Jack or USB connection for Smule?

[Patty336]

Hi .. please help . for those who use smule on smartphones with earphones .. do you get along well with the USB socket? It gives me feedback of the voice .. slowdowns and a lot of noise .. better quality and no feedback of the voice instead using earphones with a traditional jack (which is disappearing on new cell phones) .. does it happen to you too ? How did you solve it? .. I also tried to record on a tablet with a USB socket but it gives me the same problems .. voice not clear .. muffled .. thanks in advance for any advice

[opentype]

It shouldn’t make a difference. 

If you have problems with USB, it’s probably a problem with your analog-to-USB converter cable or adapter. 

Another possibility is that the connection isn’t working at all and what you hear is actually the device’s internal microphone, which is used automatically when no external microphone is detected. You can find out if that is the case by tapping on your headset microphone and phone/tablet during recording. You should hear that tap significantly louder for the microphone that is actually being used. 

[Patty336]

Thanks I'll try ! 🙏

[Wishchip]

4 hours ago, opentype said:

Another possibility is that the connection isn’t working at all and what you hear is actually the device’s internal microphone, which is used automatically when no external microphone is detected. 

This is totally what happened to me during my first year on Smule. I thought I was using the headphone mic, but it turns out I had been using my phone's internal mic the whole time. 

[Prolific Indifference]

On 7/10/2024 at 5:19 AM, Patty336 said:

Thanks I'll try ! 🙏

Okay well all this can get really confusing if you're trying to find out where the problem is so I'm assuming when you talk about the USB connection versus the old style you mean USBC, versus the typical (yet fleeting) 3.5 mm Jack. So the reason they are no longer using the 3.5 mm Jack is because that is an audio signal port that means it already has a digital to analog converter built into the phones chassis that handles all of the information part of sound and turns it into a signal you can plug into with your typical old style speaker whether it be in the car in the home or on the head.. so phone companies have stopped caring to produce phones with this bit of Technology, they say to make more use of room in the phone or whatever. For short it's called a DAC converter. Problem is however is that nobody really took the initiative that a decent phone should have when it comes to a DAC better than the phone makers themselves of course they typically would make sure that there was a two-way transmission happening between information and signal where it would play sound and also pick up sounds you wanted to record unfortunately third parties not only don't really care about only making dongles that support in and out but also really can slack on just the listening bit if you ask me that's opinion though. So I have a couple I have one that's a really nice Belkin I think and that one never works as an input signal. I also have this.. NAZTECH? Which also has only ever worked for listening. Although it has three buttons up down and should be record but no. They usually pick up nothing legible maybe a faint honking noise or something I have always had to unplug them if I wanted to speak to text as I'm doing now on my lovely Android that has a 3.5 DAC Jack all built in all of their Galaxy phones actually that I've used have had fantastic onboard mics they sound great lots of airy boost and just great.  I'm using an A51 at the moment but I used to have a j3 crown and they're both really inexpensive comparatively and I didn't realize how great the sound I was getting from them was until I went ahead and secured a condenser mic and USB audio interface and an Apple iPhone XS Max at the time thinking that that all this investment would well be worth it I can't say it was first mule particularly but I do make a great deal of my own music and vocals and in proper (DAWs) digital audio workstations.. I am happy to say I do believe it was worth it however if it was just Smule I used it for I would have been pretty upset more at myself, but I have also had three other three in one to lightning dongles (usb a, 3.5mm, lightning for power) all to a lightning on the other end. And while they were great for what I used them for as with the other ones I have never used a dongle to record on Smule with an apple device. Nor have I used the onboard mic that my Xs iPhone has the moment I got it and saying on Smule with it I absolutely hated it I could open a song for example and show you the differences between all of these models just with their factory mics. And these Galaxy's are so so so better sounding    in my humble opinion of course. Thing is that it doesn't seem to recognize or at least doesn't on my model phone it doesn't recognize that there's not a mic on the device when there's something plugged in to the lightning or USB C of the phone or tablet cuz it never seems to engage the onboard mic even though there is no mic capabilities on a lot of the dongles that I've used and I know this if you actually read the fine print on Amazon a lot of them will say whether they do or don't but it's up to you to really know and even if it does who knows for how long with every update Apple does if people don't pay for a certain certification when they're making these dongles they don't guarantee that they'll continue to work with the next or the next or the next update usually one of them will kill them if you buy them from a source that didn't pay Apple for the certification I think it's my something anyway anyway so I only use my Apple products when I'm using my USB audio interface, is so in a very particular place but if I'm not there I use my Android hell even when I am there and just in a different room and don't feel like making the switch it doesn't really bother me cuz they both shake out equally.  I think the Android sounds better as far as singing in a wooden room is concerned I've just get this real specific Direction it's picking up sound from which is what you want without much Sound Treatment for your area the only bad part is it sounds the best when I'm holding it perpendicular to my body and my mouth so when I aim the phone straight up basically and I'm just talking into the bottom of it will sound really crisp really clear if I am looking at the phone and trying to sing I'll get fuzziness muddiness Maybe something not as high in frequency as the direct on and it sucks cuz I have to sacrifice that crisp sound if I really want to make sure I join someone's video with a video in which case I would opt for using the studio setup for Smule because not only would I be able to position that correctly but I can say that apples camera is so much damn better than any Android I've had so this videos would come out looking great but problem with condenser mics in a small room is even with padding which I have it's facing a corner right now and that's basically the only place I have in my apartment that practical so if I'm just doing head Voice or quiet stuff it's fine but the moment I take it up it's just Reflections and Reflections and echoes so again muddy

[Prolific Indifference]

[Prolific Indifference]

On 7/10/2024 at 4:22 AM, opentype said:

It shouldn’t make a difference. 

If you have problems with USB, it’s probably a problem with your analog-to-USB converter cable or adapter. 

Another possibility is that the connection isn’t working at all and what you hear is actually the device’s internal microphone, which is used automatically when no external microphone is detected. You can find out if that is the case by tapping on your headset microphone and phone/tablet during recording. You should hear that tap significantly louder for the microphone that is actually being used. 

Yes using touch to determine where your input is source that is a nice trick I also have used touch before attempting a song to start the day with I'll tap the glass to make sure I hear the feedback cuz sometimes the microphone just doesn't initiate from whatever it was last doing and it can be really shitty to every now and then only find that out after it's recorded static or nothing.  I've also had a great deal of success using again Taps to suss out exactly where my latency is sitting between the Android and whatever headphone unit I'm using at the time. now it really helps with Bluetooth but even wired connections can definitely use a bit of dialing in if you know how to test out it.  So you'll want to start just a solo song it's one you'll probably just delete so it doesn't really matter just start a recording and spend like half the song tapping to the beat find a simple beat where you know the downbeat IS and can be anything in 4/4 time. Just tap your fingernail on the glass for like half the song or until you at least feel like you gotten a bar worth (Four - 8 Taps) that you feel were consecutively on Beat. Then just click the save song option go to the mix screen, use the sync time feature. N using the bit of Taps you know were on time to the beat when you did them. Use the slider until they're clearly lined up. And you should be all taken care of at least for the rest of the time that you're using the same phone and headphone combination in my case I might have to set it every other year so I haven't set my Android's SYNC feature in at least 8 months and I've recorded all kinds of songs since then and every time I check it's still right where I told it last time which is-4 but it's a wired connection Sony headphones Bluetooth it usually be plus or minus 40 sometimes with Bluetooth I'd have to take it all the way to either side Horizon and would still need more   also something I started doing was if I know that someone else is timed off and they opened it when I'm done sometimes I will forsake of synchronicity time myself off equally just for the export so we don't both keep hitting doubles on a single rhythm the entire song it also can help space you out properly as far as your orientations are concerned with Duets and definitely group joins I don't know probably nothing I should be rambling away about tho. Lol  anyways. Hope something helps someone ❤️  later

[poetic_madness1]

38 minutes ago, Prolific Indifference said:

Okay well all this can get really confusing if you're trying to find out where the problem is so I'm assuming when you talk about the USB connection versus the old style you mean USBC, versus the typical (yet fleeting) 3.5 mm Jack. So the reason they are no longer using the 3.5 mm Jack is because that is an audio signal port that means it already has a digital to analog converter built into the phones chassis that handles all of the information part of sound and turns it into a signal you can plug into with your typical old style speaker whether it be in the car in the home or on the head.. so phone companies have stopped caring to produce phones with this bit of Technology, they say to make more use of room in the phone or whatever. For short it's called a DAC converter. Problem is however is that nobody really took the initiative that a decent phone should have when it comes to a DAC better than the phone makers themselves of course they typically would make sure that there was a two-way transmission happening between information and signal where it would play sound and also pick up sounds you wanted to record unfortunately third parties not only don't really care about only making dongles that support in and out but also really can slack on just the listening bit if you ask me that's opinion though. So I have a couple I have one that's a really nice Belkin I think and that one never works as an input signal. I also have this.. NAZTECH? Which also has only ever worked for listening. Although it has three buttons up down and should be record but no. They usually pick up nothing legible maybe a faint honking noise or something I have always had to unplug them if I wanted to speak to text as I'm doing now on my lovely Android that has a 3.5 DAC Jack all built in all of their Galaxy phones actually that I've used have had fantastic onboard mics they sound great lots of airy boost and just great.  I'm using an A51 at the moment but I used to have a j3 crown and they're both really inexpensive comparatively and I didn't realize how great the sound I was getting from them was until I went ahead and secured a condenser mic and USB audio interface and an Apple iPhone XS Max at the time thinking that that all this investment would well be worth it I can't say it was first mule particularly but I do make a great deal of my own music and vocals and in proper (DAWs) digital audio workstations.. I am happy to say I do believe it was worth it however if it was just Smule I used it for I would have been pretty upset more at myself, but I have also had three other three in one to lightning dongles (usb a, 3.5mm, lightning for power) all to a lightning on the other end. And while they were great for what I used them for as with the other ones I have never used a dongle to record on Smule with an apple device. Nor have I used the onboard mic that my Xs iPhone has the moment I got it and saying on Smule with it I absolutely hated it I could open a song for example and show you the differences between all of these models just with their factory mics. And these Galaxy's are so so so better sounding    in my humble opinion of course. Thing is that it doesn't seem to recognize or at least doesn't on my model phone it doesn't recognize that there's not a mic on the device when there's something plugged in to the lightning or USB C of the phone or tablet cuz it never seems to engage the onboard mic even though there is no mic capabilities on a lot of the dongles that I've used and I know this if you actually read the fine print on Amazon a lot of them will say whether they do or don't but it's up to you to really know and even if it does who knows for how long with every update Apple does if people don't pay for a certain certification when they're making these dongles they don't guarantee that they'll continue to work with the next or the next or the next update usually one of them will kill them if you buy them from a source that didn't pay Apple for the certification I think it's my something anyway anyway so I only use my Apple products when I'm using my USB audio interface, is so in a very particular place but if I'm not there I use my Android hell even when I am there and just in a different room and don't feel like making the switch it doesn't really bother me cuz they both shake out equally.  I think the Android sounds better as far as singing in a wooden room is concerned I've just get this real specific Direction it's picking up sound from which is what you want without much Sound Treatment for your area the only bad part is it sounds the best when I'm holding it perpendicular to my body and my mouth so when I aim the phone straight up basically and I'm just talking into the bottom of it will sound really crisp really clear if I am looking at the phone and trying to sing I'll get fuzziness muddiness Maybe something not as high in frequency as the direct on and it sucks cuz I have to sacrifice that crisp sound if I really want to make sure I join someone's video with a video in which case I would opt for using the studio setup for Smule because not only would I be able to position that correctly but I can say that apples camera is so much damn better than any Android I've had so this videos would come out looking great but problem with condenser mics in a small room is even with padding which I have it's facing a corner right now and that's basically the only place I have in my apartment that practical so if I'm just doing head Voice or quiet stuff it's fine but the moment I take it up it's just Reflections and Reflections and echoes so again muddy

I was just about to make a response but I see I don't have to..you nailed it! I got a pair of Onn brand for $10 just to try it on my galaxy S23. It sounds like someone is muffling it with a pillow. I have to do a lot of adjustments with the volumes and filters, not so much speed. So it would be just as bad with a better brand? You are right though. They are for listening only and the little adapters, I also tried one, did not work. No vocals on my recording. I also tried a fairly expensive (in its day) Bluetooth/corded headphones combo. When it dies, you just use a 3.5 airio cable. It also has a USB port to charge and I got one with a usbc end and it sounded very much the same except parts of the audio were missing. Very disappointed. I want my 3.5 jack back, a separate spot to charge so if I am using the ear buds, but I also want my physical home button back.