What soundcard suitable for music and hd recording is compatible with Hackintosh Mav 10.9.x

[mythryll]

Hello.
I am using my system also for some music composition and possible some hard disk recording as I like to play the guitar through various preamps (like line6 systems) and record it on the computer.
When I was using Windows I had gone through various soundcards like SB AWE 32 and Gravis Ultrasound and finally SB Audigy 2 for quite a few years until it finally gave up recently.
As Mac Software is free and easy to play with (for example Garage Band) and other commercial software is more stable on the Mac environment, I would like to do my fun stuff on my Hackintosh.
What sound card would you recomend that is compatible with Hackintosh Maverick 10.9.x?

I understand that Creative cards are not useable in Hackintosh.
Any ideas or experience with this?

I apologize if I am not posting in the correct category, this is the one that seemed appropriate as the audio one is reserved for HDMI audio related issues.
Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
BTW, usb cards are probably out of the question since their mic connections are no good for connecting guitar line out from the preamps gear.

 

[BoomR]

Hello.
I am using my system also for some music composition and possible some hard disk recording as I like to play the guitar through various preamps (like line6 systems) and record it on the computer.
When I was using Windows I had gone through various soundcards like SB AWE 32 and Gravis Ultrasound and finally SB Audigy 2 for quite a few years until it finally gave up recently.
As Mac Software is free and easy to play with (for example Garage Band) and other commercial software is more stable on the Mac environment, I would like to do my fun stuff on my Hackintosh.
What sound card would you recomend that is compatible with Hackintosh Maverick 10.9.x?

I understand that Creative cards are not useable in Hackintosh.
Any ideas or experience with this?

I apologize if I am not posting in the correct category, this is the one that seemed appropriate as the audio one is reserved for HDMI audio related issues.
Thanks in advance for your comments and suggestions.
BTW, usb cards are probably out of the question since their mic connections are no good for connecting guitar line out from the preamps gear.

Hi mythryll -

In the Mac world, there really has never been the same concept of the "sound card" like there has been in the PC world. Since the very earliest days of Mac, there has always been on-board sound capabilities as a part of the standard Mac hardware configuration (built-in speaker, headphone jack, mic/line input via mini-jack, and later also digital/optical input).

So the on-board sound capabilities on any of the motherboards on the Buyer's Guide work right away for basic sound in/out and mimic the functionality that you would get with a standard Apple Mac. If you want a higher-quality A/D and D/A to use with GarageBand or similar, you of course need to look at devices we call "audio interfaces" (not "sound cards"). These come in a variety of shapes, sizes, channels of I/O, and connection types to your Mac (USB, Firewire, PCIe card, and now Thunderbolt).

Many of the audio interfaces have what we call "combo" connections that take both an XLR (3-pin microphone connection) and 1/4" balanced/unbalanced line/instrument connections on the same jack. So don't worry about USB options on Mac. Many of these USB interfaces are economical, higher quality, are THE go-to options for hobbyists and people on a tight budget. Here's an image of the back of one of the better (IMHO) USB "starter" interfaces on the market: AVID Mbox Mini. It uses one of these "combo" connections that takes both a microphone cable OR your guitar cable:


Click here for an extensive list of hobbyist, Pro-sumer, and Pro Audio interfaces. You also may want to bookmark or spend some time browsing the Clubhouse > Audio forum to learn more about the joys & challenges of audio recording on a CustoMac. This is also the area to start any new threads that relate to what you want to do with GarageBand or other DAWs (digital audio workstations).

Hope this helps!

 

[Bob_the_Tomato]

How come I just knew BoomR would respond to this!