Garageband Mac Mini - USB audio interface recognised but no guitar sound

Question

Garageband Mac Mini - USB audio interface recognised but no guitar sound

Afternoon all.

I'm trying to use a Positive Grid Spark Go as a USB interface for guitar with Garageband on a Mac Mini (Mac OS 12.6.4). The Spark Go is recognised as a USB interface and is selectable as an input device in GB. There doesn't seem to be any signal coming through to GB however. I can see that the input sound level gauge bar in the general system sound settings moves when I play guitar through the Spark Go, so something is coming through, just not to GB.

I have tried the Spark Go out on BandLab on my Android phone and it works fine on that, so I assume that the unit is in working order.

Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Mac mini, macOS 12.6

Posted on May 22, 2023 8:28 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

ASTRO24

Community Specialist

May 25, 2023 3:53 PM in response to CervantesElGuapo

Hi CervantesElGuapo,

It would be best to work with Apple to adjust output settings for this to work properly. You can find recommended settings in Change Audio/MIDI settings in GarageBand on Mac - Apple Support. Check that the guitar track set is set to live monitor to come through speakers.

Use input monitoring in GarageBand on Mac - Apple Support

Turn on input monitoring for an audio track

* In GarageBand on Mac, click the Monitoring button in the track header.

* Click the Monitoring button again to turn off input monitoring for the track.

Get Support

Regards.

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Answer 2

bruno75

Community Specialist

May 24, 2023 7:55 AM in response to CervantesElGuapo

Hey there CervantesElGuapo,

While you may need to contact Apple Support about this, and/or even Positive Grid, we'd like to rule out some possible causes, along with learning more about what's happening:

It sounds like you have everything set up correctly as you even mentioned seeing an input signal meter in GarageBand when playing your guitar, but no audio. As you mentioned already making sure to select your audio interface as an input, have you already made sure that the sound output for your Mac is set to the interface?
Have you made sure there are no updates to download for your interface to fully work with your Mac, along with making sure your interface is compatible with the macOS version installed on your Mac?
Have you made sure the knobs/switches are turned up on your interface to ensure you can hear the sound coming out of the speakers/headphones connected to it?

Cheers!

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Answer 3

May 25, 2023 3:19 PM in response to bruno75

Thanks for your response Bruno.

I have output going to the system default, which is a pair of speakers connected to the 3.5 jack at the back of the mini - does it need to be set to the same as the input?

Everything is up to date software/firmware wise, and I've double checked all volume knobs etc.

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Garageband Mac Mini - USB audio interface recognised but no guitar sound

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