[Sticky] USB-C Microphone (official topic)

Top man! That’s the way to look at it. 

If I could only apply that “can do” attitude to finishing my home… and half the other projects I never seem to complete.  Lol. 

I’m making a full immersion driving sim right now. Got almost everything but the really BIG hydraulic rams that throw you about the place. Cost is an issue there. And IF I could get four of them and the power regulator, etc. in here and IF I could turn it on (it’s bound to need three phase) then the bed frame would simply collapse under the stress. 

@marcdraco Your driving sim would be a fantastic idea for a matt video I think, it’s diy so why not.

also when do you expect to get your pcbs? I’m not in a huge hurry but I want to have finished the project in 2 or 3 weeks max.

@marcdraco hey man been a while hope yall been good just checking in to see if a video on v2 is getting made?

@diyperks I saw on here mentioned that a version 2 was coming?  But I never saw it.  Was it scrapped?  Is it still coming?  Also how thick is the copper sheeting on the original? It isn't mentioned anywhere.

Songbird Michelle is the completed "pre-amp" but I don't think Matt will do a video on it unless there's a lot of interest. Michelle is highly expandable, into stereo and even DSPs but it's more costly than the original build (it's a case of balancing the cost vs. spec) and that's a far as I was able to push it before it enters silly money (and I've funded development personally so I know how much it hurts to invest money and not get much, or any!) improvement.

@marcdraco So what is the currently most up to date version of the microphone that can be accessed and built?

Michelle 3.5 - drop me a note if you have any questions, it does need things like "impedance matching" and such, it's all in there IF you understand the lingo and can follow a schematic (which, to be fair, isn't as good as it should be due to changes in KiCAD and stuff I need to work on).

But it works best (out of the box) with 10mm capsules, the bigger JFETs benefit from a lot more current than this can deliver (easily) due to the VERY low voltage at the head (<2V vs. 30V).

Hello,

It's a few years later now but me and my 13 year old son are attempting this for a school project.

We're in Australia so it's kind of hard to find some of the bits. So far we haven't been able to find the following item:

• 95mm by 64mm stripboard

How do we know what wattage we want for the following resistors? For example we have found half a watt, quarter watt and full watt

• 100Ω resistors
• 2.2kΩ resistors
• 3.9Ω resistors

What voltage should we use for the rotary switch?
Thanks!

Any stripboard will work just fine - you might see it listed as "Veroboard" but the Chinese copies - be very wary! - are poor. Vero itself was never meant for serious use beyond hobbyist projects so the Chinese took a cheap proto-board that was good at what it did - for what it cost.

And they made it cheaper by cutting corners in every way they could and the result is a far inferior product that WILL cause you a lot of pain. 

Amazon and larger sellers should have some - it's available in all manner of sizes, you'll be fine so long as you have a large enough piece.

All the resistors are 1/4W (though almost anything will work, except for the 100R [R saves you finding the wretched Omega symbol every time]). I'd feel a little happier with a 1/2W although that's me being overly conservative.

As a simple rule of thumb, think of it this way (and this is a guide ONLY):

If it's a medium value resistor - > 1k then it's likely to be carrying very little current in a circuit that's operating at no more than 40V total (and that's at peak, with a bad wire, and under constant load you're looking at 2W).

But 2W is beyond what the poor little "voltage inverter" can provide. 

Unless you really mess things up most voltages don't exceed about 12v when it's running and anything outside of the power regulation and smoothing isn't 

Voltage for the switch is a similar issue. The contacts of many switches are typically rated up to something like 400V (albeit at fairly modest current). You're not going to be using one to switch the kettle on! 😉 The other issue is the contact flash - high voltages cause more damage than the very modest voltages and currents we're talking here - the current in that section is so small you could pass it through a piece of copper wire as thin as a hair and it wouldn't get so much as warm.

The great thing about projects that stay well south of what i consider the safe (est) voltage to work - which is 50V. Now 50 V in the wrong circumstances can hurt you but the chances are small - unless working at 120, 240 mains, three phase and some of the more exotic stuff like Marx generators and such like, the worst thing you can hurt is your bank balanced. Mine's been on life support for some time. 😉