Looking for a wireless sax mic? Today I’m reviewing the new Cloudvocal Lite. Could this be the mic for you?
Cloudvocal Fan
You might know that I’m already a massive fan of the Cloudvocal Prime. It’s a brilliant little wireless sax mic. And in fact, loads of our Sax School members use it.
But there’s a brand new microphone that’s just come out from Cloudvocal and it’s called the Lite. I’ve just got my hands on one to test.
So I’m going to be opening up the box, and showing you what’s included when you get a Lite. But also I’m going to talk to you about why they’ve made this new model. What different features does it have? And most importantly, I’m going to be playing on it too, so you can hear what it sounds like.
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Why Cloudvocal Lite
So why has Cloudvocal made another wireless sax mic? Originally, they brought out the great iSolo Choice. I reviewed that back in January 2020. And then they brought out the Prime.
Now the Prime is a brilliant microphone. It’s got loads of great features and loads of effects. I like it. It’s so portable.
But Cloudvocal told me that they wanted to improve their microphone, but also make it a little bit simpler and that’s the whole idea behind the Lite.
They wanted to make us a microphone that was a bit easier for people who are new to using a wireless sax mic. And also they wanted to keep the same sound quality, but keep the price lower. So this microphone is priced less than the Prime.
I’ll tell you a bit more about that later on. But most importantly, I want to find out how it sounds.
The price does appeal to me though, because loads of our Sax School members use a wireless sax mic all the time. They’re recording themselves at home as part of their practice, which is something that we do inside Sax School. But also, loads of our members are out playing in local bands or performing with backing tracks.
And the cloud vocal microphone is they’re pretty good for that because there’s a cool feature where you can put the backing track straight into the receiver for the microphone. It’s got some effects built in. And it’s dead easy.
Unboxing Cloudvocal Lite
Let’s have a look and see what’s included with the Lite and see what features we’re getting.
We’ve got the same pack that we’ve seen with other Cloudvocal mics, and an accessory box. I like the pouch because you can easily fit it inside your gig bag. It’s nice and durable too.
Inside the pouch there’s a little pocket in here for keeping bits and pieces. And then there’s the receiver unit, and another pouch for the microphone and the accessories that go with it.
Attaching the wireless sax mic to your saxophone
So these microphones have got a very clever system for attaching to your saxophone. It uses velcro with a really simple clip, because the microphone is so lightweight.
Inside the pack we’ve also got some windsocks. We’ve got three different options for clips to go onto the back of the mic. We’ve got loads of extra bits of velcro, and a charging cable. And of course a sticker!
So the way the clips work is really easy On the back of the clip, there’s some velcro.
So we literally velcro the clip onto the mic, and then the microphone simply clips straight onto the bell of your sax.
Now the microphone itself is so lightweight that it’s not a problem and it clips on easily. I can wobble my saxophone around and the mic doesn’t even move. There’s a bit of flex in the gooseneck there.
And I think the idea by having more multiples of these clips is that you can have them clipped onto other saxophones if you wanted to. Or you could keep them in the cases for your other saxophones, because the mic just detaches with velcro.
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The Accessory Pack
So what about the accessory pack? In here, we’ve got a charger with lots of different options for different countries. There’s a charge cable, and an adapter for the quarter-inch jack. We’ve even got a quarter-inch jack lead.
And this is our antenna. Cloudvocal told me that for the new model, the antenna is improved from the old model. It gets up to 40 feet of range and it gives you a clear, signal as well.
The antenna goes on the back of the receiver. There’s a little dust cover to remove, and then it simply screws on. It’s a simple, five-second job when you get to your gig.
The Receiver
On the receiver we’ve got a bass and a treble setting. You’ve got a master volume. You’ve got four different effects. We’ll have a look at those in a second. And then you’ve got a blend for the effects unit. And that’s it.
There are a bunch of input options as well, and there’s your antenna.
On the side here on the receiver there’s the output that will go to your mixer or your audio input device, such as your audio interface. Then there’s the power in on the other side.
Underneath, there is an auxiliary input and an input for a mute pedal. That’s quite a good option actually.
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Comparing the Lite and Prime Receiver Units
Let’s just quickly have a look at how this receiver unit compares with the previous model – the Cloudvocal Prime.
You can see essentially they have the same six dials. What’s different though, is that we’ve got eight options for effects on the Prime, but only four on the Lite. Also, on the Prime we’ve got an Effects Parameter Selector. We don’t have that on the Lite. Otherwise they are pretty much similar.
We’ve got a range boost button on the Prime which we don’t have on the Lite. And there’s no mic or line input with a gain as well. Actually, Cloudvocal said that this helps to keep the noise of this microphone and this receiver lower, So it keeps it a cleaner signal.
I guess the point here is that you’ve got all the features that you need.
The Microphone
Now on the actual wireless sax mic itself, there are very few options. You’ve got a power button which you also use for pairing. There’s a charging point. And then over on the other side, there’s three different levels of gain for the signal that’s coming out.
There’s the little clip that’s used to attach the mic to your saxophone. And there’s an indicator light to show you when it’s turned on, and a little red light that comes on here when it’s charging.
Two hours of charging gets you five hours of playing on this wireless sax mic. So actually it lasts well.
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Comparing the Lite and Prime Mics
Now, if we compare the Mite and Prime mics, they are pretty much identical. If I take the windsock off, you can see the Lite is a slightly different shape to the Prime microphone.
Connecting up the Lite
Let’s get it connected up and then we can hear what it sounds like.
So we’re all plugged in here. Let me just show you what’s going on.
The power feed is coming into the receiver. The output from the receiver is going to my computer. And we’ve got an auxiliary input here, which is coming from my iPad. That’s a backing track that I want to play along with.
I’m also going to listen to what’s going on using the Cloudvocal EC-5 headphones. These are brilliant. I’ve been using them all the time for the last few months in Sax School, so I can hear back the tracks as I’m recording. They sound really good.
So to get started, all I need to do is to turn my mic on. The green light shows and the blue light stops flashing on the receiver, and that tells me that the mic has paired.
The Effects
So let’s have a listen to the different effects in the unit before we start recording. I love how compact this wireless sax mic is – you don’t even really know that’s attached to the bell, it’s so light. So we’re ready to go.
On the receiver you’ve got a few different things to play around in the settings. There’s the bass and the treble. There is the master output that goes from your receiver to your computer or your PA – however you’ve got it connected. The wireless setting is the level of the microphone in comparison to the auxiliary input.
But let’s have a listen to these effects. There are four different effects in this unit. You choose the effect using the “effects” setting, and then you can choose the amount of the effect that applies to the signal using the “blend” setting.
So let’s listen to the effects.
- Effect 1: a standard short reverb.
- Effect 2: a longer reverb
- Effect 3: a really long reverb – like a concert hall.
- Effect 4: This is a delay-type effect that you might use for a pop song or pop solo. That’s pretty cool, and of course you can dial it back a little using the blend setting.
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Testing the Lite Wireless Sax Mic
I’m going to use effect number two for the recording today. I’m going to play through a standard jazz ballad-type tune. This is a tune called ‘Old Memories’ that we’ve been learning with our students inside Sax School this month. I’ll have it about halfway up, I think, on the blend as well. Let’s have a listen.
Cloudvocal Lite Wireless Sax Mic: My Verdict
So, what do you think about the sound of that? I’ve had a good listen back and I think it sounds pretty good actually. And we’re getting a really clear signal. There are loads of gain, or level, or volume, that come out of the receiver. So I did have to do a little bit of tweaking with the levels just to get it right, so it sounded nice and clear.
But there’s loads of volume to play around with, which is wonderful. And as for the sound of the microphone and my saxophone – it’s slightly brighter than some of the other microphones I might use in the studio here. But this is a tiny condenser microphone, and it’s not an expensive microphone either.
Overall, I think it sounds great. And I love the fact that you’ve got those four reverb or effect options built in. You’ve got enough control over them to start using them in a gig scenario. And I can imagine if you were playing with backing tracks, or that kind of thing, that’d be really useful.
The Price
The Cloudvocal Lite is $449 US, which is about $200 US cheaper than the more advanced Cloudvocal Prime at $649 US. So that’s quite a reasonably priced wireless sax mic and you get a lot for your money in my opinion.
Who is the Cloudvocal Wireless Sax Mic for?
I think this mic is perfect if you are just starting to get your gear together for either recording at home, or if you’re out doing some performing with backing tracks, because this is such a compact little option.
I’ll be honest with you, actually, at home, this is a great thing to use because you don’t have to worry about microphone stands and all that sort of stuff. It’s very portable. You can quickly get yourself set up and be recording some good-sounding saxophone with this little microphone.
And the best thing is when you’re done, you can pack it away. It doesn’t take up much space.
I like the fact that you’ve got those reverbs or the effects built in. You’ve got enough options there to get you going, but not that many that you’re going to get confused or overwhelmed. Most of us only use one or two effects settings anyway, and you’ll be able to get a setting in this setup that’s going to work for you.
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Wrapping Up
So that’s the Cloudvocal Lite. I hope you found this review useful. I’ll be recommending this to my Sax School students because I think it’s a great option.
And, I want to encourage you, whatever level you’re at with your saxophone playing, to spend time recording yourself.
Going through the process of recording and listening back is such a great way to learn and to improve your skills – it’s helped me. It helps out thousands of students, and it will help you too. And a tool like this makes the process of recording that much easier. So I just encourage you to include that into your regular practice routine too.
And if you’re ready to make some serious progress on your saxophone, come and see what we are doing in Sax School. Start today with Sax School!