SGI: Video

Anyone have any suggestions on a decent condenser microphone that works well with an Octane? Ideally for voice over, and/or song/instrument recording.

The Octane has a mic-input, a 10vDC output plug too (powered mic?.. i have yet to look this port up and how it can be used), and even Optical input.

I am a n00b with microphones. I see many for <30$ with 3.5mm outputs. I am sure they work with an Octane, but want some input from others who have experience, Esp. since the Octane is noisy.. maybe a particular mic would keep picking up that noise, etc.. I would be interested in something that would not look like a cheap plastic device sitting next to an impressive (subjective?) Octane case. Also, many online reviews are for modern systems.. such as Macbooks with USB connectors.

Thanks in advance,
-Kevin

You write "decent," "song/instrument recording" and then "<30$".
I think you are missing some zeroes there.

haha.. well the <30$ came from an amazon search for 3.5mm condenser microphones. There were none really more than expensive than that. So I assume any 3.5mm microphone is always going to be cheap. I would consider < 300$.. so an extra 0 .. assuming it works well with an Octane. The fact that the Octane has a few more ports (optical audio input, audio line-in, etc..) I was hoping someone would know of a microphone that would work well with it.. and not plugging it into a USB-port for power somewhere, etc.. Again, i'm a n00b with microphones.. so any direction or product names/models would be a good start for me.

Thanks again

The power output socket on the back of the Octane is AFAIR for the speakers, I wouldn't try using it for anything else. Also, SGI wouldn't have expected you to sit next to an octane and record any quality audio; That would be done in the sound insulated recording booth, probably to DAT (or perhaps some XLR-ADAT bridge, but I know nothing about studio recording). The mic port on the back is there for videoconferencing and such things.

As far as I know, any mic that has a 3.5mm jack can be used, however I'm pretty sure that a microphone that specifically would not pick up the pleasant-but-loud hum of the green beast does not exist. My suggestion would be to record to something less noisy, in another room.

Why is the noisy octane in the picture in the first place?

If you use a directional microphone you can avoid picking up noise if it comes from off-axis. The word to look for are "hypercardioid".
There are high-end microphones that can use 3.5mm jacks, but they tend to do so via adapters. Not all 3.5mm inputs are the same, some provide "plug in power" and others don't. But anyway duck is right, the preamps in it are not going to be very good. You will get better results by going to a separate preamp, or a mixer.

A good start to what the Octane can do with its rather excellent audio hardware:

http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?coll=0650&db=man&fname=/usr/share/catman/u_man/cat1/dmedia/audio.z