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  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: USB turntable at Costco
  • Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:56:07 -0500

Now, if someone built some kind of jukebox, or hotrodded an oldschool record-changer (hmm, do I need to describe/explain? I had one when I was like 8 years old, but they kind of disappeared from the market around that time . . . . you stack a bunch of records on top of each other on a special long spindle, with a record-killing metal/plastic arm resting on top of them to keep them from flopping all over the place, and then when one side finishes & the tonearm returns to home, the thing makes this kind of wippy-woppy noise and another record drops on top of the one already on the turntable, and it starts playing that one . . . hell on the vinyl, and since the height of the vinyl changes as you move through the stack, you don't get a lot of control over the stylus setup, but damn convenient when you're occupied with something other than sitting waiting for the album side to end), then I'd be all in favor of paying the big $$, if'n one could digitize a couplea dozen album sides without touching anything.

But the hardware now isn't really much more advanced than you manually dropping the tonearm and clicking "start" on the screen, so yeah, it's all about the software. Goldwave used to be the gold standard for cheapskates, but I haven't used it in ages. I get the impression that there is software (such as, presumably, Pyro) where you click "go" and it sucks in 22 minutes of sound, waits until it thinks the side is over, then looks for the silences, cuts it into tracks, applies some default level of de-click, and spits out mp3s, all with little/no user interaction.

That's worth paying for, and there's no need to buy some junky hardware to achieve that much.

Not that I've gotten around to digitizing *any* of my vinyl yet, other than Th'Cigaretz, which I don't listen to now any more than I did before I had it in the computer, but whatever. One of these days, since Todd appears to not be getting around to releasing the Jettison Retrospective Box Set, I may digitize the Jettison back-catalog & put it on the web, (along with a hundred other local 7"s whose bands/labels have long since shuffled off this mortal coil) but don't hold yr breath.

James Hepler wrote:
Before I got protools, I used a program called
Goldwave. It's shareware that instead of limiting
your use of the program to 30 days, it limits your
sessions to X number of clicks, let's you save, exit
the program and start it up again. I liked it so much
I actually bought it.

But yeah, I could record a whole side, then
essentially highlight a section of waveform, choose
"save selection as", then Ctrl-X it and move on to the
next song. It even has a filter to reduce the pops
and hisses, although I don't do much of that.

So, turntable into an old stereo, came out of the RCA
"tape" outs into the 1/8" analog input of my computer,
and that's it. My setup is a little more advanced
than that now, but it's essentially the same thing.



--- grady <grady AT ibiblio.org> wrote:

Assuming you already own a turntable, all you need
is some kind of USB audio interface, either between your turntable and
your computer (like this:

http://www.amazon.com/ART-USB-Phono-Plus-Preamp/dp/B000BBGCCI
-- ~ $100) or between the line-level output of your
stereo, and your computer, like this:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOTRANSIT (~$70 --- I have one of these, and while I don't use Windows or
OSX, I can tell you that it works well under Linux)

Your computer might even already have a line-level
analog input on its normal sound-card, or have a "mic input" that's
really basically just a line-level input.

Then you can concentrate on finding the software,
which is where the magic happens, assuming any magic actually happens.
The hook for those USB turntables is that they're bundled with some
cut-rate software that will take a 22-minute-long wav file (what you wind
up with when you record a whole album side) and semi-automatically
look for the gaps between songs, and probably do some rudimentary
pop/click reduction, and spit out MP3s.

They seem to be bundled generally with Cakewalk
Pyro, which you can buy separately for $40:
http://www.zzounds.com/item--CAKPYRO

Or you can explore the wide world of other options,
many of which are outlined in this dense page of text: http://magicref.tripod.com/digitalaudio/darmp3.htm

I suppose it's possible that the all-in-one USB
turntables actually have some software integration such that you can drop the
needle & have the software on the computer start automagically (and/or
click "rec" on the computer and have the tonearm lift & drop into
position at the start of the record) but that's about as far as that's going
to go, so how much would you pay for that?

xo

Ross

James Hepler wrote:
I saw it at costco as well! I've head horible
things
though. Word on the street is don't buy the USB
turntable.
It looks cheaply made, and I'm sure the guts of it
are
less reliable than if you were to buy a regular
technics or pioneer or whatever device. But hell,
I
say buy it and let me know! I'm tired of
digitizing
records the slow way!



--- DJ Golf <djgolf AT mindspring.com> wrote:

So. Costco has, for $120, a USB plug-and-play
turntable that you use
to convert your records to digital audio files. Comes with software.
Plays at 33 or 45, and the box says it "supports"
playing 78's (I
assume this means you play them at a lower speed
and
the software
makes the conversion.) Also has regular RCA-plug
type output that you
can switch to, and use it as a regular turntable.
I
don't remember
the brand, but it wasn't a name I've ever heard
of.
Anybody have
experience with this sort of gadget?
-- ch-scene: the list that mirrors
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