Copy LPs ?

Hi Al,

I have been digitising my albums for a while - long slow process. If you do some searches you can find a few threads, including a fellow member who is using a Kord.

Currently listening to Deep Purple, Made in Japan, LP needle drop = Very good.

Apart from the details you will find in the threads the only thing I would advise is: Be selective in what you record. Some of your vinyl will be in poor condition, some will be poorly recorded, some will be compilations albums - don't waste your time.

M

Al

Don't - just enjoy the music

There is magic in playing vinyls

Adam

True. But there is also a joy in making play lists and streaming the results, and in restoring damaged vinyl, and .....

M

Frank F posted:

Well said Adam, but don't wear them out.

There is a case for digitising, it is not to replace any LPs or remove the enjoyment but rather to have a portable copy for car or other situation.  I have some LP rips if you want to listen after 11 September??

FF

With pleasure Frank!

Drop me a line separately, please.

Adam Zielinski posted:

Al

Don't - just enjoy the music

There is magic in playing vinyls

Adam

+1 to that 

Benefits of digitising include feeing up storage space, removal of need to maintain a vinyl source, freeing up capital and stylus replacement cost, ease of play, backup capability, and prevention of (further) wear or damage! And even for any with annoying clicks or even scratches the potential to remove or make less intrusive, also portability as has already been mentioned.

Downside is loss of the physical media and associated 'magic' in handling and viewing it in original form unless the storage benefit is negated and albums kept in the music room (there is of course a compromise possible, keeping just the most special albums themselves).

Digitising needs an ADC (the reverse of a DAC). I did my LP collection with a computer that had a decent soundcard, using the record output from preamp into the soundcard's analog input, though I assume better to use a dedicated DAC.

I used Audacity software, and used a 'soft' automatic click remover on some LPs with damage, but dealt with anything more significant manually, which if done well can be inaudible or virtually so.

originally I did it when I still had a CD player, and burnt CDs, and only subsequently went over to streaming.

@Innocent Bystander surely digitising your vinyl collection doesn't eliminate storage space as you would still keep the original vinyl and unlike with CDs, the most efficient storage system is shelving?

Personally I can see the benefit of having a digital copy of my vinyl, though I would suggest that copy replaces playing the original just offers alternatives for different situations.

To the OP: there are many options for recording, from the basic tape out from your pre-amp into a built in sound card, to options like the Korg you mentioned, various "professional" interfaces starting at <£100 for Berlinger or Saphire to multi-thousands for Lynx, Metric Halo, Prism, etc. Generally speaking you get what you pay for.  Portable or self contained recorders such as Tascam DA3000 are another option allowing recording to be done away from your computer, then taking an SD card to the PC/Mac for editing.  Most will require some form of external phono EQ unless you plan to do RIAA EQ digitally.

As for recording quality, 24/96 or DSD64 is going to be a step up from 16/44.1 (CD quality) but it may be doubtful if there is benefit in going higher.  DSD is arguably a superior format for archiving copies of vinyl, but if you want to do any editing/digital manipulation beyond trimming the tracks then the whole (or at least part affected) will be converted to PCM before editing so 24/96 or 24/192 perhaps makes more sense.  Think also what you are going to be playing back on, Naim streamers are limited to DSD64 afaik so higher rate DSD capture is pointless.  Vinyl transcription is time consuming however so it's worth considering the best method before leaping in with both feet - even more so than ripping CDs you want to only do this once.  And make sure you backup ... both the unaltered recordings and post processed versions.

Just a few pointers... reams have been written on this topic across the Internet.

My vinyl love affair is relatively new, and re-started properly 3 years ago.

At the rate I'm going with my music collection I will not get a chance to wear my vinyls out. There is simply so much music to be heard... 

I tend to go for vinyls for any stuff recorded prior to mid 80-ies. If I can find it - NM original. If not - a re-issue. If nothing is available, will try high-res audio if it has been re-mastred.

Just remembered - I actually have (it's in my band's stock of goodies) a Tascam Professional US-1800 analogue to digital multi channel converter (sampling up to 96kHz/24 bit). We use it for recording live rehearsals for internal testing and song-writing.

Could try this one for fun.... but it only accepts balanced connections....

I'm curious now

Eloise posted:

@Innocent Bystander surely digitising your vinyl collection doesn't eliminate storage space as you would still keep the original vinyl and unlike with CDs, the most efficient storage system is shelving?

Personally I can see the benefit of having a digital copy of my vinyl, though I would suggest that copy replaces playing the original just offers alternatives for different situations.

To the OP: there are many options for recording, from the basic tape out from your pre-amp into a built in sound card, to options like the Korg you mentioned, various "professional" interfaces starting at <£100 for Berlinger or Saphire to multi-thousands for Lynx, Metric Halo, Prism, etc. Generally speaking you get what you pay for.  Portable or self contained recorders such as Tascam DA3000 are another option allowing recording to be done away from your computer, then taking an SD card to the PC/Mac for editing.  Most will require some form of external phono EQ unless you plan to do RIAA EQ digitally.

As for recording quality, 24/96 or DSD64 is going to be a step up from 16/44.1 (CD quality) but it may be doubtful if there is benefit in going higher.  DSD is arguably a superior format for archiving copies of vinyl, but if you want to do any editing/digital manipulation beyond trimming the tracks then the whole (or at least part affected) will be converted to PCM before editing so 24/96 or 24/192 perhaps makes more sense.  Think also what you are going to be playing back on, Naim streamers are limited to DSD64 afaik so higher rate DSD capture is pointless.  Vinyl transcription is time consuming however so it's worth considering the best method before leaping in with both feet - even more so than ripping CDs you want to only do this once.  And make sure you backup ... both the unaltered recordings and post processed versions.

Just a few pointers... reams have been written on this topic across the Internet.h

At the time of doing it I sold all except a few prized ones - copyright aspects didn't occur to me. But even if I had kept them, it wouldn't have now occupy precious space in the living room, but stacked away somewhere in boxes.

i agree with most of what you say, though would point out that if your audio feed is taken from the tape (record) preamp out then the normal phono stage you use would provide the RIAA eq. Quality of the rip would depend on the quality of the replay equipment and ADC.

The ripping process was enjoyable because it forced real time play of every vinyl disk, so I listened to everything, in some cases for the first time in many years. An interesting exercise rediscovering some things...