I'm lacking some imagination here, ha. I just played around with the new USB AudioMoth, plugged into a laptop, and got fine results recording birds from my porch. But I could have used other USB mics, and I monitored it on Audacity, which so far seems like it'd be pretty analogous to the AudioMoth Live app.
What are the use cases for the USB AudioMoth that are different from a computer + any other good USB mic?
Hi,
The applications we find most useful for the AudioMoth USB Microphone are:
Most USB microphones will only sample at 48kHz. With the AudioMoth USB Microphone, you can sample at up to 384kHz and record bats and other ultrasonic calls.
You can plug a hydrophone or electret capsule microphone into the AudioMoth USB Microphone. These microphones aren't typically supported by laptop 3,5mm sockets which are intended for headsets. You are effectively using the AudioMoth USB Microphone as a sound card.
You can quickly check exactly what an AudioMoth would record without recording to the SD card. The output of the AudioMoth USB Microphone is identical to what the AudioMoth will record to the SD card.
The AudioMoth Live App will work with any USB microphone or the internal laptop microphone. It's a bit more convenient than Audacity in many settings as it allows you to record continuously in the background (with AutoSave), easily switch sample rates, and to also capture WAV files of up the last 60 seconds. The latter is handy when monitoring the output in real-time as you can capture interesting events after they have occurred without having to record continuously.
Alex