Steinberg CI 1 and 3.5mm Microphone Compatability

WaveLab
#1

I purchased to a Steinberg CI 1 to enable digital dual-recording of two study participants at the same time.

The microphones I am using are attached to Plaintronics Gamecom 1 headsets and use a 3.5mm stereo connector. To connect them to the Steinberg CI 1 I bought two 3.5mm to 1/4" adapters at Radioshack. However the Steinberg CI 1 does not recognize (no light by the input) the microphones when plugged in.

My Windows 7 PC recognizes the Steinberg CI 1, but when I tried a test recording, there was only silence. There was also silence when I tried to listen to the microphone in the headset. To me this indicates that the sound is not being sent to the PC, thus an issue with the Steinberg CI 1 not recognizing the microphone.

Any ideas on how to remedy this situation? Are the microphones not compatible with the Steinberg CI 1?

Thanks!

#2

First off, the microphone should be plugged into a microphone input, not a 1/4" line input (wrong sensitivity)

Second the microphone input is a balanced input and most likely the headsets microphone is not balanced!

Maybe try a 3.5mm to 1/4" unbalanced adaptor, plugged into a 1/4" to XLR adapter, into the interfaces Mic input!?

#3

Oh ok I see. I did not know there two different types. I tried searching for a specifically unbalanced adapter but no luck. Any recommendations for sites to find one?

#4

Hi @dmaurath!
Have you solved this problem in some way? I encounter the same issue and I would really like to use my headphone mics and desk mics with CI1… though, I tend to think that is some technical limitation for this kind of microphones…