How do I connect my guitar to my G4 imac? It doesn't have an audio line-in/microphone port so I can't use the Monster instrument adapter or any of the cheaper alternatives. Is there an external device which contains an audio line-in port? I am a bit hacked off as I bought Garageband with the intention of recording guitar tracks on it, but I have to use it with the built-in mic, which is pretty crappy. Any ideas?
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Using instruments with G4 imac
- Thread starter Swampdonkey
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The micIn is crappy? I hear alot of people where buying powerbooks just to play the guitar directly thru the minIN, but if it sounds crappy, their all gonna be pissed off.
There is alot of hardware you can get, and sincen this is not a portable computer, you don`t have to fuzz with size. I recommend getting a firewire audio interface. there are many alternatives for audio in both USB and firewire, but i have experience with both kinds, on both g3 and g4 iBooks, and firewire is far superior to USb for audio. (and anything else too
You should check out www.m-audio.com, esipro.com or maybe edirol.com
They are but a few of the audiocard produsers on the web. I`ve chosen these three because I know they produse firewire as well as USB.
I have a m-audioi 410 card which rocks with reason, garageband and logic audio. i recomend it. though it will set you back a good 450$.
Good luck
There is alot of hardware you can get, and sincen this is not a portable computer, you don`t have to fuzz with size. I recommend getting a firewire audio interface. there are many alternatives for audio in both USB and firewire, but i have experience with both kinds, on both g3 and g4 iBooks, and firewire is far superior to USb for audio. (and anything else too
You should check out www.m-audio.com, esipro.com or maybe edirol.com
They are but a few of the audiocard produsers on the web. I`ve chosen these three because I know they produse firewire as well as USB.
I have a m-audioi 410 card which rocks with reason, garageband and logic audio. i recomend it. though it will set you back a good 450$.
Good luck
iMac has no Line in???
The iMac does have a Line in port, along with a headphone port and the pro speaker port. They are all together near the ethernet port on the back. I bought an iMac 17" new last week, and found the best way to hook up a Guitar or mic to the iMac for use with Garageband is to get a small Mixer, Such as the Behringer UB-502 (1 mono + 1 Stereo input) or the UB-802 (2 Mono + 2 Stereo + Phantom Mic Power)
Both should be under US$100 and there mono inputs have XLR and 1/4 Jacks. You then plug the output of that into the Line-in on the iMac and you can start recording. The Quality of sound I have been getting has been fine for use in Garageband, and having the Mixer means no measy adapters or having to reach behind the iMac whenever you want to change what instrument you want to use.
And having a Mixer with Phantom mic pre-amp means that you can use a Good Condensor Mic for recording. As they require a Phantom power to work.
Swampdonkey said:
The iMac does have a Line in port, along with a headphone port and the pro speaker port. They are all together near the ethernet port on the back. I bought an iMac 17" new last week, and found the best way to hook up a Guitar or mic to the iMac for use with Garageband is to get a small Mixer, Such as the Behringer UB-502 (1 mono + 1 Stereo input) or the UB-802 (2 Mono + 2 Stereo + Phantom Mic Power)
Both should be under US$100 and there mono inputs have XLR and 1/4 Jacks. You then plug the output of that into the Line-in on the iMac and you can start recording. The Quality of sound I have been getting has been fine for use in Garageband, and having the Mixer means no measy adapters or having to reach behind the iMac whenever you want to change what instrument you want to use.
And having a Mixer with Phantom mic pre-amp means that you can use a Good Condensor Mic for recording. As they require a Phantom power to work.
Is yours a new 1.25GHz model or an older 1GHz or 800Mhz model?Oroboros said:
The new ones at least should have audio in. To be honest, I think all Macs should have audio line in. The iBooks don't. Makes me glad I did get my 12" PB over an iBook.
johnnyjibbs said:
800MHz. They shipped without line-ins, So I assume Swampy's problem is he has an older comp.
Sorry Swampy: There's no protection against you not knowing the limitations of your own machine. Snarf has some good options to pursue. I have an Edirol UA-1A, which converts line-in signals to 16-bit sample data via USB. USB isn't fast enough to handle the 24-bit stuff (at least, USB 1.0 isn't), so you may want to consider a firewire option if you want to splurge.
-Oro