Recommendations for a brand-new mic?

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I get that fight sticks are niche, so that topic… was a mistake. On this topic, though, hopefully a lot more Chrono members have some experience here.

My Logitech g320’s mic broke yesterday. I don’t know exactly when, but while playing a 50v50 Fortnite match my attempts to communicate were met with “Hey… I don’t know if you’re trying to talk or something…? but that mic is ****ed.”

This is my second Logitech G320, and since the headset still works otherwise, I have no plans on removing it (it’s comfortable, the sound is great on a budget, and the fact that I dropped it a few times says nothing about the mic quality).

==
EDIT: Just buy a Snowball. I did on Chrono regulars’ recommendations, and it’s GREAT!

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I honestly don’t know that you can get a proper “real” microphone for $50. Personally I’d recommend just going with a shitty cheap clip on, if they break they’re quick and easy to replace and you’ll still get a few years out of them for the $10. But if that’s not what you want then the only “real” mic that I’ve heard recommended is the blue yeti and that’s $100. Or maybe the blue snowball, I think I’ve heard that one mentioned as well.

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as with any hardware related stuff, ima gonna suggest Tomshardware or tomsguide
so many decent opinions and budget savy people around, a solid suggestion is usually quick on hand

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Maybe the first step is to cross check that mic in another game or at some other time or so, cuz the coms in fortnite are kind of a buggy mess atm.

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I bought the slightly more expensive regular snowball a few years back, it goes on sale down to about $40 at times.
It’s a fairly good mic and it amuses me to say that I have a green blue snowball.:upside_down:

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I have one of these

It’s served me really well for more years than I can recall… it seems I bought it in 2008. Yeah it’s almost 10 years old and still working fine, course I don’t use it an awful lot. Keep it wrapped up and stashed away when I don’t need it and just plug it in, hang it around my neck when I do.

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I should have specified a bit.

Clip-on mics don’t do too well with my setup. They tend to get caught on things, it’s bad enough with my headset but trying to keep an entirely separate cord from being tangled up in all that is just impossible.

Beyond that, I’ve seen the Snowball and similar mics, but I think I’m going to avoid those. From what I understand, they pick up a LOT of ambient noise. It picks up on pretty much anything, even if you try to put a pop filter in front, and my computer’s location would undoubtedly affect the quality of it.

Basically, I’m looking for a good desktop mic. As long as it can be covered for $50 (pop filter included), it’s fine, but I just don’t know what I’m looking for. Either way, I’d like to thank everyone that has submitted suggestions so far.

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I can also recommend this mic, been using it for a while with a pop filter, works great and sounds great!

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Oh for a moment there I thought you were talking about my shitty little zalman clip on tie mic and wondered how the hell you got a pop filter on that thing.

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Maybe the first step is to cross check that mic in another game or at some other time or so, cuz the coms in fortnite are kind of a buggy mess atm.

@harith While it’s good to know that, my problems definitely aren’t a game thing. I went over to Recording Devices and checked the option to listen to it through speakers… it was a headache-inducing mess of unintelligible static. So… yeah. Microphone :b:roke

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Maybe you’ve already seen this, as it’s the first thing google spits out, but might be something worth reading if you hadn’t.

I so do wish I could be helpful but I lack all first hand experience with microphones.

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I recommend the Blue Yeti:

I saw that you are worried about the ambient noise pickup, the Yeti has directional settings that you can switch among so that you are only picking up sound from your direction or you can set up a two way conversation across the table, etc. A set up with a pop filter is always good, and a scissor arm or similar set up would also be helpful. Even if you do not get the arm, the stand that it comes with is nice and sturdy. This is definitely the best mic that I have used.

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I saw that you are worried about the ambient noise pickup, the Yeti has directional settings that you can switch among so that you are only picking up sound from your direction or you can set up a two way conversation across the table, etc. A set up with a pop filter is always good, and a scissor arm or similar set up would also be helpful. Even if you do not get the arm, the stand that it comes with is nice and sturdy. This is definitely the best mic that I have used.

In that case, I’ll definitely look at the mic if it offers control over which directions you need recording. That may actually create an optimal level of noise control, as with that kind of control I may be able to filter out my [rather loud] keyboard based on position. I just read a few of the discussions surrounding Yeti mics, and some discussion about small rooms having everything picked up by the mic had me worried.

Would the Blue Snowball (Black) as shared by @Fraggles earlier have this feature as well? Also, does it include a Pop Filter? I don’t mind going a few dollars over just to get a Squaretrade-insured mic as long as it fits my needs for a good few years. Still, the I believe the full Blue Yeti’s still out of range regardless of my budget.

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The Snowball is not directional I believe. It has fewer features altogether. It’s great for conversation, but it would pick up more noise. It is cheaper and for the most part still a good mic. You can tell the difference between the two though, and the Yeti can blot out ambient noise better, in my opinion.

Mine just came with a stand. I currently use a scissor arm that starts higher, a shock mount that has the Yeti upside down, that I can pull toward my face when I use it, and push it out of the way upward when not in use. That way it is the farthest from the noise from the computer and keyboard. You should get a pop filter for it if you do not already have one. Also speaking into it with it on the side of your face makes smoother vocals even if you do not have a filter, but even if you have one, having it to the side also works well.
Here is the directional options that are available:

If you want to give it a go, you do not have to get the rest of the equipment initially, just start with the desk stand that it comes with and see what results you get, if there is too much unwanted noise, you can consider investing in the other parts, there are cheaper options on Amazon and eBay, so the most expensive piece is the mic itself.

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The regular snowball has a few options for what to pick up, the iCE version does not have those options.
Edit; And neither comes with pop filters, but you can grab one on ebay for $5 if you need one.

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I am currently using a blue snowball iCE and for the price it is an excellent microphone especially for gaming. Neither the iCE or the regular come with pop filters as far as i am aware though and the shock mount is sold separately.

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I don’t know if this kind of thread revival is allowed, but I just wanted to let you all know that my Blue Snowball mic just came in alongside a DragonPad mountable pop filter. So far, I’m impressed by both the build quality and the audio detection-- no other mic I’ve used in the past is so sound sensitive, and the recording quality is near-perfect. Even at max volume, I can’t really hear any obvious issues-- I couldn’t ask for something better. That said, I have a feeling I’ll need to play around with the modes a bit, as everything from a nearby piece of shrink wrap to my keyboard clicks feel magnitudes louder than in reality.

Considering the absolute disaster that my graphics card purchase was, I’m glad that this mic worked out so well for my setup. Thanks for the advice!

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out of curiosity which card/disaster was it?, what is the card it self that was the disaster? or the purchase-deliver-etc?

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I am glad you enjoy the blue snowball as much as i have been. :smile:

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Yes! You asked! Now I can vent without seeming like I’m just looking for trouble!

I ended up buying an AMD Vega 56. Not really standard for me, and certainly something to be nervous about with so much money on the table, but the RX 480/580 wasn’t available in my area and I really needed an upgrade for some more advanced, power-hungry tools like Magix Vegas 14 and Autodesk Maya. Well, I got it, and Newegg delivered it unceremoniously on time. No damage, no delays, just as-is.

To be clear, I am-- or at least used to be-- a hardcore AMD fan. Yeah, I’ll get to that.

So, I bought the XFX model. Things started to seem off when I looked at my order and didn’t see my Wolfenstein II/Prey key-- that was a bit disappointing. Apparently I missed it by one day, and it didn’t even apply to the XFX model, even though Nvidia’s Destiny 2 promo was for every single aftermarket model of their own cards. Considering this was just under $500, pretty disappointing customer service. AMD deflected the blame to “my retailer”, and Newegg informed me that the XFX model didn’t include it.

Still, I installed the card. The Radeon lights looked beautiful on my system. The computer booted on without a problem. Then, I installed the drivers… instant BSoD. Tried again. Instant BSoD. What?

Checked online… Overclockers UK, AMD Community forums and a few other forums were full of Vega 56 owners complaining about the same problem. Apparently, PCI-E 2.0 and Windows 10 caused this issue. This wasn’t a warning on the box. It just said 16x, alongside a few other requirements I had no issue with. What gives?

I contacted AMD about it. After four days or so, they responded with something that felt like a bot message. I gave them everything I could to work with, including the forum threads, my own hardware specs, and everything I had found that pointed to a Windows 10 driver issue that could be patched with some work, since this bug didn’t exist in Windows 7.

Then I got this absolute disgrace of a reply:

Thank you for your response

I understand you are facing an issue with the BSOD screen while you are trying to install the graphic card driver update in your system. I verified your dx diag report and found you are using windows 10 64bit operating system.

I verified your motherboard model Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3 and found there is no driver/chipset support to the windows 10 operating system.

https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-78LMT-USB3-rev-41#support-dl

Please be informed the new RX Vega graphic card are based on the new Vega architecture and it needs latest BIOS version support from the motherboard.

Hence I kindly request you to upgrade your motherboard or kindly request you to work with the windows 7 operating system.

Thanks for contacting AMD

In order to update this service request, please respond, leaving the service request reference intact.

Best regards,

AMD Global Customer Care

Are you kidding me? My board works fine with Windows 10. It works fine with the R9 280 I bought four years ago. It works with RX 480’s. It works with RX 580s. It works with GTX 1070s, 1080s… every single card on the market, except the Vega 56 when you use Windows 10 in specific. I didn’t buy your top of the line card to be treated like a second class citizen.

Needless to say, I did my best to stay calm, switched back to my R9 280, and contacted Newegg, bracing for the worst. A return meant a replacement model, but my card wasn’t even defective, it just had s*** drivers. Any other card they give me will be just as bad.

For one reason or another… they made an exception! The surprises just kept coming. They offered to take the card back for store credit, no restocking fee… even if that is a loss for them. Granted, I’ve bought from them before, including the computer I use today-- but I didn’t expect this regardless, and it’s with this that I proceed to support Newegg with a glowing recommendation, even if I’ll never touch an AMD product again.

I’m going to love buying a GTX 1070. I told my friends about this, and nearly all of them responded with some form of “I told you AMD was s***” or “Welcome to the winners’ side!” Nvidia earned a customer here, all they had to do was sit back and watch their competition alienate their fans. Apparently I’m not the only one being treated like dirt, though, considering the little Command and Conquer 3 incident last week. I do hope they don’t actually mean it about dropping DX9, while the company may be atrocious there’s plenty of great people in the AMD community that deserve better.

Never again, AMD. Man, that felt good to get off my chest. Thanks for letting me vent in an angry, rambling manner… I enjoyed that quite a bit.

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