[parrot5]

Story of my bad experience:

Purchased a new-in-retail-box M-Audio Revolution 5.1 soundcard from a local store 3 months ago, only to find out that the Mic-In does not work. Emailed M-Audio Canada (I'm located in Canada), and after trying to isolate the issue with me, they replied:
"On the rare occasion we have seen this not work."
offers a possible solution, and then:
" ... If that does not work then you can return the Revolution 5.1 back to the store it was purchased from and ask to exchange it for a Revolution 7.1 which will work."

I learned from Head-Fi that the line-out quality of the Revolution 7.1 is worse than the 5.1, but I was looking to do some recording for fun so I settled for a 7.1. ..... (And then to make a long story short....) After about 10 emails back and forth to both the local store and M-Audio Canada, turns out first I need to ship the Revolution 5.1 to M-Audio at my expense (fair enough I guess), but I also have to pay for the shipping of the Revolution 7.1!! Both soundcards being in retail box, the shipping fees aren't cheap. And it annoys me that I have to pay for exchanging the defective soundcard! (I call this "defective" because the recording function does not work at all, in a computer that satisfies all the minimum requirements.)

End of Story


So if you can read my frustration, you probably guess that I didn't take their offer to pay shipping both ways to have this soundcard replaced. Now that the recording function of this soundcard does not work, I don't think it has any resale value. Without much funds to spare, I can only keep it and add in the mic-in function by other means. Are USB microphones (like the Logitech one) any good for casual vocal recordings? Not for professional or critical listening, but looking to have recordings that sound true to my voice.

 

[Razoramus]

did the local store or did m-audio ask you to pay for shipping of the 7.1?

 

[sonic_rage]

i got a cheap usb voip phone from newegg and it works great.

 

[parrot5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razoramus did the local store or did m-audio ask you to pay for shipping of the 7.1?

This is the shortened part of the story that I didn't tell. The local store refused to do the exchange (despite I forwarded the M-Audio's email about exchanging it). They asked me to get a RMA from M-Audio. When I asked for a RMA from M-Audio, M-Audio told me that I should not be the one asking for a RMA, and it should be the local store's job. So then I emailed my local store again, which told me that they'll deal with M-Audio this time. Then a week later someone at M-Audio told me to ship back the 5.1 to M-Audio Canada, and then I'll need to pay shipping for the 7.1.

In short, to answer your question, it's M-Audio Canada asking me to pay shipping both ways for a defective product.

 

[parrot5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sonic_rage i got a cheap usb voip phone from newegg and it works great.

Have you done recordings with the microphone and listened to it? Does it sound distorted? Does it sound like your own voice without that "cellphone" effect with a lot of nasal tone?

 

[CSMR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by parrot5 Story of my bad experience:

Most likely the problem is you have connected the microphone to the sound card without a preamp in the middle. This is like connecting speakers directly to a CD player or sound card. You won't get much sound out of them.
Quote:

Are USB microphones (like the Logitech one) any good for casual vocal recordings? Not for professional or critical listening, but looking to have recordings that sound true to my voice.

I have a Logitech that I use for voice. Speech that is. It's good for my purposes but I wouldn't use it for recording singing if that is what you are doing. For that you need the right mic, a preamp, and a sound card. But try the logitech; you might find it's good enough for you.

 

[parrot5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CSMR Most likely the problem is you have connected the microphone to the sound card without a preamp in the middle. This is like connecting speakers directly to a CD player or sound card. You won't get much sound out of them. I have a Logitech that I use for voice. Speech that is. It's good for my purposes but I wouldn't use it for recording singing if that is what you are doing. For that you need the right mic, a preamp, and a sound card. But try the logitech; you might find it's good enough for you.

The Revolution 5.1 has both a MIC-IN and a LINE-IN. I connected a multimedia (computer) microphone to the Mic-in and cannot get it to record (the figure in Adobe Audition is flat). The hardware monitoring functions as it should (so I can hear myself clearly through the speakers in almost real-time, which confirms that the microphone does not need additional power or preamp), but the card simply cannot record. The Audigy2 can record from the same microphone with no problem though. I have also set the recording parameters correctly in the three different softwares that I tried to record. The problem is confirmed by M-Audio: "On the rare occasion we have seen this not work."

About the microphone, yes I want to record voice. I want the recordings to sound like myself, as the one I have now is bad quality and emits crackling noise a lot. Thanks I'll try the Logitech.

 

[parrot5]

Problem solved. The mic-in volume slider cannot be set more than about 80% (4 notches from the max) or else there'll no recording signal. Details here, and thanks for the two people who discussed this problem.