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Sonicake Smartbox
Sonicake have recently launched their Smartbox and it’s been receiving rave reviews – from Youtubers who get them for free!!
The Smartbox blurb claims "Advanced Connectivity: USB audio interface with loopback & re-amp"
I’m really struggling to get the Sonicake Smartbox linked up for USB Audio to the iPad and LoopyPro. Has anyone successfully connected the Sonicake Smartbox via USB to an iPad and Loopy Pro ?
On the iPad / iPhone ...
- the Smartbox doesn't appear as an available Input source in iPad Settings, Sounds, nor iPhone. I suspect that the iOS generic USB Audio driver isn't recognising the Smartbox, probably due to some incompatibility in the Smartbox firmware (v 1.0.5 in my case).
- the Smartbox doesn’t appear on the iPad (nor iPhone) in Loopy Pro nor Audiobus.
- I can see the Smartbox as a Bluetooth (BT) Midi device. If I enable BT on the Smartbox and bind it via BT, it is seen in Loopy Pro, but I can’t get any sound (it’s just a MIDI over BT connection, not Audio over BT).
- The SonicLink iPad / iPhone app connects to the Smartbox ok, but that's a Bluetooth-only connection, and there's no audio anyway.
On a Windows laptop ...
- the Smartbox USB Midi appears by default, but the Smartbox USB Audio shows a warning sign by default …
- however, after installing the provided Windows driver (Sonicake USB ASIO Driver - downloaded from the Sonicake website) the Smartbox's USB Audio then shows up in device manager on the laptop.
On a Mac ...
- The Sonicake Smartbox is recognised as an input source under Audio Input USB device on my Mac (and as an sound output source too, if I wanted that, which I don’t)
- Sonicake's "Sonicake Manager app for Mac" works over USB too.
Finally - the delay between the Analogue input and Headphone output on the Smartbox is not noticeable. But on the Mac the latency between Smartbox USB Audio input and MacBook Speaker output (via Quicktime) is about 0.25-0.35s seconds. _(Edit Update: I used a DAW instead of Quicktime and the latency was negligible. The 0.25s delay must have been caused by Quicktime.) _
This makes me think this whole idea isn’t going to work for live jamming with Loopy Pro on the iPad, even if I can get it connected up to Loopy Pro via USB. Maybe, I'm barking up the wrong tree ?
It's certainly driving me barking mad 
Comments
@mglass : it is unlikely that the connectivity issues are particular to any particular app. If the OS doesn’t see it in the Control Center, nothing else will see it for audio.
.25seconds is massive latency. Way too high for real-time audio.
Strange. The Sonicake Pocket Master works acceptably on iOS. It seems odd that the Smartbox wouldn’t be compatible.
Latency can be noticeable with the Pocket Master, but nothing like you’re describing.
I believe I’ve tried the Pocket Master on the Mac once, without that kind of latency. Maybe it’s QuickTime contributing? One way to test would be to try playing with a DAW instead. GarageBand might work, or the free Hosting AU app. (https://ju-x.com/hostingau.html)
Wim,
Many thanks for this.
I used the DAW as suggested (Hosting AU app) and the latency was negligible. The 0.25s delay must have been caused by Quicktime.
I do agree, it seems odd that the Smartbox wouldn't be compatible when the Pocket Master worked ok. But I can't get it to work. Maybe someone with more experience and skills than me can find success (or not!).
The web site states:
So there should be some way to get it to work. How are you connecting? Are you using a direct USB-C connection, or a Lightning-USB adaptor? Any hubs involved?
Yup - it says it should work, but it doesn't (for me at least). I think we need to get other users of the Smartbox to come back with their findings.
I'm using an iPad gen 5 with iOS 26.2.1 over a lightning to USB-c cable.
The fact that a Windows 11 laptop requires a manufacturer's driver, instead of the default audio USB driver, indicates that the USB output from the Smartbix isn't 100% compliant. I suspect that this is the case.
I wonder whether there are others in a similar position - but as you say, it's strange because the Sonicake Pocket Master works ok - and the Smartbox should be just an upgrade.
You may want to contact Sonicake. You may also want to try a lightning USB (camera) adapter. Lightning/USB-C cables don’t work for connecting some peripherals.
Thanks - I will contact Sonicake, that's good advice.
I have tried both with and without a USB Camera adapter - and same on iPhone.
In iOS/iPadOS, all connected USB devices are listed under Settings-General-About. But the Sonicake Smartbox doesn't show up there. I've checked another USB Audio device and that does show up in Settings-General-About.
Update: I have just connected the Smartbox to an iPad Air M3, which has a USB-C port, not Lightning.
Using the same USB-C to USB-C cable that works with Mac and Windows PC, it doesn't show up in Settings, General, About when plugged into the iPad Air.
I am sure that the Sonicake Smartbox does not work with the iPad Air M3 and the issue is in the Smartbox firmware v1.0.5, and not the iPad, Lightning cable connection etc.
A Lightning to USB-C cable almost certainly won't work. With a Lightning port device you have to have the Apple Lightning to USB-3 Camera Adapter. You will need a USB-C to USB-A cable to plug into the Apple adapter. The lightning input on that adapter is only for power.
When I hook my pocket master up with the USB-3 Lightning adapter, nothing shows up in Settings / About. But the pocket master does show up as the audio input in Loopy Pro, AUM, etc. Have you checked in Loopy Pro yet on your iPad Air via USB-C?
@espiegel123 - are you saying that there are audio interfaces that will work directly with a Lightning iPad with a plain USB-C to Lightning cable? I've never heard that before.
Oh boy! Wim, thank you for that, but it all seems truly counter-intuitive.
My USB C to Lightning cable works over data, when connecting the iPad to a Mac. I tried a lightning to USB-A cable with a USB-A to USB-C adapter to connect the iPad to the Sonicake SmartBox and that made no difference at all.
If the Pocket Master doesn't show up in Settings, General, About, yet the device shows up as an audio input in Loopy Pro, I don't understand what's going on.
I can't check Loopy Pro on the iPad Air - it's not my device.
The iPad and iPhone are different. What you're doing with the USB to Lightning cable to the Mac is called iDAM. That is designed to work. USB peripherals on the other hand must go through the Lightning to USB-3 adapter as far as I know.
And no, it's not intuitive at all, unless you look at it from Apple's perspective of making more $$$ for outrageously priced dongles. 😉
Where did you get the idea that it would show up in Settings, General, About? I've never heard of that before.
You don’t need to run loopy pro to check if the os sees the device. This is all a question of whether the OS sees it. You can use the Control Center to set if the OS sees it. If the OS sees it, control center will let you choose it as the audio output device for all audio playback.
OK - I understand that iDAM is the digital to digital interface that links devices into a Mac, instead of having to go Digital-Analogue-Digital. I presume that iDAM isn't applicable for the interface between SmartBox and iPad. Instead, it uses USB Audio Class (UAC), I believe.
I was told this was a pre-requisite for Loopy Pro by Michael Tyson (the author of the app).
I have an old iRig HD2 which appears in Settings, General, About and works with Loopy Pro on my iPad, as a microphone input. However, the Sonicake Smartbox doesn't work on my iPad at all, nor on the USB-C of an iPad Air M3.
I do not have an Apple authentic USB Camera Adaptor to hand. Mine is a copy, and may be a bottleneck here. Connecting direct USB-C to Lightning, without the Camera Adaptor, you say is not going to work.
Apparently, the Sonicake Smartbox can have a different problem when trying to connect to an iPad Air M3 via USB-C to USB-C. The iPad might not recognise it as an Audio device. AI Chat suggests this workaround (which I can try tomorrow):
The Result: The Hub acts as an "interrogator." It forces the Smartbox to speak the standard USB 2.0/3.0 protocol, which the iPad will then instantly recognize as a "Microphone" (UAC Input).
I am skeptical of what the AI told you. They frequently get both IOS audio and Loopy Pro details very wrong.
Yes, that's true. But I have learnt a lot from AI today, which I would have otherwise not learnt from other sources available to me.
Wim said "With a Lightning port device you have to have the Apple Lightning to USB-3 Camera Adapter. You will need a USB-C to USB-A cable to plug into the Apple adapter. The lightning input on that adapter is only for power."
This is all getting way too complicated - I just want a simple set up. Instead of one simple cable, it seems I need four extra things to get this to work :
1) An official Apple Camera Adaptor (CCK), cost £45
2) A USB-C to USB-A cable
3) A Lightning to USB power cable
4) A Power adapter or Power Bank
What a mess - and a likelihood of unexpected, unreliable connection issues when in use! Argh!!
It's basically unacceptable.
You only need the Lightning adapter and the USBC / USBA cable if you don’t need to charge your iPad at the same time.
All I can tell you is my Pocket Master doesn’t show in General / About and it works fine in Loopy Pro (and any other host as well).
Ahh, mystery solved. When the PocketMaster is plugged in via the Lightning adapter, the Lightning adapter is listed in General / About, not the PocketMaster. When I plug my iRig Pro in with the lightning cable that comes with it, it’s listed by name, but if I plug it in via USB to the Lightning adapter, only the adapter is listed.
But in all cases, they all work with Loopy Pro and other hosts, and are listed by their names there.
I’ve never tried the PocketMaster on a USBC iOS device.
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There may have been a misunderstanding. Or Michael might have been mistaken. Settings , General , About (as @wim mentioned) often doesn’t list audio devices.
The place to check, as I mentioned earlier is in Control Center.
In Control Center to the circled icon
You will see a list of available output devices including audio interfaces
There are some troubleshooting tips on the wiki but I think you have tried these all so far
If your friend with the USBC iPad doesn’t mind, they could install Loopy Pro with the 7 day free trial to try that, then uninstall it after.
That is, if it shows in the control center as @espiegel123 mentioned.
@espiegel123 , neither my PocketMaster nor my iRig get enumerated in the control center, as you have shown, yet they both work in all daws.
Oh wait, that’s a list of output devices. So it makes sense they’re not listed there. Not showing in the control center isn’t necessarily an indication that an audio input device won’t work.
Do those devices not handle output? My iRig shows up there.
Any audio device that can handle output should show up there.
In iOS26, there is also an audio input selection somewhere in Control Center.
The iRig Pro doesn’t handle output audio. I thought the PocketMaster did. I’ll see what’s up and test with my other devices.
I am not sure how to get to it, but ios26 has an input selector, too that should show all audio input devices.
The menu it pops up , looks like this
I don’t have iOS 26 on a device yet, hence my not providing a better screenshot.
That’s curious about the iRig Pro. The specs I saw indicate that it handles input and output (output via 1/8” line out/headphone jack like the hd2 that I have)
I have a really, really old model that doesn’t have output capability.
https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/ik-multimedia-unveils-irig-pro-ios-audio-midi-interface-583514
@wim : and the pocketmaster doesn’t receive output from the iPad/iPhone?