In the January 2001 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, Chris Heath quotes U2's Bono as having said of the Bee Gees, "It's a real lesson of: If you get the shoes wrong, the public will not forgive you, however brilliant you are." Alesis is actively learning that lesson with its otherwise-brilliant idea: the iO Dock ($399), an audio and MIDI recording interface for the iPad. It's aimed at composers and songwriters looking for a convenient and cost-effective way to record music using an iPad using external mics, MIDI input devices, and physical instruments. While several recent iOS and iPad form factor revisions have compromised the iO Dock's design, it still comes the closest of all iPad music accessories to being a truly portable, professional recording setup.
Design, Connectivity, and Power Adapter
For this review, I tested the Alesis iO Dock successfully as an input source with three apps: Apple GarageBand 1.2 ($4.99, 4 stars), Sonoma Wire Works StudioTrack, and Harmonicdog MultiTrack DAW. The iO Dock occupies a slightly larger rectangle than would be occupied by the iPad alone. Height-wise, it stands about two inches tall in the back, and slopes down to roughly one inch in the front. The downward slant gives it a nice draftsman's table feel.
The Dock has a phantom power switch on the mic line, which can be toggled to accept an instrument as well, and independent recording level knobs on every input. There are also separate volume knobs for the headphone out and main outs. The iO Dock is surprisingly lightweight and fits easily into a standard-sized backpack, though Alesis has released a custom carrying case, the iO Dockbag.
Unfortunately, while Alesis includes a power adapter, it's one that's nearly impossible to find as an aftermarket item: 6 V AC 3.0A (universal and rated for 100-240 VAC50/650 HZ 0.8A). Numbers and letters you can ignore until you need to replace the adapter, that is. You'll find sparse matches on Google. Do not lose or mistreat this adapter.
Overall, like many recent accessories of its ilk, the iO Dock has the feel of being just a hollow plastic box filled with elfin magic, which is at once convenient and slightly unsettling, as it gives you the sense a strong breeze or an errant nudge from a stoned bass player would jar all the magic out of it.
Not All iPads Fit, Unfortunately
Alesis originally built the iO Dock to accommodate the original iPad, which fits quite snugly in the iO Dock. When the iPad 2 came out, with its slightly slimmer form factor, iO Dock owners pounded at Alesis's customer community boards complaining their new tablets were rattling around in the sleeve, and couldn't fit the connector without being propped up and wedged into place. Alesis finally responded by manufacturing a plastic insert that essentially made the cavity smaller.
This year, the new iPad with Retina Display caused another problem, as its dock port doesn't quite line up with the iO Dock the way the first two had. As a result, the boards are again alight?this time with people recommending everything from double-sided sticky tape to using "exactly seven sheets of 8.5-by-11-inch paper" to prop the iPad into place. The obvious, but regrettable, workaround (also recommended by the community) is an extension cable. Alesis has begun to refer to the iPad 2 insert as an iPad 2/3 insert, but the new iPad still doesn't fit quite right with it.
To compound this hiccup, iOS 5 apparently introduced some incompatibility with the iO Dock which resulted in a persistent background hiss and the occasional burst of high volume static. Final resolution only came through the confluence of updates in iOS 5.1 from Apple and an updated firmware release for the Dock from Alesis. At the time, I went through this somewhat baroque process, which terminated in a very unsatisfyingly hung status window. Some light research indicated this limbo state was all I could expect in the way of closure. In fact, the firmware had updated, and after that (and the iOS upgrade) all issues with loud hissing and audio bursts disappeared.
Performance and Conclusions
With that out of the way, let's get to actually using the iO Dock. I connected a Neumann M-150 mic through the iO Dock's mic XLR, monitored through Sennheiser HD 280 Pro headphones, and I was able to capture vocals that rivaled the results I got with an Avid Digi 002 Rack unit. Once I straightened out those firmware and iOS 5.1 issues, sound came through just fine from both mic and guitar (an acoustic Taylor 810-C, in this case). Obviously, with the Neumann, the improvement over the onboard iPad mic was amazing. But significantly, the ambient noise dropped to near zero as well. When recording in the PCMag 11th-floor offices late at night, the iO Dock's noise floor was so low I could hear street traffic during the rests.
My sessions with the iO Dock typically ran about 3-4 hours long. I kept it hot for an hour or two at a stretch, and was able to fire up new tracks, switch on the monitor, and carry on with new vocals or instrumentation without loss of fidelity or any noise creep. GarageBand for the iPad is my DAW of choice, which admittedly limits audio recording to eight tracks. But for at least a few of the songs I recorded, every track went through the iO Dock's interface (as opposed to being performed with the factory software instruments).
In total, I recorded analog instruments and vocals for two entire albums using just the Alesis iO Dock, the Neumann, and the iPad 2 running GarageBand and ThumbJam. Allowing for my lack of distance from the material, I was sufficiently satisfied with the results to release the music. When housed in the iO Dock, the iPad handled each session without breaking a sweat.
The iO Dock's $399 list price tag is a little high considering that much of its functionality is available through less-expensive (albeit clumsier) means. The Griffin StudioConnect ($149.95, 3 stars) accommodates varying shapes and sizes of iPads, but it lacks the full range of connector interfaces available in the iO Dock. Behringer is planning a release of its iStudio iDock product, but it's been in FCC evaluation since at least January. And, judging by the form factor displayed at the 2012 NAMM show, the company hasn't really learned from the design mistake Alesis has made. All told, with the iO Dock, Alesis was first to market, and paid the typical price incurred by early innovators (think Apple Newton). But despite its various flaws, the iO Dock still offers the best embodiment available of a very good idea.
More Audio Accessory Reviews:
??? Alesis iO Dock for iPad
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??? Griffin StudioConnect for iPad
??? Avid Mbox Mini
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