New - Pls Help. Confused About Hardware, iMac with 10.5 - need USB MIDI interface Options

[fishboisfo]

Hi Denise . . . I would like to reverb what a lot of others have said. A great solution may be 1 of 2 M Audio Products -- if you can still pick them up. The Solo Unit is a 2 in / 2 out firewire interface that is relatively inexpensive -- M Audio makes a newer version with higher quality pre amps called a Pro Fire 610.

The main difference between Firewire and USB 2.0 is not just the "Speed" argument, it is the computer's OS architecture and how it handles data through the transfer interface. Time and time again, through my experience with Firewire as well as being a former ( company rhymes with Snapple ) executive, Firewire has been a more stable and reliable platform with the Mac OS for me. Not only that, but the ability to seemlessly "daisy chain" firewire devices -- has an advantage for other projects -- i.e. plug my digital camcorder into my peripheral firewire hard drive which goes into my other peripheral hard drive which then is plugged into my computer and be able to seemlessly run all of it is an important advantage that I have yet to see USB 2.0 handle as effectively.

Both the M Audio products are far from being the best on the market -- but they do work quite well, and do a fine job at doing exactly what you're looking for without having to open a new Platinum Card Account to buy.

Before you purchase anything, however, my advice would be to seriously consider where you will be with this in 1 - 2 years. In my opinion, one of the most important decisions that anyone can make is to consider the products expandability when it comes to music production equipment -- otherwise you end up with racks of devices that just sit there in your studio that never even get their power switch turned on -- as I have seen in soooo many studios around the country.

Best of Luck !! Having said all that, remember this:

Making the music is more important than the stuff to make it -- Mozart had a harpsichord; Beethoven as well, and was almost totally deaf.

[DeniseMusic]

Mr. Snapple,
Thanks for the reply. I ordered a Tascam USB2 last night and I just read your reply now. My decision was based on the features, price and a good bit on customer reviews. There was a firewire in my price range but it had no midi. connection. I never knew about the camcorder thing -that sounds interesting. For just getting a clean recording of my original songs, I think I'll be OK. The unit was $150 (musiciansfriend) and I know that's on the low end but I have to get a new guitar very soon since my Martin has to go to the guitar hospital. I'm also taking voice lessons in NYC as finances permit, (the hotels alone are a chunk of money). So those things must take financial priority. I appreciate the lesson in firewire vs. UBS. I understand now. I have a Dell PC now and I know that it's possible to record on there and I even tried once but it's a source of frustration and eats up time that I don't have. I have high hopes for the iMac as far as ease of use. If I can avoid running to the studio to record rewrites, this will pay for itself in no time. I also look forward to being able to throw in other instrumentation and of course being able to update my website, etc. in record time! This Tascam doesn't have the RCA jacks as I had wanted but I have lots of adapter cables so I might still be able to get some of those old band tapes on CD. Technology is great but I'm finding myself wondering when I can find time to just play music and write!!! Thanks again, I appreciate you taking the time to help and all the others who wrote too.
Sing-cerely,
Denise

[fishboisfo]

When it comes to MIDI, you do not need anything with firewire. MIDI is just data, and extremely light on the processor and baud rate / transfer. There is virtually no "conversion" needed. Edirol makes good, inexpensive interfaces for handling MIDI data. One thing I would recommend to anyone with multiple USB devices is a powered hub. Belkin has then for about 30 - 50 bucks. They are invaluable for the rest of your gear, as a 2.0 USB hub is usually a designated port ( ie, if you have 2 USB ports, usually only one of them is high speed ( 2.0 ) , and the other is not . . . so getting all your gear in to your computer can be a hassle without a powered hub. Not to mention, some USB devices require more power than others, so a non-powered HUB with 3-4 USB devices plugged into it can cause gremlins to creep in to your system during play. . . just more food for thought . . .

[DeniseMusic]

Once again, thank you for all the information. I certainly have a lot to learn. Some of the info is over my head at this point but i will read more on these subjects that you mentioned. The iMac is wonderful. With my former computer I had enough time to go make a cup of tea while I wait for the internet to open. Now I blink and it's there. My interface should be here any day and I'm so anxious to try it out. One thing that i don't like about the iMac is that the sound is poor. I'll have to look into what it takes to hook up other speakers and whether I can use the ones that are connected to my PC (but i kind of doubt it). Take care and thanks again!!! I really appreciate your taking the time to share your expertise.
Denise

[deaconblue]

Once again, thank you for all the information. I certainly have a lot to learn. Some of the info is over my head at this point but i will read more on these subjects that you mentioned. The iMac is wonderful. With my former computer I had enough time to go make a cup of tea while I wait for the internet to open. Now I blink and it's there. My interface should be here any day and I'm so anxious to try it out. One thing that i don't like about the iMac is that the sound is poor. I'll have to look into what it takes to hook up other speakers and whether I can use the ones that are connected to my PC (but i kind of doubt it). Take care and thanks again!!! I really appreciate your taking the time to share your expertise.
Denise

Denise,

Depending on what kind of speakers you're using with your PC, you should be able to use them on your Mac unless they used some proprietary PCI card to connect to.

The iMac's tech specs show a headphone/audio out (mini-jack). This would be the 1/8" stereo plug found on most PC speakers, just plug them in and they should work. If your PC speakers are USB, just plug them in they should work.

Good luck and welcome to making music on a Mac. I think you're going to be very pleasantly surprised.

peace.

[edthened]

Hi:

One that I like, and use pretty much all the time, is a Line 6 product, recently rebranded as the POD Studio KB37, see link: http://line6.com/podstudiokb37/

It is a bit like a Swiss Army knife - it does a lot of things in one package - it does guitar, microphone and line level inputs for recording, and very good quality analogue output/playback (I haven't used the digital output), and then it has the 3-octave keyboard for midi-control. It comes bundled with lots of excellent signal-processing and tone-shaping software, so the price is actually pretty keen, considering what you get in the 'bundle'. I use this unit all the time for recording CDs direct from the DJ booth mixer, and the resulting sound-quality is excellent, especially with a touch of their Vintage Compression to even out the levels.

The down-sides of this integrated solution include: big 'footprint' because of the keyboard; most of the software features are aimed at guitarists or bass players (having said that, the vocal processing and special effects have much wider applications); the keyboard is only 3 octaves, and is the usual 'spring-loaded' experience - no weighted keys at this price point, so if you are a serious keyboard player, you would probably look for a standalone MIDI keyboard/controller; a very limited number of MIDI switches and dials; only one stereo output channel, so if you want to be a digital DJ, using Live, etc., you can't cue up a new track/loop/etc. while playing out a current track (unless you use mono only?); as far as I can tell, you can only use the product on your own, registered computer.

But: If you want a complete home-studio recording set-up that you can tuck under your arm and take with you wherever you go (assuming you remember to bring your computer), this is an excellent little product, and a lot of fun. BTW, I swear I don't work for Line 6!

Another manufacturer that I like a lot is M-Audio, and they seem to have an excellent range of affordable products as well in terms of sound cards, as several other contributors on this thread seem to agree.

It really depends on what you want to do with your mac, and especially if you want to take full advantage of Garageband (it may be 'free', but it is a pro-level piece of software). Decide what ins and outs you really need, set your budget, do some research on the net, and don't be afraid to ask questions when you go to the store.

One last thought - it is never a bad idea to update your speakers, and I would recommend going for 8-inch powered monitors. Not very portable, but if you really want to know what's going on in the bass... Again, I like M-Audio (some people don't) - their new Studiophile BX8a release (the 'Deluxe' version, for some reason) are very nice for the price, loud, fast, great soundstage, and not too fatiguing on the ear - and they are 'proper' monitors: if the original track is good, it will sound good on these speakers, if the original source is bad (distortion, weak production, muddy mixing, etc.) then it will sound equally bad on these speakers. They may not be the best of the best, but unless you have thousands of dollars to spend (including room treatment), they are again a pretty good option.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll see what I can dig out for you.

Have fun!

[FastEddy]

More than a decade ago USB to MIDI interfaces cost more than US$400 ... because both USB and the MIDI chip technology (originally Kawasaki) were brand new. The MIDI chip technology is now available as an after thought in most professional A to D and D to A, ADC and DAC, interfaces.

My advise is not to try to micromanage MIDI to computer interface quality because all the MIDI I/O chips are virtually the same now. USB or FireWire to MIDI is a "pure" digital to digital interface and is often a part of the main chip in the interface.

Get an external audio interface that includes MIDI.

IMOP and that of most professional musicians is that FireWire connected audio devices are the best: best performance, widest bandwidth, etc.

So get an external audio interface with input and output, analog to digital / digital to analog, that is FireWire connected and includes MIDI I/O.

===

Mercenary announcement: This is my company's web page listing for FireWire to professional 24 bit analog I/O interfaces and all include MIDI, 'cause all professional studio equipment requires it: http://firewirestuff.com/audio.html

This post has been edited by FastEddy: Tue 5 May 2009, 16:31

[DeniseMusic]

I plugged in the speakers from my PC and for once I got to say, "that was easy!" I'm still waiting for my interface to arrive. Hopefully I'll get to use that phrase again when i hook it up to record.
Thanks everyone!!!!!

[FastEddy]

" ... The main difference/issue was one of stability. USB in the "Beginning" was not as reliable as "Firewire". My knowledge is based on what was several years ago. I am certain USB has fixed this problem, still I would recommend Firewire... "

Demise: There is absolutely nothing wrong with most modern USB connected "sound cards" and other USB 2.0 connected audio devices.

"In the beginning" USB was not as fast as FireWire or as reliable. Now USB 2.0 connected audio interfaces ("sound cards") are every bit as good as any FireWire device ... IF these are used only as a playback devices.

There is a peculiar wrinkle that USB has that FireWire does not. This is the USB "latency" problem that troubles professional musicians and recording studio engineers the most (long technical details go here). Suffice to say that, if you are a pro singing into a microphone and listening to the other tracks on your headset, there is a slight but bothersome delay that will throw a professional's timing off ... FireWire does not have this problem (more techie details go here).

For us mortal lay listeners, most modern USB 2.0 connected sound equipment can and does playback and reproduce full 24 bit / 96k / Dolby 5.1 and 192k MP3 sound files. The "magic" specification is that 24 bit / 96k number = full fidelity, and about as good as it gets, even from DVD-Audio and DVD-Video tracks.

This same "magic" specification applies to those built in and plug in sound cards: the 24 bit / 96k playback is the base line for modern, quality audio playback.

(As for the 16bit / 44k CD music that most of us listen to, well, as Bob Dylan has said in Rolling Stone Magazine: "CD's suck" and that difference IMOP and His is the 24 bit magic.)

This post has been edited by FastEddy: Wed 6 May 2009, 22:18

[DeniseMusic]

Got the Tascam interface today and was able to record a guitar and vocal track on garageband. Seems like a small accomplishment for some but not me - it was a big one. Took a little while to figure out a few things but the recording came out very clean. I just used my stage mic, a Beta 87A, and it worked great. I understand the latency issue but there is a dial on the unit to combine the computer signal with the input signal . So when i sang over the guitar track, I turned it so I could hear the input more and that seemed to work fine. What is helping the most is that I've been in real studios lots of times and watched and asked questions so at least I know how to do a few things. I didn't know why some beginnings and endings of words were getting cut off and then I accidentally adjusted the gate and solved the issue.
Hopefully this wasn't beginners luck. I am going to try adding bass and maybe keyboards tomorrow. Take care!