3V17C Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 well having been a devout PC user for many years I took the plunge the other week and bought an iMac (see earlier post 'Mac Ponderings'). Now one of the reasons I got a Mac was because [i]apparently [/i] they're better for home recording etc..... hmmmm.... NOT CONVINCED!!! Kinda hard to explain but here goes.... Basically my setup that has worked pretty well for years on PC doesn't work with the iMac. I'm running Garageband and will be using software instruments for drums/keyboards etc but adding live guitar/bass/vocals (all recorded one at a time). Now the trouble is if I playback say a drumloop and try to record some bass over the top of it, although the iMac is getting plenty of input signal and records ok I can't hear what I'm playing at the same time as running the playback. Now yes, this does mean that i CAN record just listening to the bass acoustically but I really need to be able to monitor both what i'm recording and whats playing through headphones at the same time.... If i turn the iMac output volume down and crank my bass input all the way up i can [i]just about[/i] hear a vague distorted bass signal. I've tried going through some preamps/fx to see i i can boost my signal that way but its still just the same. I have a Spirit Folio Notepad mixer which everything goes through and like I say with the old PC it was all fine (the audio from computer comes back through mixer so i can monitor etc). Everything is wired up exactly the same but I'm guessing the only difference is that previously i was coming out of the PC soundcard 'Audio Out' but on the iMac i'm coming out of a headphone socket? Its annoying as well because I've got a bunch of songs to learn for a new band and normally I sit with headphones on and play along with them on my computer for ease of pausing/rewinding/slowing down etc but I can't even do that at the moment as a again I can't hear my bass! I don't seem to have any latency problems so was hoping to do without buying any kind of external audio interface but I'm guessing that is what I'm gonna need if I want to hear what I'm playing at the same time as recording? And if I did get say a firewire or USB interface will it definitely work as I can see only very minimal options for inputs etc in Garageband.... Very annoying because it seems every single time I attempt to do some recording something gets in the way.. honestly, its like its just not meant to happen!! drives me f@*king mad tbh!!! I may just give up! ..also the caps lock light is in a stoopid place as when you're typing you can't see it!!!!!!!!!!!!! grrrrrrrrr C Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMT3781 Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Have you turned the monitor mute off? Garageband automatically turns it on to protect against feedback, you need to maually de-select it sometimes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbob Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Just out of interest , have you tried taking the headphone output from the iMac straight to your stereo monitor amp ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumbob Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 [quote name='JMT3781' post='790896' date='Mar 30 2010, 06:22 PM']Have you turned the monitor mute off? Garageband automatically turns it on to protect against feedback, you need to maually de-select it sometimes[/quote] Yeh thats probably it , down on the right hand corner Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 you should check out some of the Garageband tutorials online.... fairly helpful if your new to the mac. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigwan Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 User error me thinks. As mentioned you haven't disabled the monitor mute. I'm using garageband 08 so it might be slightly different now, but on the track info pain in the monitor drop down box select On, or On with feedback protection. And invest in an audio interface - it WILL work... as Macs usually do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XB26354 Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 +1 on the audio interface - the built in audio is fine for playing back iTunes through small powered speakers but a decent interface sounds so much better. MOTU are rock solid - I've been using them for years (828, 2408, 896 and now Ultralite). They're not super-cheap but the latest ones come with DSP effects and mixing built in (meaning you can use them with speakers as a bass amp without having to turn your computer on). Garageband is now really Logic Pro Lite so should work very well unless you need the pro features - not bad for a free program! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3V17C Posted March 30, 2010 Author Share Posted March 30, 2010 Don't think its monitor mute... on different 'puter at the mo so can't check for sure, but that did pop up when i was initially playing with garageband and pretty sure i disabled it ... also like i say its the same when i'm not even in garageband... playing along with songs in itunes, playing about with audacity - basically anything where i need to hear what i'm playing[b] in[/b] along with what is coming [b]out[/b]. i even today set my old pc back up so i could try it out thru there again to make sure there was nothing up with the mixer/leads etc. and all worked fine straight off. cheers c Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crez5150 Posted March 30, 2010 Share Posted March 30, 2010 Im not sure I understand.... explain how you have everything set up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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