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Experienced users should waste no time installing a much more advanced audio recording and editing program called Spark ME.
  technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

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Mac OS X audio recording and editing software


June 18, 2003


By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2003, The Post-Standard

   Last week I praised the little iMic from Griffin Technologies, which provides an easy way to bring audio signals into a modern Mac by way of a USB connection. The iMic needs no extra power and is no bigger than a home-baked cookie, yet it has the same high-fidelity stereo inputs and outputs that most Windows PCs have.
   In short, the iMic gives modern Macintoshes the same stereo sound recording abilities that most Windows computers have. (You can read last week's article at http://technofileonline/texts/mac061103.html.)
   The iMic's odd name reflects the shifting hardware designs of Apple's Macintosh computers. Some previous Macs came with a microphone input circuit (and corresponding connection jack) that lacked the kind of robust signal handling ability needed for full-bore audio recording. So Griffin created a replacement for the "mic" (pronounced "mike") circuit that could be switched to handle much stronger signal levels. (Microphones normally communicate with your computer using very faint voltages, whereas stereo components such as cassette decks virtually shout their electricity across the wires.)
   But the iMic is a piece of hardware. To record from a tape deck, an LP record player or any other external sound source, you need recording software. And you also need audio editing software.
   Griffin offers a free recording and editing program, Final Vinyl, for all iMic owners. I reviewed Final Vinyl last week and found it reasonably good. The interface is cute and the program is easy to use. Final Vinyl might be ideal for beginners.
   But more experienced users should waste no time installing a much more advanced audio recording and editing program called Spark ME. It's highly unusual -- a free audio editor that's as good as most of the expensive programs and probably far better than most of them.
   Spark ME is the little sister (in software terms, of course) of Spark, a very expensive OS X audio program. They're both from TC Works, one of the stalwarts in the professional audio field. You can get Spark ME direct from the TC Works Web site, but the address is much too complicated to print here. Use Version Tracker instead. Type "Spark ME" (without quotes) into the search form at the upper right of the Version Tracker OS X main page. Version Tracker's Mac OS X site is here: www.versiontracker.com/macosx/.
   Spark ME is amazing. Pro-level features are everywhere, and you can control nearly every aspect of the recording. I especially liked the way I could view the stereo waveforms in a scrolling window. Zooming in on the waveforms is easy, and I had no trouble making edits that were accurate within a tenth of a second or so. I was also glad to see that Spark ME supports VST plugin modules, one of the standards in Mac audio editing.
   I made many 24-bit, 44.1 kHz recordings from my live analog tapes (many dating from the mid-1970s) and burned CDs from most of them. (I usually save the raw data files also, so that I can re-edit the audio without the loss in quality that comes from storage in the audio CD format.)
   If the complexity of Spark ME seems like overkill, try Audio In, a free OS X recording program I've used many times. Recordings are easy to make and sound excellent, but there is no editing function. (You could use Spark ME or even Final Vinyl for editing.)
   Audio In can be difficult to locate. Use "Info-Mac HyperArchive" at http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu and type "audio in" (without quotes) as the search term.