I am a beginner and just playing around with parts. But I can't get that darn microphone to work! I tried a few different circuits (but have no scope here to check the output.)
Can I connect a normal PC mic directly to Uno? I guess it's an electret mic and the circuit looks like that:
Or will I need a amplifier?
You need to 1) power the microphone and 2) amplify its signal, before using it with the Arduino.
Here's a good article on powering microphones. As for the amplification, there are various schematics based around op-amps, power amps or transistors.
I have two posts on my blog that may be of help:
Mic amp with LM358 op-amp
Mic amp with LM386 power amp
DimKo:
Mic amp with LM386 power amp
I used sort of this circuit with 'nearby' parts (I had a 386 in my box) and it worked!
Thank you!
Not sure why my transistor circuit didn't work, but with no oscilloscope on hand it's hard to trouble shoot.