Alesis iO Dock Requires Separate Adapter for iPad 2?

via Ryan:
"I've pre-ordered the Alesis Studio Dock for my ipad 2, so it's encouraging to see some retailers now shipping. One is Sweetwater.

Now, alarming to me, is the 1st review at that retail site from someone who claims to have received one of these already...and finds it is not compatible with ipad 2 out of the box:

'The box is huge, and the dock is well packed. Includes power supply, a really skimpy manual...basically a quickstart guide that briefly explains the buttons, knobs, ins and outs, and so on, the I/O dock itself, and sadly enough, for you iPad 2 owners, a slip of paper telling you how to contact Alesis to order an adapter. Luckily for me, I have the iPad 1!'

WTF. Nowhere on the Alesis site does it say there is an adaptor required...or even available!

Consider my pre-order cancelled until I know more about this adaptor and its availability."

Quick note: remember to support the shops that support this site. See the DEALERS section on the right. Sweetwater gets a free ride on this one.

The full review:
"Alesis I/O dock arrived on my doorstep today! Sweetwater shipped yesterday. Thanks Matt, you guys rock!

Well, after a short 6 month wait for Alesis to release it (I placed my order with Sweetwater in January!) it finally arrived today.

I'll try to give a few quick impressions:

The box is huge, and the dock is well packed. Includes power supply, a really skimpy manual...basically a quickstart guide that briefly explains the buttons, knobs, ins and outs, and so on, the I/O dock itself, and sadly enough, for you iPad 2 owners, a slip of paper telling you how to contact Alesis to order an adapter. Luckily for me, I have the iPad 1!

Quality of parts looks pretty good really, the knobs seem firm and solid, and turn kinda hydraulically. The 3 selection switches are a solid metallic post style and engage pretty well, and the on/off switch is the snap in and out type, it feels better than a lot I've tried. The connections are plastic but are fairly robust. I've seen similar plastic � inch jacks on amps, though these seem a little more rugged than some..

The iPad 1 fits pretty well, but I was surprised to see no soft material for the back of the iPad, just plastic. Mine slipped right in, and is in there pretty snuggly, and not too hard to remove (like that will ever happen!).

I plugged in the tiny wall wart, and hit the power button, and the iPad came to life, indicating charging was going on. First thing I did was fire up the Horizon synth. Sounds great through the headphones...I haven't got two � inch cables to hook up to my M-Audio ProFire 2626 yet (hard to believe eh?), so all sounds were played through headphones.

One thing I'll note is that the headphone out (a � inch stereo type, not the 1/8 we see a lot of on small stuff) had a LOT of headroom! As a matter of fact this kinda worries me, as I can see the headphone level pot living at the barely on position for the rest of it's life. And don't have very fancy headphones, they're not that sensitive for sure. Be careful when you first use this output!

Sound is really nice and smooth, a little less ultra high end than I get out of the ProFire, but nothing to complain about, sounds pretty analog to me...I don't see myself getting fatigued listening to the dock. I tried the Korg iElectribe, the Korg iMS-20, O-Generator, Nlog Pro, SunVox, ReBirth, NanoStudio, and BeatMaker apps, all sounded great.

I also hooked up my bass (Fender Jazz) to the PRS Jam Amp, AmpKit, DAW MultiTrack, GarageBand, and Meteor apps and noticed a HUGE improvement over the Peavey Ampkit Link, and the PRS cord, and a couple home made cords I've put together. Using the dock's direct switch to toggle back and forth between the app's sound and the direct sound was very interesting. You could see how each app changes the sound...some taking out the treble side, some the bass, but with the dock, all sounded much better, flatter.

What I found REALLY REALLY REALLY IRRITATING however, was the fact that the dock's input 1 and 2 jacks are Right and Left respectively and only. Normally this is a good idea, but I like to set up grooves in my apps and jam to them, and it bugs me to no end that the input 2 jack (which has the guitar/mic switch) isn't centered when the direct switch is used.

You have to use an app that has a configurable mono input to get a centered guitar jack function (and not use the direct switch) but it ticks me off that I can't jam along centered with all my apps with sequencers.

Sigh, I suspect I'll get used to it.

As for MIDI and USB, I did hook up my Alesis Q49 using the MIDI out and all the synth apps responded to the keys, and pitch and mod wheel. Haven't tried sending any other info, but I tend to just use keys and the wheels.

One thing I am extremely curious to check out is if the USB connection is both ways. The Alesis website says you can use it for getting stuff in and out, but it's a B connector (usually associated with output), and the item I'm most curious about is if my Akai EWI USB wind controller will work with the I/O dock. It uses a B connector for output of MIDI over USB, so maybe I'll have to spring for a B to B USB cable. Dunno, makes me nervous. But if I can use the iPad with the I/O Dock as a portable sound module...Jeepers! How cool is that?

Well, I'm gonna play around some more with it, and maybe get a couple more cables to integrate it with my system. Overall, this is a great tool, and of pretty good quality...Alesis could have skimped on some of the parts, but didn't, so I suspect it will take some knocks and still be functional."

iPads on eBay

Update via the comments: "Thanks for posting this review. iPad 2 adapters are in transit now, and we expect them to begin shipping in the middle of July. We will ship the adapters free of charge to everyone who has completed the request form at alesis.com/iodockadaptor. All future production of the iO Dock will include the iPad 2 adapter in the box. - Dan Radin, Alesis"