iOS FRFR Test Setup
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I'm trying to make this as PITA free setup as possible. Last time I was able to get up and playing on stage in less than 5 minutes, using an amp, an iRig HD2 and the Blueboard.
Now I'm checking out the Alto TS210. I have velcro'd a bunch of the top of the wedge so that I can ad or remove a Line6 G30 wireless and a Sonoma Wireworks StudioJack Mini interface. I think if I made some cutom wires I could really clean this up more and make it even more foolproof.
Right now, the iPad is being held up by an iKross 2-in-1 Kitchen Wall / CounterTop Desktop Mount. Its meant to slide into a little plastic holder, which I may or may not decide to hot glue to the top of this speaker, right now I just have it pressure wedged into the top wedge handle and it has stayed pretty secure.
If anyone has any ideas of how to make these products even faster, more reliable and more portable for an even quicker setup, I'd love to hear! I don't know if the Alto case will hold screws.
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@pipelineaudio how is the mini studio from Sonoma? Been thinking about one. I feel like my behringer is a bit noisy and not allowing me to enjoy
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Its the best I've tried so far. Don't like that it doesn't have a dedicated output level control, but it works fine. I am probably going to try a GuitarJack Stage soon
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id like the guitar stage too. but im saving for a kemper. Unless this new bias announcement closes the gap on profiling.
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@pipelineaudio Your setup looks really good. Impressive
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in your interface tests I saw you writing about low output levels from the interfaces.
did the low output affect the tone? Did you record in a DAW and notice that the WAV forms were small?
I tried to record something and not sure if i was picking like a bitch because my wife was sleeping or if my levels were wrong because the wav was really really short. like small.
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I don't think the output levels of most of these things affected the tone exactly as much as really tank the signal to noise level
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meaning you had a lot of noise in the signal because the output was not strong enough?
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Yeah, in general these sorts of things are quiet, and whatever you would be plugging them into onstage expects a much higher level. It does seem weird that most of these devices seem to test solidly into the -10dBV level, which should be "low" level, but seem hissy anyway. Some of them can get to the +4dBu regular "pro" line level.
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ok so i need a good level out of the last app in the signal chain like Fiddlicator..and need a good mains out level to the power amp or mixer?
I have a behringer UMC204HD that seems like it should work. I am just trying to get the right levels. It has mic and instrument level and a pad switch on the input. Sometimes it sounds cleaner on the non instrument input but i guess that would be a low level. If i leave it at no gain from the mic pre on the instument type input with no pad that seems like it would be the unaltered high level input from the guitar. It does have a little bit of hiss. Maybe from no shileding in the guitar?
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@brian-dress said in iOS FRFR Test Setup:
UMC204HD
That unit has PLENTY of output level, its not really directly comparable to most of these interfaces made to be lightning powered or whatever
The DI inputs on these sorts of products are always hit and miss. If they're set to deal with low output single coils, then people like me complain there's not enough padding for EMG's. If they make enough padding for EMG's then people with low output pickups are going to get hiss city. I think they have to pick their poison and if its really an issue, people can buy their favorite active or passive DI and not worry too much.
What I've been really surprised by, is that, no matter what other shortcomings are going on, most of the lightning powered interface makers have done an EXCELLENT job on the input side, possibly better than most of the pro level audio interfaces when it comes to guitar input
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So i do use the Behringer with a powered USB hub that is then connected to the USB 3.0 camera connector to the Iphone.
So likely i just need to mess with my levels on the input side to make sure im getting the loudest signal with no clipping?
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It really depends, I think, usually, on a DI input, a decent middle of the road pickup should be at a high enough level, that turning down the input turns down the noise from the input as well (as opposed to a situation where the noise floor stays the same and turning down the input changes the signal to noise ratio.
If you are getting actual amplifier gain hiss, its usually at the output stage, not having the signal high enough above the internal noise and the idle noise of the physical amplifying part of the output circuit.
I know for me, one thing that was greatly exaggerating the problem was Tonestack doing a -6db on a lot of the effects, including the splitter/mixer I use to switch clean to distortion. I was somewhere around 18dBFS lower than I would have been, resulting in piles of hiss, and a much much much lower level going into an amplifier's FX return as I would have been with a guitar plugged straight into there.
And again, this is where a lot of these apps really drop the ball. I would expect to see both wet dry mix and level control (and FSM forbid, METERS!) at least in a menu or something for every effect. On the desktop its not so bad, as you can VST in something to deal with it, but damn, on iOS its pain
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So I get around this a lot by using the different apps meters. There's meters in bias and I send tonestack into bias. And then there's meters in Fiddlicator where I send bias signal. And then there is the output meter in aum that I can watch too
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Again, this is really showing a lot of the missing basics in these apps. It is DAMN hard for me to get an input or output level exactly back to where I was or to a specific value, or to in most of these even get a meter reading that is very accurate. I find myself plugging into and out of the iPad from a computer for the metering, but setting the level exact, forget it. I'd love to see direct entry for parameters
More and more, I'm trying to pull coding time from other projects to make an app to host all these things as a nerve center, but I keep thinking, a few "little" (hah!) changes to Bias and it could wipe out all the time I put into it so I keep putting it on the back burner seeing if PG will just set it.
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So for levels bud I'm going to try something new. I'm going to do everything in aum. Aum have level indicators per channel.
Instead of putting all the apps in nodes on one channel in going to send them into eachother monitoring the level on each channel.
So probably 3 to four channels in aum. I'll set it up now and see if I can't show a photo
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Hey man check out AUM
I'm about to watch the game but will try later. Using mix busses to run the apps into each other will let you(I think) monitor levels between apps. At least to make sure they aren't clipping.
If I was going to have a performance I'd make sure everything was set for my list prior of course
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Here is a shot of using aum as a mixer to simulate patching these apps together. And monitor levels
https://imgur.com/gallery/oE7DA
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I've updated this a bit with a removable holder for the iPad, and added a DI box so the PA guy can get the signal he wants, without the speaker volume affecting it, and without him frying my interface with phantom power
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sound clips of that in the room?
