M-Audio intros Session Music Producer mic

Audio equipment maker M-Audio today took the wraps from the Session Music Producer, a microphone combo built for amateur artists and podcasters. The design is based around the Producer USB microphone that builds its own audio encoding hardware into the base, allowing any user to hook it up to a USB port without requiring a separate card or other clutter. The 16mm cardioid microphone itself is also much clearer than basic models. Recorders or studio helpers can also listen to the raw recording with a headphone output jack, receiving the raw audio without the potential delay inserted by software on a computer.

The hardware is bundled with Session software that provides multi-track editing out of the box for Windows users (with GarageBand support for the Mac) and a tripod to bring the microphone up to mouth level at a desk. M-Audio stopped short of announcing a release date but says the Session Music Producer will sell for $100.