Re: (TV) (OT):Tech Q on optimally converting vinyl to digital

[Joe Hartley <jh@brainiac.com>]

On Tue, 1 Mar 2011 17:13:38 -0500
"Leo Casey" <LeoCasey@comcast.net> wrote:
> I have a very good Thorens turntable from several yrs ago, so I do not want to buy another with
> USB to convert some rare & pristine vinyl LPs to digital (lossless, not mp3) files.  I also
> already have the needed Audacity software.

Ohhh, something I know *way* too much about.

You're going to get a much better recording out of the Thorens than a
$100 USB-enabled turntable.  I would not use Y splitter cables for the 
recording as it's a little too easy for the signal to have a bit of
extra noise introduced with it.

I'd also recommend a different audio interface, as the ones built into
motherboards tend to be of mediocre quality.  The Alesis is supposed to
be a good unit, and provides the phono pre-amp required for turntables.
It would connect the turntable directly to the USB port and show up as
another input in Audacity.  You then use the built-in soundcard to monitor
the output,  but because it's not part of the recording signal chain that's
fine.  Phil mentioned that he thought the built-in interface should be OK,
but given that your turntable is so nice, I think you'd notice some issues.
One thing in particular is that most built-in audio interfaces are locked
to a sampling rate of 48kHz, but CDs are 44.1kHz.  This means that to burn
a CD, you have to have to downsample, which can lead to some funny-sounding
artifacts at times.

Another option is to put a different sound card in your PC, something
along the lines of an M-Audio Audiophile 2496.  That has superb A/D converters,
but only supports line-level I/O, so you'd need to use your amplifier, and
connect it into the tape monitor ports on the amp.  (Disclaimer - I have an
extra one of these cards floating around that I'd be willing to sell for ~40.)

Ultimately I think you'd get almost as good sound quality from the Alesis,
as from the Audiophile, and it'll be a snap to use.  Feel free to drop me a 
line off-list for more tech details, I know Audacity very well and am happy 
to help.  The CD Wave program mentioned by Phil is also well-respected.

-- 
======================================================================
       Joe Hartley - UNIX/network Consultant - jh@brainiac.com
 Without deviation from the norm, "progress" is not possible. - FZappa
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