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My headset microphone died last week. (Syberia V2) Since the audio is fine I'm interested in a standalone mic.
The problem: My "old" headset mic already picked up some of my brown keys whilst typing (filco majestouch 2) And a standalone mic will be closer to my keyboard unless I place it behind me.
The Question: Is there any standalone mic within 80euro's (shipping cost included) that can at least make my voice sound clear without the typing being unnecessarily loud?
A friend of mine recently bought:The samson Meteor (dutch site) But even his regular rubber dome keys seem to be louder than ever.
Any advice/tips/opinions are welcome, links to standalone mic without this problem (tested) would be optimal.
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maybe this will do the trick as well?!
edit: yes, you asked for a standalone mic, but i think this alternative is way cheaper and just smart.
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A microphone picks up sound around it. If you want more from your voice and less from the keyboard, you need to have it closer to your mouth and farther from the keyboard and/or with a pickup pattern that emphasizes sounds from the direction you want and not the direction you don't want.
About anything sitting on the desk is a bad idea because of the location.
An inline omnidirectional mic around your neck or so is also not ideal.
Realistically a boom mic or a mic mounted on desk arm mount (swiveled up closer to you and off the desk) is probably better but these don't particularly fit what was asked for.
Another thing to consider is the type of sound from the keyboard and processing what the microphone picks up. You'll lose a bit of voice clarity, but you can also reduce some of the keyboard's sound (probably by a greater degree) by filtering out the high frequencies, say over 4 kHz or so. This could be done in real time in software on the audio input.
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Thank you guys for the feedback. I'm not too fond of clip-on microphones (even though they might work). A mic mounted on a desk arm is suboptimal.
I guess the question for now is: Is there anyone with blue/brown keys that uses a standalone mic without the keyboard sound getting "through"(being annoying for other people to listen to)? If yes: I'm very interested in the setup, if no: I'll spend more time figuring out whether a mic mount can be used practically for me personally. Or as a last resort I'll check out the clip on.
*Note that my mic currently has issues so I consider it "broken" (it only works when I pull out the syberia v2 mic at a certain angle and do not fully extend it, which is a b*tch to set up) so I have some time to give this new mic a thought.
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Mic died completely. Bought Zalman ZM-MIC1, might upgrade later to something more robust. Thanks again Kinsky and Myrmidon for the advice.
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Guess its a little late now but I've been eyeing a Modmic when my G35s die to throw on a pair of Sennheisers. Supposed to be a decent mic, better than most gaming headset mics, only downside is having 2 wires but you can just use some heat shrink to put them together.
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you might also consider getting o-rings for your keyboard. They dampen the bottoming out effect and lower the sounds a LOT.
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United Kingdom20285 Posts
It's still audible though if you're using force on the keys
+ Show Spoiler +Lewa uses o-rings, osu has a hitsound click when you press buttons as feedback so look past that, you can hear the keyboard noise behind it
I've had 3 microphones, one of them is completely open and makes a case fan at 600rpm sound like a jet engine, keyboard louder than voice etc.. Another one was directional and i could put it right next to mouth and lower volume so that other stuff was extremely quiet, my current one is some inches away from mouth and picks up a lot. I think a clip on mic would have to be more open and annoying, but i've never used one
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A clip-on like the ZM-MIC1 is going to be omnidirectional and probably not close enough to the mouth.
And Cherry MX keyboards make enough sound when keys return to the top, even if you don't bottom out, unless you're riding the key all the way back up to the top to slow it down.
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I've tested the clip-on ZM-MIC1 for a few hours now and I've managed to filter almost all keyboard sounds by ramping up the voice-activation and clipping it very close to my mouth on the headset. O-rings are said to influence the "feel" of the keyboard, plus I'm so used to hearing myself type that it has become music to my ears. (I'm sure all you mechanical keyboard users can relate to this.) O-rings are not the solution i.m.o.
The sound of the ZM-MIC1 is not optimal but for gaming with friends (which at the moment is my nr1 priority) it is good enough.
Downside is that the 2nd cable that runs next to my headset cable, they tangle up inevitably which mildly annoys me. Also when I go afk for a minute I put the headset+mic down which makes unpleasant noise for all listeners. Placing it too close gives the "mouth-breather effect" which is quite unpleasant as well. Too far away however and the keyboard is about as clear as my voice. I tried plugging it into my headset cable so that I can use the mute button on the Siberia V2. unfortunately without success.
In the future I'm definitely keeping my eyes open for a standing mic which solved all my issues. (I know there are some "professional" Mics out there that do the trick but they are way out of my price-range)
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What about push-to-talk? Did you ever try using that? If you never thought about it much, there might be something you overlooked that would make it work well for you, like for example using the Caps-Lock key or buying a foot pedal.
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Push to talk is not for me as I type continuously whilst using my voice. Other keys to activate PTT interfere with game play as well. Splitting marines whilst holding the PTT button is not a good combo.
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Yeah, I used push-to-talk when I was playing competitively and I pretty much couldn't talk while doing something very important. It just wasn't that bad because I can't really talk anyways while doing things like being in a battle and concentrating on that.
It seems a foot pedal can be less than 10 €, so that might be something to think about.
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EPT
