[bleee]

My Mac Pro arrived yesterday yaya! I just discovered that it requires a special mic, which ones work and where do I buy one? It would also be a big plus it it worked with windows.

does the iSight have a mic? and can i use the isight mic as a regular mic?

I also have a m-audio revolution 5.1 will that work in my mac pro because it has a mic port.

[Leonard]

Get a USB Mic, it's the easiest way. Another option is the Griffin iMic.

The iSight has a mic in it Apple - Hardware - iSight I don't have one so I can't comment on how good it is, but the description on the Apple page makes it sound good.

The Revolution 5.1 is a PCI card last I checked, so it won't fit in a Mac Pro's PCI-Express slot.

edit: the Revolution is stil a PCI card. There is no PCI-Express version offered.

[PowerPc = Pwnage]

Get a logitech USB, I have one, the ak-7 something, it was dirt cheap and works well.

[bleee]

how about a bluetooth ear piece will that work and will other applications see it as a mic?

[Madrag]

I have a micFlex (from MacMice).
excelent quality and the plus of having a flexible arm.

[Big Mac]

Originally Posted by bleee 

how about a bluetooth ear piece will that work and will other applications see it as a mic?

Bluetooth would be nice, but I think the latency is too high and the quality too low for computer usage as a mic.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by bleee 

My Mac Pro arrived yesterday yaya! I just discovered that it requires a special mic, which ones work and where do I buy one? It would also be a big plus it it worked with windows.

does the iSight have a mic? and can i use the isight mic as a regular mic?

I also have a m-audio revolution 5.1 will that work in my mac pro because it has a mic port.

The Mac Pro, like all Macs since 1993, does not have an actual microphone jack, but rather a line-in jack. Consequently, most microphones won't work directly (though you can connect all sorts of devices now).

Yes, the iSight has two built-in microphones, and works rather well for many tasks. I dunno whether it's supported by Windows or not, though.

One option is to buy a microphone preamplifier, either standalone or in the form of a small DJ mixer. It'll have a mike in jack, and a line out jack that is compatible with the Mac.

Another option is a USB audio device of some sort. It could be a simple audio interface (e.g. the Griffin iMic), a semi-pro musician's interface (like M-Audio and Edirol's products), a USB headset (like those Logitech makes), a "desktop" USB microphone, or even a USB studio microphone (like those from Samson and BlueMic). Semi-pro and pro audio interfaces also exist as FireWire.

Bluetooth earpieces work, too, but I can't imagine they sound as good as ones that have the mike placed closer to you.

What do you need the mike for? That really dictates what direction you should be going in.

Also, I am moving this to Peripherals, since this question applies equally to all current (and most past) Mac models.

tooki

[bleee]

Originally Posted by tooki 

What do you need the mike for? That really dictates what direction you should be going in.



tooki

I need the mic for playing games with voip software like teamspeak or ventrillo, and perhaps maybe skype. I'm not using it for high end recording at all.

[IceEnclosure]

I'd check out bluetooth, slickest option.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by bleee 

I need the mic for playing games with voip software like teamspeak or ventrillo, and perhaps maybe skype. I'm not using it for high end recording at all.

I use a Logitech USB headset for Skype and it works great*. Plantronics also makes some USB headsets, and they all work with Macs.

tooki

*If you already own the headset for a PlayStation 2, you can use it on your Mac, too. It's really just a standard Logitech, except with just one ear.

[all2ofme]

If he goes with the Bluetooth option, can he/she also have it paired with a mobile at the same time for standard calls?

[IceEnclosure]

You must re-pair when switching between cellphone and computer use. Easy enough though.

[p2b]

This is great information about mics and Macs, I have a related question. I’m a science writer and need to record cell phone interviews (works well into Word’s Notebook view, you can set audio quality and notes you take jump to the audio at that point).

The phone (Samsung a930) has a 2.5 mm headset jack (and USB port and bluetooth). I’m trying to record conversations to a Powerbook (12” G4).

Verizon says the USB port won’t work for this and that the Bluetooth is crippled somehow, so I found a splitter for the 2.5 mm phone headset jack, and my question is, can I run a cable from the phone headset jack to the mic line in on the Mac and get the phone conversation into the Mac that way? Am assuming the phone headset jack output is analog, would I need to go through a mixer or something before going into the Mac?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[cLin]

Oh a mic question. I wanted to get a microphone for my macbook pro since the built in one sucks. The only thing I want ot use it for is for class lectures. The current built in mic, when listen to the recording that I used through MS word, it's just too soft. All I hear are my keyboard tapping and I need to raise the volume to the max just to hear the teacher. I sit around 10-20 feet away usually.

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone knows of any mic that is small enough so I can clip onto the laptop lcd screen top and point it towards the teacher. The micflex actually looks pretty good but I was wondering if there was any other products out there.