I'm an instrumentist and do backing vocals.
Leaving the mike always on picks up unecessary stage sound, muddying up the mix and potentially leading to feedback.
I've been gating the signal on our digital mixer but it can only do so much and is never perfectly clean.
I've used SM-58S with the on/off switch; it does the trick but I've many times forgotten to turn it off or turn it on !
This device really really helps clean up the signal. If you're in front of the mic, it's on, if you move away, it's off. perfect !
There's an LED on it showing the status; so you know what's going on.
There's a switch to force it on if needed.
It's powered by phantom power so no battery needed and it's also foolproof because if for some reason you lose power, it will let the mic work, acting as if the device wasn't there at all.
Build quality is really good. It doesn't wiggle, stays well connected to the microphone and cable.
It ships with a soft pouch.
One point that some will find negative is the sensitivity dial that you can simply modify with a finger ... You could argue it can be accidentally misconfigured but on the other hand, you don't need a screwdriver when you need to make adjustments.
I set it at sound check and forget.
Update: After using it for some time, I sometime experience some latency in the activation but this is really about me getting right in front on the mike and not singing sideways. But it's still worth it :-)
