What is best way to connect comp like a stereo if I
 

need the following functions: (i have a G4 with OSX)

1) Bring the output of the computer (itunes cd player etc) to a regular stereo amplifier so i can listen to it in the same way i do with records, tapes or cd's.. these players are already connected to the amp. What kind of cables software do i need?

2) Record and playback the output of any unit to the computer with a digital coaxial (i probably need a better amp for that) If RCA cables are impossible then what kind of adaptor/ cables do i need?

3) Record stuff with the compueter like you can do with a non-comp cd recorder, track by track. My main concern is having immediate control over the recording level and having a way to clip the beginnings and ends of the tracks, on the fly, or not on the fly, i guess, with software. which software/ cables should i use?

thanks:cool:

#1 is easy. Go to any drugstore/Radio Shack and get a $5 cable with mini stereo 1/8" plug on one end for the G4 audio out, and on the other end it has 2 RCAs for the stereo input. This is the same type of cable sold for years to attach a Walkman or portable CD player to a stereo.

1. styrafome's answer to #1 should work with any "G4 with OSX". If you tell us a lot more about which G4 you have (remember, that there are PowerMac G4s, iMac G4s, iBook G4s, PowerBook G4s, PowerMac Cubes, eMac G4s, and XServe G4s--and many different versions of each of those models--so G4 doesn't really tell us much) we might be able to give you even other options for #1.

2. Please tell us exactly what specific devices you are wanting to use, and a lot more detail about exactly you want to do with it.

If by digital coaxial, you mean S/PDIF over 75 ohm copper cable, then you should know that no Mac ever has had this connector built-in, although there are lots of ways to use S/PDIF on a Mac with various third party solutions.

3. There are lots of excellent programs for this. Probably the most famous is Pro Tools, but there are LOTS of other programs to do this, including the free Audacity.

Trevor

I've bypassed the cables and am using an airport express to which to send iTunes signals to the stereo across the room, while also outputting the music through the Harmon Kardon speakers hooked directly into my G4 Mac mini. Works very well.

I have a feeling that you plan is to record tapes, records etc. You should do it without amp. Try to plug them directly to your mac. Just get right cables. If you are concerned about the quality (ie. digital coaxial cable) you should not worry about it, because your equipment puts out analog signal in fist place. You will make it digital in the mac.
ProTools may be a good app, but it works only with specific hardware. Unless you are professional sound editor or musician you shouldn't pay that much for a simple recording tool. Its like buying a fancy car to listen its radio.
I use and like the simplicity of Sound Studio 3.

wow
 

Whoa! you guys are all kinds of help!

Trevor,
The G4 I have is a desktop G4, i think it is "dual", and it is one of the blue ones. It' ll have... like, 512 RAM or something.

My audio digital coaxial in/out (on a musical instrument) is listed as being '24-bit S/PDIF I/O', not sure what the ohms is.. the midi keyboard instrument is just one more device i want to connect to the computer, but considering I will have a special interface for that unit and it's software, i won't need to ask about how to connect MIDI, HOWEVER, i could still theoretically use a digital coaxial like the one mentioned above (I probably would need a better amp though) and have phono, tape, cd or radio signals fed through that cable from the amp if i want to record, or maybe playback from the comuter (how would that work, anyway?.... with 2 cables one for in and out?... Or, one cable for both in and out??) . This would all be nice because supposedly that is a better cable than an RCA.. (?)

Johngtp,
I heard that wireless speakers are a bad idea.

Vanakaru,
You make a few good points about Protools, but incidentally, i will be buying the LE version of that program for myself as a christmas present! :eek:
You are wrong on a few points... where did you get the impression that everything i record is coming from analog sources? Half of it is probably digital, (sometimes midi data).
I have the amp for three reasons:

1) One is that combining both analog and digital (and midi data, when the midi workstation is taken into consideration) is central to what is being recorded.

2) The amp is central to every unit in the room! (TV sound, too)

3) The amp must be used to power ANY of these analogue units (if i want to try and make them recordable anyway)
So even if there WAS a secret way to power all those units (tape deck, cd burner, turntable) with a G4's CPU in/outs, I couldnt do it without stringing more than a dozen twenty foot cables across the room. :cool:

OK, thanks. Since you have a PowerMac G4, you have the option of a PCI card. For just one example, you could try the M-Audio Audiophile 192, which offers 192 KHz, 24 bit processing, S/PDIF I/O on the same kind of jack you have on the musical instrument, 16 channel MIDI I/O, and a bunch more features, plus is compatible with Pro Tools M-Powered (very similar to Pro Tools LE, except it works with M-Audio gear). If you want a slightly different feature set (like more analog inputs), there are several other choices as well.

Also, you could look at FireWire interfaces, but the lowest latency solution, and the cheapest since you have available PCI slots, will be with PCI. However, there are some really cool FW interfaces available.

Trevor

I'm not completely understanding your sentence, but there are lots of ways (and they aren't secret) to get lots and lots of analog, digital, and MIDI signals into a computer at one time. And even some non-secret solutions for getting a lot of signals across a room without leaving dozens of cables on the floor. Feel free to ask the questions--don't assume you are stuck with something. Just make sure to give us all of the details.

Trevor

thanks trevor,
i can be vague sometimes.
your answer implies that i can have signals from tape deck, cd, radio, record (thats 4 different units, 5 including the workstation) all running through one chord, which is what i want to do, actually. i'm just not sure what kind of chord that needs to be, or where to plug in the in and out. thanks.

oh yeah, the protools version is just LE with mbox, the bare minimum, which is the $500 version.

Audiophile 192: $179.97
Pro Tools M-Powered Academic (if you're a student or teacher): $149.97
Pro Tools M-Powered (if you're not a student or teacher): $249.97

Total cost for a student: $329.94.
Total cost for a non-student: $429.94.

Signals running from tape deck, CD, Radio, Record, and workstation, going to WHERE? Do you need the signals separate so they can be manipulated individually, or mixed together?

Trevor

Oh, sorry man,,, to the computer! Looks like I will need to make it clear that i will be doing one of TWO things, each process requiring a different hookup...
If I'm recording my own stuff into a program like Protools.. I must use a Protools dedicated interface like (the Mbox). If i am not using the mbox, then
I need to have a way to record these analog and digital signals to things like itunes, audacity, soundforge, ..those programs normally to not require you to use a special interface,, but i guess in that instance you are stuck having to use the 1/8" stereo jacks.. and I'm looking for something a little more hefty for high quality sound recording.
like a coaxial, or wicked nice RCA's
You seem interested in my recording style so to enlighten you
i do not mix anything live really, unless it's a single track.. I just sample this or that, and shoot it over prerecorded for an allignment. everything is totally compartmentalized in the recording process.
Yours was an important question that i completely overlooked because i forgot that every one uses audio editing programs in a different ways. (when you are solo you usually wind up using the same method i do, though)
I have one really big question left and it looks like i will have to post some other time after that.. cause i'm getting long winded.
and that is,
do you think you could use the Protools mbox as an interface to get signals into your computer to programs other than Protools, would be nice if you could...

OK, I'm not sure what the workstation is if you don't mean the computer, but if I understand this correctly, you want to send four sets of stereo analog signals (tape deck, radio, CD player and record player) and one set of stereo digital signals (workstation?) into the computer all at the same time?

(Fine print: the output of a record player has an unusual EQ curve called the RIAA curve. If you have the right plugin, you can correct for that in software, although the more common method is to hook a record player up to an amplifier that has a "Phono" input that corrects the RIAA curve.)

Then, check out the Delta 1010LT: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...10LT-main.html

It has 8 analog in and 8 analog out, plus stereo digital in and out.

If you can spend a little extra, check out the Delta 1010 (not LT): http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...1010-main.html

Both work with Pro Tools M-Powered, so you don't need an MBox. It also works with pretty much any other professional audio application for the Mac, so you can use Live, or Reason, or Cubase, or Garage Band, or Audacity, or whatever you want.

Well, the answer is yes, but unfortunately it works very badly. Digidesign has a CoreAudio Driver Patch for ProTools LE: http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...ad%20coreaudio

Unfortunately, everyone I know who uses it complains incessantly about it while it's installed, and eventually removes it from their system. I believe it causes a ton of instability. At least that's what I've heard--I don't use LE.

Trevor

So what kind of cables and ins/outs am i supposed to use with the amp and the computer?

If you don't get an audio card or audio interface, and assuming that your amp uses RCA inputs, then a stereo 1/8th inch (3.5mm) jack to dual RCA. Styrafome told you this in post #2.

Trevor

yes, i am aware of that fact , however, my question was can i use an mbox interface (with Protools closed), bypassing the need for another soundcard?

The mbox IS a soundcard, albeit one that (practically) only works with Pro Tools, and has a bad USB latency.

If you like bad (i.e. long) latency, then use a USB interface like the MBox. If you like a good (i.e. short) latency, then use a PCI card. FireWire is somewhere in between--much better than USB, but not as good as PCI. If you have a computer without any expansion slots, like a MacBook, then a FireWire interface is the best bet.

If you really really want something that says "MBox" on it, at least get the MBox 2 Pro, which is a FireWire interface instead of a USB interface.

Trevor

welllll, the thing is, your ordinary amp (like mine, which is very ordinary, but works) does not have a way to transmit sound from all these different types of units (tape deck, turntable, cd player, tuner) via usb or firwire. Should i just buy some sort of decked-out amplifier?? in fact most or all of these units only have a rca or a coaxial at best... usb and firewire is mostly for tramsmitting data files, that are transmitted and then opened up later on the CPU. i could be mistaken, but i don't think you can use either one to hear and record stuff, just to transmit data files.

Assuming your amp is an ordinary consumer amp, it should have stereo RCA outputs. Just connect those RCA outputs to the inputs on your computer, or your soundcard, or your interface.

Trevor

yeah, but for a "consumer amp", is the best way rca's? or do i have options that I would be better oof with using a G4 or a G4 with a soundcard?

What amp is it? If all you have is RCA outputs on the amp, and you want to use this amp, then the best way is of necessity RCAs. What other choice is there?

Trevor

well trevor,
you've got your RCA's, your digital coaxials (PCM bitstream),
your digital optical CD outputs, digital DVD/LD coaxial, various
S-Video, FM coaxials, component, HDMI, RS, outs, preouts,
TV/ DBS digital, and don't forget serial pins. :(

but the amp i use now does not have most of these things,
just RCA mostly. i was wondering if any of those things would
come in handy though?

'Digital coaxial', which is S/PDIF over copper, and 'optical CD', which is S/PDIF over optical, and sometimes also called 'Toslink', can come in handy if you have an interface or card that will accept them. S-Video, component, HDMI, DBS digital, are all video formats, not audio formats, and won't do any good.

I have no idea what DVD/LD, FM coaxial, or RS are.

Trevor

thanks....