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Guitar Adapter

S

Silvereel

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 19, 2010
349
1
Has anyone had any experience with a guitar cord adapter, for iPad or iPhone? I'd like to connect my guitar to GarageBand, but I'm not sure which one I should get. I talked to a guy at the Apple Store, who showed me the iRig they offer, but said it might be a good idea to shop around first, since he didn't know much about it.

I've also heard people talk about using the iPad and an amplifier, using the iPad as a sort of universal effects pedal. I don't really know how this would work, though, since once you've got the iPad hooked in it seems like it's a dead end.
 
TWO2SEVEN said:
Here is a link I found to build your own. You can probably pick up all of the parts for about half of the cost of the iRig. I have not tried it, but hopefully this helps.

http://beaugatlin.blogspot.com/2010/09/make-your-own-irig-audio-interface-for.html
Click to expand...

That 'build your own' solution is poor.

- The iPad microphone connector contains a small voltage to power microphones. An interface should filter this out.
- Electric guitars need a very high impedance (1megaohm) interface to sound good. Hooking to a low impedance microphone port will kill treble.

iRig filters the DC power and also (I believe) provides a small amplifier to correct impedance - so it's definitely worth the extra.

There's an additional problem with the iPad mic/headphone connector that the iRig can't fix, and that is a roll off of bass below 200Hz. That's ok-ish for electric guitar, but definately bad for bass. The best option to record guitar into the iPad would be to get the Apogee Jam - which feeds unfiltered ausio into the iPad's USB port.
 
firestarter said:
That 'build your own' solution is poor.

- The iPad microphone connector contains a small voltage to power microphones. An interface should filter this out.
- Electric guitars need a very high impedance (1megaohm) interface to sound good. Hooking to a low impedance microphone port will kill treble.

iRig filters the DC power and also (I believe) provides a small amplifier to correct impedance - so it's definitely worth the extra.

There's an additional problem with the iPad mic/headphone connector that the iRig can't fix, and that is a roll off of bass below 200Hz. That's ok-ish for electric guitar, but definately bad for bass. The best option to record guitar into the iPad would be to get the Apogee Jam - which feeds unfiltered ausio into the iPad's USB port.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this very informative post. Do you happen to know if any USB audio interfaces like the Cakewalk UA-1G work with the iPad on 4.2 or 4.3? I'm am excited for the Apogee device, but really want something that also allows for input of a dynamic mic via an XLR cable (or XLR to TS or TRS adapter).

Any recommendations?
 
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