nikkicallaghan Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 im doing a play in the next few months and for the first time using my iPad Air and fx live2 to do all the sound. What is the best way of getting sounds out of an iPad cable wise, is it mini stereo jack to quarter inch jacks, if so what's the best cable to buy as in metal or plastic plugs and will shielded cable make much of a difference. Or is there a way of getting audio out of the Lightning socket and into a usb card like a behringer ua202 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 We use minijack to dual quarter inch jack for just about everything, and I've never had a problem that could be attributed to the cable. Any premade lead that you buy will be shielded, the quality of shielding does vary but I've yet to come across a cable that didn't work effectively. It's probably more useful to keep the length of the cable to a sensible minimum than worry about the amount of shielding. I wouldn't bother with an audio interface - for almost all intents and purposes the headphone jack is fine. This article is an interesting read if you want a bit more to digest on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkicallaghan Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 1443205541[/url]' post='528199']We use minijack to dual quarter inch jack for just about everything, and I've never had a problem that could be attributed to the cable. Any premade lead that you buy will be shielded, the quality of shielding does vary but I've yet to come across a cable that didn't work effectively. It's probably more useful to keep the length of the cable to a sensible minimum than worry about the amount of shielding. I wouldn't bother with an audio interface - for almost all intents and purposes the headphone jack is fine. This article is an interesting read if you want a bit more to digest on the subject.Thx Stuart, greatly appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Sometimes the moulded plugs are actually stronger than some metal ones - that are quite thin walled and hollow inside. Proper Neutrik jacks are the toughest, but I tend to buy the ones from CPC - pretty cheap and reliable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyro_gearloose Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 If you can, get a cable with a right angle mini jack on the end, and be careful about applying any kind of tension to the lead. Jack sockets are very small, often quite fragile, and can easily be broken by applying even small amounts of leverage to anything plugged in to them. For this reason I'd never use those horrible mini jack to quarter inch adaptors. This might be a bit a belt-and-braces, but I'd also think about some sort of backup in case your iPad fails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbsy Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 I've even used a mini stereo to Phono to 2 x quarter inch adaptors in an emergency and managed to get away with it--though I don't recommend it. However, most adaptor box kits have all these lying around. Do remember that the volume control on the iPad will be affecting the level coming out of the headphone jack so take a moment to set up a gain structure (basically just shoot for the iPad out and mixer input gains to both be somewhere in the middle) then check the iPad setting is right before each show. I carry some near-antique passive DI boxes in my emergency spares and, on the very rare occasion I've had noise issues, putting a couple of these in circuit can be a get out of jail free card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkicallaghan Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 1443265227[/url]' post='528226']If you can, get a cable with a right angle mini jack on the end, and be careful about applying any kind of tension to the lead. Jack sockets are very small, often quite fragile, and can easily be broken by applying even small amounts of leverage to anything plugged in to them. For this reason I'd never use those horrible mini jack to quarter inch adaptors. This might be a bit a belt-and-braces, but I'd also think about some sort of backup in case your iPad fails. Ever since a laptop crash yrs ago on a show I always have a cd and md back up. I never thought of using a right angle plug but beating in mind how fragile things with moulded plugs seem to sometimes be I'll always make sure there's enough slack as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted September 26, 2015 Share Posted September 26, 2015 I am surprised someone has not cornered the lightning / mini usb to xlr / 1/4inch market yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichM Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 http://www.interspaceind.com/audio-products/pc-bal-box-detail Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldradiohand Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 Just a few thoughts about using laptop/ithingies for playback - Try not to use jack plug headphone outputs if you can avoid it, I use a cheap USB to phono box as it's more reliable (the jack socket on my mac broke!). Unbalanced connections are unlikely to be an issue over short distances, ordinary single screened cable will be fine. Avoid mic level inputs 'cos some devices are extremely unhappy if you stick 48v phantom up their outputs by mistake. Stick to .wavs if you can (better quality, no concatenation errors, easy to edit with free software, storage size no longer an issue) and make sure all the audio is topped and tailed properly - nothing more annoying than hitting the play button and having to wait two seconds. Make sure you are connected to the mains - battery life is pretty variable and the indicators often lie. (that's why the interval music stopped after the second track...) Have a backup - audio CD is a fairly universal format - I have a small netbook with everything copied to it that I can use if the mac fails. My next project (if I can be bothered) is a big friendly "play" button - an old usb keyboard should supply the bits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkicallaghan Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 1443522469[/url]' post='528347']Just a few thoughts about using laptop/ithingies for playback - Try not to use jack plug headphone outputs if you can avoid it, I use a cheap USB to phono box as it's more reliable (the jack socket on my mac broke!). Unbalanced connections are unlikely to be an issue over short distances, ordinary single screened cable will be fine. Avoid mic level inputs 'cos some devices are extremely unhappy if you stick 48v phantom up their outputs by mistake. Stick to .wavs if you can (better quality, no concatenation errors, easy to edit with free software, storage size no longer an issue) and make sure all the audio is topped and tailed properly - nothing more annoying than hitting the play button and having to wait two seconds. Make sure you are connected to the mains - battery life is pretty variable and the indicators often lie. (that's why the interval music stopped after the second track...) Have a backup - audio CD is a fairly universal format - I have a small netbook with everything copied to it that I can use if the mac fails. My next project (if I can be bothered) is a big friendly "play" button - an old usb keyboard should supply the bits. I usually use a laptop with a behringer usb card with multiplay. I know what you mean about phantom power once had the pleasure of seeing the bass player with suddenly live strings, nothing to do with me I hasten to add. I always stick to wavs these days just seems to be better for adding in and out points in the playback software as well as quality. It's quite a tight show on the sound cues so I'm still deciding if the iPad has any noticeable latency. As you say an audio cd back up is always good as it will go in any CD player. If you should happen to build a nice big go button I'd buy one off you. Thx for all the help always appreciated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam.spoons Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 My next project (if I can be bothered) is a big friendly "play" button - an old usb keyboard should supply the bits. A USB Mouse would be neater, if you can find an old Mac single button mouse and disable the laser (or even a very old one and remove the ball :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkicallaghan Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 1443525371[/url]' post='528351']1443522469[/url]' post='528347']My next project (if I can be bothered) is a big friendly "play" button - an old usb keyboard should supply the bits. A USB Mouse would be neater, if you can find an old Mac single button mouse and disable the laser (or even a very old one and remove the ball :) I can imagine a lot of sound guys would like a nice big button to hit that can't be missed in the heat of battle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sleah Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 My next project (if I can be bothered) is a big friendly "play" button - an old usb keyboard should supply the bits. A USB Mouse would be neater, if you can find an old Mac single button mouse and disable the laser (or even a very old one and remove the ball :) I did that myself for a show last year. I just snipped the LEDs out!You could get fancy if you wanted a 'proper' button and simply wire the button of choice across the left-click button on the mouse and bury the mouse PCB in an enclosure :) Job done. Working mouse for mousing and a crippled mouse for a big button which just does a left click, no programming/hot keys required B-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikkicallaghan Posted September 29, 2015 Author Share Posted September 29, 2015 1443530589[/url]' post='528363']1443525371[/url]' post='528351']1443522469[/url]' post='528347']My next project (if I can be bothered) is a big friendly "play" button - an old usb keyboard should supply the bits. A USB Mouse would be neater, if you can find an old Mac single button mouse and disable the laser (or even a very old one and remove the ball :) I did that myself for a show last year. I just snipped the LEDs out!You could get fancy if you wanted a 'proper' button and simply wire the button of choice across the left-click button on the mouse and bury the mouse PCB in an enclosure :) Job done. Working mouse for mousing and a crippled mouse for a big button which just does a left click, no programming/hot keys required B-)I can see me nipping to my local electronic supplier and getting a nice enclosure and a big red button to put in it and get the soldering iron out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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