Using mobile device without headphone jack

[nadroj]

Got myself a new phone recently, iPhone 7. Not 'new' according to the phone industry, but new enough for me.

 

Came bundled with GarageBand and alchemy, which is nice. I used my old phone for a lot of different musical things when playing at home and even live in certain bands, so these extras will be especially nice to muck around with.

 

However, the damn thing doesn"t have a headphone jack so a 1/8 inch jack to take audio won"t work. There are lightening to female headphone adapters so that you can plug it into keyboards/DI boxes if need be, but it"s a different story if you"re trying to connect it to a midi controller at the same time.

 

Anyone know of any solution where I"d be able to use the lightening port to both receive MIDI AND send audio at the same time?

[Mark_OA]

You can get some Midi over Bluetooth accesoires I think, but don't know enough about that to recommend anything to you.

[nadroj]

You can get some Midi over Bluetooth accesoires I think, but don't know enough about that to recommend anything to you.

 

My experience with Bluetooth is such that I wouldn"t trust it on a live setting.

 

I just discovered the Korg Plugkey. Anyone any experience with that?

[xKnuckles]

That missing headphone socket is the reason why I now use a Samsung phone. Maybe you could trade in your iphone 7 for an iphone 6?

[Mark_OA]

That missing headphone socket is the reason why I now use a Samsung phone. Maybe you could trade in your iphone 7 for an iphone 6?

 

The Samsung S10 series doesn't have them either...

[ElmerJFudd]

Lightening adapter with 3.5mm headphone jack and charging port.

 

https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F8J212/

 

if you also want midi go, Korg Plugkey

https://www.korg.com/us/products/computergear/plugkey/

 

Just keep in mind, at some point Apple is going to ditch lightening for USB-C.

But whatever, we all have orphaned gear laying about.

[SamuelBLupowitz]

Lightening adapter with 3.5mm headphone jack and charging port.

 

https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F8J212/

 

if you also want midi go, Korg Plugkey

https://www.korg.com/us/products/computergear/plugkey/

 

Just keep in mind, at some point Apple is going to ditch lightening for USB-C.

But whatever, we all have orphaned gear laying about.

+1. I use something similar for my iPad and iPhone when I use them for music.

 

I"ve actually been pleasantly surprised by how reliable MIDI over Bluetooth has been with my Seaboard, but that"s for sending data in, not audio out, which I think would have significantly more latency.

[RandyFF]

Both of your boards have MIDI out connections, so you're good to go with the Korg PlugKey. I've used it many times and really love that it has a volume knob- I place it within easy reach, usually on my music stand, and can easily adjust the volume when I change patches. With the PlugKey you don't need a headphone out, it gives you an 1/8th inch out as well as 1/4" audio outs.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Got myself a new phone recently, iPhone 7. Not 'new' according to the phone industry, but new enough for me.

 

Came bundled with GarageBand and alchemy, which is nice. I used my old phone for a lot of different musical things when playing at home and even live in certain bands, so these extras will be especially nice to muck around with.

 

However, the damn thing doesn"t have a headphone jack so a 1/8 inch jack to take audio won"t work. There are lightening to female headphone adapters so that you can plug it into keyboards/DI boxes if need be, but it"s a different story if you"re trying to connect it to a midi controller at the same time.

 

Anyone know of any solution where I"d be able to use the lightening port to both receive MIDI AND send audio at the same time?

 

There are lots. The Korg plugKEY has been mentioned several times here, and I have one and use it all the time. It has the advantages of being very small, sounding quite good, and letting you take out a stereo signal while putting in 5-pin MIDI and charging the iOS device at the same time. At a bare minimum, it'll do the job for you.

 

For my purposes, it's not perfect: I wish it had a USB-A host port in addition to, or instead of, the DIN port (you can't use Korg's own wired controller keyboards with it? Buh?), the fact that it bristles all over with connections makes it tricky to place (mine hangs from my iPad stand by the audio cables with spaghetti popping out on all sides), and I wish the Lightning cable was detachable and replaceable (it's very short and when it breaks, the plugKEY is junk). But it's a solid, basic interface specifically designed for this application, and you won't find anything smaller or cheaper.

 

If you're willing to spend a bit more money for a bit more features, IK Multimedia's iRig Pro I/O is a good step up. All of the above, plus MIDI Out if you want to use your iOS device to sequence other gear, and an XLR/TRS combo jack to feed it a microphone or guitar. Only downside is that there's only one audio output, a stereo minijack, and again the ports are all over it. It does charge your iOS box, though, which the larger iRig Pro DUO does not.

 

Because iOS has the same class compliant CoreMIDI and CoreAudio drivers as macOS, any USB interface will work. I have a Novation AudioHub 2 x 4 that lets me control my iPad with three controllers at once, has high quality outputs, and lets me pass through another stereo signal to the output mix, with a separate cue output if needed. It requires AC from the wall and it's not SUPER portable, and it won't charge your iPad, but it's relatively easy to carry around and has nice connectivity.

 

As for Bluetooth MIDI: it's brilliant. As long as you're keeping your distances very short (under 10 feet for safety's sake), it's a great way to control an iOS device without using up a cable port. Latency is nearly unnoticeable. (Bluetooth audio is a completely different animal -- avoid at all costs.)

 

I have an Arturia Keystep that has a Yamaha UD-BT01 transmitter dongle plugged in between the wallwart AC supply (I use an ordinary little iPhone cube) and the USB cable running to the back of it. In addition to the analog synth it controls with CV and Gate outputs and the MIDI synth it controls with 5-pin, it also controls any of the three iPads in my studio wirelessly. I just decide which one I want it to talk to, choose it in that iPad's MIDI connection menu within an app like Gadget, and I'm off to the races. (I have three keyboards with Bluetooth MIDI dongles, and assign them around the room depending on my needs.)

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

[KeyMoe]

I have used a pro level Bluetooth receiver by Denon for audio and it has worked flawlessly.

As long as you keep the distance between the two relatively short. A couple other pro companies have made other models recently. Again we used them live for audio only for a couple years now. About 50 or so gigs a year. Break music essentially. Never an issue.