I purchased M-Audio's Fast Track USB audio port on the Internet to use with my acoustic guitar, mandolin, and banjo. I also wanted to use it with a microphone as well. My software of choice is GarageBand 2.0 that comes with iLife 2005 from Apple.

Setting up this device was frustrating and the documentation for it is so scant that one cannot really tell what the knobs or for or how one can use them effectively. I had to learn bit by bit from M-Audio Tech Support. The first person Ireached twice in the same day and he was rude, arrogant, and not at all helpful. He made me fell like an ass for even asking for help and derided me bcause I was a newbie and knew nothing. Therefore, I did get a few angry snippets about how the thing worked and had to surmise the rest, which I got wrong!

First of all, each of the knobs is used for specific things. The first knob, "mic input" is specifically for that purpose only--it is to control the volume of the microphone and is on what is called "Channel 1." The second knob, "mix" is used for the instrument input and needs to be set at 12 o'clock to work properly with your instrument. The "mono/stereo" button does as it says and has no effect whatsoever on any other knob's or button's performance. The headphone 1/8" jack is clearly labeled and only what is going through the unit and anything coming from the computer, like iTunes or system sounds and all that.

Well, I learned about the Fast Track and then, when I plugged in my guitar, I could only ger a whisper of sound from my acoustic guitar with a Markley pickup. So, I tried my mandolin and got the same result. I remember when I talked with the first rude guy from M-Audio that I asked him whether or not I neede a preamp. He told me that I did not and that all of my equpment was fine and, as I said earlier, he was rude, brusk and let me know that all of my equipment was fine. However, when I called back today, I got a really cool guy who went through my setup with me and all that. When my guitar would not go through, he had thought that mine was an "electric" guitar as that is waht the Fast Track was made for. Damn, there is NOTHING in all of the documentation or on the web site that said what kind of a guitar it should be.

Well, this cool guy told me, as I had suspected, that I needed a preamp so that my guitar, mandolin and banjo would work. He recommended the "Audio Buddy" also made by M-Audio. So, I got it, hooked it up, tried my acoustic guitar and what wonderful, smooth music came into and out of GarageBand! Everything was finally working!

Well, I hope that this will help any of you using a Fast Track and acoustic instruments to set up your system for GarageBand under Tiger and wish you the best in your music making.

Well, I guess that this should be enough for now and I gotta get back to laying down a few tracks.

Take good care, keep the faith, and make sweet music. Also, remember that FOLK ROCKS!!!

Anyse

I am sorry. When you do use an instrument in the Guitar plugin, you also have to have GarageBand set up for your instrument on Channel 2 in your "real instrument" setup.

Your post was great and it definitely had more instruction on how to use the Fast Track than any of the documentation that came with the thing. I experienced (and still am dealing with) the same low guitar sound that you had. After reading your post, I went to the M-Audio web site to look up the Audio Buddy, with the intent of purchasing it.

If you look at their site, not only do they specifically state that the Fast Track is designed for acoustic guitars, but they also state that the Fast Track has a pre-amp built right in!!! I bought the Fast Track at an Apple Store, and was told the same thing... that the pre-amp was built into the interface and that it would work great with acoustic guitars.

It kills me that I have to spend another $100+ to get something that I was told I already bought. I wonder if anyone else has been successful in using the Fast Track without an additional pre-amp in place. Anyone?