Steve_L Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Guys, I need a bit of help. I have some old stereo vinyl that I'd like to play on my turntable and feed into my notebook computer (analog out of my receiver) and convert the analog to MP3 files. I know I need some type of soundcard to do the analog to digital conversion. I'd like to buy one, but the specs I'm seeing don't seem to indicate that they have a analog in to digital conversion function? Is there such an animal? Ideally I'd like something that I can plug into either a USB port, or a PCMCIA slot. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 I think this might be exactly what you're looking for. I've never used it, but it seems to get good reviews. ART is definetly a solid middle of the road name to be trusted. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ART-USB-Phono-Plus?sku=180642 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_L Posted June 6, 2006 Author Share Posted June 6, 2006 DrWho, thanks for responding. I see it has both what appears to be a pre-amp capability and also a USB capability, but does it convert to MP3? In other words, would I expect to feed an analog signal from my turntable into this device and get a mp3 bit stream out? It talks about a Microsoft device driver compatibility, but it isn't clear what that device driver does. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 A device driver is what tells the computer how to operate a device that is connected to it. Everything hooked up to your computer, the keyboard, mouse, monitor, disc drive, CD/DVD drive, sound card etc all have device drivers to allow the computer to communicate with the device and understand what the device is telling the computer. The input from any sound card is only a way to get sound into the computer, you still need an audio program. The program is used to shape the audio to the format you want and to organize the files to a play list so you can then burn them to CD or send them out to an mp3 player. I use Nero from Cakewalk, Cakewalk is the defacto standard in the audio industry from what I understand. The use of Nero is easy and only takes a few clicks of the mouse to use after you hook up the cables. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_L Posted June 6, 2006 Author Share Posted June 6, 2006 Thanks, I guess I thought I'd be able to pick up a pcmcia type card that I could input analog from my turntable/receiver and be able to do a Digital-to-Analog conversion and then package in an MP3 format. I guess the Cakewalk program is a part of that solution. I wasn't clear that the device DrWho pointed to would do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Well there are free programs available to aid in the process. I highly recommend that you try Audacity as it is a very powerful peice of software. Go here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows And download the installer - then run the program that it saves on your computer. Then download the "Lame mp3 Encoder" (considered one of the best encoders) and extract the zip file to anywhere on your computer (I just made a Lame mp3 encoder folder inside my audacity folder). And then if you want to mess around with the files you downloaded (like trying to clean them up) then you should install the VST plugin, which is another industry standard. There are hundreds of free plugins and lots of expensive ones...I personally wouldn't try to do any restoration, but it can be fun to play with. Just be sure to backup the original in case you really make it sound worse [] There is a slight learning curve involved in all of this process so don't hesitate to ask questions - even if they sound stupid. And don't forget that any audio recorded onto your computer is going to start in the lossless wav format. So when you use any program to convert to an mp3, you will need to manually delete the wav file. If it were me, I wouldn't bother with mp3 at all and just save everything in wav. Disc space is very cheap nowadays - about $1/GB, which means you can have 3 very full CDs worth of music for $2....or in your case, each album would be under 50 cents. So just get yourself a 120GB spare external USB harddrive for around $90 and record away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_L Posted June 6, 2006 Author Share Posted June 6, 2006 Great. So if I understand it correctly, that box that you gave me the link to will output PCM(?) and then the Audicity program will allow me to capture the PCM stream and convert to a wav file? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Blacksmith Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Like the good DR said, the imported file format will be wav. This is the same file format as any redbook (normal bought in the store) audio CD. If you convert it to mp3 you will loose quality but if your goal is to put it on a Ipod or such some device, that might be your only option (I don't know, I don't own an I pod, nor have I ever played with one) The box the DR pointed you to is just a Port or door for the program you use (cakewalk, freeware etc) to take the audio into the computer with. The software controls the format of the stored file. You just hook the box into the computer and install any drivers if needed. You then hook up the outputs from your receiever to the box. You install the software (cakewalk etc) and open the program. In the program you will have an option to import, rip etc. This is when you start the LP and press record on your computer. When you reach the end of the LP, you either pause the recorder or stop the recorder. You then can edit the audio in your computer, remove pops, clicks etc. You arrange the songs in the order you want (you might have to break up the audio file into songs first, depending on the software) and send them to the hard drive or to a CD in the format you want them in, wav or mp3 or any other format the software supports. You then enjoy the music you have converted to digital. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 Great. So if I understand it correctly, that box that you gave me the link to will output PCM(?) and then the Audicity program will allow me to capture the PCM stream and convert to a wav file? Yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted June 6, 2006 Share Posted June 6, 2006 And just to clarify... You plug your TT directly into the ART box and select the phono position for the input. No need to go through a receiver or preamp of any kind - unless you especially like your preamp for some reason...in which case you should select the line position for the input. (The phono switch pretty much engages the RIAA equalization curve and is set for a different input sensitivity). The only purpose of this box is to convert your analog signal into a digital signal. The nice thing about the ART is it works both ways and can convert digital sounds on your computer to analog...so it's basically just a fancy external sound card. If you always have your computer near your sound system, then I would recommend playing your wav files through this box into your setup. The PCM stream goes through the USB cable and is available to any software that can read PCM (pretty much any audio program). You will need a program of some sort to convert this stream into a raw audio file (.wav if you're using a pc). Once this file is created you are pretty much free to do whatever you want with it - your only limitation will be the software you're using. Most every audio recording program for the computer has some ability to highlite a section of the waveform and then output only the selected region to another file. Just be sure to highlite both the left and right tracks when you do this [] Another thing I often do is put in a fadeout/fadein just before and after every song so that you don't notice the hiss as much. It's especially distracting when the hiss just cuts in and out instantly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Hey DRWHO!!! didn't we have this same type of discussion about 6 months ago. You buy a RCA to 1/8 ministereo plug and plug that into the LP and the input of the computer and buy or download a free music recorder that will record whatever the line in is and you just save it as a mp3? I mean it costs about the price of the cables (10 dollars and down) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_L Posted June 7, 2006 Author Share Posted June 7, 2006 Well Jay, I guess maybe it is pretty basic, but the verbiage in the specs don't say in plain english "analog to digital encoding", although they do brag up and down about every possible 7.1, 5.1 capability, Hi-res capability, and on and on. I think the documentation gets so focused on the esoteric they neglect the fundamental. Sorry if it was a repetitive question, search doesn't work well on this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Well Jay, I guess maybe it is pretty basic, but the verbiage in the specs don't say in plain english "analog to digital encoding", although they do brag up and down about every possible 7.1, 5.1 capability, Hi-res capability, and on and on. I think the documentation gets so focused on the esoteric they neglect the fundamental. Sorry if it was a repetitive question, search doesn't work well on this forum. No its not your fault as the time difference is half a year. I have to tell DrWho and other forum members sometimes to put price before performance. Your Laptop does have a line in? It should look like a headphone port but another. It should be blue or so. Just buy a 1/4 RCA to 1/8 ministereoplug at radioshack for a few dollars. Then you should just plug the RCA into the output on the lp and the 1/8 ministereoplug into the line in imput of the laptop (the 1/8 ministereo plug aka 3.5 mm plug is also aka a headphone plug. Then just find a computer program that records whatever you want. I find programs meant to record internet radiostations work fine. Then of course its much cheaper than buying expensive equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 something like this http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=2009&sku=03180 and something like replay radio will do. To get a preliminary preview try the windows default microphone recorder that records up to a minute Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Well sure, you could just use the built-in line-in on your computer, but it's probably not going to sound too good. Will it matter even with mp3's? I think it would. What kind of soundcard do you already have in your computer? There are definetly a few options out there that don't sound all too bad. But there are lots more that sound really bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jay481985 Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 well its a cheap solution that I doubt will hurt his pocketbook if he does not like? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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