Complete noob - PO-12 advice - please help!

Am looking at getting my son a PO-12 as a present as I think it would be right up his street.


I know he would want to be able to transfer any music he creates to his iPhone though so he can share it on sound cloud. Is there a way of doing this? And if so what apps would he need and what equipment would I need to buy to make the connection from the PO-12 to the iPhone.

Don’t want to buy him the wrong things you see. If you help make this Mum look cool in front of her teenager I would really appreciate it!!

Hello, I cannot exactly answer your question but if this helps:


You cannot “transfer” songs off the Pocket Operator. It is more like a performance instrument, you must play back the song and record the sound of it being played. So what you want to be looking for is a way to connect the 1/8 inch audio out from the PO-12 to the iPhone.

I’m not familiar with this personally (I only know about connecting to computers) but I think you want a cable like this:
https://www.mycablemart.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=6022&ad_source=google_canada&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4eXPBRCtARIsADvOjY0H09U_CUnGhs3DfePpr05T4RFVZVYo-LA4UQH8gp0lRe-RjC0aTk8aAmSZEALw_wcB
or:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/MONOPRICE-Audio-cable-for-iPad-smartphones-TRRS-male-to-1-8-34-TS-female-input-1-8-34-TRS-female-output-1-Foot/40514968

…which splits the iPhone’s “headphone” jack into one jack for normal headphone out and one jack for mono microphone input. You have to make certain to get an iPhone compatible one, there is more than one standard for this. You will also need a 1/8-inch to 1/8-inch cable to plug into the splitter.

If your son’s iPhone does not have a headphone jack, you will need an appropriate iPhone microphone adapter. The Apple Store will have these, and I think Guitar Center has “iRig” branded ones, but it will be more expensive than the splitter cable.

I don’t know what software you want to use on the iPhone (I use Android), but I know there are several options. You just want any audio recording or multi-track recorder app. Honestly I would probably suggest he just plug in the external microphone and record a video using the built in camera app (I am guessing it lets you do that). Performing a song using the PO looks “cool” and he could share it on YouTube. He might need something to stabilize the phone if he does that though.

If he really likes the PO maybe next year you could look at getting him an OP-Z which will have a lot of iPhone integration. We don’t know how much that will cost yet though.

Maybe someone who knows more about the iPhone than me can make better software recommendations.

Wow - that really helps, if it can be connected up with a simple cable via the headphone jack that makes it really easy. Have trawled the web looking for simple info and have really struggled so thanks for taking the time to reply.

Sure, to stress though, I haven’t tried this— there may be complications I haven’t forseen (like, will going from the pocket operator’s stereo to the splitter cable’s mono cause a problem, or will the recording app be able to properly use microphone input while playing back to headphones— I expect both of these will be fine but I don’t know). If you can test ahead of time that is maybe a good idea. Good luck!

Have you considered the PO-32 ?
Not a lot more expensive, but offers to backup the sounds and the patterns…
You can also load sounds (and patterns) other people share.

At last, there is currently a bundle with Microtonic software that makes it possible to completely edit the sounds, or take them from the Patternarium Microtonic website.

The UX is the smartest from the whole PO series. I have both PO-12 and PO-32, but love PO-32 way more, as you can change a sound if you’re getting a bit bored by one.

But if your choice is really on the PO-12, it’s still a very good instrument!! I wouldn’t want to make you think you made the wrong choice, cause it’s a very powerful drum box !
:slight_smile: