iRig Acoustic Mic/Interface for iOS

Jim Hanks

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http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigacoustic/

OK, who's gonna be the first to try this on their ukes? Looks interesting. I was not real impressed with the original iRig as it generated a lot of crosstalk on the headphone jack but maybe they've improved the circuitry over the past few years.
 
it sure looks interesting!
 
$49 bucks is great if it works. Am I reading it right that the software AND mic are $49? If that think delivers that would be pretty cool.

Trevor
 
Thanks for the heads up Jim. I have ZERO knowledge about anything electronic so here are some noob questions. I read this back to front and can't figure out if I can just plug that iRig Acoutic mic directly into my amp. If not what do I have to do to be able to do that. I have a number of ukes without pick ups and it would be a blast to try them all out through my Fishman loudbox mini.

Thanks
Dave
 
I could be confused but I got the idea it was not to go to a regular amp, just to the IOS based recording software IE and Iphone or Ipad. I am also tech-deficient.
 
I could be confused but I got the idea it was not to go to a regular amp, just to the IOS based recording software IE and Iphone or Ipad. I am also tech-deficient.

It looks like there is a splitter type jack. Maybe it has to go into your phone or ipad first that has the app and then into an amplifer. If all it does is record then I am not interested.
 
There are a few iRig devices. They are analogue/digital interfaces that allows you to plug your Uke pickup into a iPhone or iPad ( usually using Garage Band as the recorder/mixing desk). The one I have caters for other inputs besides the standard quarter inch phono jack.
 
It looks like there is a splitter type jack. Maybe it has to go into your phone or ipad first that has the app and then into an amplifer. If all it does is record then I am not interested.

There are a few iRig devices. They are analogue/digital interfaces that allows you to plug your Uke pickup into a iPhone or iPad

This one is different. It is not for plugging in a pickup. It is a clip on microphone. DUD has the right idea. The mic input goes into the app for processing, effects, etc, and then that signal comes back out for either headphone listening or as a line level output to a mixer, speaker, or whatever. Putting that signal into a regular amp would probably require a direct box, depending on the amp, but would not be required as the app is the amp, if that makes sense. Also it does not appear possible to take the mic input directly to an external amp but I'm guessing that would sound like crap anyway. I'm guessing you need the app as a preamp,etc. to get a useable sound.

When used in this way it probably works well. The example videos look fairly impressive but those are under very controlled conditions. But I wonder how it behaves "in the real world". For example, when I had the original iRig, I wanted to play a backing track on the iPad, play my instrument into the iRig and record the instrument in an iPad recording app. The problem was that the backing track playing through the headphone fed back into the input (at a low level but still) so the backing track was faintly audible in my recorded instrument track. Not acceptable. That is why I moved to interfaces like hollisdwyer mentioned that input through the 30-pin connector and there is no possibility of feedback.

But again, that was several years ago with a different device. Hopefully they have solved this problem.
 
So it looks like this only delivers input to an iDevice. Unfortunately, that rules it out for me. I do some recording with my iPad, but most of the time I go to my PC.
 
For example, when I had the original iRig, I wanted to play a backing track on the iPad, play my instrument into the iRig and record the instrument in an iPad recording app. The problem was that the backing track playing through the headphone fed back into the input (at a low level but still) so the backing track was faintly audible in my recorded instrument track. Not acceptable.

I have an original iRig here but I just used it in basic mode: guitar in, headphones out. I thought it was good value for money - provided you already had an iPad.
It hadn't been used in a couple of years, but a month or two back I plugged the Pono TE in and it worked fine.
 
So it looks like this only delivers input to an iDevice. Unfortunately, that rules it out for me. I do some recording with my iPad, but most of the time I go to my PC.
What's your PC interface? You could run the line out from the iPad to the PC. Or if recorded on the iPad you could export the audio files from that into your PC DAW.
 
I have an original iRig here but I just used it in basic mode: guitar in, headphones out. I thought it was good value for money - provided you already had an iPad.
It hadn't been used in a couple of years, but a month or two back I plugged the Pono TE in and it worked fine.
Right. You're likely still getting a small amount of feedback but it's a low level and "the same" instrument so probably not very noticeable. If anything it probably comes across as a slight chorusing or comb filter effect
 
http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigacoustic/

OK, who's gonna be the first to try this on their ukes? Looks interesting. I was not real impressed with the original iRig as it generated a lot of crosstalk on the headphone jack but maybe they've improved the circuitry over the past few years.

The price has been fluctuating on various sites over the past week (including Amazon and B&H).

I just ordered one from B&H Photo for $42 and had to pad the order to $49 to get the free expedited shipping, and should have it in hand by Tues Dec 29 if all goes well.

It's not a big deal to come up with $7 worth of items (I ordered a bunch of 1/4" female jacks @ $1.19 ea. that I will use for some other projects).

If they have still not fixed the crosstalk, it's going back.

Also if the mic sounds bad without the 'Amplitube Acoustic' app's modeling and other processing, i.e. direct into Garageband or Auria on iOS, then I might also send it back unless I can use either Inter-App-Audio or Audiobus to route the output of Amplitube into Garageband for iOS or to Auria for iOS.

I will post a follow-up and possible video once I have a chance to run it through it's paces for a full test.

If it works well (and sounds GOOD), this could be the holy grail that lowers the barrier to entry for those new to recording, instead of messing with external mics, mic placement, which preamp and interface to use, and how to set it all up, and the associated costs.

Another benefit from a device like this is that you can easily move it to another instrument without having to mess with velcro, double-stick tape or funtak putty since it mounts to the soundhole. I like this idea and hope it's not too big on a uke (it looks big on the uke in the photos)

Also - to answer another question that was posted, it says on the IK Multimedia site that the output jack is a headphone/line-out jack. This tells me that about the impedance and output voltage (low impedance [being 250 Ohm to 650 Ohm] and likely about 700mv to 1v peak-to-peak) and if your amplifier has an 1/8" or RCA input for an mp3-player, you could run this into your amp.

If you run it into the guitar input, you will likely not have enough volume or gain unless the amp is turned up very high due to the iRig Acoustic's impedance and voltage being LOW impedance and a guitar being more of a HIGH impedance conntection, typically 1kOhm to 10kohm.

Also, keep in mind that unless your amp is a 'stereo' amp, you will only hear a mono output. In this regard your iOS or Android device would function in place of any guitar effects pedals using an app like Amplitube, JamUp Pro or ToneStack and the plentiful effects therein.

Using one of the new pedals for mobile devices like the IK BlueBoard, you can have footswitch control of your effects just like a guitar pedalboard. Also if you have the LoopyHD app, I expect that you could use the BlueBoard to control it and have a nice looper setup on your mobile device that rivals many of the dedicated looper pedals that cost $$$ for the better ones.

But you don't need this iRig Acoustic device to use the IK BlueBoard if you already have an interface to get the sound into your mobile device. The BlueBoard works via BlueTooth wireless connection (like your earpiece) and emulates various keys from a QWERTY keyboard which you can setup a KEYMAP inside whichever app you are using and tell it which footswitches are assigned to which function....but I digress....sorry. :(

:music:
 
So it looks like this only delivers input to an iDevice. Unfortunately, that rules it out for me. I do some recording with my iPad, but most of the time I go to my PC.


I found a link to this device on the iRig forums that may solve this exact problem:

NRG Tech TRRS CTIA / AHJ/ 4 Pole USB Audio Adapter

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O1FH37S

61AEb0wc-ML._SL1438_.jpg


The Amazon reviews look promising and it's cheap enough. The problem with a standard PC sound card is you need to have a jack that accepts the 1/8" TRRS male plug. On mobile devices this combines both the input of a mic and a headphone output into a single connector.

On most PCs (and older Macs) there is a separate connector for the mic input (TS or TRS) and a separate connector for the headphone or speaker output (TRS). Also on all of these devices, the mic input jack supplies what is known as 'plug-in power' (which was originally the standard for an electret mic element, typically anywhere from 1.5 to 4.5 volts DC) and this same power is required for the iRig Acoustic to work on iOS, Android or Mac.

MEMS microphones typically require 1.5v DC to 3v DC.

My thinking is that this little USB-to-TRRS adapter acts as an additional sound card for your Mac or PC, and might let us use the iRig Acoustic on computers that do not have the TRRS jack already in the existing built-in sound card.

It's not a big deal to have multiple USB or Firewire/Thunderbolt audio interfaces on your desktop/laptop computer. I do it all the time, and you just have to select the interface you want to use in either/both your audio control panel of the System Preferences, and/or in your recording program. It's not really complicated at all IMHO.

On the Mac, you can even combine multiple devices into what Apple calls an 'Aggregate Audio Device' via the Audio-MIDI control program, and doing so lets you expose just a single device with multiple I/O connections to your DAW or recording app. It is VERY easy to setup. This is similar to using the JACK Audio Toolkit on Linux (which is free).

I am no longer a Windows user since 2005, so I am not sure what virtual audio patchbay software is available on Windows now, so you'll have to search that one.

I have not tried this NRG Tech unit myself as I've yet to receive my iRig Acoustic, but for only $20, I think it's worth a shot.

Hope this helps. :)
 
Question, how would you record voice also on an iPad using this device, can you use the irig vocal mic at the same time?
 
Question, how would you record voice also on an iPad using this device, can you use the irig vocal mic at the same time?

Since the TRRS connection in the headphone port's mic input is mono (i.e. single channel) I do not think this would be easy. They have another product called the iRig Mic Lav, which is a lavalier microphone, and there is a function that allows you to daisy-chain two of them to record two voices at the same time.

See here:

http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/irigmiclav/

Since the daisy-chain function of the iRig Mic Lav passes power and audio to the upstream device, it 'may' be possible to use an iRig Mic Lav going into the iOS device first, and then plug in the iRig Acoustic into that devices headphone port with the switch set to the 'input' setting.

If in fact this works for both audio and power, you would still only have a single mono channel in your recording.

For recording in either stereo or with two discrete audio channels, you would need a device that connects to either the 30pin or Lightning connector. Or a USB audio interface going into either the iPad Camera Connection Kit, or USB-to-Lightning adapter dongle.

There are MANY 2-channel audio interfaces on the market now for both iOS and USB connections, way too many to list here.

If you are multi-tracking, you could use the iRig Acoustic for the uke/guitar track, and then disconnect it and use the iRig Mic (or similar) to record a vocal track, but this would not let you sing and play at the same time. If your intent is to sing and play simultaneously for Seasons videos, etc, you might be better off with any of over dozen mics designed for mobile devices or computers.

I use an Apogee MiC which I like very much and it sounds great. For recording any non-acoustic instruments like an electric guitar, bass, etc, I will disconnect the Apogee MiC and plug in my Apogee JAM.

OTOH, If I want to record my singing and playing at the same time, each to a separate audio channel, I will use an AKG Perception 200 large diaphragm condenser mic, and my instrument via a standard guitar cable, both each plugged into it's own channel on my ART USB Dual Tube Pre interface connected to the iPad Camera Connection Kit. All of which sound great and are easy to use, but like I said, there are MANY options.

I do not know if the MEMS mic inside the iRig Acoustic would give you a usable sound if say you placed it on a table or desk in front of you and sang and played into it. Likely you will have to turn up the input recording gain which will add too much noise/hiss to the recording and would be detrimental to the audio quality. I could be wrong, but I plan to test this idea once I get my iRig Acoustic in a few days and will report back with the results.
 
Booli - I look forward to your usual thoughtful review when you get this. I'm quite intrigued. Happy New Year!
 
Booli - I look forward to your usual thoughtful review when you get this. I'm quite intrigued. Happy New Year!


Thanks Eddie! Happy New year to you too!

It came today as promised. I played with it a little bit. First impressions are good. It seems to be a very sensitive mic, i.e., providing a very hot signal. More testing needs to be done though.

I plan to do a comprehensive review that includes audio comparisons between the built-in mic on the iPad3, the Apogee MiC, and of course the iRig Acoustic.

I will also be recording clean with no effects and then compare that to running it through the suggested Amplitube Acoustic iOS app to see if and how much of a difference it makes and try to demonstrate what you get for $10 with that app.

It's going to take some time, so I might be able to have something up by the weekend.

I'll post back here with a link to the video and audio samples...so stay tuned! :)
 
I played with mine briefly and yes it did seem "hot" but as soon as I turned on the amp in Amplitube it came right down. Of course I'm waiting for your impressions since my standards are much lower than yours ;)
The only other thing for now is that I need to put a shim in the clip so it hugs my soundboard tightly. Mine was sliding around a bit which made it sound like I was wrestling an alligator (I'm not exactly a graceful uke player). Come to think of it, I'm not much of an alligator wrestler either...
 
I played with mine briefly and yes it did seem "hot" but as soon as I turned on the amp in Amplitube it came right down. Of course I'm waiting for your impressions since my standards are much lower than yours ;)
The only other thing for now is that I need to put a shim in the clip so it hugs my soundboard tightly. Mine was sliding around a bit which made it sound like I was wrestling an alligator (I'm not exactly a graceful uke player). Come to think of it, I'm not much of an alligator wrestler either...

On the one uke I tested it so far (my tenor Koa Fluke), I have an iPhone screen protector acting as a pickguard, and it was quite a snug fit. You might want to try that. I got a 5-pack of them at the dollar store a while back, and the adhesive does not mar the wood or leave a residue, but may have trouble sticking to a matte or satin finish.

Aside from that you could try some tape that has a low-tack adhesive, like painter's tape or 'magic tape' (not cellophane) Scotch tape, and if needed you could layer a few strips of tape to get the thickness you need.

OTHER kinds of tape will leave residue behind (Duct tape, packaging tape), and might have something in the adhesive that would otherwise be detrimental to the finish when removed.

[added] Or you could try a few small strips of tape on the underside of the pick-shaped plastic part, if you opt not to apply tape to your uke(s)...

I will test this device on several other instruments, as well as with routing the output into an amp from the line-out/headphone port - for if that test goes well, the iRig Acoustic could be used live in place of a permanently installed pickup (and moved across to other ukes/guitars as needed), but I'm not sure if/how much feedback there will be...

more later :shaka:
 
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