Garage Band and M-Track

[Kim Davidson]

Has anyone tried recording to garage band through an M-Track/M-Audio? I have a pick-up in my harp and figured that I could hook up like an electric guitar or piano would. I am not able to get a signal. Any suggestions?

[adam-b-harris]

What sort of pick up do you have on your harp? You may need to use an additional preamp between the harp and the recording interface.

Maybe the recording interface isn’t set up correctly, if you can’t do this yourself ask a friend to try recording an electric guitar or keyboard through there and see if it works.

Can’t really tell without being there, hope this starts you off.

regards
adam

[Kim Davidson]

Thanks Adam! I’m not sure what my pick-up is – I’ve had it for over 15 years, can’t remember what brand…. I’ll take the M-Track to the local music store and have them check it out first (I bought it on E-Bay).

Do you record and if so, what do you use? Thanks for your time!!

[adam-b-harris]

Yes, I’ve recorded half a dozen harp based albums plus demos and have done a bit of playing on other peoples records. I use more a traditional recording studio setup with separate control room and performance areas, mixing desk, outboard effects and reel to reel tape player at times. So its very old school. I don’t do much with software except a bit of editing.

Whatever is wrong with your setup is probably something very simple, success could even be one mouse click away. Its just a matter of testing each part of the gear and finding where the fault is ie could be:

a) sound on the computer isn’t working.
b) your software isn’t set up correctly (ie tracks need arming etc)
c) There is something wrong with your audio interface or its connection to the computer. Does the computer recognise it as being there?
d) You may been an additional preamp between the pickup and the audio interface.
e) The pickup isn’t working.
f) the harp isn’t working.

I’m thinking the problem is somewhere between b) and d).

Once you get it reliably set up you should have no problems for a long time.

You might want to ask these questions on a recording forum rather than a harp forum. There could be some setup quirk common to Garageband that the regular users on that forum will be familiar with.

Good luck with it.

[Daniel]

Just in case you haven’t solved your problem yet: You have to choose the input you want to use on your Mac (or in Garage Band, I don’t remember). Did you use the “Guitar Input” on the M-Track?

[Kim Davidson]

Thanks for the reply, Daniel! I’d did get it working – I think the problem was/is a faulty or loose wire.

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