardioid pick up pattern ensuring pristine studio quality recordings. The C01U works perfectly on any computer, Mac or PC, and with any DAW software program. It immediately solves a huge problem for users of many laptops, many of which have no other input method for audio devices. It’s a must for any musician on the road or in the project studio, but the C01U is going to offer solutions to more than just musicians. The mic opens up possibilities for anyone who records audio?from Podcasters, journalists, students, and business people adding audio files to websites and multimedia presentations. Smooth, Flat Frequency Response USB connection cable included Perfect microphone for Podcasters as well as Musicians 16-bit sample resolution Supports 8 kHz, kHz, 22.05 kHz, 44.1 kHz, and 48 kHz sampling rates USB low-power device – draws 26 mA =>130 mW. In suspend mode 0.3 mA =>1.5 mW. Frequency response – 40 Hz to 18 kHz

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Samson C01UCW Studio USB Mic with Cakewalk Sonar LE

Samson C01UCW Studio USB Mic with Cakewalk Sonar LE

For the first time ever, musicians who record music on computers have a simple, affordable way to capture high-quality vocal and acoustic instrument performances. Seamless integration was the idea, and it was obtained by creating a studio condenser microphone that can be plugged into any computer with no in/out boxes, no expensive computer pre-amps, just a USB cable. It features a 19mm internal shock mounted diaphragm with a cardioid pick up pattern ensuring pristine studio quality recordings. The C01U works perfectly on any computer, Mac or PC, and with any DAW software program. It immediately solves a huge problem for users of many laptops, many of which have no other input method for audio devices. It’s a must for any musician on the road or in the project studio, but the C01U is going to offer solutions to more than just musicians. The mic opens up possibilities for anyone who records audio?from Podcasters, journalists, students, and business people adding audio files to websites and multimedia presentations. Smooth, Flat Frequency Response USB connection cable included Perfect microphone for Podcasters as well as Musicians 16-bit sample resolution.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Great tool
This was a very simple install but be sure to go to web site and download the software for adjusting the mike. The software disc sent with the mike is not intuitive at all and useless for my purposes. I am very happy with my purchase.

4 Stars good mic
i use this mic for recording music with garageband on my mac. i don’t have much of a recording studio setup, so i always end up with fuzz, but this mic made a significant improvement on that, as well as just working a whole lot better than the built in mic on the computetr. I feel it was well worth the money and would recommend the mic for a beginner musician like me, it may or may not be professional quality, i just don’t know. but it works well for both guitar and singing.

5 Stars Good Solid Performance at a resonable price
I am just starting to provide voice overs for tutorials and needed a convenient way to record audio on my PC. At first, I tried the classic headset/mic combo using my on board PC audio. This was unbearable to listen to.

I then purchased a Sony F-V220 Uni-Directional Vocal Microphone with Extended Frequency Response microphone. This was a distinct step up with vast improvements in sound quality. The remaining issue was hum introduced by the PC motherboard audio. I considered competing products for about 2 weeks until I settled upon the C01UCW.

The C01UCW promised great results with the ease of a single USB plug. I purchased one and would highly recommend it to others in my situation. The voice quality is great and the hiss/hum is virtually eliminated. The program I am using has an automatic filter to zero the levels between the actual speaking parts so when in actual use, the very little hiss that can be heard with windows sound recorder is completely lost when speaking normally.

The real test has been the positive responses from the people listening to the final results.

In summary, super simple USB installation (no drivers needed in WXP), very low noise, and great sound quality for a reasonable price.

The only niggles that I have with the C01UCW are:

The power light on the mic I received does not come on even though the mic works flawlessly. I am using a USB1.0 port while the device is USB2.0. The manual does not indicate that this should be normal.

The cardioid pattern was supposed to reject sounds from off-direction sources. It might be better than a unidirectional mic but with the sensitivity of this mic, any noise that has direct line of sight to the front of the mic is likely to be picked up. I can tell that those sounds from behind the mic are distinctly reduced.

I did not use the Cakewalk software. The stand works but only accepts the heavy mic in very limited stances. The heavy mic puts the center of gravity very high and the short stand legs have a difficult time compensating. I also purchased the isolation shockmount further raising the CG exacerbating the problem. To be sure, the stand works and I use the stand. I just use the stand in one position with the weight supported over one leg of the stand as the only viable option. It is definitely better to have the stand than not. It saved quite a bit of hassle and money to get the stand as a bundle.

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Samson CO1 Condenser Mic with Software

Condenser Mic with Software

Record studio quality audio directly into your computers USB input and digital recording software with the Samson C01U!Some very clever Samson engineers managed to build the entire USB audio interface into the barrel of their best selling C01 Studio Condenser microphone. For the first time ever, musicians who record music on computers have a simple, affordable way to capture high-quality vocal and acoustic instrument performances. Seamless integration was the idea, and it was obtained by creating a studio condenser microphone that can be plugged into any computer with no in/out boxes, no expensive computer pre-amps, just a USB cable (includes 10 foot cable).The C01U condenser microphone features a 19mm internal shock mounted diaphragm with a cardioid pick up pattern ensuring pristine studio quality recordings. The C01U works perfectly on any computer, Mac or PC, and with any DAW software program. It immediately solves a huge problem for users of many laptops, many of which have no other input method for audio devices.Its a must for any musician on the road or in the project studio, but the C01U is going to offer solutions to more than just musicians. The mic opens up possibilities for anyone who records audiofrom Podcasters, journalists, students, and business people adding audio files to websites and multimedia presentations.The C01U comes bundled with Cakewalk Sonar LE, their vastly popular digital audio workstation software, giving users additional power and versatility to digitally record audio in any situation.Also available as a package which comes with a desktop mic stand, mic clip, shockmount and USB cable in a durable, lightweight aluminum case.Samson C01U USB Microphone FeaturesIndustrys first affordable USB Studio Condenser micPlugs in directly to any computer with a USB inputCardioid Pickup PatternLarge 19mm DiaphragmH

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Easy as pie
This is a USB mic. It plugs directly into the USB jack of the computer, thus bypassing the need for an audio interface mixer. That said this is a quality mic with good sound . The ease of use is it’s best selling point. As long as you don’t need to mix two mic inputs this does the job and can save you money. If you’re just getting into podcasting I highly recommend this samson mic.

3 Stars My Review
I got the mic from Amazon because it was the best price anywhere on the internet. Excited when it came, I later came to find out it was not compatible with my laptop because the soundcard did not support it. I returned the item, simple as that.

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