RØDE AI-Micro Ultra Compact Dual Channel Audio Interface for Computers, Smartphones and Tablets ( ‎Android, iOS, mac ), Black

Have you ever tried to get a line level input into your smartphone?Well, it is so much harder than you might think. Sure, you can cobble and fudge something together with splitters and converters, but it will always be mono and because these converters are designed for microphones (which require the incoming signal to be amplified) you are risking overloading your precious phone and need to manually attenuate the signal by sending it low from the source. That said, on my iPhone 15 Pro, it did work, but in a very basic, slightly noisy, no direct monitoring kind of a way.The next step up from this, a device type made (can you believable it) by only one company, called a Headset Buddy. For 20 or so quid you can buy their adapter cable which is basically the same as using splitters, aside from the line-level attenuation is handled inside the cable. This is neater, but you are still limited to mono and if you want to hear/monitor what you are sending in, you need (wait for it) more splitters :(.At this point, if a respectable brand like Rode offered something to do this job elegantly, but with the addition of stereo input and direct monitoring and a really clear signal, for around £60, you'd probably bite their hands off. Trouble is, like me, you might not realise that such a device exists because they fail to mention this in any of their promotional literature. The Rode AI-Micro is billed solely as a microphone interface and so appears to be out of scope for this job.Now, all other products capable of fulfilling this simple task are full audio interfaces. These feel like overkill for this task. Even the small ones feel big and clunky in this context and many (even the relatively tiny Zoom AMS-22) cannot be powered from your phone alone and require additional power. So, if like me, portability and simplicity are of key importance, this quickly becomes not that.The happy ending here is, that after buying the Rode AI-Micro and trying it for myself, I realised that it is perfectly suited to this task. Their Rode Reporter app lets you set the device into stereo mode and you can set the DB down to 0db and it works like a dream with any iOS application with recording functionality.I considered giving this product just a one-star rating due to the shocking miscommunication from Rode of what this product is suited for, but I'm so happy with it, that I just couldn't :D

This is a really neat and tiny audio interface. It performs the basics of much larger I/Fs but a fraction of the weight and size. The fact it can be used on a iPhone, iPad or computer is a great bonus. It's easy to throw in a bag when traveling and combined with a small mic make a really portable recoding solution. It's a little on the pricey side but if it fits your needs then it's worth it.So the product is great but I got this from Amazon Warehouse and it is supposed to be supplied with 3 cables. However, only one was in the box! Not noted in the description. Luckily I have plenty of cables and it's not a big deal for me but really - Amazon! How naughty!

I bought this to fix the low audio level on a channel in a church livestream, to replace a simple 3.5mm jack to USB adapter by having a programmable amplifier (ProAm line levels don't match). As it turned out, I was able to source another channel route that had the required level.I had this set to be returned, unneeded, but before dropping it into the Post Office I decided to keep it anyway. I've several church AV systems in our parish still to upgrade and it might come in useful later on. Being able to preset the gain (and different for each channel) was something I recall would have been useful on a previous rig-up. Even if not in a final rig, it's useful to have it to to hand for tests.As a piece of audio kit it's well made and, as far as I can tell with my own trials, it does exactly what Rode claim. Being able to rely on kit, especially when relying on non-tech folk to run it, is essential. Rode kit is never in the bargain bin (price-wise) but I've never, so far, been able to fault Rode quality.

The first unit ordered did not work in stereo mode and the quick replacement unit by Amazon showed the same problem of playing the sound only from the left microphone, while the right mic on input 2 did not come through. Like many reviews under the one star, I thought at that point that this product is not stable. Then I connected a stereo electret microphone to input 1 and to my delight the stereo mode functioned perfectly, uder the Rode reporter app. The first set of my ECM microphones that failed the stereo mode had no external battery to provide the required plug in bias voltage and relied on the internal voltage within the AI Micro module, while the second stereo ECM had a built in battery to provide the bias voltage. I quickly attached my first set ecms via an external power supply (see photo attached), and that was the solution to my stereo hick up, the two contact ECMs attached to my guitar, now worked with perfect sound recording. So before abandoning this little gem, do use the Rode apps for recording, before venturing to test your mics on other apps. The same procedure was carried out under Win 10 , iphone and ipad, with identical results. If your stereo mic has no internal bias voltage, then split the stereo mic connection into 2 mono 3.5mm plugs and use the unit in split mode. I hope Rode would fine tune the product and sort out the stereo mode problem with some additional documentation on best way to use the product. The software reliability needs to be raised a notch or two. The audio quality on the monitor output is superb.

I bought this audio interface as I've got several instruments to plug into my computer, a synth and a Drum Machine, now my DAW is a Linux one, so finding something of value that is compatible can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, but this has proven to be absolutely perfect and to be extremely easy to configure.(if you're interested in getting this on a Linux environment, definitely go for PipeWire btw)