[Archived] Usb Turntables

[Paul]

I've decided to spend my Christmas hols digitising my old and much loved vinyl collection. All our LPs sit in the loft never being listened to and with the youngest busily downloading stuff I have the original albums for now seems a good time to do this. As this is a piece of kit one only needs once I thought I'd try to get one from e-bay, seem to be a lot of people who have done the same thing judging by the number of turntables for sale.

It seems the two main suppliers are Ion and Numark - in fact I think these are one and the same? Is it actually called the Ion Numark TT USB Turntable? Does anyone have any experience with either or have alternative suggestions? Is the quality reasonable?

As the family PC is starting to creak a bit I thought I'd use my work laptop and save through this direct to a Freecom external hard drive rather than on to the C drive. Any problems with that plan?

[M-K]

I haven't actually used one, but can't you just plug an ordinary turntable into your PC's audio input and digitise it that way? I can't imagine the build quality of the USB efforts is all that brilliant compared to a proper turntable.

[Paul]

From what I have read it isn't quite as simple as that plus the reviews on the USB turntables are generally positive.

[Eddie]

I've used one, in fact I started a topic about one around a year ago that had a decent response, don't know if you can dig it up though. They are good, I wouldn't want to have it for the purpose of playing LP's, but it does the job of converting them. Very useful if you have a big LP collection.

[OhmiBRFC]

I've been toying with the idea of getting my Mum one for a while as she has a huge LP collection and wants them on CD, so that she can listen to them again. I know that software like Sony Soundforge will cause problems for her even though its cheaper as she only has to hook her stereo system upto the PC, I just know she wont be able to get to grips with the software. If you do decide to buy one please let me know the results?

As for brands I would go for Numark over ION as Numark are the better brand and as for saving them to your C: drive then onto you external Freecom there should be no problems atall.

[Paul]

I've been toying with the idea of getting my Mum one for a while as she has a huge LP collection and wants them on CD, so that she can listen to them again. I know that software like Sony Soundforge will cause problems for her even though its cheaper as she only has to hook her stereo system upto the PC, I just know she wont be able to get to grips with the software. If you do decide to buy one please let me know the results?

As for brands I would go for Numark over ION as Numark are the better brand and as for saving them to your C: drive then onto you external Freecom there should be no problems atall.

I bought the Ion a few days ago. Hoping to spend some time later today doing my first few albums. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Ozz]

Paul, I wish I had seen this sooner, I could have provided a discount on my website!

These are very good-I have one.

Or you could have used one of these..

Uses your existing deck.

I can even provide a direct drive version!

WOW!

[Paul]

If you do decide to buy one please let me know the results?

I've played around a bit now and I'm delighted with the results - I have Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love pounding out of my iPod Nano as I type - a complete surprise present from my kids. It sounds better than I can recall hearing it ever before. This is straight from an album that is 38 years old and hasn't been out of the loft in perhaps 20 years. It sounds like VINYL, which I love as it seems "dirtier" with a little crackle and fuzz in the background.

Setting up the turntable is a doddle. Just follow the instructions. Install the software first, EZ Converter, Audacity and iTunes, switch on the turntable and plug into your PC. You then need to connect to an audio output. We don't have a stereo system so I have it plugged into the TV, which means I can use my laptop to record the albums without dominating the family PC all day and night.

There are two software conversion packages; EZ and Audacity. I'm told by a BBC producer Audacity is a cut down version of the professional software they use. The EZ is very basic and simple, storing your music to iTunes in 5 or 6 clicks. If you have a few albums to record this would be OK but it has a major drawback; when recording an album you have to tell the software when a new track starts. This means keeping an eye on the thing all the time, clicking new track every 3 or 4 minutes. If you don't tell EZ when each new track starts you end up with a huge file containing multiple tracks. I have around 250 albums to go through so you can imagine the time that would take.

The Audacity software is more sophisticated, can filter out clicks, scratches etc. From what I have read it should be possible to clean up all the excess vinyl noise. I think this will be hard work, I'm not sure I want a sanitized version of my record collection. The big plus for me is the Audacity software will record an entire album and then allow you to identify each track later. In fact you can simply record album after album, save the work as a "project file" and then go back to edit in names etc later. I can't pretend to have mastered this yet, but I'm sure I will with a little more time and concentration. Audacity also allows you to chose the file destination so I'm able to store straight to my external hard drive, while the EZ software only stores in iTunes.

The only diffficulty so far is recording levels. One album, Steve Gibbons Band, has recorded at a very low level so the volume has to be at maximum on playback. Haven't worked out why yet, I must have done something wrong.

[OhmiBRFC]

Ok cheers for that,

Thank you for taking the time to repost the review, think I might get her one now then because the main thing I'm worried about is getting a phone call or text every 2 mins off her saying how do I do this blah blah. After reading that then I will get her one.

Thank you once again

[Paul]

the main thing I'm worried about is getting a phone call or text every 2 mins off her saying how do I do this blah blah.

If your Mum uses the EZ software you won't get any calls. Have to admit I am struggling with the Audacity software to "label", i.e name, the tracks. I can see it's good software and once I've mastered the technique it should be very simple. It's taking longer than hoped for.

[OhmiBRFC]

I dont think she'll mind about not being able to name them because shes not got a digital front on her stereo that says names, plus if she did I dont think she'd be that arsed about havin that feature.

Cheers again I appreciate it

[Ronin]

Sounds good. Been looking at transferring a lot of my 12" tunes to mp3 so I can play them on CD when I DJ. I currently plug my mini disc into my mixer and record then play it back via my PC's Mic or line in socket and record with Goldwave software. The USB turntable would definitely save a heck of a lot of time and hassle.