Line-In for the Pyra

[TrashyMG]

I was talking about Dragonbox producing alternate versions of the peripheral board for those of us who don't want 3G, so the line-in connector would already be mounted in this instance.

^That seems like an expensive endeavor.


Although I'm not sure why a vertically stacked audio jack couldn't be used to get both a line in and headphone out.. it would still be shorter than the double stacked USB ports.

 

[God Ginrai]

I was talking about Dragonbox producing alternate versions of the peripheral board for those of us who don't want 3G, so the line-in connector would already be mounted in this instance.

^That seems like an expensive endeavor.

How is it expensive? The way everyone is talking about it, I was already under the impression that EvilDragon was making 2 types of peripheral boards: those with 3G and those without. All I'm suggesting is that we use the space in those without to add these features.

That doesn't seem expensive at all.

-God Ginrai

 

[Natsu]

How is it expensive? The way everyone is talking about it, I was already under the impression that EvilDragon was making 2 types of peripheral boards: those with 3G and those without. All I'm suggesting is that we use the space in those without to add these features.

That doesn't seem expensive at all.

-God Ginrai

What about the people who want to use that space for 4G later on?

 

[TrashyMG]

How is it expensive? The way everyone is talking about it, I was already under the impression that EvilDragon was making 2 types of peripheral boards: those with 3G and those without. All I'm suggesting is that we use the space in those without to add these features. That doesn't seem expensive at all. -God Ginrai

I thought the Peripheral board was everything except the SoC/Memory Daughterboard.

 

[God Ginrai]

How is it expensive? The way everyone is talking about it, I was already under the impression that EvilDragon was making 2 types of peripheral boards: those with 3G and those without. All I'm suggesting is that we use the space in those without to add these features.

That doesn't seem expensive at all.

-God Ginrai

What about the people who want to use that space for 4G later on?

You won't be adding that yourself, most likely. If you are, you should be able to get a 3G version and replace the 3G module with the 4G module.

You do realize you are suggesting abandoning features so that you can add in a feature that is a better version of the feature that you are choosing not to take?

How is it expensive? The way everyone is talking about it, I was already under the impression that EvilDragon was making 2 types of peripheral boards: those with 3G and those without. All I'm suggesting is that we use the space in those without to add these features. That doesn't seem expensive at all. -God Ginrai

I thought the Peripheral board was everything except the SoC/Memory Daughterboard.

It is. But that's also where the 3G module will either exist or not exist, hence 2 versions of the peripheral board.

-God Ginrai

 

[WizardStan]

I was already under the impression that EvilDragon was making 2 types of peripheral boards

From what I understand, it's just one board: the difference is simply in whether the 3G module/antenna is populated or not.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

For low-level signal, i'd forget manual soldering if i were you.

 

[Granitehead]

I doubt any of those "cheap" k$ 3d printers could print a case in acceptable quality

As long as the walls are at least 1mm thick at any point it isn't a problem.

Sure? You could probably print a case, but the "acceptable quality" part? I doubt it would be strong, or pretty, or durable.

 

[Natsu]

You won't be adding that yourself, most likely. If you are, you should be able to get a 3G version and replace the 3G module with the 4G module.

Well, I know that.

You do realize you are suggesting abandoning features so that you can add in a feature that is a better version of the feature that you are choosing not to take?

The thing is, you would have to pay for the 4G on top of the 3G if you was to upgrade from 3G.

From what I understand, it's just one board: the difference is simply in whether the 3G module/antenna is populated or not.

Oh, well then I guess the user or ED can put this in there if you don't want 3G/4G.

 

[Fruity_Grebbles]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but we could always incorporate the mic line in the same port as the headphone jack, in the manner that Apple does it on the iPhone and iPod touch. Something like this:

That is, a 4-conductor jack.

 

[WizardStan]

That is a guarantee, the Pandora had a TRRS connector for headsets, and the Pyra is going to have one. It's been a major source of contention, actually.

The problem is that "the manner that Apple does it" is not the standard way it had been done for years, when Apple released their headsets they reversed the microphone and ground lines which made their headsets incompatible with existing ones.

At the time the Pandora came out this was fine. The Pandora used the old standard, everyone but Apple used the old standard, headphones for iPhone were specifically labeled "for iPhone", if it didn't say "for iPhone" it wouldn't work on an iPhone and it would be fine to work on anything else.

Over the last couple years that has changed, and a lot of companies are now using the iPhone "standard". If you pick up a headset for a phone there isn't really a way to tell, just by looking at it, whether it uses the old standard or the new.

The Pyra is going to solve this by having a switch: it defaults to the old standard, but if you buy something that uses the Apple standard you just flip the switch and it works again.

This all being said, it's completely irrelevant to the problem: microphone input is not line-in. Microphones are an active connection, line-in is passive. If you connect the output from one device to the microphone port on another, you're likely to get distortion, and risk damaging the output device. Microphones are also mono, a good line-in will give you stereo or better.

 

[God Ginrai]

This all being said, it's completely irrelevant to the problem: microphone input is not line-in. Microphones are an active connection, line-in is passive. If you connect the output from one device to the microphone port on another, you're likely to get distortion, and risk damaging the output device. Microphones are also mono, a good line-in will give you stereo or better.

Quoting and bolding to emphasize something important.

-God Ginrai

 

[Neelix]

The Pyra is going to solve this by having a switch: it defaults to the old standard, but if you buy something that uses the Apple standard you just flip the switch and it works again.

That's not quite correct - there won't be a physical switch to flip, or any need to manually switch it normally.

Just curious: Is there any chance that "internal switch" means it would automagically detect stuff? Or is it literally a small (dip?) switch that we'd have to flick based on what we have?

Internal = automatic + manually I2C controlled. Texas Instruments is our friend: TS3A225E

That being said I agree that the mic input itself isn't really relevant to this thread.

- Neelix

 

[klapse]

There's also some interesting USB 3 devices :

http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_babyface.php

RME is usually Linux-friendly, and German-made.

Seems there is now some basic linux support for babyface

http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=14117

 

[comradekingu]

Why not Native instruments - Audio kontrol 1. Or E-mu 0404

Or if you want to get serious http://www.beis.de/Elektronik/ADDA24QS/DA24QSDS.html

 

[klapse]

Is there any news about line-in audio for Pyra?  Maybe I missed something.

 

[WizardStan]

The latest news that I'm aware of is that it isn't. Just microphone on the headphone jack.

 

[chewdiggy]

It's one of the only features I really want to see in the new Pyra. Line In would mean I basically have a recording studio in my pocket, which gives much better audio quality than Mic In. If it was optional, I think enough people would take it.

 

[Grench]

At this point to fulfill that wish would require a major motherboard revision, removing one of the USB 2.0 host slots and replacing it with pair of not-headphone-but-look-like-it jacks for line in/out.

There are usb audio devices that do this.  If you're dealing with 'line in' needs then you're also likely to have a mixer, amp, equalizers, FX processors and mics.  Hauling a usb<>line in/out dongle isn't exactly onerous.

 

[klapse]

Stupid question, will the pyra have stereo mic-in capability?

I would love to use a good pair of binaural mics (like these http://www.core-sound.com/mics/1.php ) on the pandora.

Audio geeks really need some kind of stereo input.