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The best, most cost effective way of getting a guitar into GarageBand?

edesignuk

edesignuk

Moderator emeritus
Original poster
Mar 25, 2002
19,232
2
London, England
Hey all,

My dad really likes GarageBand, and would love to be able to record his guitar using it, what is the best/cheapest way this can be done?

Thanks.
 
he can use the internal mic on the computer, or you can get the Monster Instrument Adapter
or one from radioshack for about $15 less. the problem i had was i got one of the cheaper ones, and it won't completely plug into my line in port in my FP iMac. the monster one should be higher quality though.
 
Originally posted by edesignuk
DAMMIT! That looks like exactly what I'm after, but guess what, Apple don't sell it in the UK :mad: :mad:
Click to expand...

it's not an apple product... just see if monster sells it in the uk.

matt
 
If you go here it says it's 'coming soon to the Apple store' - quite what 'soon means' is anyone's guess. Those Altec lansing ipod speaker things took 2-3 months after they appeared on the US store...
 
Guys there's NO reason to buy that Monster Cable over-priced piece of crap, go to Radio Shack or Best Buy and pick up a generic convertor for less than $5 :)

(Unless you're one of those insane audiophile people who believe that the 2 inches of un-shielded cable will cause your entire sound quality to degrade to unspeakable levels. :p )
 
Actaully, my PowerMac (a quicksilver) doesn't even have a mic input, does anyone know of a USB to mini jack adapter? I thought then I could use this cable in to the adapter, in to the USB port on my Mac?
 
Even so, you should be able to find some store that you can buy just plain old cable convertors from for a fraction of the cost of that over-priced Monster crap. :)
 
Originally posted by edesignuk
Actaully, my PowerMac (a quicksilver) doesn't even have a mic input, does anyone know of a USB to mini jack adapter? I thought then I could use this cable in to the adapter, in to the USB port on my Mac?
Click to expand...

iMic

There are other products like the iMic.
 
Guitar adaptors

In the UK, Tandy or Dixons will sell most of these kind of things. I got an adaptor with a 1/4 inch jack input on one end and a stereo minijack on t'other.

But be careful - the connector on those little sockets can be very fragile. Much better to get a USB or Firewire interface. Lots more functionality.

Confession time: I've owned a Mac for six days - a second-hand G4 Dual Processor 450mhz/256 mb RAM, running OS X.1. I'm looking for a suitable interface and software for it at SoundExpo tomorrow.

Up to now, I've used a PC (hopeless for music) and a BR-8 digital 8-track (brilliant), but if this Mac can handle audio, sequencing, mixing and mastering, I can unload some gear and software and get some decent monitors.

Why's it all gone quiet?:D
 
edesignuk --

What did you end up doing?

You have two separate questions. The most cost-effective way to get guitar into a Quicksilver is with an iMic ($35 in the U.S.) or something like it, unless your guitar player already has an effects processor that can send audio out over USB (like the Edirol UA-700 or the Line6 PODxt).

One step up in quality would be a more full-featured USB audio interface like the M-Audio MobilePre ($150 in the U.S.), which would handle more than one instrument and which also handles the better class of microphones that use XLR cabling.

Does anyone know why the GarageBand hardware compatibility list doesn't contain any of the many inexpensive PCI audio cards on the market?

There are upscale USB audio interfaces like the digidesign Mbox ($450) and the Edirol UA-700 ($450), and there are FireWire audio interfaces starting at $450 and going way up.

I've looked at osxaudio.com forum postings. There seem to be a lot of postings complaining about driver support and other deficiencies of the lower end FireWire interfaces; I noticed not many complaints about the Mark of the Unicorn 828mkII ($750) and digidesign products ($1200+).

It's hard for someone with no experience at all this to determine whether the more expensive options are worth the premium.

I'm curious about what you did and how you like the results.

Cheers,

Crikey
 
Haven't done anything yet Crikey. Our m-Audio 49e arrived yesterday and we'll play wit that for a bit. It's then up to my dad (the guitar player) when he wants to start using his guitar with it.
 
The best and cheapest ways are a contradiction as you should know.
The best way is, use a line out from a rig consisting of a mesaboogie triaxis fed to a lexicon pcm 81 to a mesaboogie 2:90 to line in...

The cheapest way is to use mac's line in and an amp simulation in GB or a vst simulation via audio hijackpro
 
Harald4 said:
The best and cheapest ways are a contradiction as you should know.
The best way is, use a line out from a rig consisting of a mesaboogie triaxis fed to a lexicon pcm 81 to a mesaboogie 2:90 to line in...

The cheapest way is to use mac's line in and an amp simulation in GB or a vst simulation via audio hijackpro
Click to expand...
er...great, thanks. You do know this thread is 5 months old right??? :confused: :rolleyes:
 
imic into GB?

Gang:

I've been trying imic into GB for a week now. At first I thought I was doing something wrong, I 've adjusted everything I know to adjust and read all the threads I can find... This sucks. There's hardly any volume. This can't be the solution people are recommending—can it?

Is anybody really getting a good sound from an imic connection? If so, please tell me how!
 
USB??? Try PCI

edesignuk said:
Actaully, my PowerMac (a quicksilver) doesn't even have a mic input, does anyone know of a USB to mini jack adapter? I thought then I could use this cable in to the adapter, in to the USB port on my Mac?
Click to expand...


Listen if you have five thousand usb ports... hey sure why not just throw sum putty in the other ones for kicks... my point USB is flacky and with the mice and keyboards and what such you might not always have a usb port. So look for a PCI card. If you dont know what that is, its the card that goes right by your graphics one where you plug in you screen.
 
R-Man said:
Gang:

I've been trying imic into GB for a week now. At first I thought I was doing something wrong, I 've adjusted everything I know to adjust and read all the threads I can find... This sucks. There's hardly any volume. This can't be the solution people are recommending—can it?

Is anybody really getting a good sound from an imic connection? If so, please tell me how!
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need a preamp of some soughts - a typical electrical guitar has a different impedance than what the imic or the built in line input was designed for. Get a DI box, a mini mixer or something similar to boost your signal and you should be able to get some decent results out of it.

I hope this helps.
 
This thread is 5 months old eh? Boy is my face red...

As I said in another post somewhere here, I bought the Edirol UA-20 for $179 from the Apple store and it works great. It has 1/4" stereo line in and MIDI in/out. As well as Optical and stereo RCA outs. Can't beat it...
 
Sorry, R-man, I've used the iMic for a while and it really, actually works. I record deep bass and sparkling guitars. As you well know, you have to follow the instructions. Find the little brochure that accompanied iMic. Clamp onto it like a terrier.

Wan: me, too. For some time I've used a Boss BR-8 portable studio and a Boss DR-5 for drums and keyboards. Now I'm going to sell them because I've been spoiled by GB waveform editing and mastering.

This week I'm diving into midi controlling via a 25-key keyboard, the Oxygen 8. Hmm. Anyone using that one?
 
I had heard bad things about the iMic so I didn't buy it. Plus I wanted an all-in-one box for my MIDI guitar.

I am in the same boat as you Triage, I haven't touched my Boss BR-8 since GB came out and I am going to slang it too.

I was so afraid to take the plunge into computer based recording until Apple made it easy for me. I still haven't figured out Cubase SX so I am staying with GB for a while.

:)
 
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