I am wondering if I can use a usb c to 3.5mm adapter to record audio from my digitone (or anything really) into my pixel 3a via usb c port (pixel 3a supports usb audio I think)
the intention is not to bring my zoom mic with me on holiday, and record digitone stuff straight to the phone.
I used to use a trrs to trs adapter and that is all good but it only records mono and actually too low quality
what do you reckon?
perhaps I don’t even need the adapter and can record to my phone with just a usb to usb cable?
Digitone is class compliant so usb - usb should work
Otherwise I guess you just need basic usb audio interface plugged into phone. ?
Or maybe plug audio into digitone and use those inputs to get audio into you phone.
I’m sure someone with more experience on here can elaborate , or search YouTube / read the manual for info on usb audio
Im not sure it will work I direct USB to USB, but I am fairly certain that with the 3.5mm adapter you will be able to accomplish what you need to do. For a back up I know there are a few companies like IK Multimedia that make pretty standard phone audio interfaces that are pretty cheap (under 50usd I think)
Just beware of the passive (cheapest) solutions. I have a first gen iRig which makes use of the mic input on the 3.5 mm ‘headphone’ jack. That route has a serious loss of bass on some iPads. Make sure it’s actually an audio interface you’re buying.
thanks for your replies
I don’t wanna buy an audio interface for my phone, if I have to carry something else it might as well be my zoom recorder.
however, the whole point is only having digitone, power bank and mobile in my bag
I will try with usb to usb first, see how that goes.
If that doesn’t work (I doubt it will), I will purchase a usb c to 3.5mm adapter and try with that.
Worst case scenario I will have to put the zoom recorder in the bag too.
I could be wrong, but I suspect a usb-c to 3.5mm adapter will in fact be an audio interface of some description ?
EDIT: Ok, I had to go look it up … turns out I was wrong, it might be a passive, analog connector, to the ‘mic in’ so my earlier warning about serious loss of bass may still apply.
There are two kinds of USB type C to headphone adaptors.
One is just an analog headphone connection on the USB port, […] Those are just the same as a 3.5mm jack on the device would be if it existed. […] If you get an adaptor with a phone it is nearly always one of this kind.
The other is an actual USB digital audio interface integrated into the adaptor. This shows up on the device as an extra audio port.
I might be totally off on this, so someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the biggest issue with routing audio like this is that the Digitone is “line out” which is the +4dBu audio signal (I think). 3.5mm audio ports are generally “headphone out” signal level which is -10dBv (or something like that but its different that “line out”). So ultimately the issue has to do with the level of the audio signal matching at its source and destination. So basically you need a way to convert the line out signal to a a 3.5mm stereo out/headphone out. Again I might probably have no idea what I am talking about.
so if I went with option 1 “just an analog headphone connection on the USB port”
would that be the same as using the headphone jack (which my phone actually has)?
because when recording through the headphone jack with my trrs to trs adapter + attenuator, the quality is very bad and the signal is turned to mono
so maby if you did a usb to split stereo 3.5mm jacks? Also it might be when going direct out from the headphone jack you are using an unbalanced cable? Generally you need to be going out using a balanced connection. Im sure there is an easier way that we are totally missing here lol
Boosting the USB output in the Digitone menu definitely does increase the level greatly, so there must be something else happening on the phone/app end for you to not see or hear any difference.