- Superior Quality audio Recording with built-in USB charging port
- iOS compatible with iPod touch (4th Gen), iPhone 4/4S, iPad/iPad2/iPad (3rd Gen)
- Use the Apple Lightning Adapter (sold separately) for compatibility with iPhone 5, iPad (4th Gen), and iPad Mini
- Works with most popular recording applications; advanced processor for future app compatibility
- Input jacks for guitars, mics and any device with line-out
- Automatic or manual gain control
Let me tell you, not only does it sound great, but I've already tried recording it with my band and the recordings sound amazing. No peaking and everything sounded crystal clear. Plus it's great that you can plug a USB cable into it (not included) and allow it to charge the device at the same time (so I can just tell it to record during a 3-hour show and not have to worry about it). The software I was using to record was FiRe 2 (highly recommended. Not free, but great. For free software, try Blue FiRe which used to be sponsored by Blue Microphones). The builtin compression was my favorite feature even when the loud music stopped and we were just talking, you could still hear it at the perfect audio level and when loud bursts came in, the levels balanced instantly (no noticeable peaking I say "no noticeable peaking" because in a couple rare spots when there was a burst I could see a couple spikes while doing some post editing of the audio, but for some reason I couldn't personally hear them. I fixed them anyway in the final editing).
It also has a port that I can plug my guitar into and record. Although I'm not personally interested in that feature, I can see how other's would find it useful (The Mikey Digital has a 1/8" port and comes with a 1/8"-to-1/4" converter).
If I do simple talking and compare it to a high-end/expensive condensor mic, I can hear the difference in quality, but not by much. But for mobile recording, nothing beats this in my opinion. And for recording loud (live) music on a portable device and not have to worry about peaking... that, for me, makes this thing priceless.
Overall, for a portable recording device I highly recommend it!
-----
Old Review (originally was a defective unit that was quickly replaced by Blue Microphones).
I was so excited to get the new Mikey Digital. I had pre-ordered it and got it yesterday. Unfortunately all of the recordings have a high-pitched background noise to them when used on my iPhone 4S. Take off the mic and use the builtin mic with the iPhone and the recordings sound crisp and clear, however I plan to use this to record live shows of my band (the builtin mic can't handle that much volume and when we record from our mixer at a show, it's just not the same as when recording from out in the audience).
I tried it on two different iPhone 4S devices and also tried all the usual things (normal restart of the phone, hard restarting the phone, closing all other apps, etc)... still the same results.
I'm going to try to send it back to Blue Microphones for another one. Hopefully the next one will work better and I can come back here and give it 5 stars (I really want it to work and hope it lives up to all the other Blue microphone devices I own).
Buy Blue Microphones Mikey Digital Recording Microphone for Apple iPhone and iPad Now
Here's my quickreview of the Blue Microphones Mikey Digital iOS microphone. In conjunction with the FiRe2 field recording app, it is a great portable sound recording studio.Overall, I give the Mikey Digital 4.5 stars.
I bought it for my iPad 2 since it had both microphone and instrument input. The microphone is very "user-friendly" and was recognized with no issues in several apps including Meteor and Voice Synth. The audio quality seems quite good perhaps a tad hissy but wasn't really noticeable "in the mix". The instrument input worked well although the included adapter did *NOT* work for me. It was very loose on several cables I tried, including those at Guitar Center. I got a $3 adapter from GC and that fits tight and works great. Other than the adapter, my only complaint about the Mikey Digital is that the 30 pin connector does not fit very tight on my iPad. This isn't a big deal with the microphone, but with the instrument adapter and cable attached, it needs to be stable on a flat surface to avoid the connector being dislodged easy on the windmills, Pete! :-) But audio quality through the instrument input was very clean no noticeable noise to my ears.
Want Blue Microphones Mikey Digital Recording Microphone for Apple iPhone and iPad Discount?
For anyone who uses hearing aids, you know how hard it is to hear in a noisy restaurant. The Blue Mikey has changed this personal isolation for me. The following New York Times article explains it better than I can. As for issues with the iPhone 4s, I had no problems using it with either the old OS or the new 6. I don't know why people are having problems. My iPhone is in a Lifeproof case so I had to get a special adapter from Lifeproof which works perfectly. I also use the soundAMP R app which is $4.99.For Hard of Hearing, Clarity Out of the Din
By ANNE EISENBERG (New York Times)
DIGITAL hearing aids can do wonders for faded hearing. But other devices can help, too, as audio technology adds new options to help people converse at a noisy restaurant, or talk quietly with a pharmacist at a crowded drugstore counter.
Richard Einhorn, a composer who suddenly lost much of his hearing two years ago, relies on his hearing aid, of course, for general use. But when he is meeting friends at a busy coffee shop -where his hearing aid is not always good at distinguishing their voices amid the clatter -he removes it. He has a better solution.
He pops on a pair of in-ear earphones and snaps a directional mike on his iPhone, which has an app to amplify and process sound.
"I put the iPhone on the table," he said. "I point it at whoever's talking, and I can have conversations with them. Soon we forget the iPhone is sitting there."
Mr. Einhorn's ad hoc solution to restaurant racket is a feasible one, said Jay T. Rubinstein, a professor of bioengineering and otolaryngology at the University of Washington.
"It makes sense when you need to capture a speaker's voice in a noisy environment," he said. "A system that gives you a high-quality directional mike and good earphones can help people hear in a complex setting."
A new version of the directional microphone Mr. Einhorn uses, Blue Mikey, is available for $99.99. One app he uses is soundAMP R, which is $4.99. For earphones, he likes the in-ear Etymotic hf5, at $149.
Every hearing situation has its own solution. When Mr. Einhorn leaves the restaurant and wants to make a cellphone call, he might switch from his iPhone setup to his hearing aid and a companion device worn around the neck that receives Bluetooth audio from the phone and transmits it to the hearing aid.
Once home, he might take advantage of a tiny, inexpensive component in his hearing aid called a telecoil, or t-coil, that can pick up sound directly from a simple wire loop that he's connected to his TV. As long as he sits within the periphery of this loop in his living room, the t-coil receives the transmission. "It's crystal clear," he said of the broadcast.
The loop comes from Contacta. It attaches to the TV audio output and can either run around the edges of the room or just be placed inside a mat that sits beneath a chair, or in a pad that tucks under a cushion.
None of the various technologies he uses are perfect in all situations. "It takes time and practice to learn where they work well," he said, "and to switch from one device to another."
The range of options Mr. Einhorn deploys for dealing with hearing loss is not unusual. "There are many combinations of technologies possible now for people who need hearing assistance," said Stephen P. Bowditch, an audiologist and faculty member at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Before someone commits to a device, Mr. Bowditch advises a hearing test. "Every hearing loss is different, and we know in audiology that one size does not fit all," he said.
MODERN digital hearing aids tend to be costly -they can run $6,800 a pair and more, and are rarely covered by insurance. But the t-coil, the tiny internal copper component in Mr. Einhorn's hearing aid, is gradually becoming an inexpensive way to broaden and refine the reach of hearing aids. These t-coils are now standard in most of the hearing aids that Mr. Bowditch installs. "If we can fit it in, we put it in," he said. "Whether people use it is up to them."
There may soon be many more spots to use a t-coil, as hearing loops gradually appear in an increasing number of public and private spaces, said David G. Myers, a professor of psychology at Hope College in Holland, Mich. Dr. Myers has long championed the use of hearing loop systems, in part through an informational Web site.
Emcom Systems in Trenton is developing a small mat with a built-in hearing loop. The loop is connected to a microphone that can sit on counters at pharmacies or medical offices so that people standing on the mat can conduct a quiet, clear conversation with staff members, said Mark Zuckerman, director of marketing. The system will be on sale later this year for about $1,100.
"We want to support crucial conversations in the daily lives of people" who are hard of hearing, he said.
E-mail: novelties@nytimes.com.
Save 33% Off
The Mikey is exactly what I needed for recording minutes of meetings. It is easy to use and the clarity of the recording is amazing.I will use it for lectures too.
No comments:
Post a Comment