long time listener, first time caller :]

now i've been looking at iBooks for a while now as a primary 'do everything' portable, but the most important thing is to be able to plug a microphone in and record.. either that or plug my guitar straight in..

can someone tell me if the iBooks have a standard 3.5mm input jack ? the screenies on apple.com are a little un-revealing. also, if so, does the soundcard or jack have a lot of latency ?

i.e. can i record a bassline, then plug in a guitar and play over what i just played and have it come out perfectly in time. because on my home PC i can't do this, the second instrument will be slightly late due to latency (you can hear it when you play a note, takes a split second to come out of the speakers), so i have to record both instuments seperately to a click track and mute each one when i record.

thanks. :]

The iBooks don't have a line-in or mic-in. All they have is a built in mic. For inputs, you will need a PowerBook.

arg !

is there no way of recording bar the in-built mic (which i'm going to assume isn't that great) ? i don't want proffesional quality, but at the same time i want it to sound clear, which is why i would record direct.

thanks anyway man.

You can get a Griffin iMic USB Audio Interface. It's only like $35. It is sold at the Apple Store.

The Mic built into the iBook is fine. The iSight camera has a better one build in though.

thanks Stevo and Phillip.

can i just apply my latency questions to both the iMic usb interface and the in built mic ? and also to the powerbook (which i'm now considering).

If you are doing any recording through a headphone or mic jack like that, you aren't going to get good quality at all. If I were you I'd get the iBook and then look at an audio interface from m-audio.

www.m-audio.com

Look at there portable USB or Firewire devices. It'd be cheaper than making the upgrade to the Powerbook. That's what I'm going to do when I get my iBook anyways.

thanks brett, i'll chizeck that out, as yeah, i don't really want to go all the way up to a powerbook just for the sake of a line in.

i record direct into my pc and the quality is fine. i know direct recording always ends up with a lifeless twangy sound, but its basically to see if a bassline goes with a guitar riff or whatever, nothing that i'd ever want anyone else to hear.. and the problem with going through an external mic is that obviously, electric guitars without amps aren't loud, and it's going to be 'hotel bedroom recording' .. so no amp :]

leading on to something else.. at the moment i use adobe audition.. does garage band work in a similar way ? i.e. record a bass line on one track, open a new track, record guitar etc etc.. ?

http://www.creative.com/products/product.a...uct=10702&nav=4

i was checking out this as a cheap option for an external s/c.. but it say's it only works with windows. how definate are things like that ? are there workarounds ?

i checked out the m-audio thing, but the solutions on there looked a little out of my price range.. not looking to pay more than 50-100 GBP really..

The Griffin iMic is very good. A friend of mine got one for his iBook and uses it with GarageBand without a problem.

I'm pretty sure there isn't any lag.