Samson C01U

Q: Why does the Microphone have two Outputs ie Like stereo channels, when its a Mono device?

From below answers, I need to make sure the Gain in Preferences->Sound->Input->Samson C01U is 75%. Then in the Audio App, only use Channel 2 as Mono and adjust the volume within the App.

Test recording with above:

From https://discourse.ardour.org/t/samson-c01u-output-level-problems/82951/5

“I did some research on this particular microphone. I found that there were issues with the gain setup in the mic itself. A Samson engineer, who was on the design team for the C01U, responded to a tech support question:

He said that he had used a chip that has two digitally controlled variable gain amplifiers, stereo ADC, and USB transceiver. A key piece of information about this chip is that it provides analog outputs after the variable gain amplifiers, but before the ADCs. Since the chip is stereo and the mic is mono, he played a cute trick. He cascaded both variable gain amplifiers by taking the analog out of the first channel and feeding it to the input of the second channel. He got more gain adjustment range this way and he says that the performance is better too. So only the second channel should be used at the computer. But both of those gain adjustment controls affect the sound. So they need to be moved together in some special way to get optimal performance.

Apparently, if you mixer-adjust the right channel to 100% and left to 60%, it produces somewhat better output.”

From https://discourse.ardour.org/t/samson-c01u-output-level-problems/82951/10 “Samson CO1U USB Gain Problem. On my Mac this has been a problem that came up when I switched the same Samson USB mics between laptops, which I have just solved. I am using two of these for stereo recording, but the issue is the same for a single mic. The source of this potential issue is the fact that even though these are mono mics they have two channels, and both channels must have their gain all the way up in order to have full gain from the mic. On a Mac, go to the AudioMIDI Setup Utility in the utilities folder, select the Samson mic in the dropdown for “Properties For”. Under “Audio Input” you will see the option of 1 or 2 channels. Select 2-ch. Down below and to the left the L & R volume sliders for both channels should be all the way to the right. Make them so and you have maxed the mic’s internal gain, which can be later adjusted down in your recording app without affecting this internal setting. You can now put the mic setting back to 1 channel without affecting overall gain. If you use two mics for stereo, set each mic like this individually, go to the Aggregate Device Editor under “Audio” on the menu bar, aggregate the two mics, and you are done. If you need to balance the gain on these mics afterward, you can do so by selecting them individually, making any changes, and then go back to Aggregate Device as the Default Input and Properties For. (There may be similar configuration setting on a PC.) Hope this helps!”