Guitars, basses, microphones, keyboards, digital music players, home stereos, and speakers—these are just a few of the devices that you can connect to your Mac. Whether you're a musician or a music fan, here's how to connect some audio and music devices to your Mac, and how to set them up for use.
If you want to record instruments on your Mac, using USB or FireWire audio interface devices is the easiest and fastest way to get started! A variety of products are available to hook up your music gear, such as XLR, 1/4 inch phono, RCA jacks, and MIDI.
This USB controller (the M-Audio Ozone) features a built-in audio interface,
and supports a wide range of connectors.
For the serious musician, check out the USB and FireWire audio interface devices from M-Audio, Edirol, MOTU, and Digidesign. If you're more of a hobbyist, Griffin Technology and M-Audio have audio interfaces that are affordable, Griffin even has a few that connect to your computer's audio input port—if your Mac has one).
Once you've got an audio interface device, here's how to connect it to your Mac and set it up for use.
- Follow the setup instructions that came with your audio interface device and install the software drivers first.
- If you have a USB audio interface, connect it to a USB port on your computer, using the cable that came with your device. If you have a FireWire audio interface, attach it to your computer's FireWire port, using the appropriate FireWire cable.
- Turn on your audio interface, if it needs to be powered.
- To make your Mac use your interface as its audio input, open System Preferences from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
- Click Sound to display the Sound preferences pane.
- Click the Input tab.
- Click your audio interface in the list to select it for use. Note: Don't see your interface in the list? Be sure that you've installed the driver.
While you'll get the best audio quality if you connect an audio interface to your Mac, only an audio interface can provide the preamp boost needed to bring up audio levels for instruments and mics. If you don't have one but your Mac does have a 1/8-inch audio input port, you can still attach a guitar, bass, or microphone, for example, either a professional model with an XLR connector or one that has a 1/4-inch plug to your Mac.
You'll need a 1/8-inch stereo mini plug to 1/4-inch phono adapter to bridge the connection from computer to guitar, bass, or mic with 1/4-inch phono connector, or a 1/8-inch stereo mini plug to XLR connector adapter for professional mics. Many professional mics are condenser designs that require 48-volt phantom power. These will not work plugged directly into the audio input of the computer, unfortunately, even with the stereo mini to XLR adapter cable.
For the cables you can check out the Monster iStudioLink, Monster iStudioLink Microphone, Griffin GarageBand Guitar Cable or Microphone Cable, or visit your local electronics or computer store for compatible cables and adapters.
Once you've got an adapter, just connect the 1/8-inch mini plug end to your computer's audio input port and the other end to your instrument or mic. Then open System Preferences from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, click Sound, click the Input tab, and make sure that the audio Line In is the selected input device.
To use your computer's audio input port as a sound input,
select it in the Sound Input pane of System Preferences.
If you have a USB music keyboard or controller, you can easily connect it to your Mac and set it up for use. If you have a MIDI keyboard, you will need an audio interface that features a MIDI In and Out port; see "Attach an Audio Interface," above. Just install the driver for your device, restart your computer, then connect the keyboard to a USB port on your Mac. Open System Preferences from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, click Sound, click the Input tab, and select your keyboard controller in the list to make it the sound input source.
Whether you have an iPod or other digital music player, you need to connect it to your computer if you want to fill it with tunes. To do this, first install the software that came with your player, for example, iPod comes with iTunes software, so install it before connecting the device if you don't have it already. Then connect your player to the appropriate port on your Mac—either the FireWire or USB port—and you're good to go.
If you want to digitize your vinyl record or cassette tape collection, you can connect your home stereo to your computer and use audio recording software such as GarageBand to record the music on your Mac. To do this, you will need a USB or FireWire audio interface that has dual RCA inputs, or if your Mac has an audio input, you can use a 1/8-inch stereo mini plug to dual RCA female connectors adapter. Consider the USB Griffin iMic or find an appropriate adapter at your local electronics or computer store.
The USB Griffin iMic lets you connect your home stereo to your Mac,
using a dual RCA to 1/8-inch stereo cable.
Here's how to connect your home stereo to your Mac.
- Connect the RCA connectors to your stereo receiver's auxiliary (Aux) output.
- Connect the other end of the cable either to the audio input port on your Mac, or to your Mac-connected audio interface.
- Turn on your home stereo.
- Open System Preferences from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, then click Sound.
- Click the Input tab and select your audio interface or the audio Line In.
Most Apple computers have built-in speakers, but if you want better audio fidelity to groove to tunes, get your game on, or couch potato it to DVD Player, connect a set of headphones or speakers to your computer. And you don't even need to install additional software to do so, unless you've got a pretty intricate surround sound speaker system.
To use headphones, just plug in your headphone cable into the headphone/line out port on your Mac, if your headphones have a 1/4-inch stereo plug, you will need a 1/4-inch stereo female phono connector to 1/8-inch stereo mini phono plug adapter).
Depending on your speaker connections and your computer's ports, you will need to connect them to your computer's headphone/line out jack, USB port, FireWire port, or optical digital audio ouput port. Regardless of what type of connector you use, in general, you'll need to connect one main cable to the appropriate port on your Mac to feed your speaker system—please consult the manual that came with your speakers for instructions on hooking up your speaker system.