CALLING OUT SMULE MASTERS: How to use Smule with external vocal processors

[[Member Sing…]]

Hi, 

I like to have more control of my vocal affect and more special effect so I am looking for a vocal processor that works well with Smule and easy to set up. 

 I recently bought a Boss Ve 20 and it has been a major headache to set it up with Smule. I even went to the music store and got an adapter and cable to connect to my iPhone which didn’t work, I called the manufacturer and they said he doesn’t know if *any* vocal processors doesn't work with a phone. Oh, I also tried the voice processor apps but smule doesn’t save the effect. I’m DESPERATE!  Any recommendation for the vocal processor is appreciated! Can you let me know what input and output cables/device do you use with iPhone and microphone? Thank you so much! A picture will be much appreciated. 

Edited July 28, 2019 by Lll_moonlight

[[Member open…]]

You an XLR adapter for that Boss device. The smallest ones are ones like the iRig PRE, but it requires a headphone jack on your iPhone. The bigger ones can use the lightning port, like the iRig Pro I/O. 

What adapter did you get?

[[Member _Ram…]]

Open Type is the expert on this matter.  I was singing using an external dynamic Microphone and head phones both plugged to the Mobile Phone using a Splitter cable. Yes the vocals were recorded but were of lousy quality and never realised the Mic signal was not recognised by my Samsung phone and the Phones built in Internal Microphones picked up the vocals and recorded it. To make it work I bought the Roland Go Pro Mixer which did not work, I then bought the Yamaha MG06X which also did not work.

It was Open Type who educated me and explained tom me that what I needed was a Mobile Phone Interface. There are heaps of such interfaces available in music shops but they are all designed for personal Computers and not Mobile Phones.

What you need will depend on what phone you are using for Smule.

for iPhones and i Pads  you have the basic I Rig Pre that runs on batteries and plugs into the Head  Phone socket. I tried this and found it very basic. So Now I am using the I Rig Pro I/O as recommended by many experts here and I bought it with a DC Power supply so the interface does not drain the iPhone or iPad battery charge.

This works fine but don't even think you can connect your Bose VE 20 as you could damage your phone. You will require good quality XLR Cables to connect the mic to the IK Media iRig Pro I/O Mob Phoine interfacer

I have been discussing this with three three different Sales consultants and they are unable to find any IoS mobile phone interface to which I can connect my  Yamaha Mixer which will process the signal from my External Mic. The chap told me "Sir please don't do that as you could damage your new iPad".

Suggest you google "Mobile Phone Interfaces" 

If you are using an Android Mob Phone then you can try the Tazcam IXZ Which did not work n my iPad.

Others have suggested the Saramonic SmartRig Plus 2-Channel XLR/ 1/4" Microphone Audio Mixer with Phantom Power Preamp & Guitar Interface for DSLR Cameras, Camcorders, iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Android Smartphones by Saramonic. I have not tried this though so cannot comments

[[Member Sing…]]

Thank you for the reply Open Type and RamKrish! I do have a irig-pre hooked up to my external microphone. My problem is I don’t know what goes where. I am not a techie lol.   I uploaded pics below. 

The first pic is the cable and adapter I got in the music store yesterday. So that the phone can be connect to the Boss. And I connnct my Bose headset to the Phone/Line jack in the processor( the second pic). Where do I put the i-pre to? And microphone? I can use iphones microphone too. 

I appreciate your advice! 

 

 

[[Member open…]]

Your XLR microphone would be connected to the input of the Boss pedal through an XLR cable (on both sides). The mono XLR output of the pedal would be connected by another XLR cable (with XLR on both sides) to the iRig PRE input. The 3.5mm phone audio output jack of the iRig PRE would go into the headphone socket of your iPhone. Your own headphones would be connected to the headphone socket of the iRig PRE. 

The stuff for $45,– on your first picture is rather useless unfortunately. You neither need that XLR-to-6.35mm cable, nor the 6.35-to-3.5mm adapter. You probably need another XLR cable instead, if you don’t have one laying around. Judging from the picture it needs to be a female connection on one side (Boss pedal) and a male connection on the other side (iRig PRE). 

You haven’t mentioned or shown any microphone so far. I do hope you have an XLR mic already, because that entire setup is built around using an XLR microphone. 

[[Member Sing…]]

Thanks Open Type! Really appreciate your instruction! You are a life saver!  I will need some clarification: 

“Your XLR microphone would be connected to the input of the Boss pedal through an XLR cable (on both sides). The mono XLR output of the pedal would be connected by another XLR cable (with XLR on both sides) to the iRig PRE input.”

I’m not sure what XLR cable “on both side” means. I am also confused about what male and female of the cable means. Can you send a links of all the cables I need to get on amazon? So I know exactly what they are.

 I attached the pic of my mic. Is it XLR mic? If not, what brand of XLR mic do you recommend? Thank you so much 😊 

 

[[Member open…]]

That mic will work. 🙂 
By the way: It’s a dynamic mic, so you can turn off the option for “phantom power” which exist on your Boss pedal and your iRig PRE. 

I stressed you need an XLR cable with XLR connectors on both sides, since your picture shows a different cable, which only has XLR on one side. 

This is a normal XLR cable: Amazon Link

The connector on the left is called “female” and the right one is a “male” (for obvious reasons 😉). 

You probably already have one of those cables, but you need two to put the Boss pedal between the mic and the iRig PRE. 

[[Member Sing…]]

Thanks! I just ordered XLR cable on amazon. Once they are delivered I will try to set it up as you instructed. Thank you 🙏 😃 

[[Member _Ram…]]

As a first step forget your Bos VE20 for the moment.

1- Use an XLR Cable to connect your external microphone directly to iRig Pre. Don't use any adapter etc.

2- Plug your Head Phones into the IRig Pre

3- Connect your iRig pre to your Mobile Phone or iPad using the head phone socket

4- you are up and ready to sing.

This works and probably better on i Phone and iPad ( You have not told us what Phone you use). It chews up battery fast so better to use rechargeable batteries

Whilst this works IMHO it is very very basic i Rig Pro I/O with its own power supply is great but it plugs into the charging port of the iPhone or iPad not the head phone socket

BOS VE 20 use at your own risk as the current from the BOS VE20 could damage the Mob Phone

Cheers

[[Member open…]]

I agree that it is better to first set up the mic-to-iRig connection. Only after that works, include the BOSS pedal. If you use all at once and it isn’t working, you have no ideal were the problem might be. 

[[Member _Ram…]]

3 hours ago, opentype said:

I agree that it is better to first set up the mic-to-iRig connection. Only after that works, include the BOSS pedal. If you use all at once and it isn’t working, you have no ideal were the problem might be. 

So Guru do you think the Boss VE20 will work with i Rig Pre ?

I gave up trying to make my Yamaha MG06X mixer with i Rig Pro I/O

After a lot of mucking around I think I have got a handle on the iRig Pro I/O.

Initially I used a gain setting of 9. 

Now I have set the gain at 7.0 and have set the Super studio setting for both Reverb and Room at 70

and every one is saying wow that sounds great when I join invites. Can you please give it a try and tell me what you think please Guru.

 

[[Member open…]]

27 minutes ago, _RamKrish1012 said:

So Guru do you think the Boss VE20 will work with i Rig Pre ?

Yes. It’s specifically made to be inserted into a balanced audio stream over XLR cables. 
The iRig PRE doesn’t care whether the signal comes directly from a mic or from a source which processed the mic signal. 

[[Member _GJA…]]

On 7/28/2019 at 7:09 AM, _RamKrish1012 said:

Open Type is the expert on this matter.  I was singing using an external dynamic Microphone and head phones both plugged to the Mobile Phone using a Splitter cable. Yes the vocals were recorded but were of lousy quality and never realised the Mic signal was not recognised by my Samsung phone and the Phones built in Internal Microphones picked up the vocals and recorded it. To make it work I bought the Roland Go Pro Mixer which did not work, I then bought the Yamaha MG06X which also did not work.

It was Open Type who educated me and explained tom me that what I needed was a Mobile Phone Interface. There are heaps of such interfaces available in music shops but they are all designed for personal Computers and not Mobile Phones.

What you need will depend on what phone you are using for Smule.

for iPhones and i Pads  you have the basic I Rig Pre that runs on batteries and plugs into the Head  Phone socket. I tried this and found it very basic. So Now I am using the I Rig Pro I/O as recommended by many experts here and I bought it with a DC Power supply so the interface does not drain the iPhone or iPad battery charge.

This works fine but don't even think you can connect your Bose VE 20 as you could damage your phone. You will require good quality XLR Cables to connect the mic to the IK Media iRig Pro I/O Mob Phoine interfacer

I have been discussing this with three three different Sales consultants and they are unable to find any IoS mobile phone interface to which I can connect my  Yamaha Mixer which will process the signal from my External Mic. The chap told me "Sir please don't do that as you could damage your new iPad".

Suggest you google "Mobile Phone Interfaces" 

If you are using an Android Mob Phone then you can try the Tazcam IXZ Which did not work n my iPad.

Others have suggested the Saramonic SmartRig Plus 2-Channel XLR/ 1/4" Microphone Audio Mixer with Phantom Power Preamp & Guitar Interface for DSLR Cameras, Camcorders, iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Android Smartphones by Saramonic. I have not tried this though so cannot comments

that means u had a basic splitter  u need to have a headphone/mic splitter so i has the 3rd ring to activate the mic and silence the phone mic  

 

[[Member _GJA…]]

easiest thing is to get a mixer with good digital effects and unbalanced rca output with a   headphone/mic splitter run your xlr uni or cond to xlr (phantom power w cond)unbalced out to 3.5 mic input on splitter and headphones on headphones split      mixers much cheapers than VP and anything will work if u already purchased things  u just have to wire it right i/o if u stillhave the things u bought hit me up guarantee we can get em working  the heaphone mic splitter is the key  the phone will record anything that comes thru the mic side   irig not necessary  i use irig for portable and ease at times but no need to use it with a mixer the audio on smule is low quality 128kb m4a anyway and their rendering is horrific hence the reason most sound great on headphones and all outta whack on bluetooth speakers and vehicles (when layered) but ive developed a simple process in my studio to fix that after the recording to make the tracks sound good outside of headphones. good luck  if i can help let me know

[[Member Sing…]]

Thanks guys for your help!! So my XLR cables arrived! I got two. So I hooked it up as instructed. But my microphone now doesn’t work, I can hear the music from my cellphone,  but can’t hear myself singing. Any advice? What did I do wrong? 

 If you could let me know ASAP would be great. So if it doesn’t work I can return them to Amazon. 

 

Thanks a million 

[[Member Sing…]]

and here’s the back. Not sure why my mic doesn’t work. I tested it without the setup and mic was fine

[[Member Sing…]]

I got a splitter too. I would get a mixer too if I have to. Omg I would do anything, buy anything for it to work but can’t set it up 😭 I need a pic 

[[Member Sing…]]

Why this has to be so hard?

 

[[Member Sing…]]

39 minutes ago, Lll_moonlight said:

Thanks guys for your help!! So my XLR cables arrived! I got two. So I hooked it up as instructed. But my microphone now doesn’t work, I can hear the music from my cellphone,  but can’t hear myself singing. Any advice? What did I do wrong? 

 If you could let me know ASAP would be great. So if it doesn’t work I can return them to Amazon. 

 

Thanks a million 

 

3 hours ago, _GJAM_ said:

easiest thing is to get a mixer with good digital effects and unbalanced rca output with a   headphone/mic splitter run your xlr uni or cond to xlr (phantom power w cond)unbalced out to 3.5 mic input on splitter and headphones on headphones split      mixers much cheapers than VP and anything will work if u already purchased things  u just have to wire it right i/o if u stillhave the things u bought hit me up guarantee we can get em working  the heaphone mic splitter is the key  the phone will record anything that comes thru the mic side   irig not necessary  i use irig for portable and ease at times but no need to use it with a mixer the audio on smule is low quality 128kb m4a anyway and their rendering is horrific hence the reason most sound great on headphones and all outta whack on bluetooth speakers and vehicles (when layered) but ive developed a simple process in my studio to fix that after the recording to make the tracks sound good outside of headphones. good luck  if i can help let me know

Please let me know what mixer and cables I need to get. Thanks 🙏 

[[Member Sing…]]

My line ID is lll_moonlight if it’s easier for you guys to help me to walk me through it. I might be DESPERATE but I am not a stalker 😂 

[[Member open…]]

A mixer is for – well, mixing. If you only have one microphone, there is no need for a mixer. 

The setup looks correct now. Make sure the BOSS pedal is set up correctly (see manual). You need to set it to mono and you need to adjust the input sensitivity. You also have the gain setting on the iRig PRE. It will need some trial and error to get these two settings right. 

[[Member _Ram…]]

10 hours ago, _GJAM_ said:

that means u had a basic splitter  u need to have a headphone/mic splitter so i has the 3rd ring to activate the mic and silence the phone mic  

 

I used the TRRS splitter with three rings and four segments. The two splitter cables are colour coded Green and Red. Did not work on my Samsung 7. iRig Pro I/O works with my iPad but this connects to the charging port of the iPad aka Lighning Port I think

[[Member _Ram…]]

15 hours ago, opentype said:

Yes. It’s specifically made to be inserted into a balanced audio stream over XLR cables. 
The iRig PRE doesn’t care whether the signal comes directly from a mic or from a source which processed the mic signal. 

Thats good news . In that case it must work with iRig Pro I/O too right ?

Here is what one of the tech Consultants at a Music Equipment out let wrote to me

Quote

"Microphones (and instruments such as guitar) produce a very low electrical signal on their own, known respectively as microphone or instrument level. This signal by itself is unusable until it runs through a preamplifier, which boosts the signal to line level. Other devices, such as most keyboards/synths - or your mixer in this instance – output at line level. In short, the iRig is not designed to work with a signal that loud. At best, you may simply overdrive your signal; at worst, you could damage the your iRig.

 

[[Member _Ram…]]

_GJAM_ 

Thank You  "You Give Me Hope"

My splitter experience was a while ago with Samsung 7 and that is history now. So let's forget about that.

Attached is the current set up using iRig Pro I/O with its own Power supply

I am currently using a 2018 Model 6th Gen i Pad which allows Head Phones to plug straight into the unit.

The iPad also has the charging port which is the Lighting port to which the iRig Pro I/O plugs in

Lets put aside the iRig Pro I/O for the moment

I did a simple Google search for " Splitter Cable for iPad" and there is a mind boggling range available.

Which splitter should I buy that will allow me to plug my Dynamic Mic AKG D5 Vocal and my Audio Technica ATH M50X Head Phones (without the iRig Pro I/O.)

Once I can get this working then passing my Mic signal through  Yamaha MG06X with an XLR and then on to the iPad should be simple.

I am getting all excited now as it is going to be a lot of fun.

Is it at all possible to send an original Duet invite through the Mixer so the entire song has the same audio effects as opposed to just on my Vocals?

I owe you one if I can get this working and then will look form a super Mixer and Condensor phone. Yippee

Cheers

 

 

[[Member open…]]

I think we should stick to the topic of using effect pedals such as the Boss Ve 20 here. For other questions and equipment, please open a new topic.