Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

An informational and support forum for Voice Band for the iPhone.

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PancakeParfait
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Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:29 am

Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

Post by PancakeParfait »

I'm having a great time using this application and it will prove incredibly useful for song-writing. I am using a 2G iPod Touch and I grabbed a new set of headphones with built-in mic to be able to record. Yesterday, while showcasing the application to my band, I was trying to figure out how to playback a recorded sound without the mic/headphones plugged in. It seems the application refuses to do any playback until you plug in the headphones with built-in mic ONLY. I cannot use my standard headphones or any regular TSR plug, or even playback through the built-in speaker upon opening the application.

I managed to "trick" VoiceBand into playing back without the microphone by plugging in the TSSR plug, loading my recorded song, playing a few seconds of it, then plugging in a TSR connector. This was inconsistent, and sometimes I had to repeat the process to make this work. Occasionally skipping the last step of plugging in a TSR plug allowed me to playback through the built-in speaker, but not always. Twice I unplugged the TSSR plug and immediately the song I had paused on the Music App began playing (Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, oh yeah!) through the built-in speaker. That wasn't a big deal since I was in our band practice room, but that kind of thing could potentially blast Maylene or otherwise at an obnoxious volume in a public place if I unplug at the wrong time. I'm not sure why this happened or why it didn't always happen.

Any insight on these issues? Has anyone else seen something similar?

On a side note, it appears any old TSSR plug, converter or otherwise, will allow a mic to be run in (per what I've read on these forums), so that's encouraging. In my opinion, a built-in mic is simply a poor way to try to record anything, and it's terribly unwieldy, hanging there trying to pull the earphone out of my ear.
PancakeParfait
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Re: Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

Post by PancakeParfait »

I understand this is probably a bizarre issue that is difficult to reproduce (probably requiring a 2G iPod Touch), but I have yet to get a reply on my thread. What's the word?
Rim
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Posts: 408
Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2005 11:08 pm

Re: Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

Post by Rim »

The 2G iPhone is a unique device, in that it's micorphone is limited to an 8Khz max. sample rate. This is the reason why Voice Band doesn't allow playback to happen without a headset plugged in on a 2G. When you use regular headphones, or use the build-in speaker, Voice Band can't set the sample rate to 44.1, because the 2G iPhone's mic demands an 8Khz rate. As soon as you plug in a headset (the kind with a mic), this limitation is gone, since the headset mic can work with a normal (44.1kHz) samplerate.

Also, there's a bug in the 2G's headphone/headset sensing logic which causes problems if you plug in and remove headphones/headsets after you start the app. This appears to only affect apps which use both playback and recording at the same time (like Voice Band). This is why you can sometimes trick it into partially working. However, I don't recommend doing this, as it can cause instability later (and probably, the mic is disabled for the rest of the session, making Voice Band unusable).

I hope this makes sense.


Thanks,
Rim
PancakeParfait
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Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Feb 01, 2010 11:29 am

Re: Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

Post by PancakeParfait »

I have a 2G iPod Touch, not a 2G iPhone, so there is no default microphone to use. I have, however, certainly seen the instability to which you refer. I'll likely use the headset with microphone for everything I use VoiceBand for, with the exception of the occasional need to playback something for my band. This should not be a problem, since restarting the iPod will flush my previous session and I would only need to do that occasionally.

Thanks for the insight, Rim.
jackjill
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Joined: Wed Apr 28, 2010 4:24 am

Re: Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

Post by jackjill »

Hello Frnds,
It is not big issue for microphone and headphone plug/unplug. b,coz I have used enter tech magic microphones and also used headphone in our PC. I did't find plug/unplug problem with microphone or headphone.It may me possible in plugging time,if headphone or microphone are not show in the desktop, so you can restart PC then show the attachment.


Regard's
Jack Jill
sweerra
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Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 12:30 am

Re: Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

Post by sweerra »

Any way of plugging a microphone into a standard telephone so as to give a higher sound quality? I sometimes do radio interviews over the telephone (land line). Sound quality is so-so. I have a studio-quality microphone which I use for recording projects (and Skype). Is there any simple way I can plug this microphone into my phone so as to achive a higher sound quality?
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Birkit75
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Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 8:28 pm

Re: Microphone and Headphones plug/unplug issues

Post by Birkit75 »

[quote="jackjill"]...
It is not big issue for microphone and headphone plug/unplug. b,coz I have used enter tech magic microphones and also used headphone in our PC. I did't find plug/unplug problem with microphone or headphone.It may me possible in plugging time,if headphone or microphone are not show in the desktop, so you can restart PC then show the attachment.
.../quote]

I think the headphone/microphone he is using has defect. I hope he has tried another headphone to be sure that it really doesn’t work. Sometimes the problem is on the device itself because of the defects.
Birkit75
headphones
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