Audio Inputs to PB (Guitar, etc)

The cheapest and most basic way would be to get a 1/4" to mini plug. Apple Store has a Monster iStudioLink which is basically an expensive version of the cable you can pickup for $5 at Best Buy.

If your looking for a good system with multiple inputs, I've heard good things about M-Audio's products.... looking at their website, this looks like it would do the job swimmingly. The MSRP is higher than $100, but when you need multiple inputs and a good quality box, things arn't always cheap.

VanMac said:

I have a friend going to Univiersity. I am encouraging him to buy a 12" PB.
He is a musician. Plays guitar, sings, etc. He will want to do some recording, etc on his mac.

Can anyone recommend best way to go about getting guitar and mic input to the PB. Needs to be price sensitive. I've seen a couple of breakout boxes on TechTV before, just cant remember the names. Something for less then $100 and could take a few inputs, etc, would be great. He will just use whatever software comes with PB (Garage band).

Click to expand...

Define "a few".
For more than 2 inputs, or for balanced or preamplified or phantom powered microphone inputs, you cannot do it under $100.

Under $100 you can get a stereo input. The Griffin iMic is about the only one with a stereo input. DVForge has some other guitar related accessories.

He could then add a small analog mixer to handle preamplification of the microphone and guitar.

Electric guitar is going to sound bad through a plain input, he may want to look at a amp/cabinet/distortion/effects simulator like a Line6 Pod, Behringer V-Amp, Korg Pandora or Toneworks, Boss or Digitech unit to create a good electric sound and give a line-out for recording.

More detail in these recent threads (did you try a Search?)
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/138813/
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/136629/

While you can get cheap options, I cant stress how important it is not to be cheap when buying recording stuff.

The M-Audio range is probably the best cost/quality wise. They are affordable, and still sound awesome. If he's going to want to record vocals, he'll probably want one with XLR inputs (in case he gets a proper microphone at some point) so get him to investigate that. I think the M-Audio Mobile Pre is a good option.