Do modeling mics have a place?

I don't think they have any place outside of being novelty and emperor's new clothes type items.

I agree with Ward on this.

I owned the Slate mic for a few months. I've never personally tried the Townsend or Antelope or whatever others there may be. But those mics will always be limited by the quality of the source mic. No matter how "good" the models themselves may be, they cannot magically invent or create something with 1s and 0s that was not captured to begin with. The capsule on the Slate mic (well, at least on my copy - I guess I can't speak for others' copies) sounded a lot like a prototypical Chinese capsule: harsh highs, harsh esses.

My thought these days is that there are just sooooo many good mics out there that are affordable now - more so than at any other point in recording history, IMO. I would rather buy ANY of those affordable options (Serrano, Beesneez, Stam, Barbaric, United Studio Technologies, even 3U) than a so-called "modeling mic."

But of course I respect wiz 's opinion, and if he's getting good results with the Sphere, that's worth paying attention to.

If the mic delivers, in either the sense of it being a model of a particular mic, or the model in the sense of just being a great mic, yeah it definitely has a place.
What Mark points to seams to be the problem, you first need to start with an awesome mic.

Great question...

I really like it on its own...and track with it like that... I do use the modelling part, whilst mixing.....  I track with it with its capsules pointing left and right , so in stereo and narrow the stereo field during mix down to taste....

Whether the modelling is accurate, hmmm don't really care......sort of? I just like the way it works and sounds ... its also super easy for mic placement in the way I am using it

cheers

Wiz

I have the Slate VMS mic, and without the modeling it is very clean and full range. It does not sound cheap to me, though it isn’t particularly flattering either.

For me it is a great tool for demoing a new project, or for working with a new singer for the first time. In both cases, it allows me to focus on the content without worrying about how things are going to sit together in a mix. Switching between mic models after is a powerful creative tool which can help frame the vocal however feels right. I usually prefer to make these decisions as we go, but I have surprised myself enough times to know the value of keeping options open in those first steps.

I do prefer my real tube mics in 1/1 shootouts, but it isn’t a huge difference. I’ve kept the VMS tracks in final productions when the performance was there.

I think the modeling mics are good if you understand what they are good at.  They are not ever going to sound exactly like some vintage whatever.  The cool thing is that you can audition several mics, as well as proximity effect (like you were physically moving the mic), and even polar patterns on some after the fact.  The problems are that you can change the preamp, the interface, you can load 17 other plugins in the chain and then complain that it doesn't sound just like a Telefunken U47 (even if you tell them it looks just like one...).  But seriously most are pretty decent mics to start off with, but those variables (like using a preamp with color) will change the sound.  Is that bad?  I don't think so as long as you are not trying to compare it to a vintage mic.  But, if you audition different mic models without caring what the picture or name of that mic is (use your ears) it can be very beneficial.  And even though you could probably accomplish most of the same sounds by tweaking with other plugins (eq, comp, etc) it's so easy to just flip through different models until you find one you like - but do that "in the mix" and not just solo'ed.   Pro tip - you can use the software on other tracks (for effect) or non-modeling mics too.  Most of it has no way to know if you used that mic or not (although admittedly the Sphere/Townsend is different).  Most are just ilok protected.

I've owned the Slate ML-1.  It sounded good but ultimately I passed it on because I had to track with no plugin and then add the plugin later - that sorta defeated the purpose of giving a vocalist something inspiring to sing into.  I like the idea of the Apollo/Sphere better but haven't picked one up (yet - maybe some day). But I have enough other nice mics I probably don't need it. It's more curiosity.  I never used the Slate VMS mic preamp (didn't have one) so I used a clean preamp - or not.  Both kinds work fine.  

I currently have a couple of the Slate ML-2 mics and they are decent SDCs even without the modeling software.  Sometimes I forget to use it and its fine.  Other times I remember because I want to change the sound a bit and it can do that.  Some of the models are really nice and some of them make sizzly bacon-fried caca.

But they are again marketed at the same folks buying the Warm and Behringer clones - the bedroom producers and the "I don't have $1500 for a nice tube mic" crowd.  Now you can have 1 mic and change the "model" in software (and the pictures of said vintage mics are pretty...).   but they can still be useful to anyone.

I still use IK Mic Room from time to time. If you have one of the staples it uses as an input reference (57/58, 87, 414, RE20, strangely no SM7B), or even if you don’t, it can alter the source recording’s tone and balance in an interesting way.

The stereo matrix has made the Sphere a really popular mic with or without the emulations. I know a few engineers that really love them for this. I believe there are other mics that do something similar now. I’ve never tried the Sphere, and since I’ve moved away from the Apollo eco system I probably won’t try it. I have also heard that the mics sounds solid even without the emulations. 

I made a few videos on my Slate VMS. It was not my favorite mic. When I got it, I had already owned quite a few Advanced Audio mics. I was hoping for a mic that would give me an approximation of any of the mics I owned, but it never really lived it up to the hype. It was one of those, I plugged it in once I got it and was just disappointed moments. Did I use it to make a few good recordings?  Yes, but, if I showed you the caliber of the singers I used it on you would not be surprised. After a while I just sold it off.  My favorite emulations were the C800G M, which was a slightly darker of the two emulations of the C800G, the C12 was really nice, and the Blackbird package was the best of the expansion package. I did make a nice recording using the 251 option, but again that singer was in between Broadway shows. ;-) Still, I found the darker emulations, like the M49, U47, etc to be muddy and unclear, and not take EQ as well as a real microphone.

In the videos I made I found that using my U87AI as a base mic and using IK Mic Room or Mic Mod EFX achieved better results.  I often just tell people to grab a C414 and those two emulation programs for just as good or better results than the VMS would offer. I think the Austrian Audio OC18 has the stereo matrix. I wonder how it would sound using one of those emulations using the C414 setting as the base mic…

What I think is cool about the emulation mics is that for a limited budget you can try a lot of mics out, find what direction you want to go to with your locker, then move on. Once you know what direction you want to move in, figure out your budget and what options you have.