audio input pass-thru to speakers

[wrc fan]

I'm not sure if my mind is going fuzzy or not, but I could've sworn Mac OS X used to have a audio pass-thru option in the Sound System Pref, but now in 10.3.8 when I tried to use it for the first time in a long time, I no longer see it. I also checked the Audio Midi Setup program, and that didn't have anything. Any ideas?

 

[garybUK]

The only place I have seen this is on Sound Studio, the VU meter has a tick box for aux in throughput

 

[devman]

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but /Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup.app has a Thru checkbox for each input channel. Look at the bottom left part of that window. (those checkboxes on my system are disabled though)

 

[wrc fan]

I'm not sure if this is what you mean, but /Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup.app has a Thru checkbox for each input channel. Look at the bottom left part of that window. (those checkboxes on my system are disabled though)

Yeah, I noticed those, but since they are disabled... how do you enable them? I could've sworn I had done this in 10.2 at some point.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Yeah, I noticed those, but since they are disabled... how do you enable them? I could've sworn I had done this in 10.2 at some point.

Mine were disabled too the last time I checked them. I think the only way to turn them on is to connect a MIDI interface and MIDI hardware to your Mac, since those settings only affect MIDI.

 

[devman]

Yeah, I noticed those, but since they are disabled... how do you enable them? I could've sworn I had done this in 10.2 at some point.

I presume (it's what the very limited help text implies, plus other discussion threads I googled) that you must have an external audio source plugged-in to then pass-thru. I presume the checkboxes are disabled for built-in audio (which makes sense).

e.g. here was the comment about a 3rd party utility called linein, where the discussion thread said the utility was no longer needed...

Linein. An excellent simple small application that enables external sound sources to be fed through a Mac.

To enable play-thru in OS 10.3, open Applications/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup and check the Button under "Thru" in the "M"-row in the lower left field.

From then on, sound will play thru, even when the app is closed. Renders LineIn obsolete, kinda. (12/9/2003, Version: 1.2)

Hope that helps with the sluething...

 

[wrc fan]

Hope that helps with the sluething...

the problem is those check boxes are disabled and I can not check them. I have been able to get it to work using 3rd party apps, but I was hoping to not have to have an app open just to hear it.

 

[devman]

the problem is those check boxes are disabled and I can not check them. I have been able to get it to work using 3rd party apps, but I was hoping to not have to have an app open just to hear it.

No resolution, but these threads over at apple support discussions say you're not alone. Seems to work for some, but not others, and some seem to think it should not work while others think it should...

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@4.24t4agQUQAe.7@.599cb744.68a347ce

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@661.canpa9fTQgm.8@.68a42779

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?13@661.canpa9fTQgm.3@.68a63518/0

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@661.canpa9fTQgm.7@.68a3a65f

 

[wrc fan]

No resolution, but these threads over at apple support discussions say you're not alone. Seems to work for some, but not others, and some seem to think it should not work while others think it should...

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@4.24t4agQUQAe.7@.599cb744.68a347ce

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?14@661.canpa9fTQgm.8@.68a42779

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?13@661.canpa9fTQgm.3@.68a63518/0

http://discussions.info.apple.com/webx?128@661.canpa9fTQgm.7@.68a3a65f

hmmm... maybe it has something to do with PowerMacs vs. PowerBooks. When I last did it I was using an old G3 PowerBook, and now I have a G5. I'll go check it out on a PB.

 

[devman]

hmmm... maybe it has something to do with PowerMacs vs. PowerBooks. When I last did it I was using an old G3 PowerBook, and now I have a G5. I'll go check it out on a PB.

Well, I'm on a PB15 right now and all those options are disabled for me too. However, on my wife's iBook she can tick the Thru checkboxes.

I can't go any further with trying to see what's different between her machine and mine as right now I'm in New Zealand and she's in Australia

 

[wrc fan]

Hmmm... I just checked on an old Pismo (400MHz G3 PowerBook), and the thru button is enabled as I expected. Very odd.