The Problem: Purchased a MacBook because I wanted to do some audio recording and editing, photo work, and light video work. Primarily, it's supposed to be for audio recording though. I bought an M-Audio FastTrack adapter and gold-plated USB cable to go with it, plug in my acoustic pickup ready to jam, but alas, no sound comes through. I go through every manual, check every cable and dial, and test the built-in mic to be sure it's not the system. It isn't. When the electric guitar didn't work either, I had to call tech support.

M-Audio's tech support says my MacBook is too new for them to support it. I'm returning that adapter today, but I just don't want to be this frustrated again.

The Goal: I want to be able to record my acoustic and electric guitars as well as singing and convert the music into CD and iTunes formats.

What I Have: MacBook w/Mac OS X v10.5; 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo; 1 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM; GarageBand '08; Acoustic Guitar w/Pickup; Electric Guitar w/Pickup

What do I need to buy? try? do?

Thanks for the help.

12/27/2007 6:29:51 PM

M-Audio hasn't written any 10.5 drivers for their stuff yet, which is what your problem is.

The best thing you can do is to search the internet for whatever device you're looking for then see if you can find reviews whether or not it works with 10.5 yet.

There's a USB adapter my Edirol that works and the Griffin iMic would work as well, but you'd have to use 1/4" to 1/8" adapter (which is not a big deal really).

i would guess it'd be another month or so before M-Audio releases drivers for the Fastrack for 10.5 (m-audio is notoriously lazy with drivers though).

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Sound---Recording-Cards-Computer-Hardware.gc?o=1 there are some products there that are promising though.


[Edited on December 27, 2007 at 8:43 PM. Reason : ]

12/27/2007 8:19:51 PM

1) ditch the P.O.S. MacBook
2) Purchase a PC with winXP
3) Purchase a half-way decent sound card
4) ...
5) $Profit

12/27/2007 9:36:14 PM

You can either address the question or refrain from posting. Keep the platform debate in the appropriate threads.

12/27/2007 9:45:43 PM

yeah. and i really prefer my m-audio interface to going through the sound card.

12/27/2007 11:24:20 PM

A sound car designed for audio capture is not a bad idea, if he weren't using a laptop. Firewire though works just as well for what he'll be doing. And the type of sound card suited for his purpose would cost more anyway.

I've got an Maudio transit (just a digital audio out) and the drivers for OS X are terrible. I hate them with a passion, and because of that I wouldn't feel right recommending M-Audio to anyone else. But, their other drivers may not be as bad.

[Edited on December 27, 2007 at 11:37 PM. Reason : ]

12/27/2007 11:36:23 PM

if youre serious about audio recording, go with ableton live over garageband. garageband is good for basics, and is extremely easy to use, but its pretty limited in what it can do. because its free with a mac, its a good place to start, but i got pretty frustrated with it quickly because i didnt have the control i wanted.

ive been looking into firewire interfaces, and ive heard good reviews about this one:
http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp?itemid=41125&sourcetype=singleitemsearch

12/27/2007 11:45:48 PM

^ Obviously he's a n00b so I don't think recommending a $300 device when he was originally looking at one that was $129 is appropriate, unless Gamecat has money to throw around.


But, you're right, GB is pretty limited, but something like Abelton (or any pro-level audio app) is very intimidating to use. He should understand what everything in GB is first before stepping up to something like Abelton or Cubase or soemthing.

12/27/2007 11:51:31 PM

yeah, i was getting ready to edit my post and mention that its definately more than what he originally has. but if he's really interested in audio recording, $300 isnt a big investment compared to a lot of other components. he won't need any other soundcard for a while. the firebox is pretty much the standard right now with home producers.

i dont really agree with ableton being intimidating to use. their website has a host of videos that introduce the basics very effectively. i shopped around for various audio programs, and ableton is imo by far the most easy to use professional software program out there. if you want something thats intimidating, try logic.



[Edited on December 28, 2007 at 12:02 AM. Reason : u get what you pay for]

12/27/2007 11:57:28 PM

should have gotten a pc

12/28/2007 4:24:54 PM

Quote :

"You can either address the question or refrain from posting. Keep the platform debate in the appropriate threads."

12/28/2007 4:26:14 PM

Gamecat: welcome to the Mac family Seems like most of TT is making the switch nowadays, brings a tear to my eye...

moron pretty much answered the thread though. 10.5 compatibility is still sparse for certain subsets of hardware and a handful of applications

12/28/2007 8:31:20 PM

^ So far so good. I imagine I'll enjoy the thing a lot more when I've got Internet running to it and get the sound issue resolved.

Thanks for the answers. Still not recording, but at least I understand why now.

Abelton looks like a "down the road" thing, but I appreciate sober46an3 bringing it to my attention.

Quote :

"moron: There's a USB adapter my Edirol that works and the Griffin iMic would work as well, but you'd have to use 1/4" to 1/8" adapter (which is not a big deal really)."

I got the iMic and tried a more basic setup just plugging a new instrument cable into the adapter, but still nothing. Is My Edirol supposed to be different?

P.S. Any help moving my iTunes files from either my PC or my iPod to my MacBook would be swell, too.

[Edited on December 29, 2007 at 2:32 PM. Reason : ...]

12/29/2007 2:28:17 PM

nm

[Edited on December 29, 2007 at 3:06 PM. Reason : nm]

12/29/2007 2:39:28 PM

Macs can read both HFS and FAT32 (that's Windows) formatted iPods.

Windows cannot read Mac-formatted (HFS), however.

12/29/2007 2:43:55 PM

nm

[Edited on December 29, 2007 at 3:06 PM. Reason : nm]

12/29/2007 2:49:23 PM

iPod is formatted to PC.

12/29/2007 4:40:07 PM

itunes should be able to read it then. at first itunes on my mac wouldnt recongnize my windows ipod, but i just restored it again on my pc (with itunes 7) and then it worked. the only downside is you lose all the music on your ipod

12/29/2007 5:02:05 PM

Quote :

"I got the iMic and tried a more basic setup just plugging a new instrument cable into the adapter, but still nothing. Is My Edirol supposed to be different?"

What do you mean nothing with the iMic? You should get something, but it'll just be really quiet.

I assume you did a 1/4" to 1/8" connector from the guitar to the iMic. After this, go to System Preferences, click "Sound", click "Input" and the iMic shoudl show up. Click the iMic and strum the guitar to see if it's getting any level. If it goes to about half-way that should be sufficient to record in to GB.

Make sure GB is set to take input from the iMic.

Also, that's suppose to say "by Edirol" not "my Edirol." Edirol is the company that makes a thing like the M-Audio FastTrack.

12/29/2007 5:05:33 PM

^^ No. I wanted to physically move the music files from my iPod or my PC (which my iPod was synced to) to the MacBook, not simply play my iPod through iTunes. I had no problem doing that.

It's all good, though. I figured out how to do it using a "brute force" method of accessing the iPod in disc mode while viewing hidden files and physically transferring the files. It took a bit of time, but I'm rocking out to the MacBook now. I love FrontRow.

^ I mean that I got absolutely nothing to playback through the iMic. I'll try it again now that I've got the Bose speakers, but I heard nothing playback through the iMic last time I tried it.

And yes, I used a connection adapter like you described that I got from Best Buy. I followed the directions you gave and I can see the level lights go up on the Sound tab when I play, but get no Playback from the speakers. If I toggle back to the Sound Effects tab, I can hear the sound effects through the speakers clearly. And no, the output is not muted. I just checked to make sure that wasn't the problem.

Meanwhile, GB doesn't list the iMic as an input source. It lists stereo line in's.

12/29/2007 11:54:22 PM

Quote :

"Gamecat: Meanwhile, GB doesn't list the iMic as an input source."

Quote :

"moron: Make sure GB is set to take input from the iMic."

I was confused by GB's interface and couldn't remember how to change the input source.

Problem solved. Thanks, moron.

All is well. Next I just need a power cord that doesn't work whenever it damn well feels like it, I'll be golden. Especially after cashing in on that 20% employee computer reimbursement!

12/30/2007 6:27:56 PM

How did you get it working?

By default, it doesn't monitor the iMic input on the speakers as output (only when playing through GB). So the fact you don't hear it, but do see the levels, means it's actually working how it's suppose to.

12/31/2007 3:04:06 AM

GB makes me happy. Welcome to the Apple fold nig

1/1/2008 2:07:00 PM

I am glad I saw this thread. My brother is using an M-Audio box to record input from his guitar and stuff and is using Mac OS X 10.4. He wanted to upgrade to 10.5 but I guess I will be telling him to wait until there are M-Audio drivers for it.

1/1/2008 4:24:38 PM