Turns iPhone or iPod Touch into high-quality mic

Blue Microphone -- a 15-year maker of professional analog and digital retro-styled microphones -- has announced that its long-awaited revamped Mikey iPhone/iPod stereo microphone is now shipping. The redesigned dock-port-connecting microphone is capable of recording CD-quality (44.1kHz/16-bit) sound on almost any model of iPhone or iPod Touch -- along with the second through current generations of the iPod Nano and the Classic and fifth-generation versions of the original iPod (the iPhone 4 and iPad are not yet officially supported). It includes both a 3.5mm stereo input jack and USB pass-through (mini-B type, intended for power transfer only), and a free app called Blue Fire, a licensed version of the professional Fire field recording app from Audiofile Engineering.

The mic itself features a pressure-gradient condenser-style transducer with a standard cardioid polar pattern. It can capture 35Hz to 20kHz range at various quality settings in either stereo or mono as desired. The mic features three hardware gain settings depending on the volume of the source, can swivel in a 230-degree radius and weighs just three ounces.

The Blue Fire software can control various settings for the mic, including setting times such as "Record for" (x minutes) or "Record until" (specified time), plus a "threshold" setting to eliminate silences. It has a rotatable screen so the user can always see the software "right side up" and supports recording in WAV, AIFF or Core Audio Format (CAF). It can export its sound files wirelessly either by FTP or through its own built-in local web server. The software is designed for the Mikey, but can also use the significantly lower-quality built-in mic on iPhone and iPod models that include them.

The Mikey microphone is now available directly from Blue Microphone or its resellers, and sells for $80.

by MacNN Staff