Tom Mobley Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 My wife actually asked me to do something for her with the computer! She has a few cassettes she would like to have copied onto CD. I have a nice Nakamichi tape deck in the living room, main computer is in another room. So, I figured I would dump the .wavs on the laptop, then burn the CDs on the burner in the lappy. I got a cable that's RCA on one end, 1/8" mini plug on the other. Moved a LaScala in front of the cabinet to set the lappy on, cranked up the XP sound recording app, recorded the first track. Played it back and it's horrible, can't even pick the music out of the nasty static. It's awful. What am I doing wrong? Hardware in the lappy too cheap? XP sound recorder too crummy? Something else? Won't be a ground loop I don't think, the lappy was on battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 try it with a real computer ... one with a Real soundcard .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Maybe the level is too high and what you're hearing is overload? Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted April 18, 2005 Author Share Posted April 18, 2005 Gil, that's one thing I thought of. the help for the recorder sez microphones, but then goes on to say CD players, cassette decks, line level stuff. Mikes are not considered line level are they? POS built-in sound chip wouldn't be to handle both, would it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Tom, It could possibly handle both. Recordign with the XP app is most likely your problem. Go download goldwave at http://www.goldwave.com The evaluation version is fully functional for 30 days or so. It will give you greater control over the input. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 I had the same question about my Compaq laptop running XP home. The input jack says microphone. The HELP menu really tells nothing. When I get some time I will try the suggested software. Gee, they don't make this easy. I suspect the hardware capability is in there. Software and documentation is the critical issue. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Most of the built in audio chipsets are awful. If it is only a mic input, you can wire up about a 30 db pad to get things more in range. If your laptop has a usb port, you can get something like an Edirol usb audio interface. They start around $70 though. You can find some (Terratec) that have a phono pre as well on them, so you can do LPs without using your stereo gear. Marvel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Professor.Ham.Slap Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 If you have a desktop computer, this device from Thinkgeek should work really well. Since it has its own onboard audio processors, the quality will be a lot higher than streaming it through a soundcard. But on the other hand, it is a little bit pricey if you're just going to do this for a few tapes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted April 18, 2005 Share Posted April 18, 2005 Tom, if you get tired of dealing with it, send me the tapes. I've got a nice Marantz hardware burner & decent Sansui tape deck. I would be glad to help if it's too much trouble to sort out. PM me as I am unsure of my email acct's safety at the moment. I'd agree with the assessments that you're overloading a mic input. Does the Nak have output level controls? That would be a work-around if you can't find a way to pad down the level at the sound card itself. Click around the application and see what you can dig up. If it's like most things that try to be idiot-proof, it's probably tough for even a smart guy to figure out how to adjust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted April 19, 2005 Author Share Posted April 19, 2005 Thanks guys for your help. I did get the Goldwave software, it has quite extensive capabilites. it has a something that resembles a 10 band level indicator. It was showing peaks at 0 or so. this particular tape is commercially recorded, shows peaks at zero also on the display of the Nak. recorded at CD quality, 44.1, it generated a 1GB file. it took the software almost 8 minutes to process and save the file, this is on a Pentium 2600 laptop with a gig of ram. Yow. Too bad there was no appreciable improvement. Sounds like $2 transistor radio with a bad speaker. Guess I'll acquire a decent sound card and try again. Are the M-Audio cards still well thought of? Ben., thanks very much for the offer. It's very tempting. But I've been avoiding getting involved with computer sound stuff for years, looks like this might be the time to get off the dime. Thanks to all of you guys for pitching in here, I appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Mobley Posted April 19, 2005 Author Share Posted April 19, 2005 Hmpf, looking at the Nak it has two knobs in the lower right. It's a DR8. over the two knobs is the string Bal---Rec Level---Master. Looks like I might be able to turn the output level down, the knob is in the middle. I'll give it one try. {EDIT} Turning down the rec level didn't help, still awful. Off to newegg.com to look at audio cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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