Slate Digital VMS ML-2 Small-diaphragm Modeling Microphone Reviews

I finally got try them out on snare, and man, these things sound flipping amazing! Its easily the best real drum sound I've been able to get, and the versatility in post makes these my new go to in the studio, and the price!

The perfect extra microphone to keep around. The funny thing is, I forgot about the microphone emulations a while back and just used the raw microphone sound with 8 of these microphones on my drum kit. The sound is great, and I love having the dynamic switch for handling things like drums or electric guitar cabinets. It's crazy these things are 150… great value.

I'll be buying more of these. They work well for everything. I also have the ML-1 which is also fantastic! Highly recommended!

I was blown away by how tiny these mics were as soon as I opened the box - they're about the same size as my middle finger. The build quality seems solid, but I'm careful with them to avoid damage just in case. The sound is clear and neutral as advertised, and the modelling certainly makes the mics sound different, but I can't speak to the accuracy of each model, and really I don't think that it matters. The modelling sounds good in a mix which is what's important, accurate or not. I view the different models as EQ and saturation so I recommend to record the mics clean, then flip through the models later when mixing in VMR. I have three of the ML-2s and plan to add three more as well as two ML-1s to have a versatile setup for recording a full drumset.

I have been recording my ukulele and percussion tracks with a single mic, but decided to go stereo X and wow, what a great sound! Loving them!

The only thing wrong with this mic is that I dont have 5 more for my drum kit which im working on doing now. Flat frequency response without emulation. The emulations really make it comes alive. Im Definitely buying more of these for my studio.

This makes #8 for the ML-2 along with having two ML-1'S. These along with the VMS software is a no brainer.

My primary use for these is on drum set. I had tried various combinations of mics - most built to a cost, but some not - and was never satisfied with the result. These get me to where I want to be, sound-wise.

I had tried a pair of these beforehand as my "demo" of the VMS system. The low price made it easy. I was pretty skeptical. I had enough experience with many of the modeled mics that I had a pretty good idea of what they should sound like. And I am happy to report that they are very, very close, in most cases. Enough so that I bought four more and sold the rest of my condenser mics, without any hesitation. I also bought a pair of the ML-1 LDC mics. I wouldn't know how to provide a more convincing endorsement of a product.

The only blemish on this glowing review are the non-condenser models. They don't sound bad, but they don't sound authentic either. This is to be expected. The capsules of condenser mics have a characteristic high frequency resonance that can't be totally swept under the rug by DSP. This is especially noticeable on the model of the R121 (the only ribbon in the Classic Instruments collection). For example, I can't boost a high shelf EQ to kingdom-come on the VMS model without it getting annoyingly sibilant - but any ribbon mic, which has no such resonances, will tolerate extreme EQ settings with a lot more grace. So think of the dynamic mic and ribbon mic models as caricatures of the originals, that hold up pretty well when not EQ'd. (Slate could fix that disparity, I'm sure, by utilizing hardware that uses the same capsule/element type as the mics that their software models.)

Also, it's not necessary, I've found, to use the VRS8 or the standalone VMS preamp. Any preamp that is reasonably transparent will do the job. (I use mine with a PreSonus Quantum, which has an even lower RTL than the VRS8, and which makes a perfect companion for any VMS workflow.)

If you can't make good music with these, then you have other problems to address (don't we all?). These mics, along with some good ribbon and dynamic mics (don't forget that some of the mics modeled by the VMS are cheaper than the ML-2 - everyone should have an SM57 anyway), will cover your bases for as long as Slate maintains the software that makes them work. Which should be a while. And if the day comes that they stop supporting the software... you'll still have some solid, transparent mics that work just fine on their own.

Also, others have checked the VMS software with a precision analyzer - each model has a unique and dynamic harmonic signature that varies with the source, as one would expect in the real world. Slate's modeling process is thorough and well-implemented. But there are other microphone modeling systems, that cost quite a bit more and are more technically complex, whose software falls flat in that regard - as in, each model has an identical harmonic structure. That alone is reason enough to give Slate your business.

I was very surprised by the quality and sound this mic has to offer at such a price point! I used it as an overhead on drums, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and grand piano. Being a music production major, I was also able to test it in the University studio and can safely say that it holds its own along side R121s, 414s, and 57's. Of course the real mics are optimal, but the Slate Digital Modeling software gives you a lot of flexibility. The actual mic without any effects is super transparent. Very happy with this! I'll be buying a second soon.

Excellent Mic from Slate, very affordable and sound quality is great as a standolne. With classic instruments VMR it is fabulous.
Excellent product.
Thank you Sweetwater Team and special thanks to Aaron.

Regards

I just bought my 2nd one for recording acoustic guitar. This is by far the cleanest, most transparent mic I've ever used for this purpose. Record the sound of the guitar without coloring it, then add a bit of color if desired with the mic models. I used these in conjunction with the VMS One preamps- which are also clean and transparent. I may as well sell my other mics as I don't see them being used in the future.

I've been a Universal Audio guy for years, but as you know their plug-ins aren't very cheap… So unless you're pulling in $10,000 a month as a producer it can bankrupt you pretty quick. Don't get me wrong by far the best quality products and plug-ins on the market but I'm more of a hobbyist soumgwiter/engineer/producer then running a full time studio. As you know most of us still need a day job to make it by.

So after scratching my head for a few days I bought the Slate Digital all access pass... on sale... my mind was BLOWN AWAY!

Daily I use the hundreds of free tutorial videos that come with the all access pass. Because of Steven Slate my entire approach to recording has evolved light years. You get everything too... compressors, reverbs, pre amps, synths ... this list goes on forever.

So after feeling confident in the Slate Digital products I bought the ML1 and two ML2 mics. I run them through my Apollo preamps and literally I couldn't image how something "Digital" could sound so "Analog" and amazing.

I'm super old school so I've always been a little sketchy using digital plug-ins and mic emulations versus say a Neve pre-amp.

I've been doing this for over twenty years and couldn't be anymore satisfied. It also saves you many many hours of fine tuning.

The mic simulations you get with the ML1 and ML2 can evolve the entire song within one click of changing the mic. So simple and user friendly.

For example I recorded a rapper on the 47 mic preset and it sounded so dry and lifeless but the beat was solid. Instead of adding multiple eqs, compressors, reverbs etc I changed the mic to the old school 800. (Which was probably Sony's best mic they ever came out with in the 80's). It fixed everything! The less effects you need to add to the chain the better off you'll be

Also the ML2 is so tiny it fits anywhere. It also comes with 16 different mics emulations. And for $... I was totally in doubt. But since I plugged it in I already bought a second one. Like I said it will cut your workflow hours in half. Just keep switching the mic presets till you hear the one you like and through a little FG-47 Slate preamp on it and it sounds like a million dollars

Be advised these mics aren't as effective if you don't have the all access pass. By it. Use it. You can think me later

So I knew going in that this series of mics was impressive, but not until I actually recorded with them did I realize the detail and nuance of the mic models. Very happy!

If you are thinking that for $... and the Slate All Access, that you will be getting $25,000 in microphones it is just NOT happening!

What you do get is a great Neutral professional pencil mic to record straight into your DAW. You then select very subtle changes to your track using the mic selections and distance setting.

The best feature, I believe, is the distance feature to set the different Proximity effects that the modeling gives your track for Bass response.

You will never hear epic changes between the mics but the subtle changes can be very cool if the mic selections are walked through after recording the track in the context of the mix.

NOTE: Do not set the plugin on the input, use it after the track is recorded for the full benefit of what Slate has offered us as an Insane Price!

Loving this new microphone. Love all the mic emulations, makes it such a versatile microphone. Just recorded some acoustic guitar with it using the U47 emulation and it sounds great. Tried it on vocals too just for fun and it's not great for vocals but definitely a great instrument mic to have!

Great mics on their own mix in Slate's models truly amazing for the home studio.

Great mic for the price!
It is a very versatile mic by it self and with the software emulations you get a lot of options.
Again, great mic!

I recorded my first live session with these microphones today in my childhood church: private session with two vocalists plus acoustic guitar. Because I tested the mics this week prior to the session, I knew the sound quality would be good, but the session audio quality was so much better than I expected.

My Dad requested this recording for his future funeral arrangements. During the recording, I let him wear the headphones so he could hear the audio quality, realtime - no effects, no processing. He cried and gave me two thumbs up. On the way home, he said, "I would be happy with the recording as is, no changes."

Thank you Slate Digital for making these microphones. Thank you Nick Graham, my Sales Engineer, and the Sweetwater Team for your excellent advice and second-to-none customer service during my gear package purchase for this session. You have my loyalty. What an excellent company!

The microphone sounds excellent for its price. I wouldn't expect it to compete with a $500 microphone, but it does a good job on snares, hi-hats and acoustic guitar. I'd look elsewhere for a vocal microphone .... its just not round enough on the low-mids.

One last thing, folks .... the Sweetwater pre-sales info (when I bought this mic six months ago, and still today, June 2019) states that this mic includes the Slate mic preamps (the FG-73 and -76), but those are NOT included.. The only software included are the listed mic emulations. Sweetwater .... update your info; it's misleading!

Just purchased one of these VMS ML-2 microphones about 10 days ago. I did so after a much needed discussion with my sales engineer Carson. After having tried guitar modeling amps I was a bit skeptical about what I was getting into as I have no had any luck with the amps. After talking it over, I decided that I had to try it out of pure curiosity and...more specifically....the price. I have since been working with it in my home studio through an Apollo Twin (couldn't be more happy with that Sweetwater purchase!) and I must say I have been extremely pleased with the results. You will hear differences between the modeled mics and then have the capability to create the sound you want further by using the "proximity" slider. $... (plus the I-Lok) you can't go wrong!! Thank you Carson!! Thank you Sweetwater!!

I mean dude... this thing is so badass. The term "a ton of bang for your buck" just doesn't seem to cut it. The software is like... "WOW!" and the mic itself is like "Sha-boing!"

Just buy it! You know you've been thinking about it. Just put the hotdog down and buy it... right now, do it!

Purchased a pair of these mics, and have been blown away by the quality thus far. Even without the VMS preamp, plugging these into my Black Lion Audio modified Apollo Twin yields a fantastic-ly clean sound! The mic mods, along with Slate's preamp plugins add that extra touch of "real". ...these are a steal.

Yo, this mic is dope
The Quality I was able to get on my vocals with this is awesome.
This mic paired with the Blue Robbie Pre Amp Is Golden!

This thing is a great sounding mic on it's own but with the added models you now have many options in color. I even used it for vocals which is a little unconventional and not as diverse as the VMS/ML1 combo but is still able to give you a great sound. Bottom line is you can't go wrong with this for the money!!

I already use the VMS ML-1 for vocals and enjoy it, so wanted to try this little mic for acoustic guitar and percussion tracks. The ML-2 is surprisingly small, so its easy to position for instruments. Two would work nicely for a stereo pair. The emulations sound excellent, and the software includes a nifty proximity control, so you can dial in the amount of proximity lows you need. Also included is a hardware pad switch for use with loud sources such as drums or guitar cabs. The mic itself is sturdy and well-built, and includes a clip and storage bag.

I compared the ML-2 to the usual mics I use for acoustic guitar, such as an SM81 (my fave for acoustic). The ML-2 held its own, and I will likely use it pretty heavily in my home studio. It would be ideal, I think, for mic'ing up a drum kit using Slate's new VRS8 audio interface. You can use the same mic for kick, snare, overheads, toms, etc. Its so little you can wiggle it into just about any where.

I tested the ML-2 using the Slate VMS-ONE preamp, as well as an Apollo Twin. As long as you have a decent quality preamp with clean, non-colored signal, you will be fine just using the ML-2 as a low-cost instrument mic. I wouldn't use as my primary vocal mic, but if you need a low cost microphone for acoustic guitar or similar, for mic'ing up guitar amps, or for recording drums, it would be hard to beat it for the cost.

The Slate ML-2 looks and feels like a cheap microphone. How it sounds is another thing altogether. I own a very extensive mic collection - with some pretty expensive pieces. That being said, I've never gotten the exact electric guitar tone in my recordings - until now. The ML-2 is astonishing! I placed it 2" from the grill on my AC 30 (not even bothering to search for the "perfect" spot), plugged in my Strat, ran it through a Sytek MPX-4A ( a very clean, extended frequency pre) and..........
Yikes! After I duplicated the track and fiddled around with various emulations, I found the combo that gave me exactly what I was hearing in the room. Full, beautiful, solid low end with an amazing crystal clear high end that had zero brittleness or nasty edge - just like an AC 30. No EQ or anything needed. Next up distorted guitar (Les Paul through a VHT Classic 18). Same story. Then an acoustic guitar (with added ML-1). Wow! I don't know how they did it, but this thing is the answer to my dreams.....for $150!!!! My only concern is longevity - it really does feel cheap. I guess at this price, replacing it wouldn't a bank breaker......

...At that price you have a SDC that can mimic a sm57 and so much more. I'm more than impressed and actually looking to pick up a couple more. Think of it as doing to micing instruments what reamping does to guitars in a way. Get the perfect placement and performance, then you can tailor the sound to the rest of your work. I'm seriously considering the ML1 based on the performance of this mic.

...I'm not sure what I was expecting this mic to sound like, but the mic itself (without using any emulations) sounds fantastic, better than I expected. Open, transparent, and completely smooth. It is something that you could use on almost any source. My collection of mics at home is not very big, but this mic (again, with no emulation) handily beat any other mic I have for an all-around balanced, open, good sound. Some of those mics are the same price or several times the price of this one.

Things only got better when I started trying different mic emulations on the material that I had recorded with the ML-2. I was blown away by the tonal variety available, as well as the quality of the emulations. I've recorded at Oceanway and Soundkitchen and other studios in Nashville, with all of the mics that slate has emulated here, and some of them I have used pretty extensively as go-to's in all of my sessions. These emulations sounded as good or *better* than I remember the mics themselves sounding.

...I have just exponentially increased the quality of sound that I can get at home. I really don't have words for how excited I am about this sudden and drastic improvement. As far as how it sounds: Slate was not joking around. The results I am getting makes it sound like I legitimately have somewhere around $10k to $15k worth of mics in my closet at home.

I'd love to give the ML2 5 stars, but after 1 year of moderate use, 1 out of 4 has gone bad (more on that later).

Overall this thing does EXACTLY what it says. It's like having thousands of dollars worth of mics...! I own several Warm Audio mics and the ML2 mic models easily outshine those. Since using the ML2 to capture my kick, snare and toms, several artists and mix engineers I work with have commented that my drums now sound better/bigger, and fit into the mix much easier.


PROS: The housing is sturdy and the footprint is small. I use these to mic drums and can place them in some pretty tight spaces without being in way of stick hits. The sound (without the software) is SUPER clean with no audible distortion. The dynamic switch allows these mics to handle some serious SPL levels from the heaviest snare cracks!

The VMS software is easy to use and sounds AMAZING. I've owned a lot of SM57 mics over the years and I can tell you that the emulation is spot on! I've never used the higher-end mic models, but knowing how true the 57 model is, I assume the other are just as spot-on.

CONS: After 1 year of moderate use, 1 out of 4 ML2 mics developed a buzz so loud that the channel shows as constantly clipping. These mics have remained in one room, on the same stand, plugged in to the same interface since I bought them. I contacted Slate Support and they were going to charge me $25 for repair plus the return shipping. Considering that the mic only costs $... I decided to 'fix' it myself. I was able to stop the buzz, but I had to take the mic apart and replace a solder that had come loose. Not the end of the world, but still disappointing.

Any decent SDC microphone at this price is a pretty good deal. The "dynamic" mode, (like a pad) allows you to put it in front of a loud amp or kick drum and not have it fall apart. I ran it through a clean preamp (Danfield Audio MX20vpr) and even put it side by side next to an AKG C451B. Most of the real options start with the plugin though. The "proximity" effect is useful for rolling off some lows, or in some cases, boosting them (think kick drum). The many various mic models are useful and yes, I was able to get close to the sound of the 451 with some tweaking but that's not really the point. This is a mic that doesn't break the bank, and gives you many tonal options. Several of the models are tuned for drums (good for me, but who says you have to use them for drums?), and are fairly drastic changes while others are pretty subtle. So far have not experienced any plugin issues with Pro Tools 2018 (I have other Slate plugins that have not always been so stable). I hope Slate continues to develop and maintain these in the future, but even without plugins the microphone still works...

I purchased this mic about a week ago, and while I have not gotten to fully test out it's capabilities with the VMS-one Pre-amp, I did do some preliminary tests with the mic.

The microphone itself without use of the plugin is quite clear, but it still sounds about like a $150 dollar mic should. It's clearer than most mic's, but without the plugin it's quite dull.

However, once you apply the plugin, it definitely changes the sound. For instance, I used the S-121-Dyn mic on my violin, and it goes from a tin-like sound to a richer, sweeter, darker, yet punchy sound. The differences are subtle, and I wish I had the pre-amp to test it's true capabilities, but for $..., this mic is definitely worth it. Is it as good as the mics that it emulates? I'm not sure because I don't own any of those mics =[ outside of the SM-57. The SM-57 is pretty close to the emulated one!

This thing does a good job at all the dynamic options and the small condenser options. It can emulate large condensers but doesn't sound all that great. I think it's an unrealistic expectation since the mic just doesn't have the structure to emulate a large condenser which is why they sell a large condenser version VM1. Again, the mic is close enough on the emulations, it's nice to just throw it on the snare and have that additional option to give a different flavor easily within the plug in without having to mic change. Definitely worth the $... price tag.

First off I will saw I only have experience with 4 of these emulations and the vibe is definitely there! I wouldn’t saw this responds exactly like a dynamic mic, or ribbon, or large condenser. But this mic is extremely useful on acoustic instruments and amps. Wether or not I’m getting close in tonality of the mics is one thing, but helping your acoustic instrument tracks blend together using just one mic is hands down worth the price of entry for this. Warning I tried this mic on vocals just to see since there’s large diaphragm condensers in the pack, it didn’t perform very well. Especially with plosives for some reason, even with a good pop filter it picked them up like crazy.