USB Microphone Adapters
Just What is USB?
USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a faster technology, which helps computer peripherals transfer data to the computer. USB is being used today to connect microphone, keyboard, mouse, scanner, printer and host of other devices to the computer including monitors. There are several true advantages of this technology including, but not limited to:
 | Plug and Play operation
| Fast 12 megabit data transfer
| Universal
| Digital data transfer | |
When implemented correctly, USB interface can make life a lot easier. Drivers have been a big source of headache for computer users. This is no different with USB based microphones.
Where is USB technology heading?
Current USB devices use USB 1.1 specifications. A newer USB 2.0 is on the horizon. Although it will take some time to get this technology to market, it promises to be the defacto standard for new interface devices. Once the software (Operating Systems such as Windows) has been perfected and vendors start producing devices based on this specification, we will see this technology some time in mid 2001.
The main advantage in the 2.0 specification is the increased speed of transmission. USB 2.0 will communicate up to 480 mega bits per seconds. Watch for this technology in mid to late 2001.
What is a USB Pod?
USB pod is an adapter that lets you connect a microphone to your computer. It connects via a USB port and has a built-in sound card. USB pod comes in two configurations: simplex or duplex. Simplex device has one audio connector to connect microphone to the computer. Full duplex pod has two connectors; one for microphone and second for the speaker. If you are using a simplex pod then you need a sound card to provide the sound output.
Note: If you do not have an interface for sound output, many voice recognition software such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking will not work.
Disadvantages of USB?
Yes it does some have disadvantages. You have to see if these apply to your installations.
- It is relatively new technology and not supported on older operating systems including Windows NT or Windows 95. To use this technology in Windows environment, you need minimum Windows 98, 98 SE (which fixes some bugs), Windows 2000.
- It is a real time device, which means that if a plug in card (such as Xircom Ethernet PCMCIA card) holds the bus longer than it should there could be data loss on USB device.
Evolution of USB Pods
First USB pods began to appear around November 1998. There was a race between chipmakers mainly Intel and Philips at the time. Telex was the first to successfully implement an Intel chipset based USB microphone in June 1999. Roland and other audio manufacturers also introduced USB based devices, however, we are more interested in small USB pods for microphone connection. In January 2000 Telex changed the design to accommodate a Philips chipset based USB microphone. This was a significant change since Philips based chipset had much lower internal noise.
Click here to see our complete line of USB Microphones and Adapters.
