While I was testing out the Mikey Digital from Blue Microphones, a microphone for iDevices, I had a chance to check out the Tiki, a microphone that conveniently plugs into a computer’s USB port.

The Tiki is about three inches long, and it is designed to minimize background noise. In fact, it is smart enough to shine a different-colored light when there is sound or no sound. Orange is the color of no sound, and blue is the color of sound being heard. I found the mic picked up sound quite well, which is no surprise, considering Blue Microphones reputation.

Yes, the sound was quite good, and I do recommend it if you are looking for an external microphone for your PC. I found that there were two easily overcome drawbacks. The first is that when you plug it in, the computer might not recognize it. You might have to go into your Control Panel and set the microphone as a default. Fortunately, the Tiki has a little card that serves as a warning, but I discovered I couldn’t make the Tiki work unless I went into the Recording Settings and turned up the volume internally.

Well, that was easy to overcome. You should also know that the Tiki has a Natural Recording Mode which has a purple light. You have to hit a switch to get out of the Intelligent Speech mode (the blue light) by hitting a button on the Tiki itself. The problem is, the Tiki hangs in the USB port pretty weakly, and pressing onto the switch can often knock it out of the USB port. Fortunately, there is a USB extension that can remedy that problem when it is used properly.

All in all, the Tiki is good for its Digital Signal Processing, and you can get it on the Blue Microphones site for about $59.99.