To make sure Yousician can hear you, it’s important to choose a good setup. Here are some options.
Use your device microphone
This is the simplest setup: you play your bass, and Yousician listens via the microphone built-in to your device (e.g. phone, tablet, laptop).
With an acoustic bass, place your device nearby and start playing. For example, put your phone on the desk in front of you, and Yousician hears you play.
With an electric bass, you need to plug it in to an amp so it’s loud enough for Yousician to hear. Set your amp to a clean sound at a low volume (about speaking level, not window-rattling level).
Tips
- Set your device volume to about half-way. If it’s too loud, it interferes with Yousician hearing your bass.
- Use headphones to improve recognition. You can connect wired headphones, or Bluetooth ones, to your device.
- If Yousician can’t hear you, check that the app has access to your device microphone.
Connect your bass to your device
If your bass has a pickup, you can connect it to your device for the best recognition. This works for electric basses, and acoustic ones with a pickup. If you can see a small hole where you could plug in a bass cable, your bass has a pickup.
To do this, you need something between your bass and your device, called an audio interface. It changes your bass signal into something your mobile device or computer can understand.
Once you’re connected, go to the Advanced audio settings in the Game tab, and select your audio interface as Input device.
Tips
- Remember to turn up the volume on your bass!
Mixer feature
When your bass is connected to your device, you can access the Mixer feature from the Pause menu. You can use Mixer to increase the volume of your bass, so you can hear yourself play. To access it, tap or click anywhere on the song screen and select Options.
Browse through the different virtual amps to find the sound you love. Adjust the Volume to control the strength of the sound and Gain to set the level of distortion in your tone.
To optimize the signal between your bass and the virtual amplifier, select Calibrate and follow the prompts on the screen.
Save the options you chose to exit Mixer.
Note: wireless technology can be too slow when used with musical instruments. This can lead to increased latency. If your bass is connected to your device, the Mixer feature stops working when the app detects increased latency.
There are lots of audio interfaces available, and the right one for you depends on the device(s) you’re plugging into. Check out the following videos to see some options.
Next up: How the bass learning path works