Hi, can anyone help me with a simple technical question? I couldn't find the answer by searching but I suspect it is quite an easy problem to solve.
Basically I want to plug my bass guitar in to my Mac (desktop 10.4.11) and record bass lines in Live. I know that you can't just plug it in and play because of something to do with the signal strength. What I don't know is what to do to record the bass.
Will one of these do the job?
http://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_usb1 ... 7536ea0761
At risk of sounding tight I want the cheapest possible solution.
Recording Bass Guitar
No - you will need something with a Hi-Z input specifically for electric guitars, unless your bass has a built in pre-amp with line level out (mine has a built in pre-amp, but its still a hi-z output, or at least normal guitar signal level).
Also as UKRuss suggests - if you plan on using Live (or other plugin) fx in real time while recordingm then you need a very low latency audio interface - so audio interfaces do have Hi-Z inputs specifically for guitars, howveer you may find yourself needing either a separate guitar preamp, or a cheap guitar processor which has a guitar input and line level outputs (Line 6 POD, or Behringer V-Amp type things for eg).
Also as UKRuss suggests - if you plan on using Live (or other plugin) fx in real time while recordingm then you need a very low latency audio interface - so audio interfaces do have Hi-Z inputs specifically for guitars, howveer you may find yourself needing either a separate guitar preamp, or a cheap guitar processor which has a guitar input and line level outputs (Line 6 POD, or Behringer V-Amp type things for eg).
Nothing to see here - move along!
If all you want to do is get your bass or guitar into your DAW then look for this at your local music store.
iMac - 10.10.3 - Live 9 Suite - APC40 - Axiom 61 - TX81z - Firestudio Mobile - Focal Alpha 80's - Godin Session - Home made foot controller
Try just plugging your bass straight into the Mac's built-in input. I've used the in on my Mac Pro quite often for roughing out songs and, to be honest, it's not all that bad. I just connect my guitar straight into the input using a jack to mini jack adapter. Using an amp sim gives me a perfectly usable sound. The built in audio on my Mac Pro, Mac Mini or MacBook Pro all provide perfectly low latency for me.
Live 6.05 - Cubase 4.5 - Mac Pro 2.66, 7GB, 500GB, OS 10.5.6 - Mac Mini 1.66CD, 2GB, 160GB, OS 10.4.9 - MOTU Ultralite MkIII
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leedsquietman
- Posts: 6659
- Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:56 am
- Location: greater toronto area
This is not something to be recommended.
the impedances are not matched - which can result in anything from poor sound quality to actually blowing the circuitboard in your computer. The majority of basses do not have a preamp built in like Khazul's.
You should at least get a DIRECT BOX or PREAMP, which will give you more gain and balance the impedance for your input - but you might as well buy an audio interface such as the one mentioned above, or an NI audio kontrol or something firewire as they are not much more expensive and will give you more flexibility and quite possibly, better sound quality, as they usually have better grade converters and lower signal to noise ratio than built in audio cards.
the impedances are not matched - which can result in anything from poor sound quality to actually blowing the circuitboard in your computer. The majority of basses do not have a preamp built in like Khazul's.
You should at least get a DIRECT BOX or PREAMP, which will give you more gain and balance the impedance for your input - but you might as well buy an audio interface such as the one mentioned above, or an NI audio kontrol or something firewire as they are not much more expensive and will give you more flexibility and quite possibly, better sound quality, as they usually have better grade converters and lower signal to noise ratio than built in audio cards.
http://soundcloud.com/umbriel-rising http://www.myspace.com/leedsquietmandemos Live 7.0.18 SUITE, Cubase 5.5.2], Soundforge 9, Dell XPS M1530, 2.2 Ghz C2D, 4GB, Vista Ult SP2, legit plugins a plenty, Alesis IO14.
Well it says it's intended for bass or guitar, and it has a 30 day money back guarantee. so why not try it.
Latency shouldn't be a problem if it has an ASIO driver - and it would probably work with ASIO4ALL.
(EDIT : just noticed that you have a MAC and the Thoman site only specifically mentions WIN98SE/2000/XP)
Unfortunately there is no information about the driver and "T.Bone" don't seem to have a manufacturers web site so it's hard to tell about sound and construction quality. And guitar leads do have a tendency to get damaged.
You might also be interested in this >> http://ikmultimedia.com/stealthplug/
More expensive but comes with a nice software bundle and from a reputable manufacturer.
Latency shouldn't be a problem if it has an ASIO driver - and it would probably work with ASIO4ALL.
(EDIT : just noticed that you have a MAC and the Thoman site only specifically mentions WIN98SE/2000/XP)
Unfortunately there is no information about the driver and "T.Bone" don't seem to have a manufacturers web site so it's hard to tell about sound and construction quality. And guitar leads do have a tendency to get damaged.
You might also be interested in this >> http://ikmultimedia.com/stealthplug/
More expensive but comes with a nice software bundle and from a reputable manufacturer.
"The banjo is the perfect instrument for the antisocial."
(Allow me to plug my guitar scale visualiser thingy - www.fretlearner.com)
(Allow me to plug my guitar scale visualiser thingy - www.fretlearner.com)
I would go for the pod studio gx. The technology implemented is miles away for IK Multimedia's. For me Stealth Plug was noisy and cost 89 Euros, while you can still find
the Tone Port GX1 (same as Pod studio but without plug-in) at 59 Euros!
- Best
- Pasha
the Tone Port GX1 (same as Pod studio but without plug-in) at 59 Euros!
- Best
- Pasha
Mac Studio M1
Live 12 Suite,Zebra ,Valhalla Plugins, MIDI Guitar (2+3),Guitar, Bass, VG99, GP10, JV1010 and some controllers
______________________________________
Music : http://alonetone.com/pasha
Live 12 Suite,Zebra ,Valhalla Plugins, MIDI Guitar (2+3),Guitar, Bass, VG99, GP10, JV1010 and some controllers
______________________________________
Music : http://alonetone.com/pasha
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analogueboy
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2003 6:21 pm
Thanks for all of your suggestions and advice. I might have a browse on ebay for some audio interfaces or di boxes as I won't use it very often and don't really want to spend too much.
There is one other query I have though. With a direct inject box I notice there are different types but I have no idea what I need. For example some talk about being active or passive and I have no idea what sort of technical specifications I need.
There is one other query I have though. With a direct inject box I notice there are different types but I have no idea what I need. For example some talk about being active or passive and I have no idea what sort of technical specifications I need.
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noisetonepause
- Posts: 4938
- Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2002 3:38 pm
- Location: Sticks and stones
If you've got some sort of amp sim in software, I wouldn't be rule out that cable just yet.
I've seen more than one BUILD YOUR OWN AUDIO INTERFACE kit, as you can get ICs the size of a fingernail that pretty much take analogue audio in directly, amp it, convert it to digital and also include a small USB controller thingy, all on one chip. That's what this most likely is, one of those chips with a quarter inch jack soldered directly on, with minimal circuitry to make the amp match the impedance of a bass/guitar, or maybe not even that.
Most of these ICs are USB Audio class compliant, ie., will work out of the box with a Mac. But obviously this is just guesswork. It might be a highly involved piece of engine earing requiring highly specialised drivers that have been finely tuned to get the best performance out of Win 98SE...
The signal you'll get in, though, will be dull at best. You might be able to coax a workable generic DI rock sound out of it with just some compression, but anything more interesting will involve more effects. With something like Guitar Rig or Amplitube or whatever, I think you'd be just fine.
To be honest, I'm quite tempted to get one for myslef... At that price, I mean. What if it worked?
I've seen more than one BUILD YOUR OWN AUDIO INTERFACE kit, as you can get ICs the size of a fingernail that pretty much take analogue audio in directly, amp it, convert it to digital and also include a small USB controller thingy, all on one chip. That's what this most likely is, one of those chips with a quarter inch jack soldered directly on, with minimal circuitry to make the amp match the impedance of a bass/guitar, or maybe not even that.
Most of these ICs are USB Audio class compliant, ie., will work out of the box with a Mac. But obviously this is just guesswork. It might be a highly involved piece of engine earing requiring highly specialised drivers that have been finely tuned to get the best performance out of Win 98SE...
The signal you'll get in, though, will be dull at best. You might be able to coax a workable generic DI rock sound out of it with just some compression, but anything more interesting will involve more effects. With something like Guitar Rig or Amplitube or whatever, I think you'd be just fine.
To be honest, I'm quite tempted to get one for myslef... At that price, I mean. What if it worked?
Suit #1: I mean, have you got any insight as to why a bright boy like this would jeopardize the lives of millions?
Suit #2: No, sir, he says he does this sort of thing for fun.
Suit #2: No, sir, he says he does this sort of thing for fun.
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analogueboy
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2003 6:21 pm
FWIW I run it like this:
Fender Jazz Bass (flatwound strings)--->P.O.D Pro XT--->USB--->MBP
Granted i have a VERY NICE Sounding Bass and worked a while getting the preset EQ,comp.,and FX that i like However, I can now be up and running in no time with the
EXACT SAME sound everytime.
With that said i do plan on buying a high end Direct Box and run it through some high end pre amp for flavor and on to my Apogee converters to see which i prefer.
Should be interesting because i get props on my bass tone as is( MUCH to my surprise).
YMMV
Fender Jazz Bass (flatwound strings)--->P.O.D Pro XT--->USB--->MBP
Granted i have a VERY NICE Sounding Bass and worked a while getting the preset EQ,comp.,and FX that i like However, I can now be up and running in no time with the
EXACT SAME sound everytime.
With that said i do plan on buying a high end Direct Box and run it through some high end pre amp for flavor and on to my Apogee converters to see which i prefer.
Should be interesting because i get props on my bass tone as is( MUCH to my surprise).
YMMV
MacBook Pro 2.4 Ghz 2Gb
OS X.5.7 | MOTU Ultralite | Live 8 | Ableton Drum Machine's | Addictive Drums | Conectiv+ Torq | Ms. Pinky | AudioDamage
OS X.5.7 | MOTU Ultralite | Live 8 | Ableton Drum Machine's | Addictive Drums | Conectiv+ Torq | Ms. Pinky | AudioDamage
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leedsquietman
- Posts: 6659
- Joined: Sun Nov 19, 2006 1:56 am
- Location: greater toronto area
I use a Yamaha BB4 NII Jazz bass, into an Alesis IO14 firewire (via XLR/combi jack set to guitar HiZ impedance) and I usually use the direct monitoring near zero latency monitoring feature to track it. It usually sounds great.
Prior to this, I had the same bass into a Mackie VLZ1202 as my preamp, fed to an Echo Indigo IO PCMCIA soundcard.
Although if I had a great bass cab, I would mic it up and record that. You can never beat the sound of a miced amp for guitars or bass, but processing allows you to get pretty close these days with amp sims and FX etc.
Prior to this, I had the same bass into a Mackie VLZ1202 as my preamp, fed to an Echo Indigo IO PCMCIA soundcard.
Although if I had a great bass cab, I would mic it up and record that. You can never beat the sound of a miced amp for guitars or bass, but processing allows you to get pretty close these days with amp sims and FX etc.
http://soundcloud.com/umbriel-rising http://www.myspace.com/leedsquietmandemos Live 7.0.18 SUITE, Cubase 5.5.2], Soundforge 9, Dell XPS M1530, 2.2 Ghz C2D, 4GB, Vista Ult SP2, legit plugins a plenty, Alesis IO14.
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noisetonepause
- Posts: 4938
- Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2002 3:38 pm
- Location: Sticks and stones
An amp sim usually comes in the form of a plug-in. There are plenty available. I don't know if it'd be better or worse than e.g. that Line6 job which is also an audio interface in itself.analogueboy wrote:I don't think so. It's just a bog standard desktop Mac I have with Core Audio.
Suit #1: I mean, have you got any insight as to why a bright boy like this would jeopardize the lives of millions?
Suit #2: No, sir, he says he does this sort of thing for fun.
Suit #2: No, sir, he says he does this sort of thing for fun.
Pretty sure your mac will have all the Apple AU stuff available in Live as it is in Garageband, there are amp sims there.
I still think you need external kit for a workable result. how long will rough be acceptable to you? And you're likely to expand your ideas before long anyway, ophw what if we record this via mic or that via that, etc. then the interface will more than pay for itself in the long run and solve your issues in the short term.
I still think you need external kit for a workable result. how long will rough be acceptable to you? And you're likely to expand your ideas before long anyway, ophw what if we record this via mic or that via that, etc. then the interface will more than pay for itself in the long run and solve your issues in the short term.