Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone

The Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone is a condenser microphone, a USB microphone, and and USB audio interface all in one! …and for a great price too!

Here’s Amazon’s take:

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

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.

[...]

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 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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