Connecting USB turntable to MacBook Pro

This is normal behavior on a Mac. The turntable produces USB digital audio, which a recording app can capture but it is not by default converted & routed to your speakers.

You need a utility to route the USB audio to your speakers. I usually recommend Loopback. It's quite powerful and easy to use.

However if you want to go the free (and somewhat involved) path you could use Blackhole Audio + create a multi-output device in Audio Midi Setup. Also, for reference, see Blackhole's article "Multi-Output Device."

I found the solution using an application recommended by MartinR, i.e. Blackhole Audio. On a side note, Loopback also works but costs $120 so it seems that Blackhole will be preferred :)

We simply install Blackhole Audio App in the 2-channel version.

Then, in the Audio MIDI Setup settings, we create an Aggregate Device and then indicate its components on the checklist, i.e. 1. USB AUDIO CODEC 2 (inputs) and 2. Blackhole 2ch.

We now need to have an application to play the audio stream from the USB input. The system's Quick Time Player is the best. After starting QTP, select "New audio recording" from the menu, a recording window will appear, where next to the record button, expand the list of input devices, select Aggregate Device and do not forget to set the source volume to the desired value (it is muted by default).

We start playback on turntanble and... voila!

Of course, you can write a script that will automate all this :)

As MartinR wrote, Blackhole App is available at the link Existential Audio. There is also a description of how to define Aggregate Device in the MIDI Setup program.

Using the Blackhole app and Quick Time Player is completely free.

But for many years I have been using the Rogue Amoeba applications to control sound (Soundsource) and record broadcasts from radio streams (Audio Hijack).

Since my last entry, I went further and defined in Audio Hijack a "Turntable" session through which I play sound from the turntable. I am attaching a screenshot of the Audio Hijack and MIDI Setup windows. (macOS Sonoma in Polish language).

In Audio Hijack it is also possible to freely define the sound track, record, mix, add AU plug-ins, e.g. with an equalizer, etc.

But using Audio Hijack is not free!

While writing this post, I came up with the idea to try using Audio Hijack without having to use Blackhole.

And it's a success!

Blackhole is not necessary for either Quick Time Player or Audio Hijack. Simply point to the AUDIO CODEC 2 USB device in the selected application receiving the audio stream. Below are the screenshots:

QuickTime Player

Audio Hijack

I completely uninstalled Blackhole App

Zele-B wrote:

Hi there, I am trying to connect an Audio Technica USB turntable to my MacBook Pro. I cannot get any audio playback while the record is playing, through the MacBook speakers. I have looked into the sound settings and the output is selected as MacBook speakers and the input as USB. I can see that input is picking up a signal however there is nothing coming through the speaker.

I have also tried to use Audacity and have same problem even when recording with no output during playback. The recording does however play if stopping the recording and pressing play.

I have tried using a Windows PC and works fine, so not sure if there is a driver I am missing or something simple?

Any ideas how to get the audio to playback? Using latest version of o/s Sonoma

Is there any insight if you use the Audio MIDI Setup.app

Audio MIDI Setup User Guide for Mac

philshaffer wrote:

The app store does not show an App named Blackhole audio. Where did you get this?

It's not in the App Store. Download it from the developer's website -> Existential Audio

ps. the link is also in my earlier post

Thanks for all this. I did get the Blackhole app, and couldn't make it work. My patience, however was very very thin, I had also bought two sonos speakers today, and spent an hour and a half on the phone trying to get them to connect to my Wifi without success. Seems that my wifi network name may be the culprit as it has an apostrophe in the middle. The sonos rep wanted me to change my network name, which would entail re-connecting about 10 different devices.

Then this... no more patience yesterday.

First question - that no one can answer - why in the world doesn't Apple make this possible by simply connecting? I can see the input device and connect, I can direct to the output device, but no sound.

I had found a work around - which was to play it through Garageband. I Just want to put the needle on the record and have it play. Is that too much to ask of my expensive system?

THANK YOU for the guidance above.

larger view - my wife is on the road, and her iPad won't charge. She tried to check in to the hotel, which took over an hour because the hotel's computers were malfunctioning. I looked for a car last weekend and the dealer told me that all the computers in car dealerships around the US had been hacked, and they didn't know what they had, or prices, etc. Last month a large hospital system (Ascension - 142 hospitals) was hacked, and they couldn't get medications to patients, images from radiology, etc. They had to close their ERs. People died. In February, a company through which about 1/3 of all payments to healthcare providers are funneled was hacked, and no payments were going out. I don't know if they have recovered, but some were going bankrupt because of the interruption.

It is clear to me we are all entirely too vulnerable to fallible (or hackable) systems. I am considering becoming a Luddite.

Working on this same issue now. Did this work for you?

The app store does not show an App named Blackhole audio. Where did you get this?