Jump to content

Lots of digital stuff....


maxg

Recommended Posts

Finally got a new computer - a laptop with all the bells and whistles - including HD audio on board (96/24 recording).

I had planned to use the computer with my Soundblaster Audigy 2 USB sound card (?) but that is apparently dead - plug the power brick into the wall - little light comes on - plug the other end into the soundblaster - little light goes off and no power to soundblaster. Tried another power brick- same story. Its dead Jim!!!

Anyway - no worries - this thing has built in connectors and supports 96/24 dont it. So I connect the stereo to the computer and a little dialog box appears asking what I connected - choice of line in, headphone out, line out and microphone.

I choose line in and it says - not supported - bugger!!!

So I am stuck - then someone tells me that the mike in and the line in are just about the same and to try that. Try it out - sound is dreadful. About to give up when I come across this little shareware app called Rightmark Audio Analyser 6.1.1 which apparently can analyse your computer sound system (both playback and recording) and then fix it. So I download and run the app and hey presto - sounds good. Did a quick test recording from my phone output at 96/24 and it is clear as a bell. Next thing to try is the output from my phono stage and see what happens.

Other than that a question:

My first DVD player was an all region affair so I never looked at the region when buying DVD's. MY replacement unit (the Pioneer 575) is region 2 only and apparently a tricky thing to change - so I was stuck with a load of region 1 DVD's and nothing to play them on.

With the computer comes a DVD writer/player so I set that to region one and hey presto - disks playable again.

Now I notice there are a lot of programs out there that will rip and compress your DVD's for you so I can have them on the hard disk.

Question - if I own the original DVD is it legal?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heading down a slippery road, there Max!

I am assuming that is the Intel HD chipset? 945GC, G31, etc.

They have a very good reputation, but I've not heard one yet.

Don't know if you've seen it in the Fox and other threads, but I've gone even simpler with the Korg MR-1. I am getting 24/88.2 LP transfers that are pretty near indistinguishable. Actually, they ARE indistinguishable to me and the PAW...but we may be deaf.

Of course, it all still has to go to my file server and be played back on the music server, but recording is MUCH less of a hassle with one button ease.

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank-you Doctor - good to know.

Dave,

Damn but this aint easy this recording thing. Of course being an idiot I chose a really tricky piece to record - Sheherezade 4th movement - big dynamic range,

Tried to record it with the settings the program suggested for the volume controls and flat lined all the peaks. Finally got something almost acceptable with the volume control around 1 out of 10 - but I am still clipping the major cressendos.

Quality wise its hard to say at this stage - I think there is something to this but the first try is hardly going to fool either me or the wife. Play through appears to affect the recording quality adversely so I am recording without which means I have no way of hearing it till its done. This means I am trying to access what is going on entirely graphically. Still working on this one.....

Oh - and file sizes are interesting. 11 minutes of the last movement take about 500 meg of WAV, 16 meg of Org (with noticable degredation) and about 120K of the programs own file structure for the "project". Dont know how that works - but it saves the whole thing. Mystery...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Max:

Without being there it's hard to diagnose. Certainly compression of 500mb to 16mb is going to be unacceptable. I do not compress at all as space is even cheaper than Cd/DVD blanks. As to levels, don't push it. Digital dynamic range is twice that of LP, so you have plenty of room to spare. I acutally increase many LP's dynamic range while recording by up to 40% (usually more like 15%) via DBX without problems.

If you have the specs on the laptop, let us know the specific audio chip set you are using.

I've touched nothing, including levels, on the MR-1 and am getting excellent results. While I had doing it via PC down to a science, this is down to "do it on a whim" at the push of a button. I like that...

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

" Archival of your material is within fair use I believe; that's why programs like AnyDVD are still on the market."

The
sticking point with DVD though is that DVDs are encrypted. To archive
one you have to break that encryption. Breaking encryption is illegal
per the DCMA.

Of course the DCMA is a US law so that
doesn't apply to Max. That is also why AnyDVD is still on the market,
it isn't a US company. Notice that Roxio Popcorn (US company) will only
copy any non-encrypted DVD... that is why.

Shawn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Max:

Without being there it's hard to diagnose. Certainly compression of 500mb to 16mb is going to be unacceptable. I do not compress at all as space is even cheaper than Cd/DVD blanks. As to levels, don't push it. Digital dynamic range is twice that of LP, so you have plenty of room to spare. I acutally increase many LP's dynamic range while recording by up to 40% (usually more like 15%) via DBX without problems.

If you have the specs on the laptop, let us know the specific audio chip set you are using.

I've touched nothing, including levels, on the MR-1 and am getting excellent results. While I had doing it via PC down to a science, this is down to "do it on a whim" at the push of a button. I like that...

Dave

Whilst in theory you are correct - digitial supports a much wider dynamic range than analogue (on a vinyl record) it does not seem to be the case in practice for me. This is in terms both of playback and of recording (although there is obviously an element of the limitations of the input stage here).

What I notice - time and again - is that music coming from viny has so much more impact - feel - directness than from any digial media ESPECIALLY in the bass. Its possible that using the term dynamic range is not correct to explain this. I think I would prefer to refer to the range of frequencies at which the music is dynamic - meaning punchy - with presence - close to real and so on.

I am currently battling with the pass-through of the sound to see if there is a way of having it without degrading the quality of the recording. If I can do this then I can get the volume control in the right position to record the quietest parts and still have enough room for the peaks. Right now I am close - but cresendos are still slightly out of the range. Listening to the result - now - its only noticable when concentrating really hard - and then only in rather short bursts.

Now having said all that what I have now produced is closer to the original vinyl than anything yet tried - including SACD's and DVDa's, vinyl to CD rips and so on - so we are on the right track I feel.

Will keep you updated with more as I have it.

One piece of good news is that my main amp that blew a channel only needed a replacement fuse - so that is up and running again....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Max:

Download the samples via the links in the "High Res Downloads..." thread.

There is bass well into the 20hz region and impact aplenty in the 80 year old Kid Ory record. No kidding. I am confident enough in this material to suggest that if you find that is not true you might want to look at your playback chain.

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave,

Downloading it now - looks like it will take a while. Will be interesting to compare it to my own efforts to see. If mine compares well I will try to find a way of sharing it with others. Just have no idea where to place a 500 + Mb file for sharing - and god only knows how long it will take to upload....

Still working on recording at my end. Some things appear to be bearing fruit. Getting there slowly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave,

OK - we need to sort something out so you can hear what I have here. It is impossible to compare the sample from here to my own as my source is obviously massively superior. I have significantly less noise and much wider dynamic swings, tonally its night and day (due to the age of the orginial source) and of course - mine is stereo and has complete soundstaging.

I might be able to trim out an shorter section (not tried that yet) so I can upload a shorter but representative sample. I'd like to keep it to 100 Mb or thereabouts - as my upload speed is not that huge.

Finally - I will need full instructions if shawn is game - I dont know anything about uploading on the internet....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sudden brainwave.

I have put the file on on Limewire which is one of those filesharing things. I think it is also open to Torrent users and others.

Anyway if you search for "sheherezade 9624 Last movement" and find it then I would expect that's mine and you can download it.

I have opened up my machine for maximum speed on downloading - so if my ISP is on form it shouldn't take too long.

If others get and it leave it shared then each subsequent user will get it that much faster as it will come down from multiple sources.

Here's hoping this works- again- never put a file for upload before......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you have noise, you have problems. We need to sort it out. I'll email Shawn. His connection is very fast here for download, around 500kbps, though upload is slow, around 125kbps. These are likely due to my Comcast cable, but it's plenty usable.

Dave

Let know if you hear ANY noise in the uploads of phono transfers that are not from the discs themselves. There should be none. Also, the dynamic range of the Fox should be wider than any other LP you've ever heard.

Dave

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dave,

If you can try out the limewire - it is a bit shady but it does work- right now I have half a dozen people downloading from me but I can cut them off if I need to.

Let me know - I need you to hear this before we can realistically discuss this one further.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shawn,

This is a rip i have made from the Reiner Chicago RCA living stereo vinyl record that I own. Its currently on my hard drive in the shared directory and accessible to lmewire and the like.

Is that what you are asking?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...