• Audio

  USB to XLR not XLR to USB

  Posted by Tom Prigge on August 3, 2015 at 7:00 pm

  One of my mics is a USB mic, the AT2020. Is there such a thing as a USB to XLR cable? A cable where I could plug this USB mic into an audio interface? I have a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 which has two inputs. I want to record an interview with 2 mics, one in each input. There are possibly technical reasons why this is not feasible that are beyond my limited tech knowledge. That could be why I can’t find such a cable. Anyone heard of or seen such an animal? Thanks!

  Ty Ford replied 11 years ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Richard Crowley

  August 3, 2015 at 11:37 pm

  No there is no such animal. It is easy enough to convert audio into a USB data stream using cheap ICs. But there is no cheap solution for the other direction because there is virtually zero market for such a thing. They sell a million audio->USB chips for every 2 people who want the other direction. You are squarely on the wrong side of the law of supply and demand.
• 

  Ty Ford

  August 4, 2015 at 1:31 am

  Hello Tom and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

  I have seen USB to stereo unbalanced analog audio, but really your best bet would be to get a mic with an XLR connector.

  What do you want this mic to do?

  Regards,

  Ty Ford
  Cow Audio Forum Leader

  Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
  Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog
• 

  Tom Prigge

  August 4, 2015 at 1:11 pm

  Ty and Richard,

  Thanks for responding. I thought there was no such animal, but wasn’t sure. Ty–I have access to 2 AT2020 USB mics. I wanted to use them for a podcast interview. But I have some regular XLR mics I can plug into the Scarlet 2i2 interface, so that’s what I’ll go with. My question was more out of curiosity than anything else.

  Here’s another question, again mostly out of curiosity. Is there a USB Y cord such that I could hook 2 USB mics into it and then the cord into the computer? Again, I’ve never seen such an animal.
• 

  Ty Ford

  August 4, 2015 at 1:22 pm

  Hi Tom,

  My laptop has two USB ports. I tried plugging in two audio devices once and routing them to Garage Band. It worked. YMMV.

  I also like the Centrance Mic Port Pro for using XLR mics with USB gear,

  https://tyfordaudiovideo.blogspot.com/2012/12/centrance-micport-pro-2496-audio-on.html

  Regards,

  Ty Ford
  Cow Audio Forum Leader

  Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
  Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog

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