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Connectivity from Xtone to an iPadPro
Hi,
I have an iPad Pro 2021 with a USB C port.
I am getting an Xtone 'pedal' or really it's an aduio interface that will let me run my violin into the iPad. I've attached a picture of the Xtone. It has a USB A jack; the kind that's been used for printers for years. (see photo). My Xtone willl arrive this week and I want to hit the ground jammin'
SOooOOoOo...... how or what connection do I need to connect the two?
I "HOPE" I don't have to buy an Apple Digital AV Multiport Adapter....they're $70
Unplugged in Utica
Comments
@Vmusic . Actually, that's a USB "B" client port. You normally use a cable with a B connector on one end, to connect to the device, and an A connector on the other, to connect to the host/computer. You can easily find a USB C "printer" cable that will make the connection. Be sure to check whether the Xtone port is USB 2.0 or USB 3; the B connectors are different, apparently.
@Vmusic did you get your xtone pro brand new? Or used and without any cables?
I got an xtone pro brand new from Amazon about a year ago, and it came with all the cables. One usb-b to usb-a cable for the unit, one usb-a to usb-c adapter for devices like your iPad pro (they call them OTG “on the go”), and one camera connection kit (non apple brand) for using with iPhones. When the xtone initially came out it didn’t always ship with that OTG cable and customers had to ask for it. But mine came shipped with it in 2020. I’d be extremely surprised if yours won’t come with the usb-b to usb-a cable, since you can’t use the unit without one. But if it doesn’t this is the one you need…
https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Printer-Scanner-Brother-Lexmark/dp/B00P0FO1P0/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?crid=1F4HTXA2H5YBF&keywords=usb+b+to+usb+a&qid=1636424706&sprefix=usb+b+to+,aps,141&sr=8-5#
And for the OTG cable for your iPad this is the one you need… I’ve bought this one before and it works….
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072V9CNTK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_S30MW82RX5XRP0Y9TAMR?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
The Xtone Pro has one caveat that you should know about. It has two inputs, but the instrument input does not have a gain knob, no gain control, no trim. The gain knob on the device is only for the other input which is the xlr input for mics. So for the instrument input you’ll be using what this means is if the signal from your violin pickup is too hot, the only thing you can do is turn down the volume knob on the violin, which may cause treble roll-off. You can’t control the input gain in AUM or in a DAW, the xtone doesn’t allow it (most audio interfaces don’t allow it either, but they have gain level knobs). Apps that have their own input gain level control aren’t actually turning down the Xtone’s input gain, you’re just making the clipping signal quieter that’s all. Yes you can turn down what the app calls “input gain” but you’re actually just turning down the Xtone’s output, which would be distorted if your input signal is too hot. And in AUM, if you try to lower the input gain you’ll get a message saying you can’t because another device is controlling it (Xtone). The giant knob on the Xtone is the output master volume control not the input. I was disappointed to learn that the instrument input had no gain knob, my guitar pickups were way too hot, and with my guitar volume knob at 60-70% I had too much treble rolloff. I like my guitar knobs all at max. I ended up returning the unit. But then I learned from other players that you can stick a traditional stompbox pedal and then a volume pedal in front of xtone, and the volume pedal allows you to control the the input level going into xtone! So months later I got a used regular xtone (3 switch non-pro version), plugged my guitar first into my favorite overdrive pedal and then a volume pedal, and then the xtone. So, if you happen to have a pedal or maybe a preamp that you like to plug your violin into, use it before the xtone, maybe the preamp has a gain knob, or get a volume pedal because they’re very useful live. But, if your violin pickup isn’t too hot, or you’re ok with lowering the volume knob on the violin, ignore this entire paragraph. My point in all this was just to say that you’ll have no control over your signal level with xtone or out into the daw, you must tame it pre xtone.
Other minor quirks about the device… the headphone out sounds good, but the “direct monitoring” feature gets overdriven and distorts easily, so just be aware.
I have found some cross talk between the audio path and the sound of the clicky footswitches. Like, you can hear the switches in your recording or in the headphones while playing and switching presets. It’s possible it was just my unit or you won’t even notice it.
I found that bus powering the xtone with my iPad had a lower noise floor than using the xtone’s own power jack. Perhaps my home has dirty power. Anyway it’s great that you don’t need a power source for the xtone and the iPad will power it, but you can power the xtone separately and preserve your iPad battery if you need to. Just pay attention to the noise floor difference.
Other than that, the xtone is amazing, no latency, great midi, great audio quality, it’s on my regular guitar pedalboard right now for a dual path solution. From one of my pedals with a stereo out I go out to a tube amp one side, and via xtone to iOS and out to front of house (or frfr) on the other side. Actually the instrument input on xtone is really pure and has no preamp design, and xtone is very proud of that, but this is partly why there’s no gain knob on that input.
Hope this helps in some way. The xtone pro could and should be perfect for you.
Thank you so very much!!
I ordered my Xtone directly from their website 2 weeks ago. It shipped from China, and should get here tomorrow.
I do have a volume knob on my electric violin. The other thing is that for some patches, where I want a realistic violin sound, I use IRs, so as long as I’m not distorting the incoming signal from the violin - the slight tone modifications (hopefully) won’t matter, because I’m changing the tone anyway.
I’ll power the Xtone separately to perhaps keep battery life on my iPad.
That’s sad about the foot switches interfering with the audio. I absolutely bought the Xtone to control my AUM and the apps running in AUM.
We’ll see how it all comes together in the next few weeks. I’ll post a video.
Thanks again for all of the links/suggestions.
It’s possible the footswitch cross talk is mostly apparent when using headphones, or just my unit had that issue. Since you’re plugging in direct and not playing/recording with mic, nothing should be picking up the sound of the switches, but as long as you test making a recording with switches and it doesn’t show up on the recording, I’d say it’s totally fine. Hearing the switches during “monitoring” is probably a minor issue due to midi and audio being in the same enclosure. Just check it and let the company know.
If for some reason there’s no OTG usb-c adapter in your box, just get the one I linked. I use it with my xtone, no issue. The funny thing is often times those third party OTG or ckk cables don’t even work or fail, and you have to get another one anyway. I doubt there’s much QC going on on those third party adapters. So many xtone demo videos have the same issue “my OTG/ckk adapter didn’t work, but instead of waiting for another from China I just bought one faster somewhere else”.
Xtone doesn’t come with a power adapter, so you need a 9V DC adapter or patch cable into a power bank etc… just knowing you can bus power is a neat feature.
The only issue with the violin volume knob is treble/tone roll off. Maybe the violin pickups have the perfect heat for xtone even with your volume knob maxed. As long as your input signal in AUM is peaking at -12 to -6db, you’re golden. To check, make sure to switch AUM to monitor “hardware input” instead of the default “hardware output”. That’s located in the top center of AUM, just press on the metering numbers.
I’m considering buying one of these as I want a decent guitar input to my iPad. I wondered have you tried it with garage band at all? I wondered what you can do with the foot switches, it’d be amazing if you could wire them up to the transport to control playback / recording. Thanks!
The problem is GarageBand not Xtone. Xtone sends midi CC messages only, not PC messages. CC messages are actually much more flexible because they can act like PC messages. PC messages are basic “preset change” type commands. But if you have a guitar amp or an app that only does midi PC, Xtone won’t work with those.
The xtone Midi commands have fixed numbers you’ll find in their manual. It’s a really amazing implementation as you have three banks for every footswitch, 6 footswitches gets you 18 commands, plus another 3 commands from the expression pedal. You cannot reprogram the CC numbers inside xtone since it doesn’t have a software. So you must use apps like AUM or Overloud or anything that can do “Midi read”. So Those apps will change their default cc numbers to whatever Xtone wants them to be. Otherwise, if there’s no midi read but it does accept midi cc, you will need to just manually program your app midi cc commands based on the fixed cc numbers from xtone. Happens all the time.
Regarding GarageBand, I can’t find any obvious info anywhere regarding midi cc or pc, if it has midi read, if its midi is fixed. I can’t find any writing on what GarageBand iOS midi actually is. Maybe someone else knows, but I will assume that GB midi is very limited. However, I bet you could program midi in AUM and make AUM control GarageBand, or whatever.
Oh wow!!! So grateful for this awesome post!!!
I just recently received an Xtone Pro as I'm building my analog/iPhone hybrid pedalboard. It really is amazing for what it does! Scored a great price too on Amazon while it was on sale! So grateful 🙏
I did exactly as you suggested. I olaced my favorite analog drives with the Volume pedal right before the main input. It really made a huge difference!!!
Was initially bummed that the expression pedal input is so finicky! I ordered one of the recommended expression pedals: the Nektar NX-P for lime $20 shipped from B&H Photo! Free shipped!!! Guys I highly recommend them!!! Super well packed and brand new!!!
Well, it didn't work. Bummer. But at least I have it for my AX8. So what I did was use my Roland Volume pedal and did exactly as you recommended and it is amazing the sound clarity and no Latency even at the highest resolution it can handle, I think 92khz or something like that. My iPhone 6s plus is old and slow, but I just put it in Airplane mode, and I noticed that any crosstalk, was happening when it was in cellular mode or wifi. So just turn off everything and Bam! Totally quiet crystal clear tones!
So far I'm thinking of using it with Bias FX2! Blown away at the tones. For Live worship at church, the tones produced by the AC Hand Wired amp or the AC30TB amps are breathtaking! So grateful to God for this technology guys! 🙏
Will post a pic and if anyone has any questions will try to answer as best I can! ❤️
@Tones4Christ - Nice set up. SoooOOooo.... above your Xtone, is that an iPhone? (looks like it) are you running TH-U or Bias Fx or something? One question; why have all of the other fx pedals (all of the drive pedals), if you're using your iPhone? Perhaps you're not happy with the drive fx available in the iPhone? How often do you change patches/presets? Do you change them often within a single song? Here's why I am selling my Xtone: The MIDI message signals are only sent on RELEASE of pressing the foot switch. I find this terrible to work with when you need precises changes or MIDI messages. SooOOOooo - I'm moving to separate MIDI controller, and a separate audio interface. FYI
Hey sorry for delayed response. Been sick lately. 😫
Well, yeah, that's my old iPhone 6s plus. It's still good but battery is kaput. But stays on if connected with at least 45 minutes charge. Lol 😆
Well, I have those overdrives vause they're my favorite sounding ones. And that blue compressor really does sound amazing! So cheap too! I usually create a Preset for each worship song with different BPM for each. BIAS FX2 allows me to do that. So each Preset usually has the same effects and amp. So if anything I Setup different scenes where say, I have the Pitch shift enabled for leads, and perhaps amp gain higher settings etc. I usually do not disable delay or Reverb. But a different Preset might have a different type of delay or delay settings. Now, I'm still learning how to set all this up. Remember, this is my backup pedalboard. My main pedalboard right now is the Fractal AX-8 and I'm configuring my backup as close as possible to my AX8 so it's easier to get going in case I need to rely on my backup pedalboard.
For me, I find the Pros outweigh the cons right now as there's really nothing better in this price range. Bit again, that's just my own humble opinion.
Hey sorry for delayed response. Been sick lately. 😫
Well, yeah, that's my old iPhone 6s plus. It's still good but battery is kaput. But stays on if connected with at least 45 minutes charge. Lol 😆
Well, I have those overdrives vause they're my favorite sounding ones. And that blue compressor really does sound amazing! So cheap too! I usually create a Preset for each worship song with different BPM for each. BIAS FX2 allows me to do that. So each Preset usually has the same effects and amp. So if anything I Setup different scenes where say, I have the Pitch shift enabled for leads, and perhaps amp gain higher settings etc. I usually do not disable delay or Reverb. But a different Preset might have a different type of delay or delay settings. Now, I'm still learning how to set all this up. Remember, this is my backup pedalboard. My main pedalboard right now is the Fractal AX-8 and I'm configuring my backup as close as possible to my AX8 so it's easier to get going in case I need to rely on my backup pedalboard.
For me, I find the Pros outweigh the cons right now as there's really nothing better in this price range. Bit again, that's just my own humble opinion.