HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

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Grumpytim
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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Grumpytim »

Good luck, I started off years ago doing much the same at 44.1/16, because that was all I knew about. It was only relatively recently that I became aware of the whole high res thing. That and a better sound card prompted me to try a few 96/24 recordings by way of comparison. Unfortunately they did (to me) sound better, so off I went and re recorded pretty much the whole lot.

I 'know' that vinyl's bandwidth is said to be less than 96/24, however my view is that disc space is cheap, and why wouldn't you record them at the best resolution you can?

One thing with any windows machine is I'd have a look at the sound settings and notifications and make sure they are all turned off. You don't want any random email beeps mid recording...

I don't use audacity, but if it has a rumble/scratch/click filter I'd be very wary of using it I found them to seriously squash the higher frequencies. I used wave corrector mainly because it's what I've always used, but I don't use any of the click filters unless it's an ancient jazz recording that looks like it spent WW2 in a dug out on the eastern front.
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Fretless (Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:37 am)

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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Fretless »

I don't find the occasional bit of surface noise to be so annoying - it is an LP rip after all. Audacity does have a click-removal function but I doubt I'll need it - unless something is seriously scratched.

First run is using 44.1KHz / 24 bit which is fine but I will apply your tip of 96 KHz. On the post-punk stuff it may not be necessary but for more 'produced' recordings it will be worth trying.

The laptop I'm using for recording is a very humble little Asus netbook which has limited processing capacity (Intel Atom), so I have disabled pretty well everything and physically remove the ethernet network cable while the rip is in progress. No troubles - so far.

I have been seriously considering, recently, about selling off all of my remaining vinyl and the turntable(s) but am rapidly coming to the conclusion that it is NOT a good idea - in fact the next project (!) might be refurbishing the Logic DM101 which has been rusting in the attic for 20 years (something up with the electrics), we'll see. Still a bit shocked that I have bought some LP's for the first time this century!

Never thought I'd do that again.

:doh:

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
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Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Fretless »

Wasn't sure that would work, but it looks like it has.

Image

The Terratec Aureon USB 5.1 Mk2 is an early USB sound-card dating from around 2004, at the time it was rated at a max sampling-rate of 48KHz. However Audacity accepted a switch from 44.1 to 96 KHz without question and has now produced a rip with (apparently) 96/24 quality. Might be something to do with updated USB drivers in Windows 10.

Just done an album that, to my knowledge, has never had a CD release anywhere, 'Chorale' from 1979. A prog/folk/pop LP that has a vibe hanging somewhere inbetween Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull and Renaissance. Side one is a concept suite telling a story of mediaeval England and side 2 features a minor hit with a Spanish Christmas song called 'Riu Riu'.

Image

Anyhow - it sounds rather magnificent and I have no complaints at all.

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro & AudioQuest

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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Firebug1 »

Is it really too much to put the turntable on a main set and just play those records? Instead of all that unnecessary fuss... :twisted:
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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Grumpytim »

Firebug1 wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 11:28 am Is it really too much to put the turntable on a main set and just play those records? Instead of all that unnecessary fuss... :twisted:
You're absolutely correct, however I can't get the TT near the main rigs, so this suffices.
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Firebug1 (Tue Mar 30, 2021 12:46 pm)

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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Grumpytim »

Fretless wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:55 am Wasn't sure that would work, but it looks like it has.

Image

The Terratec Aureon USB 5.1 Mk2 is an early USB sound-card dating from around 2004, at the time it was rated at a max sampling-rate of 48KHz. However Audacity accepted a switch from 44.1 to 96 KHz without question and has now produced a rip with (apparently) 96/24 quality. Might be something to do with updated USB drivers in Windows 10.

Just done an album that, to my knowledge, has never had a CD release anywhere, 'Chorale' from 1979. A prog/folk/pop LP that has a vibe hanging somewhere inbetween Steeleye Span, Jethro Tull and Renaissance. Side one is a concept suite telling a story of mediaeval England and side 2 features a minor hit with a Spanish Christmas song called 'Riu Riu'.

Image

Anyhow - it sounds rather magnificent and I have no complaints at all.
What I suspect is happening is that audacity is upsampling to 96khz, the only reason for thinking this is that I had the same situation but when I switched to a 192khz capable sound card the 96 khz file sizes were noticeably larger than those from the 48khz card. Though please don't ask me why as I have no idea...

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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Fretless »

Initially just happy with the fact that my TT still worked - and I could rip LP's to digital files, I am now looking at things a bit more critically.

Firstly, sampling rate. After discovering that the Terratec USB box was running internally at a standard of 16bit / 48KHz I hear that recordings made at that setting are clearer and fresher than those which I upsampled to 96KHz in Audacity. So, leave the settings at 'native' and forget about upsampling.

Secondly, cables: the old NVA preamp with built-in phono section has only one tape output and that is via a DIN socket. The antique DIN/RCA cables I have lying about here were probably used by Henry VIII to record lute music onto wax cylinders and I suspect them of having a muddying effect on SQ.

Ordered a new DIN adaptor which will let me attach 'audiophile' interconnects and then I can look at the possibility of hooking the Edirol audio interface up - that does 24bit/96KHz natively (I think).

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro & AudioQuest

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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Grumpytim »

In the end I went for a Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi HD USB Audio System, which is reasonably priced and does go up to 24b/96khz. Idon't use the inbuilt phono stage though.

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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Fretless »

Just run a test with the Edirol, had to find a couple of XLR/RCA leads which, luckily, I had.

Looks to be able to record at 96KHz. Now awaiting the DIN adaptor (hopefully in tomorrow's post).

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro & AudioQuest

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Re: HELP NEEDED to digitise two LP's

Unread post by Fretless »

You win some, you lose some.

Testing with a line-out feed from a CD player into the Edirol UA25EX worked fine. Then the DIN adaptor arrived in the afternoon post so, methinks, easy-peasy - let's get going.

Not so. The input level, despite whatever I do to counter it, remains way too high for the USB interface unit to handle. It is a complex little semi-pro recording unit with combined 6.5mm (guitar jack) and XLR (microphone) inputs, no RCA sockets. Using the XLR option I think I am running into an impedance problem due to the high output of the NVA phono stage. So - I am ordering a pair of RCA-6.5mm adaptor plugs to see if that fixes it.

Image

The new DIN plug has allowed me to fire up the little Terratec music card with better-quality cables and that has made a definite improvement. Just made an LP rip at its native rate of 16bit/48KHz and that sounds a lot clearer than the first attempt which I had upsampled to 96KHz.

It's a learning process.

Pondering on my sudden reawakened interest in vinyl; I think it is partly the fact that the Denafrips Ares II now has my main setup sounding distinctly 'analogue' and that, with the addition of this DAC, my digital system is now as good as I can get it (until I can afford that Linn streamer, that is).

:banana-linedance: :banana-linedance: :banana-linedance:

Upstairs:
Vinyl
Pro-Ject 1.2 + Grado Sig Jr + Cambridge Alva Duo
DigiVolumio PC + Kiss DP-500 + Sabaj A20d
NVA: P50sa - Cube2 - SSP - LS6+ Sabaj A10a (x2)
Downstairs:
Vinyl
Logic DM101 + Syrinx LE1 + Grado Sig MCX
DigiDenafrips Ares II + Volumio PC + Cambridge CXC
NVA: P50 - BMU+ Aiyima A07 MAX (x2) + Arcam One
HP: HifiBerry Digi+ PRO + Sabaj A10d
Office:
Allo DigiOne SIG + SMSL M300se + Douk G4 (x2)
Mission 760 + Monolith THX AAA 887
Headphones: German Maestro & AudioQuest

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