Using Garage Band '08 to record vinyl?

I found that using 'Audacity' was ultimately way easier ...

I was creating a music file from a MiniDisc recording ...

A) does audacity work withiMac?
B) does it allow selection from the "record" socket as opposed to the built in mike?

I was only trying to used GB '08 as it's on the computer already.

Audacity will indeed work on all Mac's and has simple pop/click filters too that are quite successful. Oh, and it is free.

Once in Audacity you can choose where to take the input from. You can also select input from the preferences panel too if you were to have any issues.

OK I'll give it a go.
Ta.

Audacity levels are too low from "audio in". about -20 db max.

I can't test out mine at the moment, but it should be adjustable.

What is your input volume set to for the line in port in your system preferences?

And also check the levels in Audacity.

OK dumbo moment, I didn't select the record for the source I was playing.

Another vote for Audacity tho' I'm using it on a laptop with an Edirol UA-1EX USB sound card. Works a treat.

Willy.

Audacity is a great program.

Another vote for Audacity ... however if you want to make the step up to 24/192 (or 24/176.4) recording though Audacity won't cut it - try looking at Wave Editor, very good value for money at $75 and it includes a great sample rate converter (iZotope) for if you want to record at 24/176.4 for archiving, but also need 16/44.1 versions to burn to CD.

Eloise

This is probably as good a place as any to ask a few questions on ripping vinyl.

Do people prefer using a digital input from something like the Pro-ject USB box, or just go straight in with the Analogue and let the soundcard take care of it?

M-Audio also do some decent external ADCs that allow for an optical input instead of USB, but i dont know if that is better or not.

Anyone experimented with these?

An interesting topic!

The Edirol looks a nice bit of kit, but then what gives you the best A-D conversion, something like that or your computer? Because my iMac's not very close to my Hi-Fi, would a device such as said Edirol used in my old PC laptop produce as good a result as could be got with a Mac?

I did try Audacity on the laptop but for some reason couldn't get the levels right at all. How does the A-D conversion work in this case?

I think the other factor to take into account is the 'quality' of the rip. If you use your internal soundcard, what is its sampling rate limit?

If using an external ADC, then what limits the sampling rate etc?

Is there a benefit to using Optical over USB or vice versa?

Too many questions, and as of yet i haven't found a comprehensive source for the answers.

The Edirol sounds a lot better than the internal soundcards in both my Acer and Stinkpad laptops.

Regards,


Willy.