[appleguitar]

Let me start out by saying that I am not positive that this is the right forum to put this in, because some of the products I will be talking about are made by apple and some are third party. If it gets moved then, oh well.

I am about to purchase a new 12" Powerbook once iLife '05 gets loaded on it, a guitar (I am trying to learn), a Monster iStudioLink, and a nice set of headphones that i can plug into my guitar and my computer.

I have a few questions. First, will I be able to plug my guitar into by iStudioLink, then plug the iStudioLink into my Computer and have decent connection? By this I mean will I get any interferance or will I have any problems? Has anyone here ever tried this with this product or another? I have also heard about the imic. Any product recomendations?

My next question is about the Powerbook's sound. Can I plug in my guitar and use it as an amp or is it necessacary that I buy a separate one? How are the Powerbook speakers? In GarageBand if i use the unprocessed guitar amp will it sound the almost the same as a seprerate amp? How are the other amps in Garageband? When I plug my heaphones into my guitar will I need to do anything special?

Also, any experiences in this area would be greatly apreceated. Even if you don't play an instrument I would still like to hear any stories, good or bad, about GarageBand.

I know it is alot of questions, but the guitar and the powerbook are both new to me.

It may not be relevant, but if anyone has any guitar recomendations that would be nice. I was thinking about a Yamaha PAC112J or some kind of Squier. A review mabye. Okay, now I am fishing. Remeber I am a beginner. The sound I'm going for is Punk and Emotion (soft rock).

Okay I might be asking for too much.

[appleguitar]

Any answer at all would be great. I am just looking for some feedback. Any GarageBand users out there.

[BlueRabbit]

Originally Posted by appleguitar My next question is about the Powerbook's sound. Can I plug in my guitar and use it as an amp or is it necessacary that I buy a separate one? How are the Powerbook speakers?

IMO, the PB's speakers are okay. They're kinda small, and they're positioned in the back of the computer so the sound bounces off the screen (it seems weird, but it works). If you turn them all the way up, they will be reasonably loud. However, if you want a good sound system, get external speakers.

I wish I could answer your guitar questions, but I don't play the guitar.

[zenarcade]

Hi there !

I have done exactly as you have described and this is my experience.

First, plugged my old and beaten up guitar straight into my 1 GHz powerbook through iStudioLink. No sound out, but I could see that soemthing was coming in.

Plugged my guitar into the pBook through the amp. [ guitar-> amp-> iStudioLink-> G4 pBook] SOUND !!!

This is extremely cool. I usually have friends over at my house and we jam a lot. We spend 5 minutes finding the right drums and other instruments to provide a backing track with. It is really really excellent.

Zon

[appleguitar]

Thanks for the feedback. It really helps. If anyone else has anything to add that would be great.

[ast3r3x]

mAudio or someone makes a preamp...so you don't need to hook up your amp to get sound coming through.

Wear headphones when you listen to what your doing on the powerbook because while it's speakers are better then most laptops, they are still laptop speakers.

[appleguitar]

Anything else? Anyone?

[Mr Beardsley]

You may be interested in this little doodad

http://www.dvforge.com/plug.shtml