yeah good point. if the computer has a separate mic in, it’s very probably a 3 pole connector (and it also works with a mono jack, only on one of the stereo channels obviously).
Yeah. If it is a unified headphone/mic port it will probably need 4-pole, otherwise not.
This laptop has one port for both headphones and mic. I plugged a microphone into it and spoke, and it recorded my voice just fine. But when I plug the cable from the bass, amp, or Zoom into that port, I get nothing. I’m using the standard guitar cable with the 1/4 inch jacks and an adapter on one end to plug it into the RCA port on the laptop.
The software I’m using is Wavepad Sound Editor
I just ordered this from Guitar Center…
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@howard I just ordered one of these and should have it early next week.
Question: Does this device have the capability for overdubbing? In other words, can I play one of the backing tracks from B2B, record it, and then record me playing the bass over it?
I hope my question makes sense.
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your question makes sense but it’s not related to the DAI. the DAI is really just an interface between the computer and the audio source you will plug in it. the multi-tracks and mixing things are managed by the software (DAW : digital audio workstation).
in your example you’ll just have to import the B2B backing track as a track in your DAW, and then record your bassline on another track. then you mix the two tracks to adjust the relative levels, you export to an MP3 file and voila 
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Wow, thank you @terb! All this recording and mixing and over dubbing stuff is new to me, and I’m learning as I go along. You guys in this forum have been a tremendous help to me, and I want to thank all of you.
The device I ordered comes with Ableton Live 9 Lite software. Do you know if that software would be capable of the mixing of the two tracks that you mentioned?
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you’re very welcome ! all those things may look very complicated at first, because there are lots of things to consider. but you will soon understand all this much better as you use your new toys and make some records it gets pretty simple with some habbit.
Ableton Live is a great DAW, it’s certainly capable of mixing two tracks, and much more ! I don’t know this DAW well (because I use another one) but it’s pretty popular, you won’t have any problem to find the documentation you need !
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I hope so, I hope so … 
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Have you tried beginning the conversation by talking about Beethoven? 
And besides, you’ve already told us she praised your badass credentials, so she’s clearly onboard with you playing bass.
Oddly, my wife had little interest in my bass exploits until she started hearing my playing through the Zoom (as headphone amp) and now the recordings, which she appeared a little impressed with. Now I am being considered a musician, not her husband who kept spending money on “that bloody thing”.
Regarding the technical side of recording yourself: it all seems overwhelming before you start, but very quickly becomes obvious. It’s hard when people are trying to describe it in a forum so perhaps have a trawl through YouTube for some visual demonstrations. It really isn’t as complicated as it can sound - and that’s coming from somebody who kept thinking he could plug his bass directly into his Mac and just record (ha, like anything is ever that simple with an Apple product).
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Yes, you can. I did this for quite a while when I got my first mini. I bought a lead with a mini-jack on one end and recorded my first solo stuff direct.
I now have an interface and a iMac. But I kept the lead and the mini, just in case!
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I’ve bought numerous cables and still can’t record directly through the Mac. Being Apple each model seems to have it’s own way or working, and even after buying several 4 pole TRRS cables I still can’t get it to work that way. I believe there can be a problem with signal strength too. Perhaps it’s different with an active bass, or if you have a better sound card. My Mac is from 2012 and is not even capable of being upgraded without being completely dismantled.
My next Mac will be a PC.
Perhaps.
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[quote=“PeteP, post:133, topic:3763”]
My next Mac will be a PC. 
I wrote a whole post about upgrading yr Mac for free. Way off topic! Let me know if you want to hack yr Mac!
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I got my Zoom U-22 today, and soon I will be annoying everyone with my covers… but first, I have to figure out how to use this software!
The device came with a license for Ableton Live “Lite”, which is supposedly the lite version of an audio recording/mixing software. I took a look at it after installing, and my head began to spin 
If this is the “Lite” version, I’d hate to see the complexity of the regular version. It’s going to take me a looooooong time to get up to speed on this.
(I may have to buy @terb a plane ticket to the U.S. to help me out with this) 
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haha saddly I’m not a Ableton user myself so I won’t be the best teacher … but I’m pretty sure there are a ton of tutorials online ! basic recording and mixing should not be too complicated, but I totally understand that this kind of software is pretty scary when you open it for the first time … even if Ableton Live is known to be an easy one 
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Indeed, there are! It’ll take some time, but I’ll learn it.
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The learning curve for Ableton is STEEP (even for the Lite version, which probably only differs by limiting some capabilities or number of tracks, add-ons etc). My guess is you’d have to invest a lot of time, especially if this is the first time you are dealing with this type of software…
On a Mac, GarageBand is the way to go - on a PC, I don’t know, but there must be “simpler” software available that let’s you get down to recording without taking a degree first…
Maybe “Audacity”!?
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Audacity is pretty simple, yeah. Cakewalk is not bad either. Both are free.
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@Howard I just installed Audacity and it seems to be a lot simpler with a lot less features that I really don’t need right now. Does it have the ability to import a song and then play a bass track over it?
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