Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with audio and mac

Where can I find attractive powered speakers?

bryanlacksfocus — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:13:21 -0800

Does anyone know of any attractive powered speakers? Ones that look like they belong on a bookshelf and not next to a PC? I'm looking for speakers to put in my living room that I would beam music to through an Airport Express. It could be one speaker or a pair, but they should be powered and stand-alone—I don't have room for a "system" with a separate amplifier. I don't need a radio, CD player, or iPod dock—just a power switch, a volume knob, and one audio input jack. The only powered speakers I'm finding are designed for use with a computer and are, in my opinion, unforgivably ugly—at least for use outside a computer workstation. I'm hoping to find something simple and modern with straight, clean lines—possibly a cousin to this Tivoli or this GenevaSound radio or the wooden-cased (non-powered) speakers our parents had in the 70s.

With everyone doing so much from their computers these days, it seems like these ought to exist! Have you come across any? Any ideas are appreciated!

TOSLINK USB surround sound adapter + Mac OS X?

Blazecock Pileon — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 12:57:24 -0800

What is a good, working surround sound USB adapter for a Mac mini in a home theatre setup, which uses a TOSLINK connector? (I would be using this with DVD Player, iTunes, VLC, QuickTime Player, etc. if that matters for software support.)

What's the best wireless audio bridge / networked digital audio receiver that works on the Mac?

nitsuj — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 08:27:10 -0800

What's the best wireless audio bridge / networked digital audio receiver that works on the Mac? I'm looking for a simple hardware solution that will allow me to bridge my Macbook Pro's audio-out source to my home theater amplifier. Many products like the WMB54G and Sirocco either have no Mac support at all, or have very poor reviews and cost way too much.

The Airport Express seems decent if I only wanted to stream iTunes, but I'd also like to stream from other sources, like Spotify, which it won't support.

Is there a simple, under-$100 (or close to it) solution out there?

How to delay Mac sound output?

i_cola — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:53:45 -0800

I want to delay the sound output from my Mac Mini so I can get it to sync with video from a different source. I've got a radio commentary (available via Safari or iTunes on the MacMini) that is up to a minute ahead of the TV feed I'm watching on my laptop. I want to watch the TV feed with the radio commentary roughly in sync.

Is there a software solution out there that will allow me to adjustably delay the entire audio out from the MacMini?

Even better would be the ability to delay the audio from a particular application & I'd like the option to be able to sync both feeds on a single Mac.

I need an audio mixer for my mac!

NeonBlueDecember — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:18:21 -0800

[Mac Audio Filter] Help me find a software "mixer board" for my mac! Specifics inside First the details of what I've got, and then what I want.

I have a mac with several input options, default sound card line in, built in microphone, usb microphone, Griffin iMic and so on.

I have multiple output options as well, the default sound card line out, and the iMic.

Now what I want is a software audio mixing board. Some piece of software that would allow me collect sound from multiple sources above in to individual channels, adjust their volume indipendantly, and then choose which line out to route the final mixed audio. Recording is not necessary, but real-time output is.

End result is allowing me to talk on a voice service like skype or ventrillo, and be able to play sound effects, music, plug in multiple mics, etc.

Does this magical piece of software exist or am I just going to have to purchase the hardware. Since this is just for goofing around, and not pro-audio I'd prefer not to have a big mixer sitting on my desk.

Adobe Audacity vs Logic Express

treepour — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:04:40 -0800

Switched to Mac, looking for Adobe Audacity replacement. Should I go for Logic Express? I used Audacity primarily for two things (in order priority):

1) Splicing existing recordings together as seamlessly as possible. Here I used the "Echo Chamber" effects quite extensively. These helped create the sense that the musicians stopped playing and then started playing something else -- the ambient echo of the previous section carried on into the next.

2) Severely warping recorded sounds via a variety of filters/effects, combining them together via the multitrack interface, mixing the multiple tracks down to single tracks then continuing the process.

Can I do these kinds of things with Logic Express? Or would I be better off using Audacity via Windows vmware? Learning a new piece of software isn't a problem, I just want to make sure that the software will enable the kinds of things I want to do. Also, any other similarly-priced Mac recommendations for this sort of thing besides Logic Express would be appreciated.

electronica just doesn't do it for me

kidsleepy — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 16:32:30 -0800

How can I create my own Couch to 5K running podcast? I'm starting the Couch to 5K program and I want to make my own podcast/music track to listen to. All I need is to combine some music tracks together into one long mp3 and record some vocal cues at the appropriate times (start running, start walking). What's a simple way to do this? (I'm on a Mac, with iTunes, if it matters)

Howto record a meeting on a Mac?

terceiro — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:16:44 -0800

This evening, I'll be sitting around a conference table with my PhD committee, getting feedback on some of my writing. What's the best way to record the session on my Macbook? For hardware, I'll have my Macbook and newest generation iPod Nano. I will be doing most of my notetaking in pencil on the hard-copy draft of my paper. What I want is a non-obtrusive (my committee members are all old-school literature faculty and I don't want to distract them or me with tech) way to record the meeting so I can listen again later and get any of the stuff I miss the first time through.

I'm looking to see whether I need some hardware (a mic? Is the internal mic on a Macbook good enough, even when it is facing me and not them? What about the built-in mics on new iPod headphones?) or some software.

I've got a few programs that do recording already: Microsoft Word, Journler, VoodooPad, OmniOutliner, and probably others. I'd be willing to pony up for another program if it was worthwhile for this situation.

Of course, I'll want to play it back and listen to it later. If there's a better solution than just iTunes, I'd like to learn that, too. I don't need a whole transcription, but, I dunno: would transcription software be useful?

Make my home movies look less like bad kung fu

escabeche — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:34:51 -0800

Why is iDVD ruining the audio of my home movies? I stitched together about 150 short movie clips from my digital camera into a 50-minute movie on iMovie HD (6.03). On iDVD (6.0.4) I dragged the movie onto the iDVD project panel. Everything looked great. I burned the iDVD project onto a DVD. In fact, I did it four times, because I was so proud of myself for figuring out how to do this that I wanted to send one to everybody in the family.

But when I played the DVD, something very strange happened. The audio lagged the video -- very slightly, enough to notice but not to be a big problem. Then, at about the ten-minute mark, the audio drops out for about thirty seconds. When it returns, it's the audio that goes with the video of minute nineteen. Obviously, at this point, the rest (with video nine minutes behind audio) is unwatchable. All four burned DVDs have the same problem, in the same place. When I watch the movie in iMovie, it's fine. When I watch it in iDVD Preview, it's _almost_ fine -- one thing I note is that the sound cuts out at the same place around the 10-minute mark. But if I pause the preview, then start it again, the sound comes back, and the de-syncing never occurs.

Searching for problems with iDVD audio/video desync yields lots of complaining about iDVD 08, which I don't have, and very slow drift of audio away from video, which isn't my problem. But what is my problem? I'm stumped -- and I'd really like to get this movie off my laptop and to my relatives.

Is there a Mac app that will let me draw (and listen to) a waveform?

itchi23 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:33:16 -0800

Is there a (hopefully free) Mac app that will let me draw (and listen to) a waveform? I just switched to a Mac 4 months ago, and I remember there being all sorts of little audio tools that did stuff like this, but now I need one that will allow me to simply draw a waveform. Now, ideally I'd like to paste in graphical or vector shapes (photoshop or illustrator) and use those as the waveforms -this is really what I'm looking for - like a line to waveform ability. Would an oscilloscope-type software be more what I'm looking for, and would that allow me to "dial" between the drawn waveforms? Thanks!

How can extract audio from my DVD's on my mac?

fishthefly — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 05:25:24 -0800

How can I extract audio from DVD's on my mac? I have an iBook G4 and am trying to sample audio parts of movies for a music project I am working on. Also, what program can I manipulate said files (i.e. Audacity maybe?) with?

Thank you for your help!

Vanishing iMovie Audio

rosken — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:47:43 -0800

My video project is due in 2 days, and out of nowhere, a bunch of my audio files in iMovie have become corrupt (I think). Is there any way to fix this, short of re-recording them? I've been making a video collage of clips of Obama, McCain and Palin for a group project. Just now when I opened iMovie, though, lots of the dubbed voice clips (but not all) that worked yesterday seem to have gone quiet. The clips in question no longer show the standard audio output graph image, but instead have text saying "Voice 44" etc. I can't undo any changes in the project, and my only backup isn't useful as it was made before lots of the clips in question were recorded. Should I risk a restart? Is this hopeless?

I am using one of the old white macbooks with OSX 10.5.5 and iMovie HD 6.0.3

MacBook and Home Theater

cmoj — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:29:51 -0800

Any ideas about a wireless (or at least fairly elegant) MacBook Pro/1080p projector entertainment system setup? So, I've got a fairly new MacBook pro with a DMI-I hookup and all that. I run the audio through an old-fashioned stereo amplifier into old-fashioned floor speakers, and the video through a new-fangled 1080p projector. I also have a mostly adequate Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse.
How can I use this setup without ensnaring my laptop in a web of cables? Well, only four, but it still takes long enough to connect and disconnect that the point of having a laptop is diminished.

I'm looking for essentially this:
Bluetooth or equivalent audio that will go to RCA connectors... adapters are okay as long as I'm not losing too much quality.
Bluetooth or equivalent 1080p video (maybe the hard part).

Help my MacBook make sound again!

zacharyseibert — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:00:50 -0800

Possible solution to getting sound back on my MacBook? I have an original white MacBook, Core Duo 2 ghz. The sound card on the logic board died awhile ago, and I have yet to get it fixed. It is out of warranty, and the people at the Apple store have informed me that it will cost $250 to get it fixed through Apple. I was hoping there was a way around spending $250 on an older laptop I might replace fairly soon.

My real question is, if I were to buy an external sound device, that would go through USB or FireWire, would that solve my problem of no audio input/output without needing to repair the internal onboard sound card? Also, if this is a plausible solution to my problem, any recommendations on an external device that works well with OSX (Leopard, if that matters) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Why can't I listen to conference calls on Yahoo Finance? (using Mac Safari/Firefox)

b_thinky — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:44:41 -0800

Why can't I listen to conference calls on Yahoo Finance? (using Mac Safari/Firefox) Here is a link of all the day's conference calls. When I click to listen to the audio, my browser goes to a new page and attempts to load the media. Media plays, but all I hear is some light static for a couple seconds, followed by a click - then it goes dead.

This happens in all the calls I try to listen to, whether using Safari or Firefox. Also I tried AOL finance and can't listen there either. I tried upgrading Windows Media player but still no luck. I cannot download the file - only streaming is available.

Can someone suggest a solution?

Not Getting Famous on YouTube

tmcw — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:24:55 -0800

I have a song I composed / recorded / etc. I'd like to make simple video by cutting together fragments of public-domain films with this song. I have a MacBook. How to get to point B? iMovie is crashing on every import. iMovie seems to crash every time I open the "Import Movie" dialog. Not a sign of quality software.

I don't want to spend much/any money on this. I've tried writing a quick app in Processing.org to do this, but the movies I'm working with are 100-200MB mpg files, and that fills up Java's heap very, very quickly - I can't imagine throwing FFT analysis on top of that.

Are there are any open-source or cheap applications that allow fairly basic video editing capabilities like this? Anything possibly designed for VJs or very nonlinear editing like this will be? I'm a little miffed that there hasn't been an obvious, slick answer to this like there has been for 99% of my mac artsy-software needs.

Thanks for any help!

How can I listen to DSS audio files on my Mac?

toomuchkatherine — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 08:44:22 -0800

How can I listen to DSS audio files on my Mac? I have an Olympus DM-10 voice recorder that I use to record interviews. It's a nice little machine. The problem is, I lost the CD that came with it, which had a program to play the files that the recorder makes, which are DSS files.

There's a free "lite" version of the software on Olympus's website, but it comes in .sit format. I tried to download Stuffit Expander, but that initiated a process which seemed to have to end in my signing up for some annoying 'free offers' before getting the software.

Is there an easier way, either a free alternative way to play DSS, or another way to open a .sit file?

Help me open a file.

acidic — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:18:50 -0800

Was sent an "untyped binary data" file with no extension. It's audio. Using a Mac, I've tried adding the .mp3, .aac, .wav extensions, and it won't open. What now? - What extensions have I failed to try? This is recorded audio of some sort.

- Am I changing the extensions correctly? I just select+click on the file and manually add the extension.

- Is there a program that will figure it out for me?

Why does Skype not want to take calls?

arniec — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 09:15:11 -0800

Important Skype Issue! I primarily use Skype for voicemails, however I am getting lots of complaints that Skype's line is busy. Every time I open Skype the preferences are set to only allow calls from people in my contact list. I keep setting them to allow calls from anyone and they keep going back to only accepting calls from people in my contacts list. Sometimes these settings reset while Skype is still open. I have not yet been able to determine a pattern. I know that every time I open Skype it's set to only take calls from people on my contact list, and I think that when I make calls it resets as well.

I have contacted Skype's technical support 10 days ago and they have not responded at all... I've Googled to no avail. This is extremely frustrating as I am a recent convert to Mac and I took Skype with me, but I never had these problems on my PC.

I do have Ecamm's Call Recorder for Skype installed, but I can't find any reason why it would be changing my settings.

Help! Please!

Which speakers should I get for my Mac?

OmieWise — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:17:32 -0800

I'm going to be relying on my iMac and the music stored on it for a while. I would like to get a set of speakers so that the computer sounds better. What reasonably-priced powered speakers have folks had success with? I'd rather not get a separate subwoofer. I'd be willing to get a small amp and use my small stereo speakers if all the other options are too crappy. Thanks.

Digital noise recording to Mac Pro

wubbie — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:24:44 -0800

I'm trying to record audio on my Mac Pro from a hardware source using the digital Line In on the Mac, but am only getting "digital noise" as the recording. I'm trying to record audio from a hardware source (in this case, an Xbox 360) by hooking up the Xbox's digital Audio Out to the Mac Pro's digital Line In via optical cable.

However, when I set the Mac's Input to Digital In and record, only noise is recorded (it's a loud, fast-tempo clicking sound, like a baseball card flapping in a bicycle spoke.)

I've tried recording with a few different apps, including Audacity, Garageband, and Audio Hijack Pro, all with the same result.

The strange thing is that Audio Hijack's preview (and a shareware app like LineIn's) passthrough "preview" of the input is fine. I can hear the audio source from the Xbox 360 playing through the Mac, but the recording is still just digital noise, with no sign of the actual audio intended to be recorded.

Is there some reason this shouldn't work? Do I need to use specific frequency settings for the recording? Is there some sort of "protection" in OS X (or 360) in place to prevent this sort of recording? Or is it a bug in the Mac Pro and/or OS X?

Transcribe to Mac

segatakai — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:17:41 -0800

Please recommend a solution for transcribing voice to text on my Mac. Ok. What I want to do is to have a (relatively small) device that I can carry with me, and, when the mood hits, speak into the device and have it record my voice. Later, I want to have my voice transcribed into editable text on my (PowerPC) PowerBook G4, which is running OS 10.5.2. Ideally (though perhaps unrealistically) I'd like to not spend more than about $250. Questions like this have been asked before, but are either outdated, inconclusive, or recommend $400 and up machines without really addressing the transcription issue (or all or the above).

I thought that this would be relatively simple (though I guessed the transcription might be somewhat less than 100% accurate), but I'm having trouble finding any clear-cut solution. I'm willing to be open-minded about solutions, including jerry-rigging (sp?) something. What exactly are my choices here?

First I looked at speech recognition/transcribing software for the Mac. It appears that IBM's Via Voice was discontinued some time ago, and anyway it seems to only be compatible up to OS 10.3 (maybe it was discontinued before 10.4?). MacSpeech seems to have replaced iListen with Dictate, which is apparently not-compatible with PowerPC macs (like mine). iListen, from what I can tell, would work with my Mac. However, my Googling has come up short; where can one find iListen for purchase (or steal)?

Next I looked at digital voice recorders. Wow, what a swamp! Only a few products specifically mention that they are compatible with Macs, but ultimately I'm not even sure what that means. Does this mean that the recorder and the Mac can't communicate at all (like the Mac won't recognize the recorder when its plugged into USB)? Or is it just that the included software is not compatible (i.e. the Mac will recognize the recorder, but you have to use some other software to listen/transcribe the files)?

One last side note: My wife has an old micro-cassette Olympus recorder. I presume that if I could get iListen (or something similar) working on my Mac, I could sit the recorder next to the built-in mic on my laptop (or buy a line-in adapter??) and proceed from there. Any thoughts on that?

Is there a cable that connects audio output (DVR) to audio input (MacBook)?

flowerofhighrank — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:01:25 -0800

can I go directly from my earphone plug on my digital voice recorder to the microphone port on my Mac laptop? I bought my SECOND digital voice recorder without a USB port for transfering files. Is there a cable I can buy that would connect the earphone and microphone ports? Help me before I buy the wrong thing again!

MultiMix8 on iMac OS X 10.4

psychotic_venom — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:13:21 -0800

Help fix my firewire mixer/recorder - MultiMix 8 on OS X only "seen" by the OS after a cold boot. Here's my situation:

I recently went Mac (iMac) and wanted an inexpensive way to record a bunch of demos, so I went shopping for firewire sound cards/mixers and selected the Alesis MultiMix8 Firewire mixer. It claimed Mac support (though the original drivers were for 10.3), so I plugged it in, turned it on, and threw in the CD.

I found out later that the recommended way to perform the driver installation is to NEVER plug in the firewire cable before you install the drivers. Ick.

So I installed the updated drivers from the Alesis site. Eventually I read the troubleshooting and turned the entire unit on and left it plugged in, then I shut down the system and cold booted it (not a soft-restart), then the MM8 appeared. It worked.

After I turned it off, it didn't appear anymore. So the only way to record is to shut down the computer completely and turn it back on after I whip out the mixer and plug it in.

Does anyone know of a way around this? I've tried turning it off for 5 seconds and turning it back on. I've tried off->unplug->on->plugin like it was suggested in the manual. Most of the people I'm reading about deal with the Windows side, so that usually doesn't help. I don't know if installing Leopard would fix this or not (if it's even supported).

Here's the stats:
iMac Intel Core Duo - OS X 10.4 Tiger
MultiMix 8 Firewire with 1.5d4 driver and 2.00 firmware.

Can anyone recommend a software oscilloscope solution for OSX?

Magnakai — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:00:14 -0800

Is there a reasonable software-based oscilloscope for the Mac? I need to record a video of approximately 20 seconds. I have a 20 second or so AIFF. I need to stick on a software oscilloscope, and record a video of the output. The oscilloscope needs to be perfectly synced to the audio, and it would be preferable if you could adjust how "zoomed in" it is.

I'm thinking something similar to the Windows Media Player visualization Scope option.

I've tried PixelToy but it's too pixellated for my liking.

Can anyone also suggest a way of recording it to video? Obviously anything that can directly output a video would be good, but if not, can anyone recommend the very best screen recorder?

Many thanks in advance!