Way OT (but I'm desperate) - USB Sound Card For Notebooks

Joe fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

besides,

I did just the same thing about a week after last Christmas. Wifey wanted all her old vinyl transcribed, and I had a good turntable and amp.

I got a USB2.0VidBox that came wrapped with VCR-to-DVD software -- radio Crap, I think.

I still ended up having to do a little impedance matching and level shifting to get everything inside the envelope, and with low enough noise to be manageable. But my amp supplied that function well without any extra hangy-ons.

The software was useless, except inasmuch as it contains the driver necessary, so I fire up the DVD software and minimize it, then use "Audio Recorder for Free" as the capture software.

I usually will run it through Sonar once for clicks and pops, but it comes out OK as-is.

LLoyd

You want buy sneaker? T-shirt? Copy watch?

I don't have one, but this looks pretty good for the money:

They have a similar Expresscard product if your notebook has that kind of slot.

Huh?????????

All laptops that I have seen, come with audio in jacks, because people want to use them for Skype and crap like that and to use microphones.

I would like to question the premise of your post.

i

Joe, disregard my previous post, I think that I see your issue now, which is that mic in is not good enough quality.

Have a look at Turtle Beach's lineup,

I've got one I use strictly for output, very nice. I haven't looked, but I'm sure it's got a line input. There are various quality levels there and are frequently on sale, somewhere. CL's stuff is for crap, I quit using it years back.

Stan

Costco had a USB turntable last year. About $60. Best Buy should have similar.

I picked up an ADS Tech "Instant Music" unit from Radio Shack on a trip to the 'states acouple years ago. On special I think I paid $14 and the software is pretty good too. Designed for "ripping" from vinyl.

[ ... ]

Out of curiosity, what was the problem with the USB turntable? Too heavy a stylus pressure? Skipping? Rumble? Wow? Distortion? Wrong speed?

Some things (like distortion) can be a function of too light a stylus pressure for the mass of the tone arm, etc.

I've never actually had my hands on one of the USB turntables, so I don't know what to expect -- except that a cheap turntable is bad for records and sound.

Better than trying to feed already equalized sound in through the phono cartridge input of a preamp. Good quality audio transformers could transform the level and isolate hum at the same time. (Of course, finding good quality audio transformers these days is a bit difficult. :-)

Good Luck, DoN.

It appears that you are planning to connect your turntable to a stereo system and then connect that (line out) to a laptop's line in (or some USB adapter).

Here's another idea: Pick up a dedicated stand alone phono preamp with USB outputs. The fewer devices you have connected together, the lower the accumulated noise will be.

Here's one that a friend picked up:

These can be found on-line for less than this price.

This has line outputs, a USB output and a TOSlink (optical) I/O. So it can be used to convert phono to digital, digital to line level audio, etc. One other advantage of having a unit like this is that many newer audio systems no longer include phono inputs.

Thanks Paul. I hadn't heard of that unit - I'll probably buy it. I like the fact that it includes a Line In, as there are some tapes I want to include in the mix.

Also - WTF is going on with my groups? Paul's is the only reply I saw; even my original post didn't show up. I was reduced to looking it up on G-Groups. I checked my filters, and can see no reason why Earthlink can't pass on the messages properly. (Maybe it's some L Ron Scien... cult thing.)

So, thanks to all the others who posted in reply as well.

The Creative Labs unit Sphero mentioned I had already rejected, for reasons I no longer recall.

It's possible that the USB turntable I tried (at a friend's house) was set up incorrectly, but at any rate, I doubt any electronics it contains could be equal to what I carefully put together so many years ago. Also, I'm still fond of my Shure V15. I bought one of their last styli a couple of years ago, so it should serve me well into the next decade.

Joe

Several years ago I gave my sister one of these for Christmas to record her piano concerts :

I'm not a serious audiophile so I can't comment on the quality but she has been satisfied with it. From quickly reading the manual it seemed able to record from a turntable.

jsw

USB turntables could be OK. But a stand-alone preamp/USB adapter will let you rescue an older turntable of known good quality. And the gadget mentioned can be used for lots of other things.

I believe it comes with some s/w that has pop and scratch filtering capabilities. There are also some other apps that can do the same (and might be better).

[snip]

BTW, 'mic in' isn't very good for a phonograph. A phono preamp needs to implement the proper frequency response curve. Even if the levels are OK with the mic input, it won't sound right. See:

Joe wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

This is the unit I recently got to do some testing using a mic preamp (line level output) for acoustical testing on the cheap.

Edirol UA-1EX USB Audio Interface

(Sorry can't remember how to control line wrapping)

It has done well so far and provides line level in and out which appears to be what you have asked for.

let me know how it goes.