Aggregate devices not working (but individual mics are recording) on Garageband

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Aggregate devices not working (but individual mics are recording) on Garageband

I have followed all the steps to set up an aggregate device, however when I go to garageband no sound is registering on any mic. They do work individually when they are not aggregated however. Any suggestions?

Just in case it helps, here are the steps I'm taking

Plug all three mics into USB and selecting the versions in Audio MIDI which are 'in' (see below, but as they are not plugged in the one's selected do not currently show in or out FYI).

I also selected mabook air speakers as the output.

Then on Garageband I made sure on preferences to select the aggregate device as input and macbook air speakers as output.

Then when I went to add a new track as a mic, it showed input 1, input 2, input 3, input 1+2, input 3+4.

As the mics had only 1 in each I assumed that the input 1, input 2 and input 3 are the 3 microphones, however once they are selected they do not show any sound being registered when I speak into them.

Weirdly, when I do not do the aggregate device, these mics show they register sound when used individually.

Desperate for some advice haha!

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.12

Posted on Aug 29, 2022 2:33 PM

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Answer 1

justin_900

Community Specialist

Aug 30, 2022 12:56 PM in response to LP_1510

Hello LP_1510,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities!

We want to help combine the devices to use in GarageBand on your Mac.

Let's make sure you're using these steps to combine audio devices into a single aggregate device:

"In the Audio MIDI Setup app on your Mac, click the Add button at the bottom of the sidebar in the Audio Devices window, then choose Create Aggregate Device.
By default, the aggregate device is shown in a horizontal layout. To view it vertically, click the Set vertical layout button toward the upper-right corner of the window. To use the default layout again, click the Set horizontal layout button .
To rename the aggregate device, click it in the sidebar, then enter a new name.
In the right side of the window, do the following:

Select the devices to use: For each device you want to include in the aggregate device, select the Use checkbox.
Change settings for each device: Check that each device is set to the same sample rate, to ensure the aggregate device works correctly. You can also enable drift correction for each device. See Set aggregate device settings."

This Apple Support page has the full details: Combine audio devices into a single aggregate device in Audio MIDI Setup on Mac - Apple Support

We hope this helps to get the microphones working as an aggregate device like you expect.

Cheers!

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Aggregate devices not working (but individual mics are recording) on Garageband

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