Troubleshooting iRig Pre with 2014 Mac Mini

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Troubleshooting iRig Pre with 2014 Mac Mini

Postby MQ81bk » Mon May 11, 2020 6:19 pm

PROBLEM:
I am trying to hook up an iRig Pre to a 2014 Mac Mini so I can record into Garageband from a Shure SM48 microphone plugged into the iRig. The Mac Mini has two 3.5mm ports one marked for Headphones the other Line In.

SCENARIO 1:
If I plug the iRig into the Line In port of the Mac Mini and open up System Preferences Sound I will get an acknowledgement of “Audio Line In”. However I will not get any meter reading in the Input Level of the System Preferences window. If I open Garageband I will not get any signal either, and no sound from the SM48 will go through my speakers plugged into the Mac Mini’s Headphone port. Also no sound will go through the iRig’s 3.5mm Headphone port if I plug the same speakers into that. This is regardless if I turn on the +48v phantom power or not. However when I unplug the iRig Garageband tells me an audio device has been removed.

SCENARIO 2:
If I plug the iRig into the Headphone port of the Mac Mini and open up System Preferences Sound I will get an acknowledgement of “External Microphone”. However I will not get any meter reading in the Input Level of the System Preferences window. If I open Garageband I will not get any signal either. HOWEVER, if I plug my speakers into the Headphone port of the iRig while its output is plugged into the Headphone port of the Mac Mini I will be able to hear the SM48 through the speakers. If I unplug the iRig from the Mac Mini Headphone port the speakers plugged into the iRig Headphone port will go dead.

SCENARIO 3:
If I plug in my generic Earbuds with Microphone into the Headphone port of the Mac Mini and open up system preferences I will get an acknowledgment of “External Microphone” and I will get meter readings in the Input Level of the System Preferences window. If I open up Garageband I will get a signal and be able to record off the microphone in the headphones. If I try to do the same with generic microphone headphones in the Line In port of the Mac Mini I get the same results as SCENARIO 1.

Any help is much appreciated.
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Re: Troubleshooting iRig Pre with 2014 Mac Mini

Postby Peter_IK » Mon May 11, 2020 6:46 pm

iRig PRE would need a combination input/output jack to work. Even in those cases we have posted what you would need to see in your Mac's info in order for it to work: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/i ... hp?p=specs
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Re: Troubleshooting iRig Pre with 2014 Mac Mini

Postby MQ81bk » Mon May 11, 2020 7:23 pm

Hey Peter thanks for directing me to the specs sheet I had checked that out already and that's where some of my confusion lies.

The Headphone port I detailed in SCENARIO 2 is a combo input/output jack and while my Mac Mini does NOT list External Microphone in About This Mac > More Info > System Report, it does list External Microphone in System Preferences > Sound > Input when the iRig Pre is plugged in, and as I said I can hear my mic through the monitor jack of the iRig Pre while it's flowing through the Mac Mini. However, I get no signal in Garage Band.

That same input/output combo jack works with a headset microphone and will get signal and record in Garage Band.

So the question is why would a passive mic work in that jack and not the iRigPre?
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Re: Troubleshooting iRig Pre with 2014 Mac Mini

Postby Peter_IK » Mon May 11, 2020 7:29 pm

Usually if a computer (Mac or not) has both a headphone jack and a line it the headphone jack is not a combo in/out. However, the more important aspect is that your computer does show the right information and you still don't get signal from your mic into GarageBand so I would assume it is a setting in there or something odd happening with your iRig Pre. Since I don't use Garageband (I'm on Windows) and I'm not sure if it is an issue with iRig Pre I'd recommend seeking direct and official tech support from IK Support at http://www.ikmultimedia.com/contact-support if you have not already done so. I'm sure they can get to the bottom of your issue. Thank you.
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Re: Troubleshooting iRig Pre with 2014 Mac Mini

Postby MQ81bk » Mon May 11, 2020 8:40 pm

Gotcha, I'm pretty sure the Headphone jack is a combo since I can use my earbud mic on it and record with that into Garageband. But you're right there might be something screwy hardware wise going on there.

I was wondering if I skipped all the 3.5mm ports all together and used one of these USB to 3.5mm TRRS adapters. Have you heard of people combining these with the iRig Pre?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L5 ... TLD5&psc=1
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