I hope this will be easy to answer for someone who knows what they are doing!!

I have a Technics KN1400 and have recently started recording stuff in Apple's GarageBand application. I have successfully connected the Technics (via a USB/Midi interface) to record midi info into Garageband, this obviously controls Garageband's own sounds.

However, I would like to record the sounds of the Technics itself into Garageband (GB will accept external audio sources apparently!) I connected the line out of the Technics to the Line in on the iMac and tried to record by adding a "real" instrument in GB and selecting the "line in" for the audio source but still no joy.

I have not used the Technics before to record from the line out and am new to it all really. Do I need any other piece of equipment to make this work?

Can someone please tell me also what exactly the "MAC switch / computer connection" is on the back of the Technics - apart from connecting it to a Mac - what type of information does it transmit? Midi/audio ?

I'd really appreciate hearing from anybody who knows any answers to the above!

Thank you.

Would this site help...? http://www.apple.com/support/garageband/record.html

Hi, Thank you for your reply. I chose the Technics Forum because I'm really wondering how people record the sounds from their Technics keyboards to "any" music software program. I don't think I'm doing anything wrong where Garageband is concerned. I can post my questions there too but I was really pleased to find a Technics forum!

Do people simply connect the "line out" of the keyboard to the "line in" of a computer? I have an electric guitar running through an amp with a line out. I've connected that line out to the line in on the mac and it works fine. Do keyboards "have to" go through an audio interface before the computer?

I don't know whether you can help re: my second query above which was... what the PC/MAC connection is exactly for. Recording midi only needs the midi leads from the keyboard so is the switch for something else?! Thank you very much.

Hi Rachel,

The answer your first question is yes, you should be able to simply connect the line out of the KN1400 to the line in on the Mac.
If you have a suitable external amplifier, try connecting the the line out of the KN1400 directly to the line in (high level) on the amp to check the that you are getting signal from the KN line out.

As far as the Mac/PC interface is concerned I have used it only in the PC mode where you use a cable to connect directly from this Mini DIN socket on the KN to the RS232 (Comm) socket on the PC when a MIDI socket is not provided on the PC (e.g laptops). A suitable software driver was provided to facilitate this. I presume the Mac application is somewhat similar.

Cheers
Len C.

Thanks a lot for your reply Len. I don't think I'll ever need the PC/Mac connection then. (Just wanted to understand why it was there so thanks)

I've recently got the M-Audio Duo interface (was bought for Mic preamp) and I have an electric guitar amp so I will try and see if either of these are suitable for picking anything up from the keyboard's line out.

I did however get it working by plugging a lead from the headphones socket of the keyboard to the line in on the Mac! (- the resulting sound quality and volume is fine) I still think it should be done though with the line out ?!?! but hey at least I have some results so far....

Thanks again for your help

Hi,

It's beginning to look like you may have a faulty line out from your KN1400. If you can record from the headphone output you should be able to record from the line output. The only other possibility (assuming you are using the same cable in both situations) is that the line input impedance on the Mac is too low to work with the KN line out (even so you should still get a very low volume recording).

Cheers
Len C.