R1 Active Mk3 : Very versatile, very warm sound, active = handy. Bit noisy though.

Excellent as a first ribbon mic and a good second mic for those starting out. The sound - while not as precise as top-end ribbons - is really rounded and lovely, giving a warm glow to guitar cabs, vocals and strings especially, with a wonderfully solid and detailed low end. The advantage of an active ribbon is that you don't need a super clean preamp with 70dB gain - the preamps on most budget/mid-range audio interfaces with phantom power are powerful enough to drive this mic.

Like all ribbons, the mic produces a small but noticeable amount of background hiss. It is therefore unsuitable for very sensitive applications where a lot of dynamic range needs to be captured or where hiss will be a problem. I have used a pair of these mics in blumlein and MS configurations with very good results on instruments like piano that have then been layered in a mix - the presentation is excellent and the stereo field comes to life in a very natural way not possible with other miking configurations, and the benefit of having the wonderful ribbony goodness outweighs the slight issue of the hiss.