Vocal Mike Advice.

[BossMicroBRew]

Oh, I highly recommend the MXL 990, for sure. Just personal preference, really. You get a lot of bang for the buck, though. Heard the 909 is pretty cool too.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/MXL-990-Condenser-Microphone-with-Shockmount-273156-i1126975.gc

[jkevinwolfe]

For the money, the MAudio Nova is a great bargain. You can find it for about $100.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Nova.html

I heard engineers refer to it as a good copy of the Rode NT1000, which I've heard engineers refer to as a good copy of the Neumann U87. (The U87 is probably the most pictured studio mic in the world and goes for about $3,500.)

The Nova rivals any large diaphragm condenser in the under $500 range. Like all of these mics, it sounds a little cold when compared to the warmth of the Neumann. The biggest issue is that you'll probably spend more on a preamp and phantom power for these low end big mics than you'll spend on the mic itself.

To get a noticeable jump in quality over the built-in mic you're going to have to spend as much on the mic and the connecting toys as you did on the Micro.

I find the built-in mic is just a lot more convenient and less of a hassle. If you buy an external mic, you can spend a lot of time and money fixing hiss, hum and shock mounting problems that have already been worked out by Roland's engineers in the Micro.