How to record onto a computer without a soundcard

[Shibby]

Hey,

I want to start recording but i'm not sure how too. I was told to get a four track and plug it into my soundcard. The only problem is that my computer doesn't have a soundcard. I have a mac ibook. Can anyone help me, does anyone have experience with macs? I think most macs don't have soundcards and i know that macs are used alot for recording so i know that there must be a way.

thanx,
the shibster

Don't let the pixies kill you

[TomN]

I'm not familiar with Macs, but I can't see how you can record without a soundcard.

Can you listen to music now on you Mac?
If you can than it must have some kind of soundcard, but maybe not in the way we think of one that's in an IBM type.

I also don't know what your friend meant by plugging a 4 track into your PC. If you have a 4 Track that is all you need to record.
The only thing I can think of, is he was thinking of a 4 Channel mixer to use.

If you can't set up your PC to do it, Boss makes a really cool multi-track the BR-532, it has 4 TRacks, plus Stereo drums built in that don't tie up any of the 4 tracks, plus built in Guitar effects and amp simulation.
For around 300 bucks new.

I was thinking about getting one, but I will probably go the PC route myself.

[Shibby]

well, maybe it wasn't a four track but it was something that u plugged into the mic jac on ur computer. I'll look into the BR-532, thanx


lata

[b3n]

If your computer has a mic jack then it has a soundcard - you can use this to record your guitar directly into the computer (with an adapter for the jack) or run through a mixer (ie Guitar > Mixer > Computer. Grab Acid Xpress or similar software and play around with it a bit (and make sure the microphone is set to 'on' on the computer). You should be able to get some half decent sounds with some experimentation...

b3n

[tiredollie]

There's some software thats just been released for the mac, umm, garageband, i think, its about £40 and is ment to be very good, its by apple so look on the site.

[gtrhrcane]

Just make sure you go in and set your volume levels for recording on the MAC. I use a PC myself, but the MIC jacls seem to be set a little on the hot side.

[100%TEXAN]

There's some software thats just been released for the mac, umm, garageband, i think, its about £40 and is ment to be very good, its by apple so look on the site.


A friend of mine has Garage Band. I thought he told me it was like ACID Pro - loop based stuff. Dunno if you can record with that or not. Definitly check their websit tho . .

Your MAC probably has Firewire and/or USB ports. There are tons of Firewire and USB port recording device (most of which also have a MIDI interface) that are relatively inexpensive. Also, they are much better suited for music applications than the sound chip built into your MAC . . .

[Shibby]

oh yeah thanks guys, i asked this over a year ago. lol. i've since gotten an mbox. so i'm okay in the recording department. :riff: