Audio analog-to-digital conversion

[balrog666]

I suddenly find myself needing to convert a number of mini-cassette tapes to a digital format suitable to be put on a CD-Rom for playback in a normal CD player.

I recall doing something similar about 10 years and 4 computers ago for my granddaughter's cassette tapes through my sound card and a some freeware from Finland. But that was too many years and beers ago and I certainly don't have whatever software I used then.

And, while my current computer's sound card (Creative SB 2ZS) doesn't even seem to have a "line in" (at least according to the documentation), I have easy access to a large variety of relatively recent and not-so-recent computers with various soundcards, operating systems, etc.

So ... where do I start? What do I need? What software, what hardware, what process, what ever?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks!

[Ducky]

Originally posted by balrog666
I suddenly find myself needing to convert a number of mini-cassette tapes to a digital format suitable to be put on a CD-Rom for playback in a normal CD player.

I recall doing something similar about 10 years and 4 computers ago for my granddaughter's cassette tapes through my sound card and a some freeware from Finland. But that was too many years and beers ago and I certainly don't have whatever software I used then.

And, while my current computer's sound card (Creative SB 2ZS) doesn't even seem to have a "line in" (at least according to the documentation), I have easy access to a large variety of relatively recent and not-so-recent computers with various soundcards, operating systems, etc.

So ... where do I start? What do I need? What software, what hardware, what process, what ever?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks!

Now we finally have a question right up my alley...

I am a musician and a sound engineer, and could have you running for the top end equipment but that's just ridiculous for what you want to do with this.

OK, there a rather cheap, but very good sound card that will do the conversion. Check out this link.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/701341/

As for software, you can find Cool Edit Pro just about anywhere to download for demo if you want freeware, but for a decent program to buy for this, I would check out a version of Cakewalk

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/706047/

Or a version of Acid:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/700975/

If you need help with installation or support let me know...

[Ducky]

Originally posted by fowlsound
Now we finally have a question right up my alley...

I am a musician and a sound engineer, and could have you running for the top end equipment but that's just ridiculous for what you want to do with this.

OK, there a rather cheap, but very good sound card that will do the conversion. Check out this link.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/701341/

As for software, you can find Cool Edit Pro just about anywhere to download for demo if you want freeware, but for a decent program to buy for this, I would check out a version of Cakewalk

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/706047/

Or a version of Acid:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/700975/

If you need help with installation or support let me know...


I forgot to mention, after using that soundcard, you'll need a 1/8th inch stereo male to stereo rca female adapter, and an rca cable to plug the microcassette recorder into the input of the sound card.

[Wudang]

Or you could look at snapfiles freeware (http://www.snapfiles.com/freeware/gmm/fwaudiorecorder.html) - see for instance Stepvoice recorder.

[Smike]

Link to free music editor (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) for once you have the sound on your PC.

But getting it on there might cost you money if you don't have a soundcard with a line in.

[balrog666]

Thanks all, I'll probably try some of this over the weekend.

[bruto]

I second the above recommendation for Cakewalk. I bought "Cakewalk Pyro" for about 40 bucks at Staples a couple of years ago. It allows you to record any analog or digital input as a WAV file, edit it into tracks, do some basic sound processing, and then burn it in various formats, all from within the program. It has a good noise and click reduction if you record old LP's, and the graphic editor makes it pretty easy to cut up a session into tracks. You can also do things like matching the loudness of tracks from different sources, basic equalizing, etc. I've made CD's of a number of old records, and find it works well with just enough power to do what I need and not a lot of extra complexity.

[Nucular]

I use a program called Clean! to transfer and process old tapes & records. It comes with a USB pre-amp which is useful for connecting a turntable to the computer, and the software has various processing functions, some very useful, some pointless (I don't want my old albums to sound like I'm playing them in a big echoey hall, thanks).

I'm mostly pleased with it, though if you're as anal about things like track splitting as I am, it can take a while to get it done perfectly. And that exclamation mark built into the name itself isn't as "fun" as was probably intended.

I was impressed with the click/crackle/rumble etc. removers, but I don't really have much to compare it to. Another good thing is that you can play only the sound you're removing, so you can see if you're 'skimming' any of the music off with the noise (as described using my primitive mental model of how these things work).

I use a Soundblaster Live 5.1 soundcard, because it's got various in/out bits and pieces which, in conjunction with a kind of splitter box thing, means I'm not always swapping cables around in the dark spidery realm behind my computer.

[thrombus29]

I just started using the Sony restoration plug-in that comes with soundforge 8, it is real idiot proof and sounds good.

I use a M-Audio 10-10 lT as my sound card (For other things, not just records).

My Question is..

Since I have soundforge set to record at 96,000 when I do A to D conversion, I have to re-sample it to 41,000 so I can burn it to a disk anyway, am I gaining/losing by recording at the higher rate and then ajusting it?

Opinions?

[rockoon]

Originally posted by thrombus29
I just started using the Sony restoration plug-in that comes with soundforge 8, it is real idiot proof and sounds good.

I use a M-Audio 10-10 lT as my sound card (For other things, not just records).

My Question is..

Since I have soundforge set to record at 96,000 when I do A to D conversion, I have to re-sample it to 41,000 so I can burn it to a disk anyway, am I gaining/losing by recording at the higher rate and then ajusting it?

Opinions?

Depends somewhat on the hardware. Can your ADC really record at 96khz?

I'd be downsampling to 48khz or 44.1khz tho, not 41khz.

[thrombus29]

Yes, it records at 96Khz, it's a pretty good card.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta1010LT-main.html


I meant 44.1, sorry, Nero won't burn disks at any other rate (or I have not figured out how to make it)

Am I wasting my time doing the orignal at 96 then downgrading, should I just record at 44.1?

[Patricio Elicer]

Just for the record, I purchased a DVD recorder a time ago (not a computer device, but the analogous to the VCR). It's a rather expensive investment, but it has already paid for itself many times over. I'm very happy with the machine, I've been transfering my huge collection of video cassettes to DVD, and also use it to record TV programs. The process is absolutely flawless and the image and audio quality are superb (a blank DVD is less than half the price of a VHS, BTW).

I recently discovered that as a "by-product" I can also use it to transfer old vinyls to CD, in the WAV or mp3 formats. I first transfer the analog music source to a VHS, then the VHS goes digital in the DVD recorder. Finally by means of an "Audio DVD Ripper" program (trial versions available for free in the internet) I get the music digitalized.

I know it's a rather contorted method, but the end product is of excellent quality, and involves no major technical difficulties.


ETA: The vinyl-VHS step is necessary because the DVD recorder won't function if no video signal is present in the input source. For that I must add any video to the VHS, simultaneously with the audio.