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View Full Version : A/D transfer- Spring Clean



Nordwall
04-20-2010, 02:59 PM
Too many 7-1/2", cassettes and some LP's-

Anyone have thoughts on how to put together a dedicated PC to transfer old reel to reel tapes,cassette tapes etc...? What hardware, software and so-forth would be a good recommendation? Is this possible for under $700?

stephane RAME
04-21-2010, 09:36 AM
http://www.ion-lp2cd.co.uk/ :D

Stéphane
http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=11750

rdgrimes
04-21-2010, 10:11 AM
Any PC will do, it's a question of software. All the hardware you need is a sound card with stereo inputs which most all will have.

You'll want software that's designed for this purpose, and if you intend to do things like clean up the audio, remove pops or hiss, EQ, etc, it needs to have tools for that.

I'd recommend a dedicated recording program that can over-sample in 24 bit and at least 96 KHz. This will give you cleaner quality during the process of cleaning up, EQ, etc. Needless to say, any other software must also support 24/96 or higher. Once you're done fiddling with the audio, reducing to 16/44 for CDs or whatever.

I'd question the logic in transferring cassettes to digital, since the results won't measure up in most cases.

For a more direct, less fiddling approach - any recorder will do and stand-alone CD recorders are still being sold.

SEAWOLF97
04-21-2010, 11:11 AM
I'm just running a TT into the soundcard ..the software "Audiolava pro"
http://www.softplatz.com/software/cassette/
which had a selectable phono preamp or not ....it does a great job on vinyl restoration and will take in any line source...

.I havnt used it, but the free Audacity gets a lot of recommendations.

http://audacity.download-latest.com/

mebbe try the free one and see if thats an activity that you want to do, if so...pick up a better one later ?

Don C
04-21-2010, 11:16 AM
If you're looking to buy a nice setup for this, these guys can help.
http://www.tracertek.com/

Nordwall
04-21-2010, 02:58 PM
Thanks- I will do some homework on the subject.

Regarding the software- I think it would be interesting to try and clean up some old LP's and reel to reels.

Also, the reason for a dedicated PC would be to have a built in editing, bluray, streaming video (netflix) do-it-all in one simple box approach.:blah:

Thanks Guys (and Girls)

LeonV
04-25-2010, 07:23 AM
I purchased the Behringer USB device below at Part Express, here is a link.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=248-6506
(http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=248-6506)
For $30, it comes with the hardware and software to transfer your analog recordings to digital from both phono and line level inputs. I have gotten clean, high quality digitizations from vinyl records, and also corrected most anomalies (i.e. ticks, pops, vinyl noise, equalization) using the Audacity software (among others) that's included.

I also use it to stream internet radio into my audio system (way better than a tuner), the device has inputs and outputs, and does both A/D and D/A. :)

SEAWOLF97
04-25-2010, 11:52 AM
Thanks- I will do some homework on the subject.

Regarding the software- I think it would be interesting to try and clean up some old LP's and reel to reels.

the thing I find interesting on AudioLava is that once you have done the cleaning pass on your files, you can not only listen to the new cleaned file but also listen to just the noise that was removed...when you hear it all...well, amazing.

on a similar but not so note....I have a photo that was shot in 1969, I've printed and sold many 12x18's of it on Da'Bay....when I first retrieved the slide, it was almost unviewable....I spent 3 days blowing up and hand spotting out all the dirt ...and then sent it through a software cleaner ...it is so clean and clear now that a couple of people think that it cant be authentic, as there were no digital cameras in '69 (and it looks like that is what produced it)

My rips of vinyl to digital seems to have a lot more detail than MP3's.

jcrobso
04-26-2010, 08:47 AM
Not a hard thing to do, if you some very basic skills.
A very high performance PC would cost about $500 and a Pro sound card or USB external.
This is one of best on the market at a reasonable price.
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=pro+sound+cards&oe=utf-8&rls=com.yahoo:en-US:official&client=firefox&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13978493274593489214&ei=HbTVS__lNor09ATvvMHEDw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDwQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers