Audio Port/Guitar input

Question

Level 1

9 points

Audio Port/Guitar input

Hi Apple Community,

I recently (3 weeks back) got an iMac 27" (late) 2012 model which, while a great jump up from my earlier 2010 model, is giving me a hard time as far as recording my guitar in Garageband is concerned.

The earlier iMac had separate input & output ports at the back but this one has only one audio input/output port at the back.

I used to use iRig for guitar input interface & it worked beautifully on my earlier mac. With this one there seem to be issues.

First of all when I plug in iRig, in my sound input field I only get the 'External microphone'/ type: microphone port' option. There is no other option for a line in etc.

I searched the forum and found a post that mentioned the 'Use Audio Port for' option for macs that have only one audio port.

The problem is that option is not available on my system. I don't know if it is a limitation or there's a compatibility issue with iRig, but that option is just not available on my system.

Furthermore, as iRig has a built in headphone out I also don't get an option to use the system speaker for sound out.

There is no way for me to test if this is a limitation of the new iMac or a compatibility issue with the iRig interface as I don't have any other interface gadgets available to me.

If I use the external headphone option in sound input panel I get incredible amounts of feedback and can't really use it at all.

Any help that anyone can provide in this regards would be incredibly helpful since my garageband is rendered useless as of now.

Thanks,

flyashy

GarageBand (Mac) '11, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Sep 3, 2013 8:08 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

194,723 points

Sep 3, 2013 2:07 PM in response to flyashy

The earlier iMac had separate input & output ports at the back but this one has only one audio input/output port at the back.

Is it really a combined audio input/output port or only a headphone port?

If it is a headphone port, you cannot use it for recording; then you would need an USB audio interface, like the Apogee Jam.

I have never used the iRig, so I cannot help with the headphone question there.

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Answer 2

flyashy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 3, 2013 9:59 PM in response to léonie

Well, yes, it is a combination port.

After posting the question I came across a discussion where it was mentioned that Apple has disabled the 'Use Audio Port as' option in the new machines effectively ensuring that we have to depend on an external audio interface.

I have made a request to Apple for re-enabling it.

Till they do that I suppose we will have to spend the extra $ to do something as simple as taking an audio in.

Oh well.

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Answer 3

Sep 7, 2013 9:45 AM in response to flyashy

Here is an idea. But you will need an idevice

Plug your irig in your iphone or ipad, run garageband there, and link it to your mac via wifi or bluetooth

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Answer 4

flyashy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 7, 2013 9:42 PM in response to IsraBonanza

Ah thanks IsraBonanza,

That's a good idea I'm going to try it out, although I'm a bit worried about the latency, but it might just work out.

Thanks.

P.S. I caved in and ordered a USB interface anyways, but yeah your solution is quite ingenious!

Cheers!!

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Answer 5

flyashy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 7, 2013 10:07 PM in response to flyashy

Oh Well, it doesn't work!

According to Apple, right now there's no sharing possible between iOs device and iMac. So I can use the jam-session option between my iPhone & iPad but not with my iMac.

Good thing I ordered the USB interface 🙂

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

194,723 points

Sep 7, 2013 10:36 PM in response to flyashy

Right now there's no sharing possible between iOs device and iMac. So I can use the jam-session option between my iPhone & iPad but not with my iMac.

What you can do, is record all real instruments tracks in GarageBand on your iPad and share the GaragBand song to iTunes or iCloud. This way you can share a project, not only an audio file to your mac. It will depend on your IOS version Mac OS version, if that is possible.

If your system versions support sharing, you can open an Garageband for IOS project on your Mac. It will be converted for Mac and you can start from there.

See: GarageBand for iPad: Share GarageBand songs

Send a GarageBand song to iTunes:

Tap the My Songs button, then tap Edit.

Tap the song you want to send, then tap the Share button .

Tap Share Song via iTunes.

Do one of the following:After you tap the iTunes icon, you can choose the quality of the file GarageBand sends to iTunes. You can also add artist, composer, and title information that appears in iTunes.

To send the song as a GarageBand song, tap GarageBand.

To send the song as an audio file, tap iTunes, then tap Share.

Sync your iPad with your computer.In iTunes, the exported song appears in the Documents list in the File Sharing area when GarageBand is selected.

Do one of the following:

Drag the song from the GarageBand Documents list to the Finder.

Click Save As, navigate to the location where you want to save the song, then click Save.

You can open the GarageBand song in GarageBand on your Mac, or play the audio file in iTunes (or any compatible audio application) on your computer. GarageBand songs cannot be opened on a Windows computer.

I am using the Apogee Jam with my Strat to record it on my MBP, even if my MBP has a "line in" port. The sound is way better than using the "line in".

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Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

194,723 points

Sep 7, 2013 10:50 PM in response to léonie

And to transfer projects from the iPad using iCloud, if you want to avoid the iTunes detour and your MacOS supports IOS 5:

See: Re: Transferring Garage Band from iCloud to my iMac

http://skimfeed.com/blog/how-to-move-garageband-files-from-ipad-to-mac-without-i tunes-using-icloud/

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Answer 8

flyashy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 8, 2013 4:45 AM in response to léonie

Hey Leonie,

Thanks for the iCloud route tip. I'll try that out.

I used to do the iPad-iTunes transfer so far but iCloud sounds good.

Since I do a lot of takes and retakes, the record live tracks in iPad & transfer to iMac is not very comfortable work flow for me. I'd prefer to lay the base tracks and do all the serious recording on iMac. I suppose once my USB interface arrives things will work out. I know the USB usually givers better sound and lesser laterncy but it's just that after spending so much on a computer I think it silly to spend more money on a simple capability it ought to have ( & used to have untill so recently) Maybe Apple will revive it in future updates.

Thanks for the help.

Cheers!

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Answer 9

Sep 9, 2013 5:49 AM in response to flyashy

No jam session support for iMac? Thats sad :(

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Answer 10

flyashy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 11, 2013 1:18 AM in response to flyashy

Just thought I'll update.

I got myself a USB interface, a knock-off of Behringer Guitar Link UCG102.

It works, but I observed that my iMac, even though it recognizes the USB audio input it treats it like a microphone and not a line in. This means that there is a lot of gain on the input. Even at 0% recording level the sound is high, and that means that I can't truly get a 'clean' sound.

Now, I know that the general opinion is going to be, I should've bought a better interface and it's the interface that is cheap/faulty and hence the high gain. I would disgree.

First of all, I have tested the interface on a PC with perfect results, so the interface is not faulty.

Secondly, why do I have to spend 200-300 $ for a capability of taking a simple line-in to the computer, a capability that existed till so recently, that too on a very expensive computer??

I just don't understand the reason for removal of the line-in option!

Apple, please, please revive it.

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Answer 11

Sep 11, 2013 1:39 AM in response to flyashy

You should be able to reduce the gain either at the device or in your track's info pane in GB.

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Answer 12

flyashy Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 11, 2013 4:17 AM in response to Christoph Drösser

Thanks Christoph,

I am aware of that, but what is happening is that the audio signal that is received by GB itself is saturated, so reducing the gain on track just reduces the volume and does not increase the clarity.

I suppose that the sound card increases the gain on the signal by 'pre-amp'ing it or something because it reads it as a microphone and not a line in.

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Answer 13

Sep 11, 2013 5:11 AM in response to flyashy

Well, it's called guitar link, isn't it? The Behringer has a level switch (hi/lo) on the side, don't know about your device.

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Answer 14

Sep 11, 2013 7:23 AM in response to flyashy

Try this last resort

Plug yor iRig interface in the usb audio interface you just bought. Since it is seen as a mic input by the mac, and the irig turns the instrument signal into a mic signal, it should work. Maybe a little bit noisy but, in theory, it should work

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Answer 15

Sep 11, 2013 7:30 AM in response to IsraBonanza

Btw

Maybe you gona need something to split the input and the output signal of the irig plug to be pin compatible with the input jack in the behringer interface. It can be easily done with some audio-video cables/jacks that can be found in radioshack.

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