This is meant to be an easy style plug-n-play connection, sorry to hear of these continued snags along the way! Which 'lapel microphone' are you using exactly? This may be a factor. However, when plugging my headphones into the Irig input I can clearly hear the audio coming from my Dj controller. In addition, this also applies when plugging my external speaker into the ‘THRU’ input using a 3.5mm to RAC cable It connects to both machines via the supplied cable. And both machines recognise the iRig because it appears in the Microphone options. Been talking to Support and they say the USB-C cable you supply with the iRig no longer works in the new iPads. Wish I'd been told this sooner! : For example, if you want to keep your rig portable and use condenser microphones, you’ll need an interface that supplies phantom power. Maybe you plan on recording guitar and vocals at the same time; then you’ll need enough inputs that also allow simultaneous recording.

Since I also wanted to be able to use it with my own pedal board and MIDI keyboard through Reaper with various sample-based libraries I wanted it to have two inputs (stereo) and MIDI, so I would not have to buy two interfaces: one for my phone and one for a laptop. That's how I ended up at this box and not a cheaper iRig. Above, headless Q2U’s directly digital output, flat (to compare with the preamp and A-to-D converter in the iRig Pro Duo I/O).Above, headless Q2U via iRig Pro Duo I/O, processed with mild noise reduction and mild compression from Hindenburg Journalist Pro. To connect a maximum of two balanced microphones, which can be any combination of balanced XLR (with switchable 48-volt phantom power) and sends the signal(s) to the appropriate smartphone, tablet or conventional computer. You have individual gain control of each input, and each one is sent discreetly as 1 and 2 (Left and Right). Unlike the Saramonic SmartRig+, the iRig Pro Duo I/O does not offer any “mono” mode to combine and center the two input channels, which can be convenient for live broadcast or live-to-drive, when there is no time for any post production. However, even though the iRig Pro Duo I/O does not offer a “mono” mode, this can be achieved using inexpensive third party software (at least with macOS and Windows), so this is not a dealbreaker even if you need this functionality. I have personally used such software for macOS. Yes, you can indeed connect an unbalanced electret condenser microphone to the iRig Pro Duo I/O, as long as you use a VXLR+ converter (illustrated above, covered in these articles). The VXLR+ accepts the 48-volt phantom power from the iRig Pro Duo I/O and converts it into lower voltage bias voltage (plugin power) for these microphones, while adapting the connections. I tested it with the iRig Pro Duo I/O and it worked perfectly well, either with an XLR cable or by plugging the XLR+ directly into the iRig Pro Duo I/O’s XLR input. System requirements: iOS 7.0, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XS, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 5s, iPad Pro 10.5-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (2nd generation), iPad Pro 9.7-inch, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (1st generation), iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2, iPad (6th generation), iPad (5th generation), iPod touch (6th generation), from Android 5 on devices with USB digital audio functions, from Win7, from Mac OS X 10.6

As you will have read in the comparison chart, the iRig Pro Duo I/O from IK Multimedia has at least six advantages over the SmartRig+ from Saramonic, although the latter has a few unique advantages which may be important for some very specific use cases. These can be overcome with the iRig Pro Duo I/O using external hardware (a VXLR+ for connecting unbalanced electret condenser mics and/or with an external pre-preamp in very extreme cases) or software (to force both channels to be mono or centered for live or live-to drive use, although only with macOS or Windows, not with Android or iOS/iPadOS as of publication time of this article, to my knowledge), as I have covered in the article. As you see those details, you’ll be able to determine which of those features are more important for you. Once this is done you're ready to record in Audacity, just like you would in the AmpliTube software.

Purpose

The new preamps on iRig Pro Duo I/O promise an extra 2 dB of gain over the previous iRig Pro Duo. When plugging in a condenser mic and recording some simple voice recordings, I didn’t notice or hear a difference based solely on increased gain. What I did find helpful was that rotating the gain knob was more tactile and transitions between gain levels weren’t as jarring as on the original iRig Pro Duo. High frequencies sounded a bit richer, but didn’t significantly change tonality. With all dual-input interfaces I recall having tested, they all monitor the left channel source in the Left ear of stereo headphones, and the Right channel in the right ear of the headphones, except if the interface has a mono mode for recording, or a specific mono mode for monitoring. However, even though the Rig Pro Duo I/O does not offer any switch for mono of either type, when monitoring the discrete inputs are surprisingly centered in the connected stereo headphone. This is not a problem, but it is indeed worth noting.