Comments on: iMic by Griffin Technology

By: Dennmartini

Dennmartini — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:47:07 +0000

I’m looking for the best way to convert my vinyl to mp3. I’m a total novice, so if you have some info for me please keep it plain. Just got an iMac, and have a usb turntable from Numark. Can I just plug in the turntable and press record in Garage Band or do I need some kind of software to convert. Anyone?

By: Kent Durvin

Kent Durvin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:08:39 +0000

You can get an adapter at Radio Shack, or in many other stores or webstes. The correct name is “phone plug to mini phone jack adapter”. The large plug is 1/4″ and the small plug is 1/8 or 3.5mm.

By: hugh

hugh — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 22:20:29 +0000

i think imic is great. i use with logic 7.2 express, behringer mixer and guitar and it works perfectly, compared with my line in built in to my mac, which has slight lag. only problem is having to use adaptor. is there a special cable ( small jack- headphone size, to big jack, guitar led size) ??????

By: JW

JW — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:42:53 +0000

Some people have suggested using iMic to free up the headphone jack for simultaneous sound from both the internal speakers and an external output. Has anyone had any success with this? Will any software help allow this to work?

I work in an office where we pump the music to a sound system but I would also like to hear it from my internal speakers at my desk for a more surround sound experience. Also better to hear talk radio etc.
I’ve found some forums MacForums where people are talking about this but no one has come up with a solution. I figured it was worth bringing up here. Thanks for any suggestions or discussion.

By: Kent

Kent — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 13:00:23 +0000

I have found other discussions about pitch problems, not related to the iMic. In my case, I was using iMic with a little app called DialectX that simply replays the input after a brief delay, like an echo. With speakers, and the mic close to them, you get a cool echo effect. (It is meant to be used for pronunciation and accent practice with headphones.) I hear the speed and pitch of the sound rise about a semitone each time around.

By: Kerby

Kerby — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 13:00:58 +0000

I am still working on using iMic to do some recording (straight recording, not converting of cassettes or vinyl), and it still has the hiss problem. Any tips are WELCOME. Nothing seems to get rid of it. None of the tips above work (except I have not tried using an analog-digital converter running thru fire wire). It could be that the input signal is too weak. My next tactic is to use a mixer and try running the signal in from there. If that doesn’t work, then maybe I will need to abandon iMic and buy something that works.b Any suggestions there? It is sad that in the age of digital recording there is a product that injects hiss that sounds like an old cassette.

By: Carlos

Carlos — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:58:09 +0000

I have just bought Imic to use my mac mini.

How should set iMic to use SKYPE with Macmini?

tks
Carlos

By: johnbrush

johnbrush — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 21:31:15 +0000

Tony Video 2000 -
Thanks for the tips. I’m testing Audio Hijack now. I seems to be the simplest to use of any of the systems I’ve tried so far. I’m looking at the Hijack and Hijack Pro. I think I’ll buy the Pro.

By: tonyvideo2000

tonyvideo2000 — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 15:15:00 +0000

I agree with Bart. I’m a former broadcast professional who enjoys tinkering with these marvelous digital devices. I do not work for any seller or manufacturer.

USB interface such as iMic adds very low level noise to recording. With cassettes, this doesn’t matter as much as the tape hiss “masks” this issue. However with other audio sources, like vinyl or hi-fi VHS, this can be noticeable. I have one mac with audio line in and that works well with a turntable and pre-amp (google turntable pre-amp and there’s a guy who sells like 15 different models–he’s good). As for my iMac without audio inputs, I’ve done a work-around with an analog video converter box that plugs in via firewire. it shows up in the audio input list and sounds very clean.

But I’m not sure I’d advocate the extra expense of and video converter box unless you plain to digitize analog video like VHS? Consider HOW you’ll be listening to your vinyl rips–you may find the miniscule amount of noise added by iMic to be acceptable and hardly noticeable.

My other 2 cents is that soundstudio and Roxio’s suite works better than final vinyl. Audio Hijack is also awesome-awesome for some situations, like capturing streams.

I’m not planning on giving any more “tips” but I would suggest a good pair of headphones. I can’t help but recommend Grado SR60’s. They really “open up” the music experience.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 14:31:02 +0000

Tape hiss comes from tape, not from ground loops or other devices being plugged into the same USB port. The only way to eliminate tape hiss is to roll off the EQ (which also destroys the treble from the recording) or hope that the tape was recorded with Dolby or DbX (dBX? It’s been so long since tapes were considered good that I forget how they capitalized that:), and that your deck has the same noise reduction system.

By: Bart Driessen

Bart Driessen — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 12:11:19 +0000

In the meantime I have learned one or two hings about eliminating hiss. First, make sure that the iMic is plugged directly into your computer, i.e., don’t use any USB divider. Second, it is best to unplug any equipment that you won’t be using (printer, scanner and such) when recording. Third, don’t do other things on your computer whilst recording. Fourth, I used a preamp (40 euros or dolars, depending on where you live) to upgrade the signal from my vinyl record player. Fifth, make sure the record player and preamp use different wall power sockets than your computer. I.e., don’t connect everything to one electricity extension cable. That creates a ground loop, causing the hiss. Lastly, in the equalizer settings of Final Vinyl I reduce the treble.
The outcome is quite bearable, although of course you’ll never get (and should not expect) CD quality from a vinyl recording.
I hope this helps?

By: Bill Marjeram

Bill Marjeram — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:56:19 +0000

I can’t even get anyone to tell which are the correct cables to use, from a tower hi-fi tape player to an IMic connected to a Powerbook. Nothing seems to work.

By: tony video2000

tony video2000 — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:49:24 +0000

johnbrush-

not sure what version of itunes you have? if it’s like 4.8, go into prefs under “Import” and I bet AAF is the default. hopefully you can change it and select mp3. and a bit rate to your liking. I like 160 , but 128 still sounds okay and takes less space.

after that, under the “Advanced” pull down, select “Convert” and click on the track(s) in your list. they should end up in the itunes music folder. tv2000

By: johnbrush

johnbrush — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 19:01:27 +0000

“re-rip it to mp3″

My iTunes doesn’t allow that as for as I can tell; it only allows me to export to AAF format. I am missing something?

By: tony video2000

tony video2000 — Sun, 10 Sep 2006 16:37:02 +0000

i gave up on eliminating the hiss and imic. I got an a/d converter for video to edit some old VHS tapes (that’s a whole ‘nother thread) and discovered its audio line did not add hiss. so I use that into a firewire port. imic is still fine for old cassettes (they have hiss anyway), but it’s harder to put up with all that hiss on a fine LP.

as for iPod not playing larger .aiff files, why not drag the .aiff file into iTunes and re-rip it to mp3? those files will be smaller, as .aiff or .wav are the formats you use for production and CD audio.

I could’ve sworn my iMic didn’t have hiss on an earlier version of OSX, but as usual, my memory ain’t so great.

I would ask griffin to look at this and try to improve their product. it’s just “this much” from being perfect.

I prefer sound studio over final vinyl. it’s less fussy.

By: Bart Driessen

Bart Driessen — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 05:22:55 +0000

I have hooked up the iMiic to a turntable (through a preamplifier). The turntable is grounded. The innput level is now quite good and I can easily import songs into iTunes (had to get Final Vinyl 2.0 though, the latter version continuallly crashed).
I do still have a problem that I have a hiss on the recording. Would anyone have a quick solution for this? Thanks!

By: johnbrush

johnbrush — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 20:47:01 +0000

Todd – I think the problem is with the the application and not the encoding format. I have been using Finyl Vinyl with my iMic and no matter whether I used aiff or wav the result was that no file larger than 40 mb or so would play on the iPod. They show up there but won’t play. I think the reason your ipod songs would play when you were hooked up to the laptop is because it was playing from iTunes, not the iPod.

Anyway, in the course of all this testing, and also fooling around with Amadeus, I found that I have Sound Studio included with my iBook G4. I have had the iBook over 2 years and am still discovering new things. The Sound Studio app works great; large files transfer thru iTunes to the iPod and they play! You still need the iMic gadget though if your laptop doesn’t have an audio input. I hope this helps you too!

By: johnbrush

johnbrush — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 04:16:41 +0000

Todd – I have a feeling the problem depends on what format the recorded sounds are saved in. I am going to run a couple of short tests tomorrow using different save formats and see if I can resolve this. I haven’t been thinking about this problem lately as I have been trying to comprehend the Amadeus application which is supposed to do much more than the IMic. The author claims Amadues will record directly from iTunes but it is a complicated process and one I have been able to make work as yet. So, back to playing around with IMic. Also, I noticed today that Apple seels a $70.00 gadget that can accomplish these missions but they say you need a G4 or better to support it. I’ll report back.

By: Todd Ziebarth

Todd Ziebarth — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 03:53:47 +0000

John – Were you able to solve that problem? I just bought an iMic and can record from my turntable to my laptop, import songs into iTunes, move them onto my iPod, and play them on my iPod when it’s connected to my laptop. However, I’m not able to play them on my iPod when it’s disconnected from my laptop. Any words of advice from you or anyone else who’s had this problem would be greatly appreciated.

By: johnbrush

johnbrush — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:01:21 +0000

I am enjoying imic and finyl vinyl with my iBook and am getting good quality recordings from vinyl. However, I get huge files which take up tons of space in my iTunes. One song of 14 minutes duration = 142 MB! Also these files play perfectly on iTunes but when transferred to iPod nano don’t work at all even if they are not exceeding the 2GB capacity of my iPod. Songs recorded on the earlier version of finyl vinyl do play on my iPod. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.