Emulated speaker output Blackstar HT-1RH

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 1:45 pm

I've been wanting to get back into recording bits of demos and just generally fucking about with recording but it's been years.

I bought this little Blackstar head the MK1 version

I thought this would be simple enough, run the emulated speaker out into the input on my Macbook and off I go, I can record the line in on Garageband and fool around. I bought this cable to achieve that : LANK.

It doesn't work. Neither my phone nor my Macbook will recognise the emulated speaker out as a line in. I'm sure I'm doing something daft of the cable isn't right. Anyone care to point out where I've fucked up?
It's been years since I did this and I seem to have forgotten everything.

EDIT : found this thread where someone says emulated out directly into the Mac should work so I'm guessing cable or I've bought a lemon :Another URL

Front panel of the amp : -

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 2:07 pm

I've never used the input on a MacBook before, but do you need to select as the audio in device in system preferences? I think it defaults to the mic, dunno if it automatically switches to the input when you plug into it or if it's even a separate input.

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 2:29 pm

Yeah man I checked this, for whatever reason it just recognises it as a new output device, switches the Mac output to the amp, even though it's not possible.

I used the same cable to see if it allowed me to hear the amp in my headphones, which it does.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:55 pm

Plug headphones into the emulated headphone jack. Does that work?

Do you have another device to plug into your MacBook to see if that works? mp3 player with an aux cable for instance?

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 5:09 pm

I use my headset mic on a daily basis for calls at work and that, so the line in/line out on the mac works. But yeah, on the amp its one socket for both, hopefully this pic works as the one in my OP is a dead link :

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 9:06 pm

And does that work with headphones?

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Wed Jul 15, 2020 9:51 pm

It does, yeah. Sorry, I wasnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t very clear up there^.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 7:21 am

That cable only works with the older Macs that have separate input and headphone jacks, and even then you don't have a line in control, but you just turn down the microphone input level to record stuff like this. Sounds fine though, I've done this before on an older Mac.

Not sure of the config on the newer Macs, you might only have a mono input and it might need a cable with two rings.

I have an adapter like this but with two female jacks (one for mic and one for headphones), I tried to use it to record on an older phone with a microphone with a 1/8" jack. It worked but the phone recorder sucked because it didn't have an input level control and recorded to a weird file format.

Actually the one in the photo might work for you, I found it randomly with a search.
http://fdirect.eu/b2b/saramonic-sr-uc201-audio-cable-mini-jack-3-5-mm-trs-input-cennector-mini-jack-3-5-mm-trrs-output/

Again, not 100% sure this is how Macs are configured, but if the input is mono only, very likely yes.

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 9:21 am

Thanks, I will look into this. I intend to get a USB interface at some point soon, this was just a stop gap, but one I'm determined to figure out now.

Bacchus · Post by **Bacchus** » Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:07 am

As a long term user of macs for music making, I'm always amazed at how rarely they actually do just fucking work.

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Fri Jul 17, 2020 8:21 am

Bacchus wrote:As a long term user of macs for music making, I'm always amazed at how rarely they actually do just fucking work.

Fair.

Fakir Mustache · Post by **Fakir Mustache** » Fri Jul 17, 2020 9:21 am

Computers were not designed for making music, just that you can is coincidental.

A far as Macs go, I've had quite a few of them burn out and become inoperable, maybe more than other computers save 8-bits.

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:00 pm

Fakir Mustache wrote:
A far as Macs go, I've had quite a few of them burn out and become inoperable, maybe more than other computers save 8-bits.

Oh dear. Thankfully this one is a work computer

Post by **Doog** » Fri Jul 17, 2020 2:12 pm

I've had very few problems with audio on Mac BUT it has been mostly limited to Garageband, so a big benefit of using 'native' software.

I'd definitely pick-up a cheap Your OS-compatible audio interface off eBay or the Cash Converters site or something. The M-Audio I was using with Windows for a few years has worked fine with both older and recent versions of Mac OS on different machines.

That means you can sack off the amp entirely, and just use the (perfectly decent) sims on Garageband too, or load some free plugin without fecking around with routing.

JordanD · Post by **JordanD** » Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:33 am

Doog wrote:I've had very few problems with audio on Mac BUT it has been mostly limited to Garageband, so a big benefit of using 'native' software.

I'd definitely pick-up a cheap Your OS-compatible audio interface off eBay or the Cash Converters site or something. The M-Audio I was using with Windows for a few years has worked fine with both older and recent versions of Mac OS on different machines.

That means you can sack off the amp entirely, and just use the (perfectly decent) sims on Garageband too, or load some free plugin without fecking around with routing.

Cheers Andy - yeah mine is with Garageband too. I think it's the cable as suggested. I'll pick up something else soon just to test it works but might go the route you suggested here.

Thanks for the troubleshooting help everyone, really appreciate it.