Mac Amplification specialise in the repair and restoration of guitar and group amplification and associated equipment. Established for over 20 years, we understand the needs of the working musician and also those just starting out enabling us to provide a quality service at working man's prices. You will need: An electric guitar A computer running Windows XP or better (Windows 7 or newer preferred) An instrument cable (both sides quarter-inch and mono, same cable used to plug guitars into amps) A ¼-inch to ⅛-inch mono adapter. These are available online for very cheap, and most music stores have them as well. Although guitar simulation plug-ins, or amp sims, have been around for a while, it seems like only.
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You probably wouldn't want to use this or a concert.... But maybe for pratice?
This will sound terrible. The line-level output of a guitar is too low for the Mac's line in. It will be audible but if you do any processing of the signal (for instance, with Amplitube) there will be very bad gate noise from the weak signal.
A much better idea is to get a cheap pre-amp, or run your guitar through your home stereo's line in, then to your mac.
Another way to boost the sound is to run your guitar through an effect pedal set to bypass, or a multieffect set to boost the volume only.
Man, I wish my lowly iMac DV had audio in… would probably sound pretty nice with the SoundSticks.
I may have to bring my guitar and effects pedal into work next week and give this a shot. I would imagine that you could also capture the audio using Audio Hijack similar program.
I could be wrong, but I think iMac DVs have audio input?
Arekkusu is probably right, this won't sound very good without a pre-amp between instrument and Macintosh. That said, this hint is a GREAT tip for those of us who were just looking for a way to pass audio through from input to output! I never knew how to do this before.
Absolutely! Up until now, I'd been using Sound Studio to accomplish this via its audio settings, but I'd always have to keep it running any time I wanted to set the play-through.
Play-through used to be an option in Mac OS 9 and earlier in the control panels and I was disappointed when it seemed to disappear in OS X.
I like to hook my radio up to my computer via the mic jack so I can take advantage of the speakers I have hooked up to the computer. Plus, it allows you to be able to record from the radio and know what you're getting.
One warning though - if your radio is hooked up via a different power strip or wall outlet from the computer and/or speakers, you will probably get a lot of low-pitched feedback. This is called a ground-loop caused by the different resistance potentials of the different outlets. You can either avoid this by plugging everything into the same power strip, or you can use a ground-loop isolator. I've found though that using the same power strip is a lot better than using a ground-loop isolator which doesn't completely eliminate the hum.
I question the value of this hint. You'll get far better sound from an inexpensive guitar amp like this one: http://www.stevesmusiccenter.com/smokeyamps.html Why use a non-portable, ~$2000 appliance when a $27 portable appliance works so much better?
Plus, there is the very real issue of static electricity damaging the computer through the misuse of the microphone input. And the impedance and line level of the microphone input on the computer is mismatched with the output of a guitar.
If you need a cheap amp, check out the link above, don't endanger your computer to save $27.
Trevor
I don't know about the issue of static electricity causing damage. I've been recording my guitar this way for four years and have never had a problem.
As an extension to this hint, and a poor guitar player, i found the sound quality and latency of the builti-in audio card to be unacceptable. I have a Gibson Les Paul and the output of those wonderful pickups easily overloads the audio input. Picking up a (not too expensive) audio card with switchable gain and low-latency is certainly advised. Try M-Audio.com for some great sounding yet inexpensive cards.
now for the hint:
For those of you who use Cubase SX, open it up, make a new document and set am audio channel to monitor (ie playthrough) the channel you have the guitar plugged into. Notice you can use VST plugins in real time (or very close to it) and there is a wide variety of tube/amp emulators and effects available!! Just as fun as the old days of stomp-boxes but with the convenience of being able to save patches.
Same goes for bass guitar players or any electric instrument
As a final note, watch your levels! computer or stereo speakers aren't meant to be used this way and you can damage them if you aren't careful!
Guitar Amps For Home Use
If you have a recent Mac (pre-installed Jaguar and up) you can also use your Mac as a recorder with sophisiticated multi-track editing & dubbing facilities - Sound Recorder is the app to use. The cheapest and most fully featured Mac for audio/MIDI is, by the way the eMac - it's the only one left with analogue line in.
This is no longer true. I have a Dual-2GHz G5 and it has both analog and digital line in. I use the analog in all the time to record radio shows.
Guitar Amp For Microphone
The powerbook family also has line in.
Guitar Amps For Mac Os
Hi all. I have an eMac 1Ghz, and I use it to record and mix music. The BEST way to get guitar into your mac, well, there are a couple of ways, but the common item in them all is a powered mixer. you can plug that into the line in, and the guitar will plug into the mixer directly (balanced line in) or, plug the line out from any amp into the line in (if you don't have a mixer) and for the best sound of all, of course, is mic the amp into the mixer, into the mac. I use Digital Performer 4, it's the best. Highly recommened.