Steinberg CI 1 and 3.5mm Microphone Compatability

I purchased to a Steinberg CI 1 to enable digital dual-recording of two study participants at the same time.

The microphones I am using are attached to Plaintronics Gamecom 1 headsets and use a 3.5mm stereo connector. To connect them to the Steinberg CI 1 I bought two 3.5mm to 1/4" adapters at Radioshack. However the Steinberg CI 1 does not recognize (no light by the input) the microphones when plugged in.

My Windows 7 PC recognizes the Steinberg CI 1, but when I tried a test recording, there was only silence. There was also silence when I tried to listen to the microphone in the headset. To me this indicates that the sound is not being sent to the PC, thus an issue with the Steinberg CI 1 not recognizing the microphone.

Any ideas on how to remedy this situation? Are the microphones not compatible with the Steinberg CI 1?

Thanks!

First off, the microphone should be plugged into a microphone input, not a 1/4" line input (wrong sensitivity)

Second the microphone input is a balanced input and most likely the headsets microphone is not balanced!

Maybe try a 3.5mm to 1/4" unbalanced adaptor, plugged into a 1/4" to XLR adapter, into the interfaces Mic input!?

Oh ok I see. I did not know there two different types. I tried searching for a specifically unbalanced adapter but no luck. Any recommendations for sites to find one?

Hi @dmaurath!
Have you solved this problem in some way? I encounter the same issue and I would really like to use my headphone mics and desk mics with CI1… though, I tend to think that is some technical limitation for this kind of microphones…