SPDIF in from a sound board?

[Scorch07]

Ok so I'm having trouble figuring out what I need to make this work (I'm assuming it should?). At my church we have a Yamaha O1v soundboard, which has an SPDIF out on it. I'm trying to figure out the best way to record our services, and I'm assuming that would be the best way. Problem is, I have no idea what I need to make that go into my MacBook Pro. Is it possible to run it straight into the audio-in with some sort of converter or do I need a USB/Firewire interface of some kind?

Also, if I use that, will the separate channels from the board appears as separate channels on the computer in Garageband by any chance, or will it still just be a single channel still? I guess that depends on the board doesn't it?

Thanks!

 

[The General]

http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/specs.html

"Combined optical digital input/analog line in (minijack)"

So you need this:

http://www.amazon.com/TOSLINK-TO-OP...493828-2617210?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics

 

[Scorch07]

So SPDIF just takes a standard fiber cable or do I need something like that for the board end too? I'll admit, I'm not familiar with it at all haha.

 

[The General]

That is just an adapter to make the regular TOS link cable fit into the headphone jack. You only need it on the MacBook Pro end of the cable.

 

[Scorch07]

But isn't something like this what goes to SPDIF? How do I go from that to a fiber cable?

 

[The General]

Uh oh. S/PDIF can be optical or coaxial. I don't know if the MacBook Pro's input can do coaxial, but it can do optical. That adapter is for the optical kind. I don't know how to do it that way, then.

Maybe someone can try coax and see if it works?

 

[Scorch07]

Ahhh, ok. Yeah, if I remember right it's a coaxial-type output on there.

 

[Scorch07]

Well here's the physical adapter I would need. I guess I still don't know if it supports it or not though....

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10401&cs_id=1040109&p_id=680&seq=1&format=2

 

[The General]

Looking back at that site, the spec sheet comparing the different MacBooks says:

"Built-in stereo speakers, built-in omnidirectional microphone, combined optical digital input/analog line in, combined optical digital output/analog line out"

So it looks like it only supports optical S/PDIF.

 

[Scorch07]

Yeah, I mean it's kind of ambiguous really, it could go either way. Hopefully I can find somebody that's actually tried it. Thanks for your help though, that still cleared up a lot.

 

[Scorch07]

Well if nothing else I found a digital coaxial to toslink converter. I guess I'd still prefer to just go straight coax though if it'll work.

 

[TheIguana]

The MBP only supports digital audio over the optical connection. If you use the coaxial connector you found your going to end up with mono-analog out.