M-Audio Air 192 | 4 problem with macbook pro?

Floating Above

New member
Hi all,

I am new to computer music.

I have an M Audio 192 | 4 audio interface connected by Usb to a 2011 Macbook pro and was wandering if it is ok to connect the line out of a second Macbook Pro 2011 (yeah, they are exactly the same) to the line in of the audio interface.

This would be great as I could monitor the sound of both MacBooks via the huge knob in the audio interface, this would save me going under the desk to monitor volume in my amp which only has + and - buttons and not a knob!

I have actually made the connection with the right cables (tried several) but the sound through the speakers is low and lacks definition...

Thanks for your help!

best
Jorge
 
Hi,
Yes, you should be able to do that although it's a headphone output so at max volume it may be far too loud for a line input.
Keep in mind that the macbook output is stereo TRS and the inputs on the interface will be balanced (mono) TRS, so you'll have to use two of them.
The cable you'd use should look like this.

cable.jpg
 
Hi,
Yes, you should be able to do that although it's a headphone output so at max volume it may be far too loud for a line input.
Keep in mind that the macbook output is stereo TRS and the inputs on the interface will be balanced (mono) TRS, so you'll have to use two of them.
The cable you'd use should look like this.

View attachment 106890

Thank you so much! i got it... but my m-Audio 192|4 interface only has 1 line in input... I may have to experiment with the cable you're rightly pointed out with say (L) to the line in and the (R) to the instrument in... otherwise I will return this and get the M-Audio 192|6 which has 2 line ins...

again, many thanks!
 
Ah, yes, you're right. The 192|4 doesn't have a pair of line inputs.
Using the line input and the DI input should work, technically, but L+R aren't going to sound the same.

If you need this just for monitoring, to know what's happening or to keep an eye on something, it'll be fine
but for any critical or enjoyment listening it's not ideal.
 
Hi again

so i got the Air 192 | 6 and the appropriate cable to connect my macbook 2 to the line ins of the audio interface. Sound is now fine and i control the gain of each channel through the dedicated knobs on the audio interface so they don't clip.

I cannot go above position 4/10 on both line in knobs otherwise I get clipping, which means I have to raise the volume a little more than i am doing with the macbook 1 which is of course connected to the audio interface via usb.

Another thing is the sound quality from macbook 2 is not as good as macbook 1 - lacks stereo image and depth - but I guess thats because the macbook 2 is going straight from the line 1/8 inch to the audio interface line ins, with its own internal sound card...

I want the macbook 2 to be my main music player (spotify, plex) while my macbook 1 is for studio work... so obviously I want to play spotify with great sounding results... should I get a small DAC for my macbook 2? like a Dragonfly or something? or send it through my realistic EQ?

thanks for your help!
 
Hi,
Being that the macbook headphone/line output has its own volume control I'd experiment with gain staging first.
Set macbook output level low and interface input gain levels high and listen to some music.
Then do the reverse - macbook output high and interface gain low.
Then try somewhere in the middle.

I'd also playback some music from the headphone-out macbook and slide the MacOS pan slider left and right (system preferences>sound) to confirm that the output cable is correct,
and that left is going to interface 1 and right is going to interface 2.
Watch the interface meters or clip LEDs to make sure the panning is working but also listen to the audio from the speakers to make sure the second computer is mapping the input 1 to left and 2 to right.

If that all checks out and the sound quality still isn't what you'd expect then you'd probably benefit from getting some simple AI with dedicated line outputs.
Doesn't need to be anything fancy or expensive - Any basic USB interface with balanced 'main' or line outputs should do the job.
 
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Thanks!

did all that and everything checks out and sound quality still same... I also connected the jacks to both instruments in and even if need to adjust the knobs differently, can't seem to get noticeable change in sound quality... the difference of sound quality must be the internal sound card of macbook 2 vs the m-audio sound card connected to macbook 1...

you mean a DI box?
 
you mean a DI box?

No, I mean audio interface.
If you're definitely getting separate left and right out of the macbook from built-in, and it's successfully making to your speakers as separate left and right,
then I guess the quality difference is just down to the hardware, as you say.
I wouldn't really expect it to be that different but you're there...you can hear it.

A separate audio interface with dedicated line outs (just like 192) would be the solution, in that case.
 
I finally got it to work, thanks for your time and help!

So, from my MacBook 2, I send audio via my 1/8 jack to the 2 line ins of my M-Audio interface (attached to my main MacBook 1).

In my MacBook 1, I setup a Multi output device consisting of my M-Audio 192 | 6 and the Blackhole virtual audio driver.

Finally in my Ableton Live DAW, I create a strip for all MacBook 2 incoming audio so I now have crisp sound because it is outputting through USB and not Direct from the M-Audio.

I do need to have a dedicated channel strip on my Novation Launch Control XL dedicated to MacBook 2 audio but I am still able to control both MacBooks via the big knob on my M-Audio which is the ultimate goal!

And apart from that, through my DAW I can effect the audio with Eq, Compressors etc which is an added bonus.

Amazing... again, thanks for your help!
 
Basically you're monitoring Macbook 2 via software (through MB1) rather than hardware monitoring straight into, and out of, the interface?
Does that sound better because you're now using your DAW to process, or does it sound better even before that...just raw?

Glad you got a solution, either way.
Just asking because there shouldn't be any noticeable difference, unless something's wrong like hardware monitoring is summing to mono or something.
 
Know not of macs but if that M-Audio interface is working in all other respects I would stay with the 'firm'.

But DO up grade to the next model please! The "default" specification for an interface by MY reckoning is...
Two mic/line/instrument inputs and two balanced outputs. Headphone out of course and 'I' want MIDI DINs.

Trying to do any kind of music recording with less than the above is going to be hard.

Dave.
 
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