hello all,

I want to record my ABF recital entry on my girlfriend's 2009 MacBook, since it's Line In will probably have better quality than my no-frills business Windows laptop. Unfortunately, I have no clue about Macs whatsoever. I have a 3.5mm Line In cable from my HP203 and want to end up with a .wav file. No editing whatsoever needed, I'll do all that on the PC.

How would I go about this? Preferably without installing any new software, I really just need the Record and Save As functions..

Thank you all in advance!

open garage band, which comes with the mac.

Go to preferences, audio, choose Built-in input. Close preferences

Hit r to record.
Return to go back to one
Delete to delete the highlighted track.

Now, usually, line-in does not work well at all on laptop, try it out, but it you get nothing but clipping (horrible sound), then you need another option.
That's to use the built-in mic. Choose built-in microphone instead.

Off course, the best is clearly to just plug in your USB from your keyboard to your mac, and record in Midi instead. Garage band by default comes with some decent piano patches. Since you are recording a digital to begin with, this is clearly the right solution.

To do that, provided you have a USB cable, go to garage band >> Track >> new Track >> Software instruments.
At this point, you can even have a click if you need it with Command-U.

To save as MP3, go to share > export song to disk.

Ask more if this isn't clear.
++

I looked at the online manual for the HP203. It shows output connections that appear to be 1/4" mono phone jacks. So I don't understand your reference to a 3.5mm (1/8") line-in cable.

Hey knotty,

thanks for the help! I have some software pianos, but the only one I really like is PianoTeq, and that's not worth the €250 entrance fee for me at this point. I really like the built-in sound of the 203!

I hope the line-in works decently, even my laptop's Line In is passable. I'll follow your instructions and report back

MacMacMac,
I use a cable that goes from dual cinch to a 3.5mm cable at the other end, so that's where the difference in inputs comes from

yeah, as long as the line in works ok without significant clipping, that's good. If you end up loosing too much in the process, you're probably better off with Midi. Whatever sounds best in the end.

...worked like a charm, thanks a lot! Not a hint of clipping and the noise floor was coniderably lower than on my Windows laptop.