Review (Kind of): iSK CRU-1 USB Studio Condenser Microphone

iSK CRU-1 USB Studio
Condenser Microphone
If you're serious about animation or video and plan to record your own voice for narration or characters, sooner or later you're going to want to upgrade from those cheap, $12.00 gaming mics, that you can buy from most variety stores.

I'll admit I don't know what makes for a good microphone having nothing for comparison than the $12.00 cheapies - and I'm too lazy to actually visit a real audio/music equipment store to test equipment out. Which is why this is only a 'kind of' review.

The way I see it, almost any professional microphone is an improvement on what I've been using so it's hard to go wrong.



I did know that most serious microphones tend to connect to your computer via a USB cable so with that in mind I started Googling around for Professional USB mics.

What I finally settled on was an iSK CRU-1 USB Studio Condenser Microphone which I purchased through Swamp Industries as a pod casting package deal that included everything you see in the picture; including the stand and pop filter (that's the black circle thing you can see in front of the microphone).

Detail of the microphone and
pop filter.
The fully adjustable floor stand was a real selling point for me as I just don't have the room on my desk to place or attach microphone equipment.

The pop filter was a nice inclusion too.

As for the microphone its self there were no bad reviews for it on the Swamp webpage so I felt confident it was a good choice for my money. Total cost AU$114.99 + postage.

As far as microphones go it's pretty heavy. Definitely intended as a studio microphone and not one you'd want to hold in your hand for any length of time.

iPad Camera Connection kit.
There's no software to install. It's plug and play and should work with whatever recording software you already using. If you have an iPad4 or later it's possible to plug this microphone directly into that if you have a camera connection kit.

I'm happy with the quality of the recorded audio this microphone achieves. I've compared it to the mics I've been using and it definitely is a considerable improvement.

If you are looking online for professional audio equipment I can recommend Swamp Industries. They're pricing is fairly reasonable, they have an extensive range of equipment and their regular courier service delivered this to my home within days (fastest online purchase I've ever made that wasn't a digital download and had to be shipped from another state in fact). Unfortunately I don't think they deliver outside of Australia but it may be worth asking them if they have something you can't source elsewhere.

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