use-revolution Digest, Vol 23, Issue 46

[Ken Norris]

Howdy,

> Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2005 19:51:37 -1000
> From: Sivakatirswami <katir at hindu.org>
> Subject: Recording Sound on the Mac

Lotsa stuff to go through and I gotta run, but I'll take a stab at a 
couple things.

> Is anyone successfuly recording sound on the mac in Rev? using a USB
> input Mic?

Nope, iMic....

>  or the mac mic input

Macs don't have mic inputs, per se. It's a stereo line-in jack, or 
optical DA jack
.
>  and if so, what mic are you using?

There are speciailty mics that combine the signal into mono and have 
built-in preamps.
>
> And... anyone using Griffins mic plug to USB adaptor successfully?

Assuming you mean the iMic adapter, then yes, every day. I'm using a 
Radio Shack Optimus Unidirectional high impedance mic with a mono to 
stereo adapter, otherwise it only records on the left side.

> Does it *really* take in put from a high-quality mic and put it
> through the USB successfully with fidelity

Depends what you mean by "high quality mic" and "fidelity". The iMic 
should do very well for most utility work. Since I'm developing a sound 
studio (got to get back to work on the control room deadwall right 
now), high-quality to me means a studio condenser recording mic, some 
cost thousands of dollars, and they are all XLR low-impedence, 
requiring a high-end preamp of some kind.

But, unless you are recording in the studio or professionally on stage 
I think you mean something on the order of a $50-100 high impedence 
mic. like the one I described first, which is what I use for voice 
messaging and speech recognition. I have actually recorded some SFX in 
the studio with it. It's a dynamic mic.

> 4)  set the recordInput to "dflt"  should in theory take the input
> from the setting in the sound prefs of the system... which is set to
> "Telex.... USB" but the Rev Doc do not indicate that USB is one of
> the input options... so, question, if USB is not one of the options,
> should "dflt"still work?

So, are you trying to record into Rev from the TELEX headset? If so, 
and it's already selected in Sound Prefs, then leave it alone, don't 
reset it to anything. It's on.

"USB" is not a device option, the selection is the name and port config 
of the TELEX. The line of info in the Inp[ut panel is coming from the 
TELEX (from either its onboard circuitry or an installed driver that 
recognizes it). IOW, the sound system isn't going to look for something 
else because it happens to be a USB device, you must access the device 
by name.

For example, if you had an iMic setup, the Input panel would show:

iMic USB audio system

-- as one of the input devices, which is what the system is getting 
from the device.

All the best,
Ken N.