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m-audio fast track; no signal in GB

G

gentleben

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Ok, I have a powerbook G4 with osx 10.4.11 and I've recorded in GB for almost 2 years now by simply lining my guitar and piano straight in, which has worked fine. Vocals however have been done through the built-in mic with less than perfect results (as you can imagine).

So I recently bought an m-audio fast track USB and I can't get it to work. I've changed all the preferences in both garageband and system preferences and I can see my guitar signal on the "audio in" tab in sys.pref. but I still don't get a signal into GB. What's wrong?
 
Garageband>preferences>audiomid> is your interface there? It needs to be selected. If it's not there you need a driver.
 
Does it actually say fast track under the input tab as below?

input.jpg


Then double check the output one is the same?

output.jpg


Then Garageband settings...

garagebandsettings.jpg


Also, how do you have the output set up on the fast track? I've never really actually used the headphone socket on the front cos didn't work first time i tried. I just use a converter to plug my headphones into the red and white ports on back, can't say I know real name sorry! Other options are the button on the back that says guitar/line should be raised, make sure if using guitar input it says on garageband channel 2, (1 is XLR input), make sure the mix knob is fully at the right...can't think of anything else for now but try all these just in case something is just not set up properly!
 
Ibanez strummer:

Everything is as you show. The thing is when I set all in- and output preferences to the fast track and listen through the headphone socket I hear GB (current song) and I hear the direct signal from the guitar (through th fast track but not via the mac) but nothing from the guitar through the fasttrack through the mac and back through the fast track...weird...

Tarkovsky: Everywhere I look it says that the fast track is "class complient" and shouldn't need a driver? I thought I found one at m-audio.com but all I get is a form to fill out or something...

Another thing is since I've had these problems freinds and retailers that I've asked keep saying that m-audio's hardware is substandard and that I should return it as faulty and upgrade to a slightly more expensive unit of some ather brand. one retailer even stopped seeling fast track because of the numerous problems...😕
 
Are you saying recorded sound isn't being played back, are you set to input only monitoring? Sounds obvious but is the track on mute?

Do you mean through the mac as in processed by garageband but not recorded?

It's true it's substandard yes, but in all likelyhood it's a resolvable problem not directly with the hardware but with your settings, upgrading might mean spending more money needlessly.

Please elaborate as I found that a bit ambiguous.
 
Ok, if you look at ibanez strummers first screen cap; Here I can see my guitar signal but I can't hear it. All input/ouputs are set to the fast track and everything else is set as usual (like when I record through the line-in input) but I can't hear my track and nothing is recorded, the track is just blank...

And, yes, I'd really like to resolve this problem and not have to go the hassle of changing hardware...

Thank tou for your patience🙂
 
What are you trying to listen out of? Your computers internal soundcard or the fast track pro? Have you told garageband to output the sound through your favored device?
 
all in and outputs, both in sys.prefs. and GB, are set to the fast track (USB not pro) and even if I set the outputs to the internal speakers I still don't hear anything because nothing is registering in GB...
😕
 
Same issue

GentleBen - did you ever resolve this issue with your M-Audio Fast Track?

I have had exactly the same issue with my iMac G4 ever since I purchased the the M-Audio unit to use with Garage Band 2 years ago and gave up trying to resolve it - I recently unearthed the as new unit in its box and thougt I would gve it one last try If no-one can help me solve the riddle I am thinking of binning it and buying a Line 6 Audio interface instead.
 
OnePaintedMan said:
GentleBen - did you ever resolve this issue with your M-Audio Fast Track?

I have had exactly the same issue with my iMac G4 ever since I purchased the the M-Audio unit to use with Garage Band 2 years ago and gave up trying to resolve it - I recently unearthed the as new unit in its box and thougt I would gve it one last try If no-one can help me solve the riddle I am thinking of binning it and buying a Line 6 Audio interface instead.
Click to expand...

If anyone has any info on this I'd appreciate it. I have the same issues. It's all set up right as far as I can tell. There is signal to the FastTrack, signal coming into the Mac, I've made all of the changes to the inputs from the instructions, but Garageband is getting no signal. It's driving me crazy.

Thanks in advance -
 
Tambe257 said:
If anyone has any info on this I'd appreciate it. I have the same issues. It's all set up right as far as I can tell. There is signal to the FastTrack, signal coming into the Mac, I've made all of the changes to the inputs from the instructions, but Garageband is getting no signal. It's driving me crazy.

Thanks in advance -
Click to expand...

I remained convinced that the M-track audio interface is just an empty plastic box save for the led that says that its on! I had given up on mine but I have installed more RAM (an extra Gb) in my iMac G4 now so will try one last time to see if that makes any difference.

Then I'll bin it and buy a Line6 product instead.
 
I have had exactly the same problem as people here. Gave up with the FastTrack and recently unearthed it after moving house. Spent 3 hours yesterday trying to get it to work but it doesn't seem to be recognised in GarageBand.

I think I'm going to have to give up on it and get an alternative usb device. Any recommendations for something that will work with my 2 year old iMac?

Thanks.
 
Had a similar problem with a different brand of interface. Turns out GB needs to be told to look for the input from the system not the interface. Unlike other music software that needs the interface selected as the input, GB somehow pulls it from the internal system. Once I selected the correct input device I could hear the guitar and see the waves as the signal was recorded.
 
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