MEMS microphones for pro audio

AFAIK these have better snr/size than condensers, but haven't seen any applications in pro audio yet, they seem to be tiny and primarily used in mobile phones etc.

Are there any pro audio MEMS mics? Would be interesting especially for contact mics for acoustic instruments

You might consider the schertler guitar pickup a sort of a predecessor to that....

http://www.schertler.com/homepage_schertler/lydiaob-en.html

not quite the same but near. on the other hand you will always be limited with S/N when reducing the size of the membrane, so for pro work you might never have a useful application. but if you consider what the smart phones get out of these with lots of DSP power nowdays it's still quite impressive.

- Michael

yep, for pro work you'd need a larger diaphragm - not seen anyone manufacture them yet. just wondering if they would sound different to condenser mics aside from low noise

> AFAIK these have better snr/size than condensers

"Most MEMS microphones are variants of the condenser microphone design."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone#MEMS_microphone

AKU142 Analog MEMS Microphone  http://akustica.com/Support.asp

The "63dB SNR" *may* be referenced to 94dB SPL, which gives hiss at 31dB SPL. Compare to 14dB SPL for such as AKG 414, 25dB SPL for a modestly quiet studio, etc.

The freq response reminds me of the early Crown PZM, made with opened-up hearing aid capsules and a crazy rise in the top octave. While this could be EQ-ed, it does tend to 12dB/8ve so correction could be fussy.