Soundcard for vinyl and MD transfer - advice needed

D

dogberry

New member
Hi, I would like to set up my computer to transfer a large collection of classical lp's to cd and would also like to use the setup to transfer lectures recorded on minidisc to cd. My system is ASUS A7N8X Deluxe, nVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, Athlon XP 2600+, 1Gb RAM, 80Gb SATA boot HD, 20Gb ATA secondary HD, Windows XP Home and I have Sound Forge 6. My question is about which sound card to get to replace my nVIDIA Mobo integrated sound. Both the m-audio Audiophile 2496 and the new E-Mu 0404 are now at $99 and seem to be the two obvious choices. If anyone could give me some advice about which of these (or some other suggestion) would best suit my system and intended uses I would very much appreciate it. System compatability and ease of setup are concerns as well as sound quality.
Also advice about software to clean up the sound from the transferred vinyl is needed. I have seen recommendations for both Pinnacle Clean and Sony (Sound Forge) Noise Reduction 2.0. Are they at all comparable or is Noise Reduction enough better to justify the cost? Any other suggestions would also be welcome. Thanks, Dogberry
 
I'd say that the 2496 will do ya just fine. Keep in mind that you may need a phono preamp to boost the signal going into your puter- this depends on the record player. As far as cleaning up the sound goes, if i were you i wouldn't get too hung up on this. Unless you have a REALLY nice listening environment (i.e. mastering setup) you'll probably do more harm than good. But, give it a shot anyway. I've transfered a few tapes in the past for my fiancee and without any processing, just a direct copy, i couldnt tell the diff between the original tape and the wav file (using delta 1010lt and really shitty boombox tape player; 1/8" trs from headphone out to rca into the delta). Point is- your copy oughta sound just as good (or as bad) as the original.
CEP has some noise reduction tools included- I dont know what SoundFroge gives you, but id start there before you buy anything else.

Good luck
 
The Sonic Foundy Noise Reduction plug-in is really good, but it takes a little while to get the hang of it. I've used it mainly for removing tape hiss, but you could probably get a good enough "noise print" to remove surface noise as well. And doesn't SF come with vinyl restoration tools already? And of course, you can always use the pencil tool to draw out clicks and pops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top