Introducing Hooke Verse Wireless Headphones; Capture Binaural 3D Audio on your iOS device

Thanks Anthony for your very fast response. I've just placed an order (not sure why it wasn't working for me earlier today, but it went smoothly when I tried it just now). Given that I'm in the UK, roughly when should I expect to get it?

As for the app, am I supposed to be able to access the settings button even without a Hooke Verse connected? Because as I said, the only control I can access after launching the app is the volume control. Whether I swipe left/right or move my finger around and touch different parts of the screen, all I get is complete silence. Voiceover doesn't report any other controls, nor do I hear the sounds VO normally makes when moving between controls. I have an iPhone 6 running iOS 10.3.

Sorry if my last comment seemed overly negative; I'm really looking forward to getting to use the product, and any criticisms are meant in the spirit of trying to help make things even better.

I can't wait to receive mine, I'm very very excited. I have not received my shipping notification yet, but I preordered mine so we'll see.

djmacradio, you say the app is fully accessible, and that you're using it without a hooke verse connected, so how do you actually navigate around it, since the standard gestures don't seem to work? Are there non-standard gestures? I'm sure I must be missing something really obvious here, because everyone's saying it's fully accessible, but I'm finding it unusable. I thought that might be because I don't have a hooke verse yet, and I guessed that the controls might become accessible only when one is connected, so it's odd that you're finding it so accessible. Perhaps the app doesn't work with the iPhone 6... or perhaps it's because I haven't updated to iOS 10.3.1 yet (I'm still on 10.3). That's all I can think of. When I open it, VO just says "recording volume, maximum recording level on 21 21, dimmed" and then doesn't respond to flicks or taps. Are you getting something different to that?

You have to listen to the hints in the settings portion.

Good luck.

But how do I even get to the settings portion? I've tried just about every VO gesture I know and it says nothing about settings.

I've played with the app again and managed to get to the settings button and the accessibility tips by using my bluetooth keyboard. The problem was that because the app uses direct touch, none of the standard VO gestures work so you can't flick to the settings button. As far as I can tell, there's no way of getting to the settings button without having a keyboard, because you can't turn direct touch off using the rotor gesture in an app where the whole screen is reserved for direct touch, and that option is only available in the rotor within an app that uses it. If there's a gesture that opens the settings, I don't know what it is. My point is that this app could be very confusing for a new blind user, because it's not at all obvious how to get to the settings screen that explains the gestures for recording and such.

@djmacradio Thanks for letting me know where it is. I've got that to work now. I did try exploring the screen at one point, but must have missed it. Also: @AnthonyM, in the part of the app store description that talks about accessibility and how to get to the tips, you could add that the user needs to touch the bottom of the screen to get to the settings button. This would be helpful because most people's first instinct would be to flick, and that won't work without touching the bottom first.

I agree with the tip the last poster gave, also can someone in the android department add the same tip what ever it is so that those of us who are either newbies or impatient may not get frustrated as well?

Thanks.

@AnthonyM: I placed an order solely based on demos. However, I'm an audio engineer, and would like to know how the microphones perform. Specifically, could you give some actual figures regarding the noise floor, and maximum dBSPL handling? Are loud metal concerts going to overload the microphones? Will I hear background hiss if I record quiet nature sounds or completely acoustic music?

If you have published actual specs somewhere, please direct me to them.

Also, any updates as to when units will be shipping are greatly appreciated.

Hi Anthony,
Chris Smart brought up the topic of mic specs -- so I won't delve into that. However, one crucial issue is whether or not this headphone recorder has low-cut filters. I'm asking this because with my Olympus LS-100 and Sony PCM-D100 recorders I utilize low filters quite heavily while recording concerts or when positioned in a windy environment. The low-cut filters do a very good job of eliminating the background hum or the extra annoying base, so I hope the iOS app has some sort of low-cut filters baked in. The same can be said about limiters.
Finally, does Hooke Verse allow for more directional recordings as opposed to 3D recording? I understand the rationale behind designing Hooke Verse, but not all recording settings are suitable for 3D recording, nor is it really necessary to resort to such a recording mode for all purposes. As such, it would be great if the accompanying iOS app could allow us to digitally alter the microphone directionality from 3D to, say, 120 degrees, 80 degrees, mono, etc. I've seen this functionality in some iOS apps which accompany microphones. After all, spending $250 on something which can just record in 3D might be rather difficult.
Thanks.

hello there just bot my shopping notice, how do i track this and what is this that the cable won't work?

Hello,

yesterday I received an email about my Hooke. It has been shipped, so I hope I can use it next week and can tell you all about the quality? :D

It seems to me, and some reviewers have also confirmed that Hooke Verse records in M4A only.
So may I know why it is the case? I've seen lots of MP3 recorders on the App Store. Also, how about PCM WAV? With due respect, M4A isn't an acceptable format especially when it comes to sharing recordings.

Mine is out for delivery today, so expect a podcast and first time look on my podcast. Follow @tffppodcast for more info and links etc etc etc. I can't wait to also try the jimmy head.

I've been extremely excited about these binaural headphones for quite a while now and I finally received them today. Most of my questions are about the hooke app, so I haven't made a full recording yet. I know about the accessibility tips and how to access them. I also know that there are a couple kinks in the recording tone and vibration upon engaging and disengaging the microphones. My main question is, can you monitor the recording from the headphones in realtime? How do you know you are recording at an acceptable level if you cannot tell that the recording is clipping or something? I'm having a little trouble adjusting levels and accessing the record stop buttons because, maybe I'm wrong since I've only spent about 15 minutes playing with them, but it's hard to tell when, and if, the app is recording, as well as what gain levels you are passing. I think it will make a lot more sense to me once I hear some kind of live demo, like a podcast. Like some previous posters said, sometimes the app will play a tone, sometimes it won't, and same goes for vibration. Sometimes upon stopping it plays 2 tones. I think the direct touch is just messing with me. Any help is appreciated.

would like to know since i am on android can i also use this on my mac to also record or hear using the head phone options and what is the cable for?

I know I'm missing something obvious. When I launch the app, all speech output is going to my phone speaker and I can't get any of my screen jestures to work. I can't tell if voiceover is using my main phone speaker when it's recording and that's why I can't hear the monitoring or what? I know some of the jestures like flicking won't work, but I'm talking about the tap to record and changing levels to be specific. When I double tap with 2 fingers, voiceover will sometimes route back to my headphones, and other times it will take me to the list of recordings, which is empty. I'm running the latest iOS on an iPhone 7. I will be glad when someone else who has received can record some type of demo using the app to record with voiceover.

I have listened to that post, and looked at comments. The only thing it's telling you to do is turn off and on mic privacy to access tips, which I have done.

i am having a problem on android that i click record and no sound comes out of the head set and also when i go to settings the only thing i see is contact us.

katie was that using the blue tooth interface or the wired recording?

I can't wait to get mine!! These sound so awesome!

I have turned my phone off and back on, turned the app off and on from the app switcher, and took the suggestion to have them pared before launching the app, which did fix my jesture issues so that's good. But the noise still persists no matter what. I took the cable and wired them into an old recorder, and the hum was waaaaaaay worse. I'm not sure... I can't wait until I get them working though.

Hi,
I'm totally blind, and I'm wondering, exactly how the Hooke Verse headset is supposed to fit in my ear? Which side is the right, and which is the left? And what's the best way to get them to stay in. I'm kind of new to earbuds, so bare with me. :)

Hi,
I listened to the audio boom tutorial on how to work the accessibility tips, I was able to get the tips to come up once. But I'm really having issues with the direct touch gestures.
Also, when the app is in the main menu, is there any way possible that voiceover can stay routed within the headset? Because I'm having a very tough time focussing on voiceover when it's coming out of the speaker, and monitored audio which is coming through the headset, now if it was all coming through the headset, I'd be ok. I feel like I have to turn voiceover up REALLY REALLY LOUD to compensate for it not coming through the headset, and 1, it gets in my recording, and 2, it could possibly be disruptive to people around me.
The recording I was able to make sounded superb though. :)
Thanks