Best place for new PC

thomasross20

Something's definitely not right with the Toneport -> Mac interface as the hum is ridiculous and when I try to "learn hum" in Gearbox so it can try to cancel it out, the MacBook restarts!

John_P

Nice work getting a decent laptop - makes sense to get a half decent interface as well though.  The steinberg cheap ones are ok,  I was using a ur22  with my macbook air for a while (a ur12 is even cheaper - £62 at thoman).       or spend a little more an get an Apogee - I've only read great reviews from people using them with a macbook. 

thomasross20

Apogee eh? Jam looks good!! Good shout, will look into this more. 

I think my H2n mic can go straight into the MacBook so will just need a simple jack in device like the Jam. 

Might be just what I'm looking for!

The bummer is, the Toneport Ux2 is a solid piece of kit. I must check as maybe it's just the software that isn't supported (but I doubt it)

Apogee Jam 96k is £130. Seems very expensive compared to Focusrite gear?? Looks like the Apogee stuff is only meant to work with Garageband (at first inspection, anyway)

I hate all this guff. Feels like I need to spend a million bucks and there's no winning option - I just want to record songs! 

ToneControl

ToneControl

thomasross20 said:

Serious? I thought the Focusrite solo was built for guitar in?

here's the thread from a way back:   http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/48363/i-o-for-macbook-12-usb-2-or-3-i-assume#latest

btw read this:  http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/threads/help-focusrite-scarlett-clipping-problems.796363/

for the 2i2:

http://simplehomerecording.com/2014/09/25/focusrite-scarlett-2i2-review/

this review has more details about the problem, and the impedance switch 

I looked the specs up for you, the guitar DI specs are:

Focusrite scarlett 2i2:    Max Input Level +4dBu

2i4:   Max Input Level +3dBu   (+13dBu pad in)

Solo:   Max. Input level +15 dBu

so not as bad for the solo

BUT it doesn't state the input impedance for the Solo

you need to worry about this on IO boxes - this has been a massive problem on many IO boxes for ever - many have input impedance only suited to active pickups or synth outputs. If you have a low impedance, it sucks all the tone from your guitar (not a little bit, a huge amount - it makes £300 pickups sound like those £5 Chinese sets on an £80 guitar)

All advice seems to says at least 1M ohm is needed

http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=1130159&Main=1088812

I looked up the manual for the solo, it says   >500 kohms

http://d3se566zfvnmhf.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/focusrite/downloads/8183/itrack-solo-user-guide-03.pdf

remember there's no impedance switch like on the 2i2

for the NI one, they have been producing one of the top 5 guitar amp sims for many years, and matching "Guitar Rig" USB IO units to match, so they are certain to be familiar with the problems of guitar DI, I checked the spec:

it does state 1 MOhm, unbalanced

as well as that, the KA6 comes in the top latency rankings, almost the highest non-firewire unit, beating much more expensive units

also- don't buy the presonus Audio USB. It doesn't work on the latest macs

this is the flipside of macs, everything is more predictable and simple using your Mac,but it has much less backward compatibility than windows - this comes as a surprise to longstanding windows users 

My advice is:

Focusrite have completely messed up the Guitar DI headroom on most of their current budget range, it looks as though the 500k impedance will also affect tone. I think they can't be trusted at present, and I'd avoid the Solo

I went through the selection 2-3 months ago, and the KA6 had way more facilities for £139 list price at present

I think the IO on the Solo could be a problem later - sooner or later you'll need stereo mics

Jalapeno

You might need Soundflower, audio router for playback/record,  depends what Traktion can do on Mac

Another +1 on Apogee gear.

thomasross20

@Jalapeno - what do yuo actually use?

Soundflower? OK I'll check that out. Without you having told me, I wouldn't have known about that at all. 

Apogee looks great BUT I read it's only made for Garageband !? I'd get the Aopgee stuff if I knew it'd work with Tracktion. 

@ToneControl - many thanks! I'll steer clear of the Focusrite gear, which is surprising given the good reviews it gets. I did think something was up after reading all those dodgy reviews. 

I just read that the input impedance on the Line 6 UX1 and UX2 is 1Mohm - honestly, the reason I bought the UX2 in the first place was because I knew the hardware would work and you got the software for free!! Software I'm sure isn't as good as others... cleans are good on Pod Farm but distortion is a tad lacking. 

KA6 - so this is what you've got? 

ToneControl mentioned Amplitube 4 in another thread and on their site they advertise iRig devices. Will look into this. 

There appear to be major problems unfortunately with Mac OSX and Toneport right now just looking at the forums. 

thomasross20

One of the things I like about boxes like the Toneport is that you can montior what you're recording from the Toneport itself so next to no latency. If you use the Apogee you monitor through the laptop speakers. Does that introduce any noticeable latency?

ToneControl

thomasross20 said:

@ToneControl - many thanks! I'll steer clear of the Focusrite gear, which is surprising given the good reviews it gets. I did think something was up after reading all those dodgy reviews. 

I just read that the input impedance on the Line 6 UX1 and UX2 is 1Mohm - honestly, the reason I bought the UX2 in the first place was because I knew the hardware would work and you got the software for free!! Software I'm sure isn't as good as others... cleans are good on Pod Farm but distortion is a tad lacking. 

KA6 - so this is what you've got? 

ToneControl mentioned Amplitube 4 in another thread and on their site they advertise iRig devices. Will look into this. 

There appear to be major problems unfortunately with Mac OSX and Toneport right now just looking at the forums. 

yes, I have a KA6

I did buy an early iRig btw, the amplitube sounds were awful on the iPad

I am not sure if they have improved, but they were nothing like the win/mac amplitube

Axe_meister

Have you thought about the Roland duo-capture

thomasross20

Nope, another one to check now