Part III of my mac mini upgrade struggle,
Screenshot of previous Audacity file
Recorded and saved in Audacity with Mac mini 2009.
Opened on mac mini 2018.
Audacity uses core audio for its mac software.
I am pretty sure the recording devices in the dropdown were not same as mini 2009
I suspect “Line In” was.
So if I have an USB audio connector
Should convert analog to digital USB
but will it show up in core audio as an option?
I suspect not.
You’re looking at the wrong place.
You set the “Recording device” (and also the Playback device) a bit down in the settings, see the image below.
You can also set these outside of this settings dialog in the “Audio Setup” button.
The recording device needs to be connected before Audacity starts. Or you need to select “Rescan Audio Devices”, if they are connected after the start.
I see in your image that your recording would be mono (1 channel), not stereo. Are you sure you have a stereo-capable audio device?
Thanks for the info.
Still don’t think the new setup will work.
Now I am not even how the 2009 Mac mini setup worked
Analog audio connected to a cheap RCA preamp
A cord with white and red jack on one end and a single stereo plug on the other. All analog.
Plugs into computer Audio in, gets recorded by Audacity.
The manual seems to indicate digital audio connection
Where is A/D conversion taking place?
Sorry, but you are making a mess, I think.
You asked about how to use a 2018 Mac mini in your first message. The 2018 Mac mini does not have any sound input. This is why you need an external (USB) sound card. Possibilities are a Behringer UCA-202, or UCA-222. They are both not expensive. You connect your audio equipment (line-out) to the external sound card, and the sound card via USB to the Mac mini.
The 2009 Mac mini had a combined analog/digital sound-in connector. You had to select its function somewhere in the system settings. It should have been connected to your audio equipment directly, the conversion would take place inside the Mac min if the settings are right. But this applies only to the 2009 Mac mini, not to the 2018 model!
The sound input will show up in the places I mentioned to you earlier (Audio setup button, or in the settings dialog below the “core Audio” line). Did you look at the images I posted, and did you (try to) understand them?
Thank you for a most excellent response. : )
Plan to respond fully
but one thing is still bugging me.
Everything I see online is about DAC - digital to analog conversion
Do sound cards / usb audio adapters
also provide ADC - analog to digital functionality?
Everything is set on getting computer digital sound to analog devices.
This is of no interest to me,
I am going the other way around.
Just follow the instructions I gave you. The Behringer devices will take care about the A-D conversion (as did your old Mac internally before).
Just be careful not to buy a sound gadget which is designed “only” for headphones/microphones, they ar not for recording stereo sound.
The UCA202 which @romontschun mentioned has 4 phono sockets, two inputs analogue L & R to digital, two outputs analogue L & R from digital.
Got my UCA-202 EXTERNAL SOUND CARD
plugged it in
Confirmed the audio out functionality
Confirmed that my Mac mini recognized audio in from the sound card
Confirmed that Audacity recognized audio in
Digitizing a tape will complete confirmation.
I think I have credited you with solution
Tip o’ the hat to DVDdoug but his correct answer was too terse for me : (
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