Obscure Viz reference there….but I remember this one from way back….in the good old days of my mid teens when I used to cut the jokes and satire out of the adult comic and staple [that’s right….staple] them in to a little black and red hardback note book.
But the sentiment still holds true…great things can come in small packages and the Lightening to USB connector is one such device punching above its weight.
Now the recent upgrade in Apple’s iPhone and iPad line-up has brought some dismay! Changing the main data and power wiring has been a right royal pain in the arse. Not only are there still very few accessories to support docks and like….but more cables also need to be procured and consumed. And Apple isn’t in the market for providing things on the cheap.
So reluctantly I bought the new Apple iPad to USB cable (Note: subsequent tests show this doesn’t support iPhone 5):
….you see I bought this dongle expressly to connect my [M-audio] midi keyboard to my new iPad mini. Sure, I thought, it may need external power, but being able to turn my music keyboard, with no on-board means of making sounds on its own…into an interface with the excellent GarageBand, was too much to resist.
And the best part is that it is not only able to provide a great low latency interface….but it carries enough power to discard the nasty black power brick that has been associated with every keyboard I have owned since my first ’80s Casio!
Great…coupled with the Logitech tablet Bluetooth typographic keyboard and I have a really sweet little setup:
