Apogee "One" + GarageBand '09 Review
Good morning everyone...
In case anyone is interested, here is my review of the Apogee "One" interface working along side GarageBand '09.
I am a new to Apple and recording music; so please forgive me for lack of specific tech terminology. 🙂
*My Gear:*
17" MacBook Pro, GarageBand '09, Apogee "One" interface, Fender Strat with David Gilmour EMG-DG20 9V active pickups, saving files on Iomega 500Gig EgO Firewire external hard drive.
*Install and Review of Iomega Drive:*
I wanted to have the external drive running first in an effort to leave my internal macbook drive "clean" of any Pictures, Video and music. i.e. Programs only.
I did a little research on the internet and this forum about the best way to move files to the drive. I never did this before, so it did take a little time. Apparently, you do not want to just "move" files; especialy with iTunes.
After learning the proper way of moving everything, the Iomega transfered everything very quickly. I noticed some negitive reviewers saying that after a while these drives get hot and the finish/Al casing start to fail. The drive drive DOES get pretty hot; however, I really dont have the reference from other external drives. Only time will tell.
Overall, after about 3 uses I am very happy with it. Perhaps premature though...hope not.
*Install and Review of Apogee "One"*
Upon taking the "One" out of the box I was really impressed with how it physically looks. It's a very "minimalist" design...Nothing too crazy as far as controls go. It hooks up to the mac via USB...Firewire would have been nice (like its big brother, the "Duet.")
Downside: When I put the intallition CD in it informed me that my operating system was not supported! (Snow Leopard) Panic Time Right?! Not really...My instinct told me to go to Apogee's website and look for a update...A Snow Leopard update was available! 🙂 After that, intallation was a breeze.
I watched the tutorial on Apogee's website on how to hook it up with Garageband (very helpful btw) and plugged the Fender into the "Breakaway" cable which consists of one female guitar input and one mic input.
The one thing I noticed is that the USB cable that goes from the Mac to the interface is not the highest quality (for lack of better words) the male connecter which goes into the "One" is not a firm connection at all. I was very delicate with it and noticed alot of "wiggle" room. More than I would have expected. Perhaps this is something that Apogee can work on.
Its important that when you first use the unit that you spend some time adjusting the proper volume levels! I almost blew my eardrums because of some serious distortion.
Okay Okay...I know, How does the guitar sound!!??
Well, let me say first that I was expecting to hear the sound of the guitar coming out of my macbook's internal speakers...This is NOT possiable! However, if you have powered external speakers that is the way to go.
I used BOSE ear buds as my "monitoring" device.
After all my volume settings were adjusted, it sounded like I was standing right in front of my 1973 HIWATT! The non-recorded audio montoring was nothing short of amazing...no other way to put it.
I am absolutely obsessed with David Gilmour's (Pink Floyd) guitar set-up and trying to replicate a $100,000 rig with a normal person's budget is difficult/impossiable. Garageband in conjunction with the "One" did a pretty awsome job!
*Recorded SOund:*
Okay so how does the recorded sound, sound? Apogee suggusts that you put your Garageband quality setting on "best." To start out I wanted to put it on CD quality. That way, I can contrast the two. What can I say...it sounded amazing. Just fantastic. It exceeded my novice expectations.
So there it is, my fingers are cramping up, but I really wanted to "give back" to the forum for helping me out thus far.
I hope this helps someone make a decision about the many interfaces that are on the market. I will keep the community updated with future recordings.
Also, If anyone has some good settings to use in Garageband for Pink Floyd settings please let me know.
Shine On!
-mz
Message was edited by: mark.zelonski
In case anyone is interested, here is my review of the Apogee "One" interface working along side GarageBand '09.
I am a new to Apple and recording music; so please forgive me for lack of specific tech terminology. 🙂
*My Gear:*
17" MacBook Pro, GarageBand '09, Apogee "One" interface, Fender Strat with David Gilmour EMG-DG20 9V active pickups, saving files on Iomega 500Gig EgO Firewire external hard drive.
*Install and Review of Iomega Drive:*
I wanted to have the external drive running first in an effort to leave my internal macbook drive "clean" of any Pictures, Video and music. i.e. Programs only.
I did a little research on the internet and this forum about the best way to move files to the drive. I never did this before, so it did take a little time. Apparently, you do not want to just "move" files; especialy with iTunes.
After learning the proper way of moving everything, the Iomega transfered everything very quickly. I noticed some negitive reviewers saying that after a while these drives get hot and the finish/Al casing start to fail. The drive drive DOES get pretty hot; however, I really dont have the reference from other external drives. Only time will tell.
Overall, after about 3 uses I am very happy with it. Perhaps premature though...hope not.
*Install and Review of Apogee "One"*
Upon taking the "One" out of the box I was really impressed with how it physically looks. It's a very "minimalist" design...Nothing too crazy as far as controls go. It hooks up to the mac via USB...Firewire would have been nice (like its big brother, the "Duet.")
Downside: When I put the intallition CD in it informed me that my operating system was not supported! (Snow Leopard) Panic Time Right?! Not really...My instinct told me to go to Apogee's website and look for a update...A Snow Leopard update was available! 🙂 After that, intallation was a breeze.
I watched the tutorial on Apogee's website on how to hook it up with Garageband (very helpful btw) and plugged the Fender into the "Breakaway" cable which consists of one female guitar input and one mic input.
The one thing I noticed is that the USB cable that goes from the Mac to the interface is not the highest quality (for lack of better words) the male connecter which goes into the "One" is not a firm connection at all. I was very delicate with it and noticed alot of "wiggle" room. More than I would have expected. Perhaps this is something that Apogee can work on.
Its important that when you first use the unit that you spend some time adjusting the proper volume levels! I almost blew my eardrums because of some serious distortion.
Okay Okay...I know, How does the guitar sound!!??
Well, let me say first that I was expecting to hear the sound of the guitar coming out of my macbook's internal speakers...This is NOT possiable! However, if you have powered external speakers that is the way to go.
I used BOSE ear buds as my "monitoring" device.
After all my volume settings were adjusted, it sounded like I was standing right in front of my 1973 HIWATT! The non-recorded audio montoring was nothing short of amazing...no other way to put it.
I am absolutely obsessed with David Gilmour's (Pink Floyd) guitar set-up and trying to replicate a $100,000 rig with a normal person's budget is difficult/impossiable. Garageband in conjunction with the "One" did a pretty awsome job!
*Recorded SOund:*
Okay so how does the recorded sound, sound? Apogee suggusts that you put your Garageband quality setting on "best." To start out I wanted to put it on CD quality. That way, I can contrast the two. What can I say...it sounded amazing. Just fantastic. It exceeded my novice expectations.
So there it is, my fingers are cramping up, but I really wanted to "give back" to the forum for helping me out thus far.
I hope this helps someone make a decision about the many interfaces that are on the market. I will keep the community updated with future recordings.
Also, If anyone has some good settings to use in Garageband for Pink Floyd settings please let me know.
Shine On!
-mz
Message was edited by: mark.zelonski
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.1), New User
