Multimedia Computing. If you’re old enough to remember the dark days of computing in the early 1980’s (or if you’re too young then maybe you've heard about it), your multimedia experience with computers was a green or orange monochrome screen, and your computer’s audio was limited to ‘Beep’. Of course things change; computers today are fully capable of high quality music and video reproduction, playback, editing, and recording.

With that in mind, Samson – a maker of professional recording equipment – has made the transition to computer accessories with the item to be featured in this review, the C01U USB studio condenser microphone. The Samson C01U may be of interest if you are a musician, videographer, DJ (as I am), or if you are into rich web content such as Podcasts, online videos, and more.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Samson, here is some information about the company taken from their website...

Samson began 26 years ago as an audio technology company designing wireless microphone systems. Today, we are an industry leader with three distinct brands: Samson, Hartke and Zoom. Over 350 products designed and distributed by Samson are sold in 106 countries throughout the world.

Our position as an innovator and leading audio technology company has produced a variety of industry-changing audio products, and has provided the experience to create products with strong crossover from the pro audio and music segments to the consumer market.

And the following information regarding the C01U USB studio condenser microphone was taken from the official product page on the Samson website:

About:

The C01U USB Studio Condenser Mic is the first affordable studio condenser mic with a USB interface.

For the first time ever, musicians who record music on computers have a simple, affordable way to capture high-quality vocal and acoustic instrument performances.

Seamless integration was the idea, and it was obtained by creating a studio condenser microphone that can be plugged into any computer with no in/out boxes, no expensive computer pre-amps, just a USB cable.

The C01U condenser microphone is based on our wildly successful C01. It features a 19mm internal shockmounted diaphragm with a cardioid pickup pattern ensuring pristine, studio-quality recordings.

Features:

» Industry’s first USB Studio Condenser mic
» Plugs in directly to any computer with a USB input
» Cardioid Pickup Pattern
» Large 19mm Diaphragm
» Heavy Gauge Mesh Grill
» Smooth, Flat Frequency Response
» USB connection cable included
» Perfect microphone for Podcasters as well as Musicians

Specifications:

» 16-bit sample resolution
» Supports 8 kHz, 11.025 kHz, 22.05 kHz, 44.1 kHz, and 48 kHz sampling rates
» USB low-power device - draws 26 mA => 130 mW. In suspend mode 0.3 mA => 1.5 mW.
» Frequency response: 40 Hz to 18 kHz