Noob question

[hetfieldsmullet]

Be gentle, this might sound like a dumbass question, but here goes anyway;
I'm looking to get a usb turntable in order to rip the occasional b-side and whatnot but all the equipment I've seen looks terrible quality with sub par cartridges. What's the deal? Or is there a piece of kit available to plug my P3 into and convert off'f that?
Thanks folks.

[Coffee Phil]

Hi hetfieldsmullet,

If your amp has an output for a tape deck you can connect that to the audio input of your computer. You can also use an external USB codec if your sound card is not too good. You will also need recording software. Right now I'm trying out the Vinyl Studio software. It is about $30 but you can try it free for 5 albums.

Phil

Be gentle, this might sound like a dumbass question, but here goes anyway;
I'm looking to get a usb turntable in order to rip the occasional b-side and whatnot but all the equipment I've seen looks terrible quality with sub par cartridges. What's the deal? Or is there a piece of kit available to plug my P3 into and convert off'f that?
Thanks folks.

[hetfieldsmullet]

Thanks for the response but I have no idea what a usb codec is and I'm fairly sure there is no audio input on the back of my pc. Usb ports aplenty, audio out, mic etc, but no input.

[Coffee Phil]

Hi hetfieldsmullet,

That's what happens when an analog guy like me tries to talk digital. I think codec is actually an algorithm. Sorry. Here is a link to the device which I'm using: http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... FQQ8wIwAg#
I am sure there are better boxes than this one. What I like about this box is it is two way. I leave it connected in my stereo always. When I want to connect my computer to the stereo I just plug the usb cable from the little box into my computer and my computer is a virtual tape recorder. The main downside of the little box is that it doesn't have an analog input level control.

I am not sure but I think the mic input on your computer is line level so you may be able to use that.

Phil

Thanks for the response but I have no idea what a usb codec is and I'm fairly sure there is no audio input on the back of my pc. Usb ports aplenty, audio out, mic etc, but no input.

[Coffee Phil]

I am happy to inform you that I am not a total digital idiot. I just dug out my notes on the ADS box which I linked. As I mentioned the box had no analog level control so I added one as well as a gain stage for each channel. As built it had insufficient gain the reach the correct record level with my preamp output.
While doing the mod I downloaded the data-sheet of the USB DAC/ADC which this box is built around (PCM2902) from TI. Looking at a copy of the data sheet which I downloaded at the time (~2006) I see that TI and Burr Browm before them called it a Stereo Audio Codec with USB interface.

I feel much better now. I was so embarrassed.

Phil

Hi hetfieldsmullet,

That's what happens when an analog guy like me tries to talk digital. I think codec is actually an algorithm. Sorry. Here is a link to the device which I'm using: http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... FQQ8wIwAg#
I am sure there are better boxes than this one. What I like about this box is it is two way. I leave it connected in my stereo always. When I want to connect my computer to the stereo I just plug the usb cable from the little box into my computer and my computer is a virtual tape recorder. The main downside of the little box is that it doesn't have an analog input level control.

I am not sure but I think the mic input on your computer is line level so you may be able to use that.

Phil

Thanks for the response but I have no idea what a usb codec is and I'm fairly sure there is no audio input on the back of my pc. Usb ports aplenty, audio out, mic etc, but no input.

[mickb69]

Thanks for the response but I have no idea what a usb codec is and I'm fairly sure there is no audio input on the back of my pc. Usb ports aplenty, audio out, mic etc, but no input.

it's dead easy, alls you do is,
get one of those cables that has the red and white jacks on one end, and a small headphone jack on the other,
the red and white plugs go in the bit of the amp where you attach the tape out, (to record) and the small headphone jack goes into the "mic/line in" input on your PC/laptop.

you need a programme called audacity, there's instructions that come with it and also have a look on here for help.

first though, before you record anything, set up "mixing latency" on the software.
there's advice in the instructions on how to do this. you need a "small headphone jack to small headphone jack" cable"
i can't explain how to do this right now as i'm spaced out on tramadol, codeine and baileys irish cream, but it's worth doing, as it's cheap and gets top results