MIDI keyboard to iPad problem solved

First thing's first, you will need a MIDI keyboard. It doesn't matter what brand, size and features it's got as long as you have a working MIDI keyboard. I got two MIDI keyboards. One is Evolution MK249C which I bought from carboot sale 8 years ago. Then just recently on my 40th birthday, our friends Mark and Chris gave us this M-Audio KeyStudio MIDI keyboard. I will do a comparison of the two keyboards in the near future. The other thing that you will need is an iPad or iPhone. Because we will be using Garageband for our MIDI keyboard. Now, the last thing that you will be needing and it's the most important one, the adapter. I thought I can buy any as long as it's the right pins for the ipad/iphone and convert to USB but I was wrong. There are specifics to it.

Right, let's take my phone and ipad as an example. Im using iPhone 7 and iPad Pro. Both uses lightning connectivity or jack. So I would need a lightning to USB adapter. Went to nearest Apple store, asked around, some staff are very helpful but there's one guy who's a bit snobbish. Went to him to pay actually but he was busy talking to his radio and then after he finished talking or reporting something he went back straight to his iPad and did'nt say a word to me. So I looked for another person and this time a young lady. She was very helpful. Because when I told her about the plan of buying that lightning to USB camera adapter that I will be using it for my MIDI keyboard, she already mentioned to me that there are some issues that they encounter. She said that it might not work because it depends on what sort of MIDI keyboard Im using. So I asked her if I can return the product if it won't work and she said yes, there's 14-day return policy. All I need is the receipt and the product as well as the box.

Went home and tried the lightning to USB camera adapter and it didn't work. It says the device uses too much power. I tried looking around for a solution. Good thing my other MIDI keyboard (Evolution MK249C) got a power input. So, I tried looking for a suitable power supply. It says 9-12 volts. The only problem now is the polarity. I tried my Zoom G1xOn adaptor because it's 9 volts but it didn't work. So I looked for my old Digitech multieffects power supply and it worked on that one. Connect it to my ipad and iphone and it worked. But I wasn't satisfied, I thought that I really wanted the ipad/iphone to work without plugging my MIDI keyboard to a power supply. So I can also use my M-Audio KeyStudio because this MIDI keyboard doesn't have a power input. Good thing, my good friend Creed on YouTube, saw one of my post about the lightning splitter for my iTrack pocket that didn't work, and he mentioned to me to buy a lightning to USB 3 camera adapter with the power port. Because he had similar problem. That's when I decided to return and change my light to USB adapter.

After I changed it, it was perfect. No need for power supply and it work for my iPad and iPhone as well as to both of my MIDI keyboards, the Evolution MK249C and M-Audio KeyStudio. Im very happy now.

Note: Always buy original apple accessories to avoid incompatibility issues. But also buy the right accessory.

iPhone 7 lightning usb and earphone dongle splitter review

Review of this 2 in1 Lightning to 3.5mm Earphone Jack Adapter Charge Cable for iPhone 7

I bought this iPhone 7 splitter lightning and 3.5 mm jack adapter on eBay in hopes that it will work faith my Focusrite iTrack Pocket but it didn’t. The idea was I really wanted to my iPhone 7 to be my portable recording station. so I can plug lots of stuff to it hence a bought a splitter. To be fair, it worked according to what the description says that it is for charging whilst listening to music.

Oh another downside was the first time I put the earphones in, it was too hard and it broke immediately the silver cover. I superglued it and it’s fine. Such a shame that my plan didn’t work.

       

G1xOn Hack on how to make footswitch for looper and home button

DIY footswitch home and looper button

An inexpensive and simple way of fixing the home and looper switch button where you won't have to bend down and press to switch but instead you can improvise and use your foot. Here are the things that you need:

Adhesive Felt Pads 

Cutter

Scissors

Pen

Ruler

Self-healing cutting mat

Cardboard or thick paper

First, I did an outline on a piece of paper what shape and size to use. So I did trial and error method to know which one will fit and what to use. So I did few trials and it did work. However, there was a bit of challenges encountered. One was it got stuck so I had to put paper underneath so it won't stick. But it doesn't look nice. It was raised and really not pleasing if you look at it. Although it works, I had to improvised again. So this time, I just doubled the felt pad. Stuck it together and used the cutter to cut it into shapes. Two circles and two triangles. Just small ones that will fit the buttons. The two circles were used to the Looper/Rhythm button and Home button. Then the triangles were use on the up and down buttons to switch between banks from A through J. It's looking better than the previous and works well. So happy with this improvisation to my effects pedal.

How to lower the action of your acoustic guitar

Lower the action of dreadnought guitar

Things you needed:
Pencil
Pentel Pen or Marker
Ruler
Sandpaper
File
Clean cloth or paper towel
Brush


The first thing you need to do is either you remove the strings if you intend to clean your guitar and put on a new set of strings or if you just put new strings on and forgot to adjust the height of your strings, all you need to do is loosen the strings as much as you can then carefully remove the bridge saddle.

Once the saddle is removed, use the ruler to mark it as to how much you're going to sand it down. Put a line using the pencil as your guide as to how far you're going to sand it down. Then use the marker or Pentel Pen to mark the bottom of the saddle to know if you're sanding it evenly. And when you're doing it, do it gently and keep on checking how far you're going. Then use a file to smoothen the area.

Once you're happy or near your target line as to how much centimetre you want to remove, brush the area off or wipe with a clean cloth and put it back. Then check if you're happy with the height of your strings. Note that it is not advisable to sand it down too far and make the strings too low because it will be prone to buzzing and you wont be able to reverse it. So it's better to just sand it down little by little. Also the string pull is great when it's a bit high. So, limit it to 1 cm or less when you lower the action of your guitar.

Put saddle back and try to tune it and play the guitar. Even though you lowered it a centimetre or less, you will still feel the difference. Hope this helps.