My new snowball microphone makes me "sound like a robot"

[pipnina]

I received it today and was meagerly impressed by the audio quality (once it actually decided to show up, of course. As depending on the USB 3.0 port I use it may or may not work.) It seemed to be barely better than my old boom mic from my headset and set me back £60 (almost the entire price of my entire headset package.)

 

Aside from this, I have it 2-3 feet away from me (where it is convenient) and depending on what mode I have it on (1, 2, 3) it is either really quiet or still quiet but not as quiet.

 

Both of those problems ignored for now, after 30 odd minutes on skype, the microphone begins making me "sound like a robot" to other people. I can hear this in the feedback from my friends laptop and it sounds like I'm some kind of dalek from doctor who.

 

Has anyone else had this problem? I would really like to know if they have and, if so, how they overcame it.

 

 

    ~pipnina

 

(p.s. my system specs are:

gigabyte z77x-3dh;

GTX 670 @ stock;

onboard audio (not like that would matter for a USB mic... I think);

I5 2500k @ stock;

Corsair GS600)

[dragosudeki]

Could possibly be a connection problem as It happens a couple of times to me. Are your friends noticing it? Maybe its because its your friends mic making it sound weird (as you said it was from the feedback of your friend's latop). Next time try to listen to the mic and see if it is occuring in sync (when you hear yourself as a robot from feedback do you hear yourself from your actual device sound like a robot?)

[Kayn]

Have you tried using it in a 2.0 USB port? Also use the correct setting for the snowball since each one is different for a different situation. The robot sound could either be the mic or it could just be skype itself because that happens to me all the time with friends, just have to rehost to call for a quick fix.

[Lord Pantaloons]

beep boop beep beep << like that?

[Heisenbleurgh]

good. Go exterminate something.

[pipnina]

Ok, I tested what dragosudeki said about it just being skype. I think it might be as when my friend was saying "You've gone robot again" I played my mic through my speakers and found no problems.

 

But there is still the quietness problem, I have the mic on max volume (and there is no boost option unfortunately). Is there an optimum distance from the mic I need to be to get the best quality and volume?

[Heisenbleurgh]

In a serious note though, try getting a USB Hub such as:

http://www.amazon.com/Doctor-Who-TARDIS-Model-DR115/dp/B0040I7J6G/

 

or:

http://www.amazon.com/Connectland-CL-U2MNHUB-4B-Ports-V2-0-Black/dp/B0028Y4F4S/

 

and then plug the mic into one of those. I had a similar problem when using the snowball in my laptop with no USB 2.0s.

[TheDigitalRealm]

Ok, I tested what dragosudeki said about it just being skype. I think it might be as when my friend was saying "You've gone robot again" I played my mic through my speakers and found no problems.

 

But there is still the quietness problem, I have the mic on max volume (and there is no boost option unfortunately). Is there an optimum distance from the mic I need to be to get the best quality and volume?

Have you tried adjusting the sensitivity in the sound settings in Windows AND adjusting your mic volume in skype? I found I had to adjust both in order to get an optimum volume that picked up my voice but not the mechanical keys of my keyboard.

[FizzyFantom]

A friend of mine has a Snowball and it picks up everything in his room loud and clear, so you shouldn't have any quietness problems. Are you using Windows 8? I have heard that there are serious issues with the Snowball on Windows 8, but it works perfectly on Windows 7.

[pipnina]

 

In a serious note though, try getting a USB Hub such as:

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B0040I7J6G/

 

or:

http://www.amazon.co.../dp/B0028Y4F4S/

 

and then plug the mic into one of those. I had a similar problem when using the snowball in my laptop with no USB 2.0s.

 

Wait, I thought it said explicitly on their website not to use a USB hub!

[pipnina]

 

 

A friend of mine has a Snowball and it picks up everything in his room loud and clear, so you shouldn't have any quietness problems. Are you using Windows 8? I have heard that there are serious issues with the Snowball on Windows 8, but it works perfectly on Windows 7.

 

I'm using 64 bit windows 7.

 

 

 

Have you tried adjusting the sensitivity in the sound settings in Windows AND adjusting your mic volume in skype? I found I had to adjust both in order to get an optimum volume that picked up my voice but not the mechanical keys of my keyboard

Oh, mine picks up my keyboard and mouse possibly louder than myself (although, they are closer)

[Heisenbleurgh]

Wait, I thought it said explicitly on their website not to use a USB hub!

Oh, if it says that then I'm sorry! I just had issues running mine directly and this is probably not the best solution but worked for me.

[pipnina]

 

 

Oh, if it says that then I'm sorry! I just had issues running mine directly and this is probably not the best solution but worked for me.

Well, they said that hubs are unlikely to provide adequate power to the microphone. But I suppose certain ones may be able to supply more power.

 

I'll just put it closer to my face when people say I'm quiet. As for the "robot mode" I'll just restart the call as it is clearly a skype problem.

 

Thanks guys!