usb microphones

Welcome aboard to the... well.. board.

I think you'd be alright with that Samson.

I've never heard of a CAD, which makes me think it's a small company making products that don't hold up against the competition.

Samson is a more recognizable name and looking at the miscrophone, it has what your looking for.

If you can afford it, Sennheisers and Neumanns are a well respected microphone companies and Audio Technica is a decent half-way point to them. Generally it goes Nuemann, Sennheiser, Rode, Shure/Audio Technica

The first thing you mentioned was rap which is essentially talking and yelling. You will want a large diaphragm, cardioid condenser mic for this. If you don't want a dedicated power source or to have to buy batteries a ton, I would suggest getting a USB mixer that can give off phantom power to your microphone. For the USB Mixer, I would suggest the Behringer XENYX 1204USB. Behringer isn't a great company, but these newer mixers are solid and have a lot of nice features for the price. Buy getting a USB mixer, you also allow yourself to not rely on a USB mic, but gain access to any microphone you could need or come across.

Sure. Just post it and I'll see it.

the only CAD mics worth a damn are the back electret models that predate USB, the equitek series, the rest have no character, sound tinny and generally suck

if you want a copy of protools or a shitty control surface call Avid, otherwise fuck those guys!

best USB mics are the BLUEs and Audio Technicas (BLUE makes a thick and fat sounding capsule, AT makes an airy and open one... in the cheap seats of condenser mic that USB inhabits its a marginal comparison, but if you wanna spend on serious mics and do your conversion downstream after a good pre the difference is seriously noticeable... the BLUE will sound fat over simple arrangements like acoustic guitar and voice, the AT will cut a dense mix well with less high end EQ but won't ever have the low midrange juice of the BLUE, depends what kinda vocal you like and the tone of the voice you are capturing), then there's the blue ball mics thata re a world of their own because some are dynamics and I think one is even a dual ribbon and they all have their own sound, but we are talking condensers.... I think rhode makes something but I've not used it, however I have owned piles of rhode products and every single mic has kicked ass from NT2 to NTV to NTK to NT5 overheads!

The answer is always yes. Invest in quality goods, take care of them, and then if you wish to put them away you can sell them for a good price again. If you buy lower quality items, chances are you will have a hard time selling them.

You also have to ask yourself this question. Are YOU worth investing in? If this is your dream and you really want to make a good go at it, then you need to give yourself a fair shake. You can spend the money on equipment that in the end may make you frustrated and angry that you bought them. You should always research and save up for your gear. Buy the item you knew you wanted front the start and it will save you from having to buy any more later.

I bought a cheap USB input for recording bass lines and such. It was a Behringer. Spent $30 on it. Such a mistake. I researched around a bit and ended up decided to get my Xenyx USB mixer. Way, way, way better gear than the former.

This was on the same site and would have more trust from me. https://www.bajaao.com/collections/usb-microphones/products/audio-technica-atr2500-usb-cardioid-condenser-usb-microphone

Again though, how much are you willing to invest in your talent?

boom is right, I have spent thousands of dollars on microphones back when I engineered professionally (I claimed them on my taxes as a business expense ;-) and I always broke even selling them when Iw as dne with them.

If it means anything, I have an AT2020usb and it sounds decent enough for my purposes, sampling, demoing and podcasting. And I have discriminating ears and have owned much better mics.

waynebrain, does this help at all?

best USB microphone