Input options and microphones

[jorgren]

Forkmann, thanks for the feedback on the interface. I'm happy it worked for you. It was hardly a dumb question about source and drain. I only recently realized that part is symmetrical, and I've been an electrical engineer for almost 30 years.

[monitorman]

Has anyone tried the "Peterson Adaptor Cable for iPhone™ and iPod touch" as a way to get a signal into Harmonicdog?

http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=151

...I just picked one up as a way to get a line level into my iPod touch (using an RCA to 1/2" adapter). It works, the line in is getting picked up by the iPod's "Voice Memos" app. Problem is, I need to live monitor the line in signal out of the iPod speaker. The Voice Memos app has no input monitoring feature. I know that Harmonicdog DAW does, but I'm worried that it might not work in conjunction with the Peterson cable. Hoping someone can tell me if Harmonicdog, plus the Peterson cable will get me to live input monitoring through the iPod speaker. If it does, consider another copy of Harmonicdog sold.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

[dominicperry]

Studio Six Digital's iAudioInterface working well. First impressions are very good. Clean, clear output sound, low noise on the included mono measurement mic.

Dominic

[jorgren]

monitorman, I think the operating system forces earbud monitoring if the earbud mic port is used - I believe that's what the Peterson cable does. I don't think the app developer can change this behavior. Alternatively, you could use a device like the Belkin TuneTalk, which is a mic with a stereo line input jack. If you connect a 1/8" plug to that jack, the mic is bypassed. You can set the gain to hi (for a mic) or lo (for line level). I have used this with excellent results. When you use it that way, you can plug an earbud (I think you need to use a non-mic earbud) into the iPxxx directly and monitoring works. If you are using an iPod, you'll need to use an extender between your docking port and your TuneTalk mic, because the earbud jack is right next to the docking port. See the link in one of my posts above for the only one that works.

Another alternative would be the KV Connections cable described above. I believe the Peterson cable lacks the earbud functionality, and the KV cable has it. The Peterson, KV, and PRS GuitarBud cables are all passive, and they use the mic port, so sound quality will be very dependent on what you plug in. None of them are a good choice for guitar. The KV cable has a resistor that can fool the iPod (in a good way) so your line level source will appear to be a very loud mic, versus not being visible to the iPod at all.

dominicperry, thank you for the report!

[monitorman]

hey jorgren, thanks for the excellent reply. I'm trying to track down the Belkin device. Line level into the iPod is what I'm after, with the ability to monitor via the internal speaker. You said you've had good results using the Belkin adapter for line level input, can you confirm that the signal can then be monitored with the internal speaker? With an iPod? thanks again for your help.

EDIT:
Looks the Belkin TuneTalk isn't available in Canada. Thinking of picking up this KV cable...

www.kvconnection.com/product-p/km-iphone-xtrs.htm

From what I understand, it should work. The KV cable provides a line in, but does not cause the iPod OS to think that headphones are plugged in. Any feedback/suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[lostlogik]

Well I have my iRig now, yippee! I've tried plugging my guitar into the iRig, the iRig into my iPhone and laid down some tracks in Mulitrack and it works. Awesome. Now to go and play with it some more.

[yep]

Lostl - how is the sound using irig? Losing any tone or is it sounding good?

Thx

[jorgren]

Monitorman, I'll check the KV cable in that mode (no earbuds plugged in, mic input only) The speaker on my iPod is so weak that it's not something I'd ever be able to monitor with, so I haven't tested anything that way. I have used a heavily modified version of the KV cable with guitar and earbuds, and monitoring works fine like that.

Yep, I am optimistic about the iRig tone - it's an active device. But I would like to hear lostlogik's evaluation too, because I don't own the iRig.

[monitorman]

Monitorman, I'll check the KV cable in that mode (no earbuds plugged in, mic input only) The speaker on my iPod is so weak that it's not something I'd ever be able to monitor with, so I haven't tested anything that way. I have used a heavily modified version of the KV cable with guitar and earbuds, and monitoring works fine like that.

Hey thanks jorgren, but don't be surprised if it doesn't work. Based on the info below, it sounds like MultiTrack doesn't even give you the option to monitor via the speaker on iPod. I've been trying to figure out a way to live monitor input through the iPod internal speaker for about year now. I'm just baffled that it's so difficult/supposedly impossible. It sounds like the only remaining possibility is to try running MultiTrack with something like iRig on iPhone. I'm not about to spend $100's on an iPhone just to test the theory.

"It's not possible to use an external microphone and the internal speaker at the same time. Or, at least it shouldn't be possible. The iPhone was a special case with the receiver/speaker switch (Speaker Out in multiTrack), and there was a side effect of switching this switch would make the audio be split up like you are asking. That bug/features has been fixed in iOS4, so now it's all or nothing again like it was intended to be. Apple made it clear that the act of plugging something in is a gesture, a gesture letting the system know that you want to use the new device you just plugged in (which includes both input and output in the case of the headset port)

MultiTrack has removed the speaker/receiver switch in the menu for all devices except iPhone, as it stopped doing anything on iPod. And it ended up switching between internal/external audio on iPad, which was causing confusion. Hope this helps."

above excepted from...
http://forum.harmonicdog.com/viewtopic. ... f4ea#p1080

[IK Multimedia]

Thanks for checking it out! We're pretty proud of it. You should note that if you are using something other than headphones experiment with turning the feedback control OFF to get an improvement in tone. With this, I'd say there's no real loss in tone.