Question: Can I connect any external microphone to my Performa 6400?
Answer: Use only the Apple PlainTalk Microphone. Non-Apple microphones should not be connected to the Performa 6400. If a microphone that outputs a mic level signal is used with a Macintosh that requires a PlainTalk Mic, the signal produced from the microphone will be too low and will result in noise and distortion.
Question: The Monitors & Sound control panel contains three sound sources. What are they and when do I use them?
Answer: Here is an explanation of the three sound source settings:
1. External Microphone - This should be selected when a PlainTalk Microphone is attached.
2. TV/CD/Video - The sound input from these are all internal. Select this when you want to record from a TV Tuner card (if present), the internal CD-ROM, or a video input card (if installed).
3. Line Level Input - This should be selected when you want to record from an external line level device, such as, a VCR, CD Player, cassette deck, or the tape-out outputs from a stereo receiver, and so on.
Question: Why do I need to select Line Level Input in the Monitors & Sound control panel on the Macintosh Performa 6400 and 6500 computers?
Answer: When Line Level is selected it tells the Macintosh computer that the device that is being connected has a pre-amplified signal. Therefore, the computer does not have to amplify the signal coming in.
Question: When I try to select Line Level Input in the Monitors & Sound control panel, my computer beeps and changes back to External Microphone. Why?
Answer: When an application uses the sound channel, the settings cannot be changed. You should quit the application that currently is using the sound channel, and then change the settings. If you cannot change the settings then quit all applications and attempt to change the settings again. If you still cannot change the settings, try restarting your computer.
Question: Is there any way I can adjust the sound recording gain?
Answer: There is no way to adjust the sound recording gain with any system software control panel device. However, depending on which sound recording application you are using, you may be able to adjust the sound recording gain from that application.
This article was published in the 25 June 1997 "Information Alley".