Hi
I've been surfing the net to find a USB MIDI interface which will work with my Intel iMac using 10.5. I'm a bit confused and would welcome any advice.

I would like to connect my Yamaha PSR 550 to the Mac and use Garageband. I also have an acoustic guitar and would like to buy a mic and also be able to connect this and also record vocals. I think I need a 'condensor' mic for this?

So in short, I need a USB Midi device with Mic for vocal (and mic for acoustic guitar without a pickup), and Midi input.

I would rather spend a bit more on something with all these features than a 1 MIDI in/ 1 MIDI out cheapo wire, but I don't want to end up paying for things I will never use as a beginner amateur.

I've seen some bad feedback on some models which don't yet have drivers for 10.5.

Can anyone help recommend some hardware?! Thanks in advance.

Hannah

Hannah,

It all boils down to money and how much of it you want to spend.

You can get a nice breakout box which will do both and give you a lot of flexibility, like the MOTU Ultralite Mk3, but you'll spend about $550.00 for one at Musician's Friend.

There are cheaper solutions as well. I have used the MOTU hardware for the last 9 years and been very happy with it. M-Audio has some good hardware, as does Alesis and Presonus (I have some of each of these for different applications).

What is your ballpark that you are looking to spend. Since features are pretty much "solid midi", USB/FireWIre connectivity and a Mic Pre (or two), your budget will be the biggest determining factor.

Hope that helps.

peace.

Hello Hannah, musiciansfriend is a good store, however, it really does depend on what you are willing to spend, might I suggest that you check out the Tascam line of interfaces
I have been using one for some years now and it's been very reliable, and did not break the bank, plus, if you are thinking of running an external instrument into Garageband, then
you will need an Audio/midi interface not just midi..
I hope this helps.
Will

Hello,
My computer wouldn't let me start a new topic ? so I'm tagging onto this one.

I have been poking around on this site for some info on interfaces. And I wonder if someone can help me. Can anyone describe the difference between firewire and usb interfaces? I don't undertand much about this. Here's the story.
I have a new iMac on the way and plan to use it for recording. I am a performing songwriter and I want to be able to record my rewrites and have a clean recording. Nothing spectacular. I don't care if I can do two tracks simultaneously or not. I will be recording vocals with a Beta 87A, acoustic guitar, electric bass, and maybe a little electric guitar. I'd like an interface that's #1 easy to use, #2 compatible with Garageband 09 , #3 has an XLR input w/ phantom power, #4 1/4" input, #5 is reliable, #6 would be a bonus if I could hook up a cassette player to transfer old band tapes to CD. I have a MIDI keyboard but I already have a MIDI to USB cable that should work if the unit isn't MIDI capable. I will primarily be using these recordings for critiques and rewrites.
I have no interest in learning any more about recording at home because I have two kids and very little time. I have a wonderful professional studio that I will return to when the time comes to record for real and I'll be glad to pay them to do it!!

I have seen several interfaces on musiciansfriend and other sites. CME Matrix Firewire Audio Matrix, Edirol UA -4FX USB Audio Capture Interface, Lexicon Lambda USB, and I know there are several others out there. Then I came across someone talking about firewire vs USB and here I am, confused. Thanks for the help!
Denise

Denise... 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...

If in doubt, RECORD on your Computer then TRANSFER DATA. It's an extra Step, but it's Stable.

Hi Denise
I use a Saffire Firewire LE interface with Garageband. It does all the things you ask for and comes with some nice DSP plugins. Reccomend.

hello from what i understand you just need something inexpensive to use for you demos
most usb interface is much less expensive than a firewire interface
the different is just the ports and speed or transfer rate
usb 2 is just as fast as firewire 400 but firewire 800 is faster than usb 2
don't be confuse because all firewire interface uses fire 400
so you may want to look into buying maybe an mbox or Edirol UA -4FX USB , or saffire LE, Maudio
OR any inexpensive interface there are a lot out there google and check them out
i hope this helps

Thank you!! So much to learn-so little time... I had not run across the Saffire firewire and I am going to check that one out now . I have read lots of reviews and there seem to always be one or two bad reviews in a sea of good ones for many of the interfaces. I think I'll go with Firewire. Now I just have to choose which one.
I appreciate the help!

Hi Denise,

For your purposes, either USB or Firewire should work fine. If I were in your position, I would shop for the feature syour are seeking. Find a unit that has XLR, phantom power, 1/4 inch and RCA inputs. I seem to recall a USB mixer that worked for that, I believe Alesis made it. Regarding firewire vs. USB, Firewire is a faster transfer, and provides slight gains in latency. But, for 1 or two channel recording on a new iMac, the measures are really meaningless.

More important to your search will be to ensure that your interface has drivers that are compatible with OSX 10.5. Make sure of that before you buy. If you are anywhere near an Apple store, I have found the employees at all the store to be very helpful in finding good products.

Good luck.

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.

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

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 . . .

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.

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!

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

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!!!!!

" ... 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.)

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!