The iPhone offers a myriad of fascinating apps that are extremely useful for musicians, from sound effects to multi-tracking, tuning, looping etc. In order to tap into this large vault of apps however, I needed to first figure out how I could connect my bass to the iPhone via a line-in cable somehow.

After almost of week of research and trial and error, I finally figured a way out and have decided to share my findings here. Hopefully this will help you  avoid the frustration I went through.

COMPONENT PARTS TO GET

CABLES

Ready-Made Cable Kit

Here are 2 ready-made line in cables in the market for the iPhone

1. Guitarbud by PRS - http://www.prscables.com/guitarbud Approx USD 30

Designed for use with the PRS iPhone app Jam Amp, it however has received complaints about the cable’s low quality component parts with unshielded wiring that renders it noisy and unpredictable. Distortion and bad latency also occurs when the guitar exceeds a certain volume.

2. AmpliTube iRig – http://www.ikmultimedia.com/irig/features/ Approx USD 40

Designed for use with the IK Multimedia’s iPhone app AmpliTube. So far, i have not found any big complaints about this cable, and comments are it is noticeably cleaner and quieter than the Guitarbud.

DIY Cable Kit

Buying the iRig would have been a simple solution for me, but it was not available in Singapore at the time I was inquiring. Plus I needed the cable urgently for a Yamaha Bass Clinic I was conducting, and could not wait for it to be shipped in from US.

My next solution was to make my own kit, without having to actually solder anything. Here are 2 options.

1. Camcorder A/V Cable splitting 4-pole 3.5mm plug into 3 RCA plugs

Be aware that not all A/V cables are wired the same – the ground has to be on the second ring of the TRRS jack, not the sleeve.

NOTE: I tried with 2 camcorder A/V cables that supposedly matched the description above but the iPhone apps did not detect my bass with both cables.

2. A/V cable designed for an iPod video product eg. Belkin A/V cable for iPod 4G/5G

This cable worked immediately for me, plus the high quality cable minimised cross-talk (appears as feedback at high volumes).

ADAPTERS

Adapter For Headphones

I could not find a RCA Female to 3.5mm Female adapter (best option), so I bought an RCA Male to 3.5mm Female adapter (picture above), and attached RCA Female adapters (picture below) to the RCA Male jacks – as displayed below in ASSEMBLY at the bottom of this article.

2 x RCA Female Adapter to RCA Female Adapter

Adapter For Guitar

RCA socket to 1/4″ mono plug

ASSEMBLY

Attach the RCA Male to 3.5mm Female adapter to the 2 RCA Female to RCA Female adapters. You now have a RCA Female to 3.5mm Female adapter.

Now connect this to the Belkin A/V cable, matching up the red and white RCA connectors.

Attach the RCA socket to 1/4″ mono plug to the yellow RCA plug on the Belkin A/V cable. This plugs directly into the guitar.

DONE!

You now have a cable kit you can use to connect the bass or guitar to the iPhone. I hope you found this useful, if you have any questions drop me a line at wendy[at]wendyphua.com and I’d be happy to try and help.

TESSERA’S DEBUT APPEARANCE ON TV

In their interview with CNA’s Suzanne Jung and Steven Chia, Tessera talks about their beginnings at the Singapore Wine & Jazz Festival 2010, musical inspirations, and what lies ahead for the band.

Tessera also performs their new progressive jazz song “Inuit” LIVE for the first time on television.

Tessera is:
Melissa Carroll — saxophone
Sharon Nunis — piano
Wendy Phua — bass
Audrey Tang — drums

For booking inquiries, email tessera.girlband[at]gmail.com

From left Sharon Nunis, Wendy Phua, Audrey Tang, Suzanne Jung (CNA Presenter), Melissa Carroll

In the interview with CNA’s Suzanne Jung and Steven Chia, Tessera talks about their beginnings at the Singapore Wine & Jazz Festival 2010, musical inspirations, and what lies ahead for the band. Tessera also performs their new progressive jazz song “Inuit” LIVE for the first time on television.

A video of the interview will be uploaded for viewing.

Tessera is:
Melissa Carroll – saxophone
Sharon Nunis – piano
Wendy Phua – bass
Audrey Tang – drums

For booking inquiries, email tessera.girlband[at]gmail.com.