This day starts with a good piece of news for all those who are into home recording or those who are at the beginning of the road towards becoming a sound engineer; or, if you have a band and you plan to record some tracks for yourself, the Icicle might prove one of your best friends when it comes to connecting a microphone to your computer.

 

The Icicle is a very convenient solution to hook up any kind of microphone to your computer without the need of an additional balanced in/out mic preamp or sound card.

 

If you're not planning to invest serious money in recording interfaces or in a serious sound card, then the Icicle is what you need: a no-nonsense connectivity solution boasting a lot more than meets the eye. Blue Microphone's Icicle is an XLR-to-USB audio interface letting you use both dynamic and condenser mics with the same ease. The 48V phantom power switch will allow you to simply plug and play any condenser mics while the adjustable analog gain control will let you trim the input values.

 

The inner electronics will provide you with 16-bit/44.1kHz analog to digital conversion, which should be more than enough for a very good sound. Now, if you think that the Icicle could replace the professional-grade studio gear, you're wrong: it only offers a very convenient portable solution you could go for instead of spending big green. Paying $60 for the Blue Microphone Icicle means a significant difference from forking out at least $400 on a dedicated mic recording preamp.

 

And with lighting fast installation and no drivers needed, this USB-powered gadget is equally suitable for Mac and PC and also comes with an included 6-foot USB cable. And there's no way you could fry your dynamic mic while having the phantom power on: a bright and very visible light will tell you when the 48V is active. Neat!

 

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