KVR Audio

jjmcjj · Post by **jjmcjj** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:03 am

Madchiller wrote:I had my friend try Animoog with his Alesis io dock and ipad1, and it did the same thing that my iu2 does. When he put Animoog in the background it began to glitch. Sounds like buffering errors. So it appears there may be an issue with background audio and the 30 pin connector using external devices.

I'm having some of the same problems with the IU2 and the Zed10FX. I primarily use GarageBand, and I've found that changing various settings (such as the key or tempo) can cause a severe degrading of the audio signal (crackling as well as timing issues with GB's midi instruments.) The IU2 seems more susceptible to these problems than the Zed10FX, but both units are subject to this.

It seems as if at some point an audio driver reset is required to resync everything and clear up the audio stream crackles. I think I wasn't seeing this problem when I used the Z10FX with CCK, because the CCK works itself free periodically, thus resetting the audio. With the IU2, the connection is nice and snug, and you must find a different way of resetting the audio driver.

In GarageBand, for example, toggling Airplay achieves this. In other apps, I've been forced to either disconnect the interface, else kill the process entirely.

All that said, I did some remote location vocal recording a week or so ago that just wouldn't have been possible without the IU2. So its limitations are worth it to me.

Dogboy73 · Post by **Dogboy73** » Wed May 30, 2012 10:57 am

Sounds like we're STILL waiting for the definitive iOS interface

I guess the IO Dock has come closest & that's not without it's faults. Why oh why can't companies get this right. Will Apple themselves be the only company that can actually pull this off?! God help us! Anything they do is likely to cost a small fortune!!

darsho · Post by **darsho** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:12 pm

Has anyone used the Behringer UMA25S ?
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UMA25S.aspx

According to
http://iosmidi.com/devices/

it is working for Audio and MIDI with the iPad. Only downside is thast it has no MIDI in, otherwiese I would give it a try. But one would have to use the 25 Keys which frankly is a bit small for my taste.

Anyone have any ideas on that one ?

J.C · Post by **J.C** » Wed May 30, 2012 12:47 pm

Dogboy73 wrote:Sounds like we're STILL waiting for the definitive iOS interface

Agree, I still dream about a "simple" dock connected (NO CASES!!!) MIDI In & Out / Digital Audio In & Out , interface.

Ok, if Apple would put a USB connector on their iDevice, everything would be muuuuuuuch easier, but are we asking too much?

Dogboy73 · Post by **Dogboy73** » Wed May 30, 2012 3:38 pm

J.C wrote:
Dogboy73 wrote:Sounds like we're STILL waiting for the definitive iOS interface
Agree, I still dream about a "simple" dock connected (NO CASES!!!) MIDI In & Out / Digital Audio In & Out , interface.

Ok, if Apple would put a USB connector on their iDevice, everything would be muuuuuuuch easier, but are we asking too much?

That's what we need. I don't mind a dock connected device. As long as it works of course & has both MIDI & audio I/O. 6 jacks - 2 audio in, 2 audio out + MIDI in, MIDI out. Sorted

DrApostropheX · Post by **DrApostropheX** » Wed May 30, 2012 4:27 pm

darsho wrote:Has anyone used the Behringer UMA25S ?
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/UMA25S.aspx

According to
http://iosmidi.com/devices/

it is working for Audio and MIDI with the iPad. Only downside is thast it has no MIDI in, otherwiese I would give it a try. But one would have to use the 25 Keys which frankly is a bit small for my taste.

Anyone have any ideas on that one ?

I haven't used the Behringer, but my Novation Xiosynth 25 works great: it can be used as a MIDI controller keyboard, audio interface (it has a phantom-powered mic jack), AND sound from the onboard VA synth engine can be processed recorded in the iPad -- all over a single USB connection to the CCK. Oh, and it can run off AA batteries, too

J.C · Post by **J.C** » Wed May 30, 2012 4:28 pm

And of course, powered by the device itself or/and battery.

Time to start a Kickstarter project!

darsho · Post by **darsho** » Wed May 30, 2012 5:48 pm

I think I just put the Novation Xiosynth on my Shopping List .g.
Does it have Stereo Audio Input or just mono ?

*edit*

ok, just bought one off ebay for 159 EUR

DrApostropheX · Post by **DrApostropheX** » Wed May 30, 2012 6:33 pm

darsho wrote:I think I just put the Novation Xiosynth on my Shopping List .g.
Does it have Stereo Audio Input or just mono ?

*edit*

ok, just bought one off ebay for 159 EUR

It's just a mono input (I'm 95% certain), but there are separate jacks for mic and line. The manual is here: http://www.novationmusic.com/support/downloads/xio/ It's a really fun synth, but there are a couple of things to watch out for:

The labels on the front and back of the unit are IMPOSSIBLE to read in anything but bright, direct light. They're printed in light grey on light blue. Why they did this, I have no idea. I think it hurt the success of the product though. It's seriously annoying.

My Xiosynth 25 has a dirty headphone level pot (which causes crackling on the headphone output). I don't know if this was a common Xio problem or not, but it's something to be aware of.

One last thing: to use the Xiosynth headphone or line-out jacks for iPad audio, you just connect the USB from the Xio to the CCK. If you plug a headphone into the iPad headphone jack while the Xio is plugged in, the audio out from the iPad will switch to the iPad headphone jack. If the iPad falls asleep and you wake it back up, it'll default back to the Xio (I believe.. it' not 100% consistent, I don't think). Just something to be aware of.

Anyway, you should have fun with it. The ARP/Gate on the Xio is pretty impressive in its own right.

darsho · Post by **darsho** » Wed May 30, 2012 6:47 pm

DrApostropheX wrote:
darsho wrote:I think I just put the Novation Xiosynth on my Shopping List .g.
Does it have Stereo Audio Input or just mono ?

*edit*

ok, just bought one off ebay for 159 EUR
The labels on the front and back of the unit are IMPOSSIBLE to read in anything but bright, direct light. They're printed in light grey on light blue. Why they did this, I have no idea. I think it hurt the success of the product though. It's seriously annoying.

Anyway, you should have fun with it. The ARP/Gate on the Xio is pretty impressive in its own right.

I'm sure I'll have fun with it !

I love small synths/devices.
It will fit nicely in my collection of xbase, Electribe, xoxbox, MFB, Monotribe, Microkorg and the rest of the bunch

thanks for mentioning Xio. I was not even aware it has sounds, I always thought it was just a MIDI controller. I watched some YT videos just now and it sounds cool. I like the Novation sound. The production parter of one of my projects has an Supernova II and we use it in most of our tracks.

A tip from my side : buy a thin phosphorescent marker and overwrite the labels on your equipment. Perfect for clubs with blacklights and such

darsho · Post by **darsho** » Wed May 30, 2012 8:06 pm

one more thing :
yes the Xio can record Stereo !

if you speak a little german or use google translate, this may help :

http://www.sequencer.de/synthesizer/vie ... =7&t=25597

basically Xio has a Stereo Input, just it was splitted n a Mic in and a Line in. But Switching Off the Phantompower and using an Adapter for the XLR, then using Panning on the two incoming tracks (one totally left and one totally right), you basically have a working Stereo Input. The XLR eats Line pretty well according to what the users say in the sequencer.de forum !

Scepticism: While this surely works fine on a Computer, I must find out what apps allow an internal routing to make us of this.

DrApostropheX · Post by **DrApostropheX** » Wed May 30, 2012 8:30 pm

darsho wrote:one more thing :
yes the Xio can record Stereo !

if you speak a little german or use google translate, this may help :

http://www.sequencer.de/synthesizer/vie ... =7&t=25597

basically Xio has a Stereo Input, just it was splitted n a Mic in and a Line in. But Switching Off the Phantompower and using an Adapter for the XLR, then using Panning on the two incoming tracks (one totally left and one totally right), you basically have a working Stereo Input. The XLR eats Line pretty well according to what the users say in the sequencer.de forum !

Scepticism: While this surely works fine on a Computer, I must find out what apps allow an internal routing to make us of this.

Thanks for the tip on the "stereo" input

The lack of MIDI in kept the Xio from being a truly GREAT computer audio interface for me, but looking back over the years, it's definitely been the USB audio interface I've used the most with my various PCs and now the iPad.

But I really do need to clean that pot...

bullt · Post by **bullt** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 9:17 pm

I run the tascam IU2 with a 1GB ram netbook,
I use reaper with asio4all, it records very well directly my se electronics 5600 mic,
But I can't monitor throught the netbook the incoming signal with the asio4all drivers, with the others I can...

echologist · Post by **echologist** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:18 pm

finding my tascam IU2 very unpredictable and therefore totally unsuitable for the live scenario. I plug it in to my ipad 2 and never know when it's gonna work or not. at this point I must conclude that the ipad really works better as a controller than a stable sound source.

have not tried it on OSX yet. might do that and feel less cheated by its unreliable performance on IOS.

jjmcjj · Post by **jjmcjj** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 2:18 pm

I've actually gotten along better with my IU2 as I've gotten to know it. It seems, for whatever reason, to have less glitches. I may have just gotten better at avoiding the things that cause them, and it's fairly easy to fix when it happens.

I wouldn't use it for live work. But for field/remote recording, there is still nothing better atm. I suspect that many of the problems with the IU2 are actually inherent in the way the iPad processes audio through the 30 pin.

Tascam iU2 mobile interface