Smartphones and tablets now make great portable recording studios, thanks to powerful processors and a plethora of high quality apps. The weak chain in the process is that of sound capture. The standard microphones built in to this hardware just isn’t designed for high quality capture.
This is where an additional audio hardware unit comes into play, but many units are bulky, or they require a power source which is either the phone/tablet itself, or AC power. This can reduce portability and severely impact working time due to fast battery drain.
Enter MixerFace, a portable pro-quality audio recording hardware unit based on the same design as the popular and highly-regarded HiFi-M8 audiophile-quality D/A converter/headphone amp.
Key features include:
- Two custom, discrete, boutique microphone preamps, based on our new, low-noise dbpre technology.
- Each input features a Neutrik combo XLR jack with mic / line inputs and a wide-range gain control. Inputs can accommodate keyboards, guitar pedals, as well as and other XLR or 1/4″ audio sources.
- A Hi-Z input has been requested. If enough people want it, we will add it in.
- Two LED level indicators per channel (green for signal present, red for peak)
- 48V phantom power for professional condenser microphones.
- 24-bit / 192kHz A/D and D/A converters. We use the same chips found in studio recording interfaces.
- An innovative monitor mix with pan and dry/wet controls. Especially useful for stereo instruments and voice-over applications.
- Loud headphone output with digital volume control.
- Fully portable operation. Straps to the phone and serves as a cradle, forming one device to hold. Goes wherever your phone goes.
- Works with old 30-pin iPhones/iPads and new lightning connector-based iPhonesiPads.
- You can use the white charging cable that came with the iPhone. We will also offer shorter cable options. Android devices also supported.
The specifications are:
- Battery life: 7-8 hours of recording. Long stand-alone recording time.
- Digital connectivity to smartphones, laptops and tablets. Audio travels in digital domain to the phone or tablet, for lowest noise and highest audio quality.
- MixerFace replaces the consumer-level audio circuitry in the smartphone with its own professional, studio-grade converters for best sonic fidelity.
- Compatibility: USB B jack for connectivity with laptops and Android devices, USB A jack for connectivity with iPhone, iPad.
- Frequency response: 20Hz…40kHz
- THD and noise: Less than 0.01%.
- Lowest jitter due to asynchronous USB audio design.
Check out the Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to get this into production.
