Raspberry Pi RP2040 Drives Mico: A Custom USB Microphone

Sometimes all you need to solve a problem is a Raspberry Pi and a free afternoon or, in this case, an RP2040 and a custom PCB. For example, maker Mahesh Venkitachalam ran into an issue with background noise while recording with a tiny USB microphone.

His solution? The Mico—a custom USB microphone built from scratch using the RP2020 processor. The project uses USB Type-A and features an original PCB design created by Venkitachalam.

The project is dubbed Mico with a nod to the Raspberry Pi Pico module, although this board uses the RP2040. Attached is a USB Type-A plug as well as an MP23DB01HPTR microphone module. The PCB comes complete with a small logo featured on the top.

According to Venkitachalam, this Raspberry Pi project is entirely open source and code is available for anyone to explore at GitHub. In addition, there are three uf2 files available, any of which can be installed by dragging and dropping them onto the Mico.

Interested parties can explore the creation process in further detail on Venkitachalam’s website, electronut, which also includes performance comparison data against the original microphone with background noise issues.