[stevefrehley]

i'm new here and perhaps this question has been asked a million times. i have an emac and i'm trying to record my electric guitar with an imic. i can't seem to get any sound out of it though. i've put all the sound inputs to the imic option (system prefs and gb prefs). i get a humming noise, but no sound from the guitar. the guitar cable and guitar both work fine. the drum loops work, i can hear them fine, but no guitar. i've set the monitor to on, and i've done everything else that i've found through searching the net. i still can't get anything to happen. any suggestions? i'm getting super frustrated here!!! help!
also, do i even need the imic to record, or can i plug directly in to the audio in on my emac?
thanks a lot.

[oaktown]

I have also had trouble with the imic. try goimg direct into the mac. make sur that your mute is off, mon on etc....
this should work. also check your input level in sys prefs.
cheers

[mPm]

iMic is designed to work with either line-level or mic-level sources direct to iMic and outputted over USB.
I am not sure if instrument-level equipment,such as electric basses or guitars, pedal steel guitars, violins, etc., produce a strong enough signal on their own from just the the guitar jack to the iMic because the guitar's electro-mechanical coil pickups and/or piezoelectric pickups send out a very weak signal and need to be amplified first.
I would try plugging in your guitar through a guitar amp first, then, if the guitar amp has line output, send this to the iMic,instead.
Also, remember to set the iMic's switch to line-in (the speaker icon) and not set for mic-level input.
/forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[mPm]

Another solution that I just bought and you could purchase and try is the iStudioLink 12ft. instrument cable from Monster Cable ($29.99 US). It is designed to be plugged in directly into your Mac as is supposed to work with any instument or audio device with a 1/4" output jack.
I bough this and the Monster Cable iStudioLink 12ft. mic cable ($29.99 US) so I could use high end mics with XLR connectors to directly record to my Mac. Bought the insrument cable to record directly audio from both keyboard synthesizers and my own electric-acoustic guitar.
These are supposed to work without help of any other needed signal level boost devices and can be plugged directly int the Mac's audio line-in port.

[BigFatDuck]

correct me if i'm wrong, but those appear to be simply cable adapters (1/4" to 1/8"). that's fine in that it will allow you to plug directly into the mac's 1/8 input, but that isn't going to do anything to help boost the level of the input. in other words, unless i'm missing something you still need an amp.

[mPm]

I just purchased these and haven't put them to the test, but the documentation on the backs of these cables says direct plug and play to the Mac from any audio source. XLR mics can use a special electrical step-up transformer adapter that bridges the XLR connection/connector to a 1/4" line that boosts the signal electronically through the cable/adapter without any type of extra special external power boost or phantom power.
Radio Shack sells these.
My guess is with the iLink cables, this step-up transformer adapter is built into the cable itself and is not an add-on other than the 1/8" adapter that is strictly for connection compatibilty to the Mac.

[Obeen]

I have a problem that is somewhat similar.

I have a usb microphone and a guitar plugged into the port on the back of my imac with the symbol of, a circle with two inwardly facing, filled in triangles on top of it.

I want to be able to record with both at the same time, but i dont know how to.

when i have a track for just the guitar it works but when i make another track and plug in the microphone both tracks record the microphone.