I'd like to digitise a couple of LPs, and have the facility to do a few
more as and when. I'm looking to get a standalone unit as lashing up the
computer is inconvenient, plus I like the idea of having the tracks on
the device or portable media like an SD card.

Any recommendations please? I was thinking of maybe up to £200 new or
secondhand. This looks to be OK, but does more than I need:

http://www.solidstatesound.co.uk/tascam_sd-20m.htm

--
Cheers, Rob

"RJH" wrote in message
news
I'd like to digitise a couple of LPs, and have the facility to do a few
more as and when. I'm looking to get a standalone unit as lashing up the
computer is inconvenient, plus I like the idea of having the tracks on the
device or portable media like an SD card.

Any recommendations please? I was thinking of maybe up to £200 new or
secondhand. This looks to be OK, but does more than I need:

http://www.solidstatesound.co.uk/tascam_sd-20m.htm

--
Cheers, Rob

Tascam is a very good choice.

But the SD-20M has facilities that you probably
don't need. It is 4 channel, and has XLR mic inputs with
phantom etc etc

I use SS R100 (which has storage on SD CF or USB in
..wav and .mp3 format) as a stand-alone master recorder.
It is a bit more expensive but good used units are to be
found on E-bay.

Take a look at the Denon DN 500R also.

Iain

On 02/06/2017 18:59, Iain Churches wrote:
"RJH" wrote in message
news
I'd like to digitise a couple of LPs, and have the facility to do a few
more as and when. I'm looking to get a standalone unit as lashing up the
computer is inconvenient, plus I like the idea of having the tracks on the
device or portable media like an SD card.

Any recommendations please? I was thinking of maybe up to £200 new or
secondhand. This looks to be OK, but does more than I need:

http://www.solidstatesound.co.uk/tascam_sd-20m.htm

--
Cheers, Rob

Tascam is a very good choice.

But the SD-20M has facilities that you probably
don't need. It is 4 channel, and has XLR mic inputs with
phantom etc etc

I use SS R100 (which has storage on SD CF or USB in
.wav and .mp3 format) as a stand-alone master recorder.
It is a bit more expensive but good used units are to be
found on E-bay.

Take a look at the Denon DN 500R also.


Thanks - they look to be good. I've also seen 'scratch recorders' that
seem to fit the bill - Roland AR3000R and Marantz PMD 560. The obvious
difference is that they're 16 bit (as opposed to 24).

Without wishing to get into too much of a debate, might that matter?

The other things are ease of use, and the reliability of things like the
level meters.


--
Cheers, Rob

In terms of cutting up a recording of a whole LP side, try getting a
copy of Steinberg Clean - I have V4 - which can be bought on eBay for
a fiver or so.

The easy bit is the cutting. It shows a wave trace with moving marker
so it is easy to find the track gaps, click on the gap, and when all
have been done tell it to cut. It retains an uncut copy and adds each
of the cut tracks below it in a list. You can then retitle each track
and anti-click them if you wish, either manually or automatically (at
which it is surprisingly effective.) You can also fade in and fade out
a track with the simple moving of a marker with your mouse. Its a long
time since I last used it but ISTR it also has a normalising feature
but I may be wrong.

Audacity (which is free) is another sound programme which is very easy
to use and works extremely well. It too has a sound trace but you have
to mark, cut, and export each track to save it in any universal
format. Click reduction/removal, level correction (frequency selective
or wideband) etc is very simple.



--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com

In article , RJH
wrote:
On 02/06/2017 18:59, Iain Churches wrote:
"RJH" wrote in message
news


Tascam is a very good choice.

I'd also recommend Tascam from having an HD P2 recorder and finding it
works very well. However that would perhaps be overkill. Has excellent
meters, etc.

An alternative is something like the Scarlett 2i2 with a laptop and
suitable software. Audacity would do, although I use my own DIY software
that has better PPM indication, etc.

Thanks - they look to be good. I've also seen 'scratch recorders' that
seem to fit the bill - Roland AR3000R and Marantz PMD 560. The obvious
difference is that they're 16 bit (as opposed to 24).

Without wishing to get into too much of a debate, might that matter?

In practice the main advantage is that - given the ADC has a decently low
noise level - you can easily set the recoring gain low enough to avoid
clipping without under-recording the levels. Then if you wish, scale up a
little when processing the results. The problem here is that - paticularly
if you've not done kind of thing this a few times before - 16 bit may not
give enough 'room' to avoid both clipping and under-recording unless you
carefully start with the right level.

However for LP if you're prepared to have a 'dummy run' you can get decent
results from 16 bit if you give recording a run though and use that mainly
to set the 'optimum' recording gain that just misses clipping peaks. Then
have another go. Note, though, this means you need to ensure your metering
will show you short peaks OK... and assumes you're using a decent ADC!

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Seems an awful waste of money if you only want to do a few.

I still feel that any old xp computer and decent sound caard wiill do the
job.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Iain Churches" wrote in message
...

"RJH" wrote in message
news
I'd like to digitise a couple of LPs, and have the facility to do a few
more as and when. I'm looking to get a standalone unit as lashing up the
computer is inconvenient, plus I like the idea of having the tracks on
the device or portable media like an SD card.

Any recommendations please? I was thinking of maybe up to £200 new or
secondhand. This looks to be OK, but does more than I need:

http://www.solidstatesound.co.uk/tascam_sd-20m.htm

--
Cheers, Rob

Tascam is a very good choice.

But the SD-20M has facilities that you probably
don't need. It is 4 channel, and has XLR mic inputs with
phantom etc etc

I use SS R100 (which has storage on SD CF or USB in
.wav and .mp3 format) as a stand-alone master recorder.
It is a bit more expensive but good used units are to be
found on E-bay.

Take a look at the Denon DN 500R also.

Iain

Brian Gaff said:
Seems an awful waste of money if you only want to do a few.

I still feel that any old xp computer and decent sound caard wiill do the
job.

I think the quality of the A-to-D conversion is relevant. Plus, in some
cases, a different gadget can be more convenient in terms of cabling,
depending on where the various bits of gear are in the room(s).


--
Richard Robinson
"The whole plan hinged upon the natural curiosity of potatoes" - S. Lem

My email address is at http://qualmograph.org.uk/contact.html

In article ,
Richard
Robinson wrote:
Brian Gaff said:
Seems an awful waste of money if you only want to do a few.

I still feel that any old xp computer and decent sound caard wiill do
the job.

I think the quality of the A-to-D conversion is relevant. Plus, in some
cases, a different gadget can be more convenient in terms of cabling,
depending on where the various bits of gear are in the room(s).

A point to bear in mind is that default 'internal soundcards' on computers
may have little or nothing in the way of an 'analogue gain control' stage
*before* the ADC section. This can be a real problem if you can't
externally adjust the levels and are 'out of luck'.

And they may also have lousy rejection of electronic noises from elsewhere
inside the computer.

I'd be happy to accept there are superb exceptions. But I've never found
one that came with the machine when buying a general purpose 'PC' or
laptop.

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~www_pa...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Richard
Robinson wrote:
Brian Gaff said:
Seems an awful waste of money if you only want to do a few.

I still feel that any old xp computer and decent sound caard wiill do
the job.

I think the quality of the A-to-D conversion is relevant. Plus, in some
cases, a different gadget can be more convenient in terms of cabling,
depending on where the various bits of gear are in the room(s).

A point to bear in mind is that default 'internal soundcards' on computers
may have little or nothing in the way of an 'analogue gain control' stage
*before* the ADC section. This can be a real problem if you can't
externally adjust the levels and are 'out of luck'.

And they may also have lousy rejection of electronic noises from elsewhere
inside the computer.

I'd be happy to accept there are superb exceptions. But I've never found
one that came with the machine when buying a general purpose 'PC' or
laptop.

Jim


A cigar for that man:-)

Iain

"RJH" wrote in message
news
I'd like to digitise a couple of LPs, and have the facility to do a
few more as and when. I'm looking to get a standalone unit as
lashing up the computer is inconvenient, plus I like the idea of
having the tracks on the device or portable media like an SD card.

Any recommendations please? I was thinking of maybe up to £200 new
or secondhand. This looks to be OK, but does more than I need:

http://www.solidstatesound.co.uk/tascam_sd-20m.htm


Have a dig on eBay for a hi-fi type Sony minidisc recorder. Record you
disk, then take the recorder to your PC and record it using something
like Audacity.

Been doing it for years and it works.

Alternatively get a cheap secondhand laptop and record the LP straight
onto that, then cut it up again with Audacity. That also works well,
perhaps better than the minidisc as it gives you the option of the
recording format.




--
Woody

harrogate3 at ntlworld dot com