5.1 Sound card USB Audio Microphone Adapter

[TheDork]

Anyone use one of these adapters? Trying to use the Stereo Mix as input option.

[TheDork]

Ok. So I finally got this USB adapter. It is kind of hard to install and the company website is completly in Chinese. Anyone know anything about Comodow.com? From what I can see it makes at 10 dollar mic sound like $50. You can add sound effects, etc. Does anyone have any of these mini sound cards in a box? Just looking for some instructions.

[SFEley]

Anyone use one of these adapters? Trying to use the Stereo Mix as input option.
I'm not even sure exactly what it is you have. Is it an external sound card, like the Audigy 2 NX? Or a microhpone interface like the Griffin iMic? There's no such thing as a "5.1 channel microphone," so you confused me there.

My own feeling on most technology is that if I've never heard of the brand, and I can't look up reviews online, I probably don't want it.

[TheDork]

Here is what I bought:

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-Audio-Microphone-Adapter-Virtual-5-1-Sound-card-S07_W0QQitemZ6848910885QQcategoryZ44981QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem

Cut and paste in you browser.

No documentation included when I bougt the item.

The Dork

[SFEley]

Here is what I bought:

http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-Audio-Microphone-Adapter-Virtual-5-1-Sound-card-S07_W0QQitemZ6848910885QQcategoryZ44981QQrdZ1QQcmd ZViewItem

Oh. Well, at least you didn't blow a lot of cash. Don't feel too bad; my first attempt at connecting a microphone to my computer was an even worse idea (http://www.mac-pro.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.334/it.A/id.1907/.f).

Now stick that thing in a drawer and get yourself a real USB interface, if that's what your setup needs. The Griffin iMic should be the absolute minimum; if you want better sound, consider the Edirol UA-1X (if you're sending from a mixer) or the M-Audio MobilePre (if you need mic preamps or want to handle two sources).

[tsidock]

Whether or not it is a good choice, it should set itself up (windows) as a sound card. It will not deactivate your current installed card or chipset. So be sure to select the correct device in your application.

Last I heard, USB did not support simultaneous bidirectional data flow. On the surface this is asking a lot of a USB dongle. Let us know if it works out for you.

Tom

[SFEley]

Last I heard, USB did not support simultaneous bidirectional data flow. On the surface this is asking a lot of a USB dongle. Let us know if it works out for you.
USB certainly is bidirectional. Most USB audio interfaces (the Edirol, the MobilePre, the Alesis mixer, etc. et al) are two-way devices, and are perfectly capable of recording and monitoring at the same time. There's usually some minor latency, but that's as much the fault of the CPU as the USB toolchain.

The technical limits of USB are not the reason this little sound plug is a bad idea. There are plenty of USB interfaces that work just fine. This one is a bad idea because nobody's ever heard of it, the company's a cipher, there's no documentation, and no support. If your podcast is your vehicle, then this is like buying tires from the shifty guy outside the gas station. They might work, but you can't feel good about it when there's black paint flaking off of them and they're branded "GoodlyYarn."

[TheDork]

That's a good call on the company. As soon as I saw the IMic, I am going to get one as a backup. Didn't even know it existed, so that you very much!

[tsidock]

USB certainly is bidirectional. Most USB audio interfaces (the Edirol, the MobilePre, the Alesis mixer, etc. et al) are two-way devices, and are perfectly capable of recording and monitoring at the same time. There's usually some minor latency, but that's as much the fault of the CPU as the USB toolchain.

The technical limits of USB are not the reason this little sound plug is a bad idea. There are plenty of USB interfaces that work just fine. This one is a bad idea because nobody's ever heard of it, the company's a cipher, there's no documentation, and no support. If your podcast is your vehicle, then this is like buying tires from the shifty guy outside the gas station. They might work, but you can't feel good about it when there's black paint flaking off of them and they're branded "GoodlyYarn."

I don't disagree with you about cheesy devices, although I rather enjoy checking them out as they are often quite hackable. I just want to note also that I did not say that USB was not bi-directional, rather I said not simultaneously bidirectional. I should have more accuratly stated:

"Hi-Speed USB 2.0 uses a 'Master-Slave' architecture in which the computer handles all arbitration functions and dictates data flow to, from and between the attached peripherals (adding additional system overhead and resulting in slower data flow control) resulting in data flowing in both directions, one direction at a time."

I have had USB speakers and USB audio and video input devices. While they indeed worked, the result was always less than stellar

Tom