Tascam TM-ST1 Stereo Condenser Microphone with Pattern Switching

We use this at our band practices to record our ideas and it sounds great. Obviously you won't be recording your demo with this thing, but we have 3 dudes playing LOUD and it doesn't clip or peak at all. We used to use the built in iPhone mic, which was pretty terrible and would break up from cymbal / hi hats all the time. This one is nice and clear/clean - you can easily hear each instrument. NB :: I had to buy an adapter to get the iphone to "hear" the mic, since it's just a stereo plug, not the 3 part plug like the iphone earphones have. I ordered "Audio cable for iPad® & smartphones (TRRS male to 1/8" TS female input & 1/8" TRS female output) - 1 Foot" from monoprice for under $10 to get it to work.TOTALLY WORTH $40.

i wrote review and again i m editing and addingone sentence on the top that is: THE TASCAM MICRO PHONE I ORDERED DINT NOT WORK.what can i do. any suggestation. i try to contact seller but i didnt fine the contact seller,..I have just received the packages before a day. The pack was squeezed. I was worried bt That time I wasn't thinking of microphone working or not. But once I pulled out all of my item from shipping packages. I was eager to put batteries and connect to the canon camera. It didn't work. I buy a new AA batteries and change thinking a batteries problem. And again turn on and off and 90 and 120 but still I am unable to receive a sound in my camera from tascam mtst1 condenser micro phone. And when I try with out the microphone it works fine as usual camera work.

Good bang for the buck.Bottom line: great mic for a dSLR, professional narration, ambient sound recording; bad for screaming, and far objects (it's capture angle is quite wide).Cons:- Can't handle if you really scream at it: hard rock singers, go for something else.- Doesn't come with an adapter to fix it on a dSLR's hotshoe.- The channel separation is only reasonable, due to the left and right heads being fixed (can't be directed apart from each other), a trade-off to make it more compact and less expensive, I guess.- Get something else if you need a narrow angle of capture (record wild animals at a distance): this one's angle is pretty wide, regardless of the position you leave the angle switch.Pros:+ If you don't overload it, professional results (quite natural sound with low noise) are VERY achievable with this Tascam TMST1 mic.Personally, I achieved pretty satisfying results using it as a dSLR mic while shooting a backstage and onstage documentary about a theater play. Just be sure not to let people scream right at it, and you'll be out of trouble.+ Also worked VERY well as a desktop mic to narrate online videos. My voice sounded so natural, it surprised me that it was really mine. :)If you teach online, this mic will make your speech sound much clearer than a standard "computer mic".+ Works reasonably well as an ambient microphone (birds, trees being blown by the wind).Recommend a "Polaroid Microphone Shock Mount For The Sennheiser MKE 400 Shotgun Microphone" to attach it to a dSLR.I'm satisfied with the product overall, and very satisfied with the "bang for the buck".

I was expecting more from this mic. With lots of tweaking in my video recording software, I was able to get a very good sound from this mic. But its more work than I'm used to.PROS: Looks professional, handy stand included, stereo jack, removable windscreen included, long battery life (200 hrs), on-off switch. Really good sound possible with some effort.CONS: Not a plug-in-and-go product. Be prepared to put some time in adjusting the audio unless you're just going to stand in front of the mic in a perfectly quiet room and speak, with no other audio to record. For that it will be great and natural sounding.Not loud enough for most uses! When used with a digital camcorder, the standard setting wasn't even close to a good volume. If my camera and software didn't have good volume controls, I'd be sunk with this mic.I did some tests recording speech and music compared to the Labtec AM-232 which is cheaper build computer-style mic. The Tascam was really touchy with volume levels and required lots of tweaking. Only with tweaking in recording software and filtering out background noise was I able to get the Tascam to sound just slightly better than the Labtec, especially for music recording. For speech there was almost no difference and zero time invested with the Labtec. Without the tweaking the Tascam was just awful & had alot more background noise. By comparison, the Labtec worked great just by plugging it in for speech and music. Needed no adjustment on the camera nor in the software. Without the adjustments in my recording software, the Tascam would be unusable in my setting unless I was only standing in front of it speaking. When I cranked the audio setting in the camera, at times the Tascam created slight distortion as the levels "clipped". This is not fun when you're recording both speech, and then switching to music or solo instrument in the same video even when levels on the speech & music are virtually the same (this same scenario was not a problem with the Labtec). I also noticed much more background noise being picked up with the Tascam than other mics I've used. Probably because condensers are more sensitive. I did not find that the 90 or 120 degree settings really did much to filter out background noise. It picked up a fairly quiet fan that I didn't think should be an issue in the back of the room.For recording a video with both speaking and solo instrumental music, I'll probably be reaching for the Labtec most of the time because its so much easier to use without tweaking settings and troubleshooting sound levels. The Labtec also picks up very little background noise and works at different distances.If you are not an "audiophile" and just want a good external mic for your digicam or video camcorder, check out the Labtec AM-232 online. It works great at close and medium distances (0-6 feet) whereas the Tascam really needs babysitting unless you're standing within a couple feet and aren't going to have varied volume levels or different audio sources, i.e. speech and music, background, etc.If you want great studio condenser mic quality, you CAN get it from the Tascam. This mic is capable of high-quality sound. Just be prepared to spend some time messing with settings in your software or camera. Since condensers are very sensitive, they do pickup background noise more than other mics. I wouldn't recommend this mic for noisy environments but it will perform very well in a quiet, close-up studio setting; especially if you're going to edit the results with software.