Cascade Audio Vive - Surround Sound Microphone

"I’ve had a Vive for several months now and am very happy with the unit. It is a great product that actually does what it claims to do. The fact that it works as well as it does seems amazing to me especially considering its price. Sound coming from the rear has surprising separation when played back on a surround sound system.



For the type of taping I do, I mostly end up using the Sony Bluetooth microphone or the built in mic. I am not that happy with the sound that I get from the Bluetooth mic, but it is very convenient for taping a show with a narrator. I had been using a separate field recorder and mixing in the sound when editing. The results were superior, but it was just too much extra work.



Because the Vive picks up sound from 360 degrees, it does pick up more camera noise than other external mics. This is despite a very good mount. When I am in a quiet area, I can clearly hear the sound coming from my Sony HC3 High Definition Camcorder even from several feet away and so does the Vive. This is most noticeable when the Vive is mounted directly to the top of the Sony VMC-K100 Microphone Adapter with Velcro. However even when the mic is mounted out further on an L handle, it is still very noticeable in quiet locations. This is partially because of the HC3's automatic gain which cannot be turned off, but also because of the nature of the pick-up pattern and frequency response of the sensitive mics mounted in the Vive. This is not a design flaw; it is just the nature of the setup.



I have wireless send and receive units and a solid state field recorder. I would be very tempted to use the Vive with one of these options to get the mic further from the camcorder for recordings where I wanted to capture high quality sound. The Vive does a very good job of faithfully picking up all the noise around it and encoding to a very effective surround sound stream. The electret mic elements, built in pre-amp, and surround sound encoder seem to be of surprisingly high quality. I have purchased a number of electret based minidisc mics and pre-amps so I have some previous experience with this type of gear.



B&H claims in it's specifications that the Vive now encodes to 5.1 channel surround which I am 99% sure is an error. My mic outputs left, right, center (when an extra mic is plugged into the external jack), and surround. I doubt whether this has changed since they sent mine. I will check with Cascade Audio.



I highly recommend the Vive for anyone who wants to add surround sound to their camcorder recordings. If you have reasonable expectations you will be very happy. I believe the Vive has found a niche that nothing else in its price range can touch at this time. I am truly amazed every time that I use it."

"Cascade Audio Vibe cord is nice and short which plugs directly into my HV30 Camcorder & is out of the way, but I LOVE the external center 1/8" Audio jack on the VIVE which I plug the Azden SGM-X mono shotgun mic into(note I externally mount both on ADOR Bracket)- pick up NO noise from camrecorder - makes a complete surround sound package for sporting events, autoracing, nature recording, and especially family events. NOTE: The VIVE has a green LED Light which helps remind me to turn off both mics. Battery comes already mounted-Very nice & light under 2 0unces.

Unit Looks great-only minus was no wind screen."

"I have created a video review on Cascade Vive after we received it as a donation for a non-profit organization [@]Features and pros:1) This is an excellent surround sound microphone with inbuilt Dolby Prologic encoder. 2) The microphone houses four electret mics and powered by a button cell. 3) The whole system is very tiny and sits on top of your video camera in Camera Hot Shoe mount. 4) The Mic hot shoe mount also has an inbuilt shock mount.5) The encoded audio output is available through a stereo headphone jack which you connect to your camera aux. or mic. in to record in your camera just like any other external microphone. Apparently this may look like a normal stereo sound signal, but it is actually a Dolby Prologic encoded audio where multiple channel data in encoded as phase shift audio. When you play back the sound through your surround sound system, it decodes dolby Prologic and you get surround sound output. 6) The sound quality is excellent and there is very little noise in the mic. circuit. Cons: The construction is very light and fragile, so careful handling is required. No wind screen is available yet.Recommended: Yes, this is an excellent mic. for its capabilities and price."

"This product gives me great surround sound for my recordings of weddings and other events I am contracted to film. People love the idea that I can provide them not only excellent quality video...but also excellent quality audio. Also...the sensitivity and low distortion on this microphone is awesome for the price! So much better then the microphone which is built into my SONY Camcorder"

"Not quite a professional product, and it doesn't pretend to be, but a great inexpensive way to get surround sound on a stereo camcorder. Sound quality of this microphone is pretty good, but it lacks a bit of low frequency bass sound, something that can be corrected when you edit. Built-in stereo cable is a bit short if you own a bigger camcorder but a simple extension corrects that flaw. A+"

"I use it on my Canon 5D MKII for wedding reception, the sounds is now Awesome but be silent when you use it since you are the closest to it ....."

"Excellent sound quality in a tiny device."