Recording on ipod (was: nano recording volume)

[homielowe]

I have a question. I am using an RCA cable to 3.55 female. When "1" and "3" are on "R", and "2" and "4" on L it works, but I'm not sure if this is correct(dual mono?) There are four wires: right, left, ?, and ?. I have no expertise in audio wiring so help would be welcomed.



Soap: Did you have a ground (pin#1)?  Could you explain your wiring technique?

[soap]

homielowe,

Assumption 1 being you want a line-in
As for photo one:
(convention says...)
The white wire is Left+, and should be attached to dock pin 6.
The (black / green?  can't tell) insulated wire is probably Right+ and should be attached to dock pin 5.
The bare copper braids/sheaths/wires seen in your first photo are grounds, and should both be attached to dock pin(s) 1 and/or 2.  (For even if both the bare copper lines are attached to the common ground of the 3.5mm jack, the one not attached to ground at the ipod dock end of things will not work as a shield, and could even pick up stray signals.)

As for your second photo, not knowing what you have those two wires connected two inside the dock (or even if they are individual wires seeing as the photo is blurry) I can't comment.


EDIT:  I goofed before and said R+ goes to 6 also, it goes to 5

[homielowe]

ok thanks

edit: sorry about craptacular cameraphone pics.

I figured that out myself, wondered why only left earphone make noise

[saratoga]

I could upload a recording for you.
http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/72049/R070128-195344-mp3.html
go to that and listen to the file.

i'm not sure if its the right file.

put it on your ipod and listen to it at full volume.  If your really good at hearing you should be able to hear it.

Well the static on that track is at -60 dB, and I can't hear any music.  So you're getting a SNR of at most 10 or 15 dB.   Maybe not even.

I think its pretty safe to say you're just coupling some noise into the power plane, and then registering that on the ADC pins.  If you keep doing this, you'll more then likely destroy your iPod.

[gnu]

I read this whole thread and tried to record with my nano through the headphone jack (although I knew it wouldn't work); I did not pump in thousands of volts just a normal line in volume. In the resulting file you can't hear anything at all. I haven't tried it with a dock connector; would that work with a nano?

[saratoga]

I read this whole thread and tried to record with my nano through the headphone jack (although I knew it wouldn't work); I did not pump in thousands of volts just a normal line in volume.

To be honest, I'd be afraid to even try that.  Putting voltages into circuits that are not made to accept inputs is generally a bad idea.  Particularly when its a very expensive circuit made of very cheap IC components

[axlgreasetires]

My ipod still works fine.  Maybe i uploaded the wrong file or something but it definitely. worked my way.

I got one of those gold audio things that you can get cheap from radioshack that fits in the input/output jacks on a standard amp that you stick one of those sterio mini cords that are basicly the same thing as a headphone plug head except it has 2 of them.

i dont know if that made anysense to anybody.

[soap]

My ipod still works fine.  

Count your blessings.

Maybe i uploaded the wrong file or something but it definitely. worked my way.

A - In your own words you had to play back at maximum volume to hear any signal.  This indicates crosstalk, not a lack of gain.

B - I still think you are missing the point.

Nobody is doubting that you could obtain discernible audio from your technique.  What people are saying is that if you obtained audio through your technique it was as a result of the equivalent of a short circuit inside your iPod.  Chronon flat out verified that you can create crosstalk in a circuit such as in your iPod.
The iPod Video does not (to the best of everybody's understanding) have an audio-input through the headphone jack.  Even if it did, pumping speaker-level signals into it is a recipe for damage.
I really hope you aren't defending (analogy warning) driving a car on the wrong side of the road.  You might get away with it once - you might get away with it a dozen times, but to suggest that it is a safe and effective way to operate is foolhardy.  Damage will surely result sooner than later.
I also hope (and trust) that everybody else reading this thread realizes what a silly, silly thing you are doing and won't attempt the same ignorant experiment.  If I didn't trust people to realize the folly of your ways I would delete your threads for encouraging damaging behavior.

[Llorean]

C - You can find out if you uploaded the right file by listening to it after you upload it. Though generally it's a good idea to listen first so you can upload the right one.

[BigMac]

So has anyone got around to making a guide to making the dock connector dongle for the ipod? I read the wiki pages people have linked me to, but is there a more simplistic guide because I couldn't make heads or tails of that. Or is there possibly a place where I could buy one of these dongles?
Keep ROCKing on!

[homielowe]

If you go back a few pages(or read the whole entire thread), there will be links to places to buy the necessary parts and find the required information. Search the iPodLinux wiki also. I just used the provided information found thoughout this thread

[BigMac]

Alright all the parts I needed will be ordered today, but I am still unsure about grounding. I was linked to some tutorials and I read the basic ones and watched the videos, but I still am foggy on this subject. From my understanding, I will attach the R+ to pin 5, the L+ to pin 6.Then for grounding I attach *both* to pins one and 2. I have no idea how to do this, my best guess would be twisting those two wires together, tinning them then laying it across both pins and soldering it. http://ipodlinux.org/Dock_Connector

[gnu]

Does line-in through the Dock Connector work with nanos?

[BigMac]

No I don't believe they do.

[linuxstb]

No I don't believe they do.

Have you tried it?  If not, please don't speculate...

AFAIK, no-one has attempted to record via the line-in on the Nano, so we simply don't know.  However, if the hardware supports it, Rockbox should work (unlike the headphone-input on the Nano, which isn't implemented in Rockbox).