NMD: Sonicake Pocket Master

[Dontownatele]

Another odd thing I noticed today with my Android app - it doesn't display the BATTERY capacity. Seems kind of important if you are away from the the pedal and can't see it.

Also, I think I mentioned it before - don't keep anything plugged into the IN socket or it will run down the battery like many other pedals. The OUT seems fine.

Interesting. Does that mean it won’t turn on without an input plugged in?

 

[Boreas]

Interesting. Does that mean it won’t turn on without an input plugged in?

Never tried it. My guess is it still will turn on because it still has USB functionality.

 

[Alamo]

Interesting. Does that mean it won’t turn on without an input plugged in?

It will turn on without anyting plugged into it.
but I was stumped when when it shut off after a short visit. quite possible I had an input plugged when it was off.
once you're aware of it ....
thanks @Boreas

 

[Dontownatele]

It will turn on without anyting plugged into it.
but I was stumped when when it shut off after a short visit. quite possible I had an input plugged when it was off.
once you're aware of it ....
thanks @Boreas

I’ll try and pay attention better but I suspect it does drain as well. I noticed a significant drain after not much playing and then haven’t noticed since.

I’m betting it was from leaving the input connected a couple nights in a row.

Will try and pay better attention and give feedback here.

Also, that dual rectifier clean NAM sounded epic with my gretsch 6119. Full on rockabilly smiles all around. It practically parted my hair and gave me a pomp all by itself. Lol

Still liking enough about the Princeton NAM with my Strat but everything is a bit too fat for the Gretsch or my LP.

 

[Blrfl]

Also, I think I mentioned it before - don't keep anything plugged into the IN socket or it will run down the battery like many other pedals. The OUT seems fine.

I read your post nine hours ago, inserted a cable into mine, powered it down and left it sitting. It had a full charge then and still does now. The USB ports don't appear to have power available when the unit is off or on, so it doesn't look like anything plugged in there would run the battery down.

I'll let it sit overnight and see if anything changes.

 

[Boreas]

I read your post nine hours ago, inserted a cable into mine, powered it down and left it sitting. It had a full charge then and still does now. The USB ports don't appear to have power available when the unit is off or on, so it doesn't look like anything plugged in there would run the battery down.

I'll let it sit overnight and see if anything changes.

Was the cable attached to anything? Mine was plugged into a guitar and an amp. I only tried it once. Could have been a fluke.

 

[Blrfl]

Was the cable attached to anything? Mine was plugged into a guitar. I only tried it once. Could have been a fluke.

Nope, just hanging in the breeze. Still fully-charged this morning, but I'll plug it into a guitar for the day and see what happens.

Based on the interior photos (see the top of page 4) in Sonicake's FCC filings, the jacks look to be unswitched, so there'd be nothing to turn the device on when a plug is inserted.

I suppose it's possible that you ran into a bug in the firmware that kept the CPU awake after the display was turned off and the battery got drained that way, but I have no way to prove or disprove that.

 

[Boreas]

Nope, just hanging in the breeze. Still fully-charged this morning, but I'll plug it into a guitar for the day and see what happens.

Based on the interior photos (see the top of page 4) in Sonicake's FCC filings, the jacks look to be unswitched, so there'd be nothing to turn the device on when a plug is inserted.

I suppose it's possible that you ran into a bug in the firmware that kept the CPU awake after the display was turned off and the battery got drained that way, but I have no way to prove or disprove that.

I have run into a couple other bugs with presets being lost and such, so it wouldn't surprise me. If I run into more weirdness, I will try a factory reset with the "panic" button. If I do, I may even hold off on updating the firmware.

 

[Boreas]

Nope, just hanging in the breeze. Still fully-charged this morning, but I'll plug it into a guitar for the day and see what happens.

Based on the interior photos (see the top of page 4) in Sonicake's FCC filings, the jacks look to be unswitched, so there'd be nothing to turn the device on when a plug is inserted.

I suppose it's possible that you ran into a bug in the firmware that kept the CPU awake after the display was turned off and the battery got drained that way, but I have no way to prove or disprove that.

Any experience with keeping the USB charger cable connected during use? Is it quiet?

 

[Dontownatele]

Any experience with keeping the USB charger cable connected during use? Is it quiet?

I had no issues. The data port actually charges while you’re connected to the data port.

On my Mac, using their desktop app I was loading nams into a slot that was actively loaded on the PM that let me quickly demo NAMs with a few mouse clicks and no interaction on the PM after loading.

 

[Blrfl]

Any experience with keeping the USB charger cable connected during use? Is it quiet?

Based on what I've seen with this and other gadgets, it depends on what's at the other end of the cable.

Anything with a battery (charging brick, laptop not plugged into AC) is dead quiet. For anything connected to AC, grounding makes all the difference. Every ungrounded charger I've tried on this and other gadgets has always been noisy. The chargers for my MacBooks can attach flip-out prongs (ungrounded) or a three-prong cable. The ungrounded one is as noisy as anything else and the grounded one is silent.


BTW, still have a full charge after sitting all day plugged into a guitar. *SHRUG*

 

[Boreas]

Based on what I've seen with this and other gadgets, it depends on what's at the other end of the cable.

Anything with a battery (charging brick, laptop not plugged into AC) is dead quiet. For anything connected to AC, grounding makes all the difference. Every ungrounded charger I've tried on this and other gadgets has always been noisy. The chargers for my MacBooks can attach flip-out prongs (ungrounded) or a three-prong cable. The ungrounded one is as noisy as anything else and the grounded one is silent.


BTW, still have a full charge after sitting all day plugged into a guitar. *SHRUG*

Mine too. Full charge.

I forgot to mention - last time, the battery went so dead it would not even boot up! Dunno - perhaps I left it on or it turned on somehow. Seems to function OK. Now.

 

[Boreas]

Ok - next newbie question. Last nite I started figuring out how to record direct via USB-C to my belly top computer using Audacity. After I figured out I had to install the ASIO driver, it worked OK.

Now, what app can I use on my Android 15 fone? The few cheapies that use my on-board mic do not recognize it. I am currently trying MixPad Free and USB Audio Recorder. So far so good. Any hand's-down winners?

 

[Dontownatele]

Ok - next newbie question. Last nite I started figuring out how to record direct via USB-C to my belly top computer using Audacity. After I figured out I had to install the ASIO driver, it worked OK.

Now, what app can I use on my Android 15 fone? The few cheapies that use my on-board mic do not recognize it. I am currently trying MixPad Free and USB Audio Recorder. So far so good. Any hands-down winners?

is the fender studio app available on android?

 

[Boreas]

is the fender studio app available on android?

It would appear so. I'll check it out as well.

 

[Dontownatele]

It would appear so. I'll check it out as well.

I thought it was pretty nifty on iOS. I used my presonus interface and it worked great but not too surprising since fender bought them and fender studio is likely a presonus division thing.

I haven’t tried the pocket master yet.

 

[Boreas]

I thought it was pretty nifty on iOS. I used my presonus interface and it worked great but not too surprising since fender bought them and fender studio is likely a presonus division thing.

I haven’t tried the pocket master yet.

I installed it, but away from home at the moment. We'll see if it recognizes it. It looks pretty easy to use at first glance.

 

[Alamo]

I installed it, but away from home at the moment. We'll see if it recognizes it. It looks pretty easy to use at first glance.

I just watched this video and copied his setup 1 to 1.



headphones were plugged into the pocket master, ok that works for the initial guitar part, but what about overdubbing and playback?
I also noticed how fast the PM batterie got drained by the phone...I stopped and plugged everything off and on again.
this time with usb c charger plus another usb c connct to PM, and it showed PM in Fender studio going in and out to headphone.
did an overdub but the result was a lot of crackling and gargle.
maybe to many cables and ground loop interference. maybe the audio settings in Fender studio IDK, got frustrated and packed in....

 

[Boreas]

I just watched this video and copied his setup 1 to 1.



headphones were plugged into the pocket master, ok that works for the initial guitar part, but what about overdubbing and playback?
I also noticed how fast the PM batterie got drained by the phone...I stopped and plugged everything off and on again.
this time with usb c charger plus another usb c connct to PM, and it showed PM in Fender studio going in and out to headphone.
did an overdub but the result was a lot of crackling and gargle.
maybe to many cables and ground loop interference. maybe the audio settings in Fender studio IDK, got frustrated and packed in....

Interesting.

 

[Boreas]

I thought it was pretty nifty on iOS. I used my presonus interface and it worked great but not too surprising since fender bought them and fender studio is likely a presonus division thing.

I haven’t tried the pocket master yet.

Android 15 recognized it right away. Very good potential!