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 I'm having problems getting my bucket audio going how I want. I'm a bit of a noob to AV (and this hobby in general) and have only ever dealt with guitar amps and the like in the past. I have two issues that I'm hoping the you wonderful nerds can help me with, the first of which is much more pressing than the other

1. The iPhone I'm using just doesn't seem to want to recognize my mic. It continues to use the built-in mic, rather than switching to the jacked mic.

2. I'm not getting the volume I was hoping for. Does anyone have any suggestions for boosting the volume output without buying any additional hardware, such as an amp?

 

Here's the details on what I'm using, see also the picture below:

Phone: iPhone 4s running TKvoice version 1.3

Splitter: Battery Powered Mic Adapter for Apple devices ---------------

Microphone: Olympus ME-52W (https://www.amazon.com/Olympus-ME-52W-Noise-Canceling-Microphone/dp/B000MYPPPE/ref=sr_1_1?srs=10516822011&ie=UTF8&qid=1484333003&sr=8-1&keywords=olympus+microphone)

Speakers: Ukswrath's hovi mic tip speakers (http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/31436-fs-ukswraths-hovi-mic-tips-with-speakers-crl-accurate-tips), which, by the way, are awesome.

 

So I guess I'm looking for any advice you that are more experienced than I might give on this. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

EDIT: Apparently I'm "not allowed" to add images to my post, so click here for the image...

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Edited by gmrhodes13
link removed no longer working
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Hey Ben,

 

"themaninthesuitcase" is the one who developed the APP, I don't know if you would want to contact him. He says that 9/10 times it is a splitter issue. Others have said that everything needs to be connected together then plugged into the phone. Here are some links that may help you. 

 

I would repost your question here. You may get better responses.

 

http://www.whitearmor.net/forum/topic/32270-tkvoice-for-ios-development-annoucement/page-1?hl=tkvoice

 

 

 

TKvoice hardware post

 

http://www.cpearson.me.uk/tkvoice/hardware/

 

Hope this helps. Also, are you using "photobucket" to post pictures? 

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Hey Ben,

 

"themaninthesuitcase" is the one who developed the APP, I don't know if you would want to contact him. He says that 9/10 times it is a splitter issue. Others have said that everything needs to be connected together then plugged into the phone. Here are some links that may help you. 

 

I would repost your question here. You may get better responses.

 

Ya, I've PMed themaninthesuitecase and he's not too familiar with the mic I'm using. I researched this mic before buying and was under the impression it would work with the iphone, but it won't seem to recognize it, with the splitter or even plugged directly into the phone. Also, the splitter I got is the one that he highly recommends.

 

If your mic isn't stereo you may need to get a stereo adapter to plug it into the splitter

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Judging by the fact that there is just the single band on the mic's jack, I'm pretty sure it's mono. Again, I'm not too savvy on any of this. It came with an extension cord (which you can actually see to the left side of the photo) that has two bands on the jack. Doesn't that mean it's stereo?

 

Thanks for the willingness to help guys!

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If your mic isn't stereo you may need to get a stereo adapter to plug it into the splitter

Looking at the photo this would be my first suggestion. The extension might well do it, if it's a mono-> stereo cable.

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Hey Ben,

 

I was looking over your pictures, and your mic is mono. Most microphones are. 

 

Okay I just want to make sure that I am understanding this right. The iPhone, when all this is plugged in, uses its internal microphone, not the one you bought? And, I'm just being through. You tried the mic on something else to make sure it works?

 

Do you have one of those cellphone headsets? The cord with the earpiece and built-in mic. If so, try using that in place of the mic and see if the works.

 

If it is a problem with the mono to stereo connection between the mic and adapter; you may want to look for a mono to stereo cable. The electronic department at the store may have one, but your best bet would be Radio shack. The cables are like $5 to $10 dollars.

 

If all the hardware works (mic, splitter, ect) then it may be an issue with the phone. Possibly a setting somewhere on the phone.

 

If all else fails you may want to reach out to the garrison. Hopefully there is someone nearby that can help.

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Hey Ben,

 

I was looking over your pictures, and your mic is mono. Most microphones are. 

 

Okay I just want to make sure that I am understanding this right. The iPhone, when all this is plugged in, uses its internal microphone, not the one you bought? And, I'm just being through. You tried the mic on something else to make sure it works?

 

Do you have one of those cellphone headsets? The cord with the earpiece and built-in mic. If so, try using that in place of the mic and see if the works.

 

If it is a problem with the mono to stereo connection between the mic and adapter; you may want to look for a mono to stereo cable. The electronic department at the store may have one, but your best bet would be Radio shack. The cables are like $5 to $10 dollars.

 

If all the hardware works (mic, splitter, ect) then it may be an issue with the phone. Possibly a setting somewhere on the phone.

 

If all else fails you may want to reach out to the garrison. Hopefully there is someone nearby that can help.

 

The iPhone is specific about detecting the mic when using a cable adapter to split the mic and headphone signals.  So far one 2 I know of have been proven reliable, the Conversor one here is one of them.  This specific adaptor expects a sterio input, not sure why but it does.  With a mono mic you NEED to use a simple inexpensive adapter to convert from mono to stero and it will suddenly start working all else being equal and the mic being appropriate.

 

The application actually displays an icon top left to show which mic is in used after you press start proccessing.  If the picture is a phone then it's the phone not seeing the external mic, the app poles all available inputs before selecting that image.

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The application actually displays an icon top left to show which mic is in used after you press start proccessing.  If the picture is a phone then it's the phone not seeing the external mic, the app poles all available inputs before selecting that image.

 

I've never noticed that! Super helpful, thanks for the attention to detail when building it.

 

Thanks all for the help so far. Sounds like it's probably the contact point between the splitter and the mic. I'll be sure to buy a mono to stereo adapter and let you guys know if it worked. My one doubt on that front is this: why would the phone not recognize the mic when I plug it in directly, not using the splitter? Does anyone know if the iphone is supposed to be able to interact directly with mono mics? When researching, my understanding was that it would.

 

EDIT: For those asking, I have tested this mic on a voice recorder I have and it worked fine.

Edited by Neb Sgird
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Does anyone know if the iphone is supposed to be able to interact directly with mono mics? When researching, my understanding was that it would.

 

EDIT: For those asking, I have tested this mic on a voice recorder I have and it worked fine.

No, you need an adapter or a mic with a TRRS connection like the Rode Smart mic, which would then stop you being able to use the audio output I believe.
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No, you need an adapter or a mic with a TRRS connection like the Rode Smart mic, which would then stop you being able to use the audio output I believe.

 

Hmmmm alright. I'll keep you guys posted!

 

On to my other question. Any ideas on boosting the volume without having to buy an amp? I know it's a long shot, but I'd rather not spend more money (still in the poor-college-kid stage of life)

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Good news folks! I bought this and my microphone now works perfectly! Score!

 

So on to my other issue. I've come to the conclusion that yes, I will likely have to buy some more hardware to boost the volume coming from the phone into ukswrath's HOVI tips. I'm hoping to stuff all the voice electronics into my bucket, along with fans and padding, so things will probably be a little cramped. I was looking at a few options and was wondering if anyone here has any experience with any of them. There is, of course, ukswrath's amp that he sells with the hovi tips, but it seems a little bulky for my needs. I also found the option below. I'm not too familiar with it, any opinions?

 

https://www.amazon.com/A1-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier-Silver/dp/B01CPUVPEM

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  • 3 months later...

Alright, time to find out if this thread is dead or not. I've been distracted of late by my actual kit (build thread here) and just recently started thinking about bucket audio again. So. Developments. With the retirement of TKvoice (may it rest in peace) I've switched to TrooperTalk (which is fantastic). The weird thing is, now that I have everything installed, I've noticed that I actually have great volume out of the phone (the sound loops out of the voice work just fine), but that the audio coming my microphone is about 10% as loud as the loops. It's not the app settings (I have the sensitivity as high as possible), so I'm thinking I just might need a new mic after all. Anyone have any mic suggestions that are proven to work with the iphone 4s?

 

Here's my current setup...

Phone: iPhone 4s running TrooperTalk 2.0

Splitter: Battery Powered Mic Adapter for Apple devices (https://www.converso...es-battery.html), Mono-to-stereo adapter

Microphone: Olympus ME-52W (https://www.amazon.c...mpus microphone)

Speakers: Ukswrath's hovi mic tip speakers (http://www.whitearmo...l-accurate-tips)

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