In recent years, the Violet Design brand has been earning a very good reputation in our country. Not for nothing, these mics stand out for their unusual design as well as for their quality and price, and more and more studios have some member of this family. In ISP issue 79, our colleague Tomás Robisco tested three models from the Violet catalog (Flamingo Standard, Dolly DLX and Black Knight), and even then all three mics received very good reviews, especially the star of the catalog, the Flamingo. This time, the Finger comes to the pages of ISP, a mic that, despite being the brand's most modest model, has a lot to offer. Features
It is a half-inch diaphragm condenser microphone that operates on the pressure-gradient principle. The first thing that catches your eye (something common to all Violet models) is the design.

Behind the diaphragm capsule, the body of the Finger narrows to form a slim reflector whose purpose is to reduce internal resonances, eliminate unwanted reflections and optimize the mic's cardioid pattern.

Although the manufacturer doesn't say so, an additional goal is undoubtedly to give the mic a striking look, something that has clearly been achieved. There hasn't been a single person who, on seeing the Finger, hasn't asked "Wow! What's that microphone?"

The internal solid-state preamp is based on a discrete, transformerless Class A design which, together with the capsule design, gives the mic a sensitivity of 11mV/Pa, self-noise of 12 dBA and a maximum SPL of 140 dB (details in the technical specifications section).

Both the circuitry and the diaphragm capsule itself have independent anti-vibration mounts inside the mic body. Although these mounts do their job well, for some applications the external shock mount (sold as an option) may be desirable.

The microphone is available in two finishes: the Black Finger has silver capsule trim, while the Gold Finger is finished in gold.

FFR Reflection Ring
So far we've described a microphone that, apart from what's been said about its design, could be considered normal. However, the Finger still has one more feature up its sleeve.

One of the mic's optional accessories is the FFR Reflection Ring. This is a ring designed to be attached to the mic body, and it lets you vary the Finger's polar pattern, timbre and sensitivity.

Depending on the distance between the ring and the capsule, the Reflection Ring interacts differently with the capsule itself and the microphone's reflector, noticeably changing the mic's behavior. In fact, the first time you put the ring on the Finger, it's hard to believe how much its sound can be changed with the Reflection Ring.

Theoretically, when the ring is placed at the tip of the microphone (over the capsule), the polar pattern approaches a hemisphere, in which sensitivity increases for low and mid frequencies and the coloration varies less with the angle of the microphone.

Placed at the midpoint of the reflector, the ring alters the amount and type of reflections reaching the capsule from the reflector, thereby changing the timbre.

Finally, when the Reflection Ring is positioned at the far end of the reflector, the bass response is accentuated and the proximity effect also increases.

Of course, these are only three approximate positions, and between them there is a whole range of possibilities to experiment with.

In action
The first tests were done with a twelve-string acoustic guitar. The mic was placed about 20 cm from the neck, at the point where it joins the body of the guitar, angled slightly toward the sound hole.

The first thing that stood out was the way the mic portrayed the guitar. Mics in similar price ranges tend to offer a somewhat "blurry" picture, but the Finger stood out for the naturalness of its sound. Its behavior was reminiscent of more expensive mics.

The guitar's treble response appeared slightly accentuated, which is often exactly what's needed but may be less appropriate at other times. That's when we decided to start using the reflection ring.

After loosening the metal collar that releases the ring's grip, the first position we tried was with the Reflection Ring over the capsule. We've already mentioned it, but it's worth stressing how much this little ring can change the mic's behavior.

With the ring over the capsule, the mic's response improved considerably. The guitar took on a different character, with the presence slightly reduced to make way for a more natural sound, with more depth and well-defined low-mid frequencies. The result was very good.

Next, the ring was placed at the midpoint of the reflector, and here the guitar regained some of its original presence, but with a slightly different timbre from when there was no ring. Part of the low-end response was attenuated, which, again, can be beneficial in some contexts.

Finally, placing the ring at the far end of the reflector, the guitar regained some of the body lost in the previous position, but with different highs from those obtained in the other positions.

Several intermediate positions were also tried but, for this application, the truth is that the favorites were the first (over the capsule) and the last (at the end of the reflector).

The next tests were done with vocals, both female and male, and it must be said that the mic's behavior was surprising in this area.

It's not common to record vocals with this type of mic, but the truth is that the sound delivered by the Finger again stood out for its naturalness. A good number of ring combinations were tried, and in this case the preferred response was the one with the Reflection Ring at the end of the reflector.

In this position, the leeway provided by the mic's proximity effect was very "usable," never exaggerated or lacking in definition.

Finally, the Finger was used on other sources better suited to this type of mic: mono overhead on a drum kit, hi-hat, tambourine, cajón, etc. In all of them, the Finger came out with its head held high, delivering a natural image of each instrument.

Conclusions
As is usual with this manufacturer, the Violet mic stands out for its performance. The response delivered by the Finger is above its price point. In this range, it's not easy to find a mic that gives a positive result in front of any source, has character and is so "usable."

For a home studio, this can become a versatile mic. In professional studios, considering the price, the palette the Finger offers is significant.

The ring gives the mic great versatility and, in fact, much of the Finger's potential lies in the options provided by the Reflection Ring. If you're thinking of buying one, the ring should definitely be part of the budget.