Customer Reviews

Samson CO1U USB Condenser Microphone

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

The audio quality of the mic is outstanding, worthy of 4 stars on its own. I use it to do production for radio and it sounds nearly as good as the studio mics. The problem lies with the software and the drivers. Mac users aren't the only ones experiencing headaches. If you are going to use this microphone on a Windows PC, I highly recommend using the native Windows drivers instead of the Samson SoftPre drivers, as the XP drivers are much more stable. The SoftPre, for some reason, conflicts with the native XP drivers and is prone to crashing and causing erratic audio performance - such as stuttering, clipping and popping noise, none of which I get using XP's drivers. The Samson drivers also crashed my computer three times in the first couple of days I used it, so now I am using the XP drivers. The Samson drivers aren't fully compliant with Windows XP, and as such you'll get a barrage of warnings when installing them ("Drivers are NOT digitally signed...may cause system instability!"). Its kind of a disappointment, because the SoftPre has some very useful basic features like Gain, LPF and such, but if you know anything about working with DAW's, any capable editing program will have these functions built in anyways. So for the price, I say go for it...just stay FAR away from Samson's software.

*update*

This mic works perfectly with the native OS X Tiger drivers. Its truly plug and play, have been using it in Garage band with no problems. Also, this mic works perfect with Vista...no software needed.

ALSO...I notice alot of people commenting on adjusting the balance when using this microphone. You dont need to do that, because you are forgetting that this is a MONO sound source. In your audio editing program, select the Samson CO1U, and then when you select input, choose "Input 1 MONO" instead of "Input 1-2 Stereo." Stereo is out of balance because again, its a single mono source. Hope this helps.

I have some decent mics in my cabinet, as well as a nice preamp, A/D converter and fire wire interface for my home multitracking setup. I wasn't expecting as good or better quality than I can already get, but I hoped the Samson C01B USB Studio Condenser would at least give me a decent sound. The idea was to have freedom and portablility that my studio set up prohibits. I was not disappointed. Installation was no more complicated that plugging the cable into a USB port on my laptop running XP and the other end into the mic. It is far from the best mic I have, but it is certainly not the worst. I have read reviews that say the recording quality is too thin, but I found that not to be the case. The noise floor when recording with the Samson is a little high, and it is lacking in headroom compared to any traditional mic through my Millenia preamp. I have to record at slightly lower levels than I am used to, but for $79, I am not complaining. There is no significant latency recording 16 bits at 44100hz in Fasoft N-Track Studio. The ability to plug this thing in and record at a whim is quite liberating. Way to go, Samson!

As I started building my portable music studio (laptop, mic, amp...) I ran into one major setback. The soundcard in my laptop just couldn't handle the quality of audio I was trying to record. For the price, this definitely seemed to be the best solution.

Despite the reviews sighting difficulties with OS compatibility I decided to give it a try. The mic is truly plug and play in Windows XP, requiring only a slight balance adjustment and setting the volume.

The sound quality is excellent, surpassing my expectations. For the money, and the entry level studio this is an excellent buy. I guess if you're trying to build a more professional studio, you should be looking at equipment on a different level than this.

This is a must have for the small home studio.

The installation sucks because if you do not have the following your screwed. I was just about to re-sell my Mic until i read a few reviews. You really need the aggregate device to use your Mic and hear sound for MAC OS X Logic and Garageband.

Using the Samson C01U with Apple Logic (Mac OS X)

This is the process of setting up the CO1U to work in Logic. This will only work in OSX 10.4 or later.
10.3 and earlier versions don't have this facility.

1. Open Audio MIDI Setup (from the Applications/Utilities folder)
2. Go to the Audio Menu - Open Aggregate Device Editor ⇧⌘A
3. Click on the + button to create a new device
4. It's a good idea to rename it (double click on Aggregate Device in the list and enter the new name eg. CO1U)
5. The list at the bottom of the window will show all the audio devices connected to the computer. Select the ones you want the device to use by checking the "use" button. For instance, if you only have a CO1U connected you will need to check CO1U and Built-in Audio. Check the clock button on one of the devices, not the CO1U.
6. Click Done

And that's it. The device will then appear in Logic under Audio Hardware and Drivers as an available I/O.

Using the Samson C01U with Apple Garage Band (Mac OS X)

1. Plug the Mic into a USB Port
2. Open Garage Band and Go to Preferences ⌘,
3. Click on Audio/Midi
4. Select Samson C01U from the Audio Input drop down list
5. Click on Yes when it asks if you want to Change audio driver
6. One the Driver initializes, close the preferences dialog box and Garage Band will be ready to use the C01U.

I bought this mic to build video training sessions at work using Camtasia. The mic has a full rich sound with a lot of low end. I downloaded the driver from the Samson web site and it has a high pass (low cut) filter that rolls off all frequencies below 200 Hz. This solved most of the problem I was having. I experimented with mic placement and found that if I place the mic about 5" from my mouth I get the perfect sound I am looking for. If you place the mic too close the bass is really pronounced and can have a muffled sound to it. The bottom line is you have to play around with the gain (I used 38 Db), high pass, and mic placement but the time spent is well worth it. Another item was the sampling rate. I found recording at 11 or 12 Khz produced the best results. I tried going higher and the recordings got tinny. The SoftPre driver sometimes is persnickity but I just reload it and it works fine. I hope Samson fixes and enhances it in the future. I really like this mic and for the money you can't go wrong!

I bought this to listen to myself playing the violin so I could improve. It does just what I wanted. It was a snap to install and worked right away with my PC and Windows 2000. I didn't have to install any drivers. It pickes up my playing with clarity. I did invest in a boom stand for it. I was pleased to find that the microphone can be attached to a stand without my having to purchase any other connectors. The attachment device has an insert that can be removed so it can be screwed to stands with different sized screws.

A friend suggested this mic and I was curious what I would get for that price... let me just say I am BLOWN AWAY by this product. It plugged right into my Windows XP machine and I immediately started making pro-quality audio using Audacity (shareware). My kids are now using it to make their own Podcasts, and I also use it with Skype and Yahoo IM voice conferencing. From reading the reviews it appears that people with Macs have problems...skip those reviews if you have a PC like most of us. This mic produces rich, full voice recordings. Haven't used it for music applications yet but I can't imagine a better product at this price point. I didn't do alot of research because it was highly recommended to me by someone I trusted. Does anyone else make a USB, studio-quality, plug-n-play microphone for a PC for under a hundred bucks?!

Samson microphones have always been a good value - I use a pair of CO2 small diaphram condenser mics for live sound and recordings, and they easily outperform more expensive mics. Generally, when recording, a lot of gear is needed - mics, preamps, mixers, digital recorder, etc, so it seemed like the Samson CO1U would be a really useful for quick recording projects.

At first, I didn't realize that there was a driver to set the preamp gain, so the microphone output level was pretty low and a bit noisy. Once I found the CO1U driver for my iMac G5 and boosted the gain, I could record straight to disk without any post-processing. There's still a bit of background noise from the built-in mic preamp, but it's not significant, and the mic performance is quite good. This is definitely the easiest and most economical way I've seen for someone to get up-and-running quickly with good quality digital recording.

Disclosure: I'm an amateur sound guy; very little experience.

I bought the C01U last year to record multimedia projects and also to record our church choir. Downloaded Audacity (for free) and recorded onto my laptop. Worked so great that I bought a second mike and set up for two-track, stereo recording.

Be warned, the pre-amp software applet that Samson has available is buggy and has not worked for me using Windows XP. Instead, I simply adjust the operating system input level (microphone) to ensure no clipping.

I bought a copy of n-track software which has powerful tools for multi-track editing and recording (although I still use Audacity for chopping and converting to MP3) and it works great with two mic's.

I love this microphone. I am using it to record my stories for mp3 output. It makes my voice sound deep, rich, and warm. I can't ask for more. I have a pop screen on it and, thankfully, it doesn't pick up background noise. I also use it to talk over Skype.