So I've been wanting to step (cheaply) into the 32 bit float waters and see what is possible...looked at the Zoom UAC 232 which is around $199 USD...it has 2 channels but it just looked kinda cheaply made and every review said as much...for another $70 I could pick up a new Rode NT1...which overall I have always likes as a general LC mic...
So I picked one up and tested it out tonite...
I'm on a mac (M2 MBP 14") so I had to go into audio/midi setup and create an aggregate device for ProTools (Logic will not do 32 bit Float, go figure)...
It requires a USB-C port which is basically all Apple provides anymore so we're good (I plugged it in to my Razor hub and there were no issues with it being an aggregate device with my Apollo Twin which is thunderbolt on the same hub...science is cool)
Set it up on a mic stand picked up an acoustic and hit record (once I created a 32 bit project on PT)...
This might be a game changer...it affords you to simply set the volume of the mic in audio/midi set up and hit record...you CANNOT clip the mic and if you do, you just render it back down and its clear as a bell...on the other end say you've recorded at too low a volume, you can simply hit "render" in audio suite and bring it up to whatever you want...
Just for giggles I set the mic volume until I was hitting red the entire time in PT record...stopped recording, rendered it at 50% and it was perfectly fine...no distortion, no clipping nothing...
From what I understand they are using 2 DACs one on the high end and one on the low end of gain...so you can basically pick anything in between and you're fine...
Granted the NT1 is not a tube or super smooth mic, for many things though (stick it in front of an amp or a quiet singer) it will record amazingly well...
For $270 USD you can get a really painless decent sounding mic and use it in quite a few DAWS to serious advantage.
I think it bodes well for the future....I for one am all in for our techy overlords...
Thoughts?
So I picked one up and tested it out tonite...
I'm on a mac (M2 MBP 14") so I had to go into audio/midi setup and create an aggregate device for ProTools (Logic will not do 32 bit Float, go figure)...
It requires a USB-C port which is basically all Apple provides anymore so we're good (I plugged it in to my Razor hub and there were no issues with it being an aggregate device with my Apollo Twin which is thunderbolt on the same hub...science is cool)
Set it up on a mic stand picked up an acoustic and hit record (once I created a 32 bit project on PT)...
This might be a game changer...it affords you to simply set the volume of the mic in audio/midi set up and hit record...you CANNOT clip the mic and if you do, you just render it back down and its clear as a bell...on the other end say you've recorded at too low a volume, you can simply hit "render" in audio suite and bring it up to whatever you want...
Just for giggles I set the mic volume until I was hitting red the entire time in PT record...stopped recording, rendered it at 50% and it was perfectly fine...no distortion, no clipping nothing...
From what I understand they are using 2 DACs one on the high end and one on the low end of gain...so you can basically pick anything in between and you're fine...
Granted the NT1 is not a tube or super smooth mic, for many things though (stick it in front of an amp or a quiet singer) it will record amazingly well...
For $270 USD you can get a really painless decent sounding mic and use it in quite a few DAWS to serious advantage.
I think it bodes well for the future....I for one am all in for our techy overlords...
Thoughts?