Quick and easy way - Maplin sell guitar to USB cables, plug in and go.
Middle ground - Budget USB audio interface from Behringer etc..
Best way - a Firewire audio interface from the likes of M-Audio, PreSonus, MOTU, Apogee or Focusrite. Lots to choose from depending on your needs and budget.
Simplest, easiest low tech way; get a 1/4" mono to 3.5mm stereo adapter plug, and a 1/4" female to female adapter and plug your mic straight in to the mac. Impedance mismatch doesn't seem to be too much an issue. One step up, a basic mixer, and the line out to your mac, or for that matter, the headphones jack on an amp to your mac, there's more than a few ways to do it, I reckon keep it simple, macs are great for that. ---------- Lucky Lester
Last Edited by on Jan 19, 2012 4:28 PM
With some of the guys changing from using Digitech RPxxx to Zoom G3, you might pick-up a used RPxxx here at a low price. That could also work away from the iMac.
An I7 it's so powerful. You have IMovie to do a video like you just did. That machine I'm guessing has built in camera and Mic.I would just try using them at first the mic isn't bad and it should pick up your amp easily.
Most Macs have an audio input. I'm thinking yours should be a stereo mini plug. Read the manual or go on line to get advice on the tech part. It has internal software that redirects inputs and outputs. You could use the defaults I think to do what I described earlier.
This done in Garage Band with the internal Mic using some of the effect.
This is done in IMovie using the internal Mic to pick up the amp.
---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
The analogue audio in on a mac is line level, you might be OK with a strong output, Hi-z mic. If you want to avoid excessive noise with anything else, you'll need a preamp. I think the onboard A/D converters are 24bit 48KHz, they may even be 96KHz these days - no idea about latency, but with an i7 you've got a fair bit of horsepower under the hood.
An external interface will give you better sampling rates, cleaner sounding preamps, lower latency and more flexible input/output arrangements. It might be overkill though.
Try the line-in on its own and see if it's OK for what you need.
Oxharp I have just bought an iRig that cost me 20 bucks delivered online and this thing is fantastic. I am using it with my iPad however I believe it also works with MacBook. I have been using a high z bullet mic that runs through the iRig and iPad into my VHT amp.
The sound is good and it allows you to record and master what you’re doing, import and play backing tracks that you can play over the top of which I like as this amp doesn’t have an Aux input, and finally lets you experiment with all manner of pedals quite cheaply. I understand that they have also just come out with the same thing as a proper stomp box which would be quite cool.
You gotta love Apple. I wonder if they make a version for the IMAC. I'm sure what's under the hood comes from Logic and Garage Band. ---------- Emile "Diggs" D'Amico a Legend In His Own Mind How you doin'
