My first, but hopefully not my last experience of Rode mikes. I was dead impressed by the sound/price ratio. I tried two and immediately got another 4. I found them at least as quiet as the best and most expensive large-capsule mics I've used, and the sound in any directional mode was extremely acceptable, with absolutely stunning separation possible by use of the infinitely-variable pattern control. Imagine the dead spot surrounding a fig-8 mic as a disc-shaped region of total null; then as you turn the control towards hyper-cardiod, this disc collapses gently into a backward-facing cone, which in turn collapses into a point at full cardiod.

So for mind-boggling separation on - say - a violin, I put the mic in what I seems to be that particular fiddle's sweet spot (often for me over the head of the player pointing to the bass-bar side of the table by the tailpiece). Then I stuff the signal down the foldback, put on a pair of cans, and get the tambourine player to gently hit that damnned tambourine, while adjusting the disc-into-cone characteristic of the dual capsule. At one point the tambourine will just disappear into wall-reflection only and you can move the mike even further from the fiddle than you could believe possible. If the mic is horizontal and higher than the tambourine, then just have the knobs facing upwards, and your cone will point downwards. Of course, if you can get the fig-8 disk-shaped null to intersect with the loud stuff, then no need for the cans, just do it by eye...

Of course the sound on omni can't really compare to a single-capsule fixed omni, after all, you're simply combining the output of a couple of inevitably-compromised cardiods, but when you just gotta have the separation, this infinitely variable trick is, for me, sensational, and re-defines separation in all sorts of tricky situations.

Oh, and completely off the point, could Dolphin'e web-master please read Lynn Truss's book 'Eats Shoots and Leaves' Otherwise, why not just go the whole hog and put an apostrophe before every single damned 's'...? Maybe he/she used to run a fruit stall advertising CUCUMBER'S, TOMARTOE'S APPLE'S etc....) Try submitting a review, and you'll see what I mean.

A fantastic classy sounding mic, with a sturdy build. The attention to detail Rode have put into this mic is breath taking considering its price. Only draw back is it doesn't have a hard carry case. Still an overall a great buy.