In this new article series, experts in the field explore aspects of analogue electronics design that should benefit an increasingly ‘digital-only’ audience, and underpin that analogue is not black magic. We kick off at rapid pace with an oddball part, the MEMS microphone. Extremely small and little used in DIY projects so far, it’s nonetheless a key part in the successful Bat Detector-Plus project published in Elektor’s September & October 2016 edition. The use of a MEMS microphone is not “drop-in-and-forget” but has ramifications both for the application range and the amplifier that follows it. Here are some details, compliments of Ye Olde Analogue Design Department.