Snowball Q&A

Features & Functionality

1. What exactly is this Snowball all about?
   The Snowball is a revolutionary microphone. Leave it to Blue to reinvent the wheel… err, microphone once again! With USB connectivity, it has never been easier to get live audio into your Macintosh or Windows desktop or laptop. Just plug it in, adjust your input level and you’re up and running.
2. Is The Snowball a dynamic microphone like the Blue Ball, or a condenser like the Blue 8Ball or Kiwi?
   The Snowball is a condenser, which, according to the audio wonks we know, has a smooth open sound with a nice, natural high-end.
3. I’ve heard that condenser microphones require something called phantom power. Do I need to concern myself with this? Does The Snowball need batteries?
   No. The Snowball derives its operating voltage from something called bus voltage, which is always present on your USB port. As long as the red LED is glowing, you know you’ve got power. The Snowball does not require batteries.
4. Do I need any special software to use The Snowball? Do I need any drivers?
   Technically, no. Depending on your application, your OS may have sufficient features to utilize the capabilities of The Snowball. But, to get the most out of your Snowball, you’ll want to have some kind of software that allows for digital signal processing and non-linear editing that will accept audio from the USB port. Some examples of these programs are listed below. As long as you are using Windows XP, Windows Vista or Apple OSX, you will not need any drivers.
5. Can I use The Snowball with a traditional analog audio mixer?
   No. The Snowball features digital output only. It must be connected to a USB port in order to function.
6. What sample rate and word length does The Snowball use?
   The Snowball’s digital output is set to 44.1 kHz / 16-bit, just like an audio CD. But this is something that only audio geeks really need to worry about.
7. How can I select a different sample rate?
   Because The Snowball is designed for the greatest ease of operation and setup, sample rate / word length are not user-definable. Sorry, geeks.
8. Can I use more than one snowball at a time?
   Some audio editing software allows for multiple USB connections. Check with your software vendor – they should have technical support staff who can answer all of your questions about their product.
9. What does cardioid and omnidirectional mean? Why should I care?
   These are the two polar patterns The Snowball is capable of producing. If you think of polar patterns as the shape of the area that a microphone “hears,” omnidirectional hears everything at equal volume from all angles (in a 360o sphere surrounding the mic), while cardioid only hears what’s right in front of it at full volume and other sounds at increasingly diminished volume as the sound source moves further away from the center of the mic (audio techs call this off-axis). You should care because one of the most useful features of a microphone is the ability to control its pickup. We like polar patterns so much, that some of our professional studio microphones have as many as nine different patterns! With The Snowball, we’ve given you the two most likely to be useful to you.
10. What is The Snowball used for? Is it a vocal mic, an instrument mic or both?
    The Snowball was designed to provide a wide range of applications where a high-quality transducer (a fancy way to say microphone) is needed, but so is ease of use and setup. Though most professional engineers prefer certain microphones for certain applications, we designed The Snowball for use with a wide variety of sources. Here are some suggested applications we came up with when we were locked in Blue’s patented anechoic think tank: instrument and voice for music production / pre-production / demos, DV-looping / dialog, podcasting, sound effects, audio sampling, interactive programming, video sweetening / post, internet telephony, internet conferencing, recording lectures, poetry slams, spoken word performances and speeches by your favorite politician – generally anywhere where you need an easy-to-use microphone and you have access to a computer with a USB port. Happy recording!
11. Do I need to keep The Snowball in the freezer when I’m not using it?
    No. This is one snowball that won’t melt!

Please note: as there are so many different software packages that are compatible with The Snowball, we are compiling a list of software we’ve tested and assured compatibility. We will publish that list shortly along with detailed instructions explaining how to use The Snowball with each package because, as you can imagine, they are all different! In the mean time, we suggest consulting your software’s manual, user forums and technical help lines. Here are a few to get you started:

Software Setups

How to get audio from my Snowball with…

Garage Band

1. Go to Preferences->Audio and select the Blue mic as the input device (it will only show up when The Snowball is plugged in).
2. Create a vocal track and select the Blue mic as the input device for that track.
3. You may need to adjust the Snowball’s input level in the control panel if you experience any distortion (crackling).

Logic 7

1. Open the Audio and MIDI setup program in your Apps->Utilities folder.
2. Create an Aggregate Audio Source (Audio menu - open Aggregate device editor).
3. Add the devices you want to use to the aggregate device (Built in audio and Blue mic).
4. Change the audio device in Logic's audio preferences from Default to Aggregate.

Sonar

1. Select “USB Audio Device” ( 1, in, 0 out) from an audio track.
2. From within that subcategory, there are 3 selections: Left USB Audio Device, Right USB Audio Device, and Stereo USB Audio Device.
3. Select Left or Right for mono audio tracks.
4. Press "R" to arm the track for recording.
5. Roll disk.

Adobe Premier Elements 4 (Windows Vista/XP)

1. If you should experience any problems getting the program to recognize the mic, Adobe recommends the following: If the device does not allow you to record, then your microphone is not being detected as a valid input device in Premiere Elements. You can use an open source program called ASIO4ALL, which is a device driver that essentially wraps existing WDM devices, like USB microphones, as ASIO-compatible sound devices. Use the following steps to utilize this tool:
2. Quit Premiere Elements.
3. Visit the following web page and download the latest available version of ASIO4ALL: http://www.asio4all.com/
4. Install the software, and restart the system if asked to do so by the installer.
5. Make certain that your microphone is plugged in.
6. Launch Premiere Elements. Go to the 'Edit->Preferences..>Audio Hardware' menu option. For the Default Device, choose the ASIO4ALL option. Click the ASIO Settings button, then select your microphone from the list of devices, click Exit, and then click OK on the Preferences dialog. Close and then restart Premiere Elements.

Hardware Platforms

Windows XP Setup Procedure

1. Under START MENU open SOUNDS AND AUDIO DEVICES control panel.
2. Select AUDIO tab; insure BLUE BALL USB MIC is selected as DEFAULT DEVICE.
3. Click on VOLUME; select appropriate volume level.
4. Exit control panel.

Windows Vista Setup Procedure

1. Under START MENU open Control Pane, then select Sound.
2. Select Recording tab; insure BLUE SNOWBALL is selected as Working with check mark next to the icon. (Disable alternate mic if necessary)
3. Click on Properties; select the Levels tab, set your input level, click Apply, then OK.
4. Exit control panel.

Macintosh Setup Procedure

1. Open Apple menu -> SYSTEM PREFERENCES.
2. Double-click SOUND preference file.
3. Click INPUT tab.
4. Double-click BLUE USB BALL MIC under CHOOSE A DEVICE FOR SOUND INPUT dialog box.
5. Set input volume to the appropriate level.
6. Exit SYSTEM PREFERENCES.