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M-Audio Guitar interfaces for Garageband

SilentPanda

SilentPanda

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Oct 8, 2002
9,997
33
The Bamboo Forest
Okay so I don't even own an electric guitar yer but I'm planning on it very very soon. The main purpose of getting the electric guitar is for using with Garageband. I don't anticipate any "live" performances or anything where I need the sound to go further than my headphones. :)

Sooooo... what should I get?

I've been look at the M-Audio Fast Track USB for a bit but then I came across the M-Audio MobilePre USB. To be honest, I don't know what the difference between them is except price.

My hope is to connect guitar to one of these devices (or a similar one if you can recommend it) and then into my iBook with USB. Don't worry about the computer being too slow or whatever because I might be upgrading that too. I'm more interested in the go between from the guitar to the Mac.

Thanks!
 
Why don't you....

...just wait for Asteroid to come out?

Sorry for the glib response. I'm actually curious about this question as well.

-Nate
 
Because *technically* we don't even know what Asteroid is, how much it will be, when it might come out, etc.

There are guesses and "verified" rumors of it but...

That's why. :)
 
I haven't seen that... I'll keep it in mind. However price-wise if I'm going to use the XLR and the quarter inch in the long run it's pretty much the same price but the Fast Track USB would give me more options long term...

I still may consider one of these Jam Plugs.
 
SilentPanda said:
Okay so I don't even own an electric guitar yer but I'm planning on it very very soon. The main purpose of getting the electric guitar is for using with Garageband. I don't anticipate any "live" performances or anything where I need the sound to go further than my headphones. :)

Sooooo... what should I get?

I've been look at the M-Audio Fast Track USB for a bit but then I came across the M-Audio MobilePre USB. To be honest, I don't know what the difference between them is except price.

My hope is to connect guitar to one of these devices (or a similar one if you can recommend it) and then into my iBook with USB. Don't worry about the computer being too slow or whatever because I might be upgrading that too. I'm more interested in the go between from the guitar to the Mac.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I have the m-audio mobile pre, and it works great for my needs. The main difference in the two is that the fast track has support for only one channel, while the mobile pre has supprt for 2, so you can record 2 tracks at once, which is now feasable in garageband 2.
 
Hey,

I was just at Mac World in San Francisco a couple of weeks ago, and either personally used, or heard, MANY of these devices. I have also been recording with GB for a year now.

The Guitar Plug and Mic Plug units sounded ok, but when you buy both of them together they come out to the same price of the M-audio Fasttrak unit. Also, they simply adapt your regular guitar cord, which you then would have to bump from 1/4" down to 1/8" and plug in to your audio in jack on your Mac. You will get better sound by using a USB or Firewire input device then going through the audio in port of your Mac.

Personally, for the price, I don't think you can beat the Fasttrak. I have several devices (I love toys), and I just got a Fasttrak at Macworld. You get 1/4" and XLR inputs, it goes in through USB (and is fast enough, contrary to rumors), and you can select between instrument and line level signals.

if you want multiple track recording, however, step up to the next unit as mentioned above!

Cheers!

James
 
Laslo Panaflex said:
I have the m-audio mobile pre, and it works great for my needs. The main difference in the two is that the fast track has support for only one channel, while the mobile pre has supprt for 2, so you can record 2 tracks at once, which is now feasable in garageband 2.
Click to expand...

Pardon my ignorance (or don't if you don't want to... :)) but recording a single track would be like recording guitar and then vocals afterwards whereas multi-track would be recording vocals and guitar at the same time correct?
 
Well for the time being I'm a one man band... so I'll just look into it more... thanks everybody! I also might end up with either the M-Audio or Edirol $150ish studio monitors... I'm leaning more towards the Edirol ones though as they seem to have more inputs.
 
SilentPanda said:
Pardon my ignorance (or don't if you don't want to... :)) but recording a single track would be like recording guitar and then vocals afterwards whereas multi-track would be recording vocals and guitar at the same time correct?
Click to expand...

that's correct.

if your looking fo a reasonable audio in WITH FX ... i've got an Edirol UA-3FX USB i/o. It works pretty good for a single channel i/o.

the voice masking and audio fx a fun. :)


peace.
 
neut said:
that's correct.

if your looking fo a reasonable audio in WITH FX ... i've got an Edirol UA-3FX USB i/o. It works pretty good for a single channel i/o.

the voice masking and audio fx a fun. :)


peace.
Click to expand...

Hrmmm... that's a nice box but I'd rather have an XLR connection for my Mic (if I get one) and it's more expensive than the fast track. Not sure I'd use the effects since most of them could be applied in garageband anyhow I'd reckon.

I did look at that one a bit though...
 
Might I suggest getting a cheap amp with a headphone jack? You can then connect the amp to your computer. This is how I work. I have a 1/8" to 1/8" stereo cable, which I had to put a 1/8-->1/4 adapter to plug into my amp's headphone jack (some amps have a 1/8 headphone jack, mine didn't), then plug the other end into the Griffin iMic or something, but if you're upgrading your computer soon you probably won't need the iMic (at least not with iMacs or PowerMacs).

So I'd say, get yourself a $30-$50 amp and use that as your interface. Plus, that way you're not glued to your computer as the only means of playing your guitar, if you just want to mess around, you can play straight out of the amp. And with the effects and virtual amp setups that are in GarageBand, the quality of the external amp doesn't matter so much (I would think).

The whole setup will probably run about $80 with the iMic (which I think is about $20 now)
 
Well, if you will be having just the guitar (ie. no effects boxes/amp) then Line6's PodXT is the 'swiss-army-knife' of DI boxes, it can make you sound like whoever you want, it has downloadable professional presets, and its also a stand-alone effects processor/headphone amp. It is a highly professional product.

Alternatively, you could get something like
this
(preorder)
or this (now shipping)
Edirol has been fantastic for me personally, plus both of those would give you transport functions/control surfaces. They are incredibly useful in the longrun and both have just dropped in price!... maudio is somewhat of a newcomer in a lot of products, and I've personally not had great experiences running thier products in osx.
 
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