October 19, 2021
I wanted to set up an all Bluetooth rig that would let me transmit perfect audio from the FR-8X directly to the cell phone, alas that was not meant to be!
As it turned out, that was some wasted money and time. Bluetooth in this scenario is not going to be possible with current technology and current hardware. What I did however stumble on was a way to “inject” stereo audio from my Zoom F4 field recorder directly in to my Android phone using, of all things, an Apple adapter!
The “trick” was to place the Zoom F4 in to “Audio Interface mode” and then from it’s USB connector out to the Apple HDMI connector (that has a USB A, C and HDMI connectors in it). So, the physical attachment part was easy, but:
Would the Apple adapter “see” the phone and Zoom F4?
Would it be able to accept the input from the 6-in/4-out F4 when in Audio Interface mode?
Well, spoiler alert… it worked… and worked REALLY well! With the phone turned on, and everything plugged in, the moment the F4 was placed in to Audio Interface mode, the phone lit up with a message “Capturing audio from extremal USB device”… NICE!
Here is another good thing… though it will work with pretty much any audio interface, using the F4 gives me many more advantages due to it’s 6 inputs! I can connect the L/R inputs of the FR-8X, and the L/R inputs of the BK-7m, and have 2 inputs left over for wireless microphones and/or lavaliers! In my test, I did (so far) the L/R of the 8X and a wireless lavalier, and it works perfectly.
Let me show you a quick video of the setup:
So, another little gizmo that works really well… now all I have to do is learn how to play accordion and use it!