Looking for a good, studio quality microphone that just works on Linux. Also wondering what software or hardware people are using for enhancing your voice.
Get an audio interface. Then you can use any microphone.
I use a Shure SM58 for voice and a Shure SM137 for instruments with a Behringer UMC204HD.
Microphones are usually just an analog XLR connector. Good news is most audio interfaces work well in linux because they use standard drivers.
I use a blue snowball. Dead simple and sounds awesome
Also suggest the advice of getting an external audio interface. That wy, no drivers shenanigans, as it should be. For me, an Audio-Technica AT2020 XLR works great. Been using some cheap Tonor ones before too.
I use a Audio Technica AT2040 with a Focusrite Scarlett 8i6 audio interface.
I use a Røde NT-2A. What do you mean by “enhancing your voice?” You want a compressor or EQ?
I supposed both; Pulse Effects looks pretty good but was wondering if anyone is using something different!
I’d recommend against using pipewire over pulseaudio, and in turn eassyeffects rather than pulseeffects. Pipewire is a much cleaner implementation, way less buggy, has a wider support. As far as I’m aware pretty much every major distro ha smigrated to pipewire aleady.
I personally run my mic into a DAW and process it with effects there. It’s what DAWs are designed to do. I use a DAW output as an audio input for applications. It works great.
I can recommend NOT getting a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen. It does not play well with Linux. It still can work but has issues.
What problem are you having? Ive been using the 2nd gen for years, and didn’t notice any problems, except more xruns than I think ought to happen. But it’s hard to know what to blame for xruns.
AFAIK the problems are exclusive to the 3rd gen line.
The biggest thing was sometimes all output coming out as a distorted clipping mess, with nothing fixing it but a reboot. It was random and I can’t tell why it happens. Other than that it’s a lot of more minor stuff like the configuration software being Windows exclusive.
I’m just curious, what type of issues are you running into with it? I purchased one a short time ago for recording guitar practice sessions for future reference. I haven’t used it an enormous amount yet, and I’d like to prepare myself if there’s use cases that don’t work on Linux.
I’m running Ubuntu Studio, and using a microphone or DI depending on the situation.
The biggest thing was sometimes all output coming out as a distorted clipping mess, with nothing fixing it but a reboot. It was random and I can’t tell why it happens. Other than that it’s a lot of more minor stuff like the configuration software being Windows exclusive.
Okay, thanks for the reply! I’m not using it in a production environment by any means, so hopefully I can work around any issues if they crop up.
Not sure about studio quality, but for video conferencing and doing some Twitch streams, I’ve being using a Blue Yeti Nano USB microphone for a few years (since COVID) with no issues on Linux.
Blue Yeti.
Not a street or professional musician, but I wanted something that had great out of the box sound and stereo recording without brealong the budget. I got it on sale.
I don’t know the quality now that Logitech aquired them though. With tons of companies, Logitech drives the quality into hell for profit margins.
I have a Zoom, it appears as a USB audio input device, never gave me any issues.
A cheap XLR one; Behringer C2 IIRC.
Mic isn’t as important as the interface though.
I can highly recommend the MOTU M2 for that. The noise floor is very very low and it’s not nearly as expensive as interfaces with comparable performance.It can also serve as a very good DAC/AMP for almost all high-end headphones. It’d only struggle with extremely inefficient headphones and for those you can always get another AMP and connect that to the interface; using it as a DAC.
Shure SM7B with a dbx 286s preamp going out to a Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB Audio Interface.
MAONO AU-PM421. Works otb no muss no fuss.
Same experience with the AU-PM422 I bought in November of 2020
Works perfectly fine for Discord and OBS
Shure SM58 going through an Audient ID4 audio interface. Pretty plug and play.
My Behringer UMC22 interface works perfectly on Linux, including with pipewire. I use it with a Rode NTG-1 shotgun mic, and it also drives my studio monitors.
My Samson Q2U also works great if you’re looking for a cheap all-in-one option.
