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Digitising vinyl using an unreliable CD recorder

P

pqpq

pfm Member
I've been doing occasional vinyl rips for years using an ancient Pioneer PDR609 CD recorder. It's a bit cumbersome having to rip to a CD, then rip the CD on my laptop, but I don't do it often and it's always produced very good results so I'm happy enough. However the Pioneer is getting rather unreliable - it often won't read discs (including new ones), and yes, they are the right discs with the music encoding. I don't really want to spend much money sorting this out, so the obvious solution is to connect the digital out on the Pioneer to my laptop and bypass the whole disc part. However the digital outputs on the Pioneer are optical and coax and I'm struggling to figure out how to convert that to USB (or HDMI). Rooting around on the internet has just got me confused, so can anyone recommend a way of doing this without breaking the bank? Thanks!
 
I wonder if you could use a device such as this to do the A2D conversion and then transfer the digitised signal to your laptop via its USB output?

Disclaimer: I’ve never used one, I’ll be digitising vinyl via the CDRW route until the unhappy day my Yamaha CDR-HD1500 pops its clogs.
 
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No, for two reasons. Firstly the optical is output not input. Secondly the Pioneer has an excellent AD converter which I'd rather keep using. Who knows what a cheapie would sound like?
 
Get a suitable audio interface for the laptop, which will take Line In from the Tape Out or phono stage Outputs, and just record straight to that.

If you insist on using the AD in the Pioneer, get an audio interface which accepts digital in.

Look for these on the sites which supply to musicians and home recording types, not to Hi Fi enthusiasts.

I'm sure I've posted links to things like this before, will looksee again in a little while
 
Insist is putting it a bit strongly. It's just that I know the Pioneer sounds really good - if I use something else it'll be pot luck. But your comment implies that there's more to this than just having a lead with the right plugs at each end, which I was half expecting.
 
Thanks for the link. I'm not entirely sure that would work with my MC cartridge, and it's yet another bit of excellent existing kit bypassed (my phono stage).
 
I'm in the process of digitally archiving a lot of R-R tapes of live performances, radio sessions etc, before the tapes deteriorate. If your amp has line out or tape sockets, or if you can borrow one, then an analogue to digital converter such as the excelent Behringer uca202 or 222 will work very well into your pc usb socket. I also use Audacity if any post recording cleaning etc is needed.
 
I may well end up doing that if I can't convert the digital signal I already have to USB. It's interesting that you describe those units as excellent - while I never doubted they would do the job I was a bit sceptical about the sound quality. My vinyl system is really very good, so I don't want to throw the sound it produces away by using a cheap analogue to digital converter. Maybe my worries are unfounded.
 
pqpq said:
Insist is putting it a bit strongly. It's just that I know the Pioneer sounds really good - if I use something else it'll be pot luck. But your comment implies that there's more to this than just having a lead with the right plugs at each end, which I was half expecting.
Click to expand...

Find a similar Pioneer CD Recorder, it might be as cheap as getting a Digital to Digital Converter.
 
pqpq said:
I may well end up doing that if I can't convert the digital signal I already have to USB. It's interesting that you describe those units as excellent - while I never doubted they would do the job I was a bit sceptical about the sound quality. My vinyl system is really very good, so I don't want to throw the sound it produces away by using a cheap analogue to digital converter. Maybe my worries are unfounded.
Click to expand...

I've used the Pioneer in the past, and at the end of the day, it's a domestic machine, limited, as I recall, to 16/44 resolution. I've been transferring reel-to-reel, cassette, and LP to digital since the PDR-609 was first released, and I moved on to professional gear, the stuff that would routinely be used in the recording studios, and by professionals, once the Pioneer started misbehaving.

Like I said, look at the suppliers who feed this market for your replacement kit. Something like an Alesis Masterlink, which will go to 24/96, or a Tascam DA-3000 solid-state recorder, up to 24/192 or DSD recording. Both are used only now, they've stopped making those particular models, but I think Tascam still do something similar.

Go for a solid-state recorder and you can forget about the discs - you're copy LP to disc, then copying disc to file. You can go straight from LP phono stage or tape out to recording files directly. Then copy the files to the PC for editing, so you bypass the CD ripping stage. The cost saving on the discs alone will pay for the machine in a few months or years, and think of all the space you'll save without the discs.
 
pqpq said:
... the obvious solution is to connect the digital out on the Pioneer to my laptop and bypass the whole disc part.
Click to expand...

No offence intended, but you have checked that the digital out works when the machine is in record standby, haven't you?

I used one years ago, but can't recall for certain
 
I don't want to sound controversial here - but making a 'good' A to D is LOT easier than all the shenanigans that goes with D to A conversion.

The studio world and some crossovers like some stuff mentioned would easily do as well as the Pioneer you are used to. And you could experiment with higher resolutions - although I jolly sceptical that more resolution actually makes any difference form even very very good vinyl replay.
 
The pioneer has both coax and optical SPDIF output - i'm not sure if you have a preference, but if you want to use it as the ADC and record to a computer, you need to be able to get SPDIF into your computer.

The cheapest way is a simple SPDIF to USB adapter, something like this:


Armed with the right cable, and with software like Audacity, and with the Pioneer configured to route to the SPDIF output, you'll be able to record into your computer directly. The quality of the interface and the software to capture it will make no difference, since the signal is digital, and all of the potential problems will be added by the pioneer which you seem to be happy with.

Personally i'd get an audio interface with analog input as well as spdif, and compare the two. You'll find that for line level signals (assuming you have an existing preamp performing phono preamp duties) that there will be no audible differences, so it will allow you to ditch the pioneer at some point. Of course it's up to you to decide though, but that's just my opinion.

If you want to do some fancier editing of the recordings, noise reduction during quiet passages/between tracks, click/pop removal, you should look at demos of Izotope RX as an audio editor. The basic version (RX Elements) will do all you need, and there is a 10 day demo or something like that to try it out and see whether you can improve your recordings. Even something as basic as normalising levels will give you benefits on replay.

www.izotope.com

RX 10 Background Noise Removal & Audio Cleanup Software | iZotope

RX 10 is the award-winning audio cleanup software trusted by top post production engineers to quickly remove background noise and restore damaged audio.
www.izotope.com www.izotope.com

It's the industry standard for good reason, and just about every field recording you've heard has been through it (or Reaper, but i'd not recommend that as it's a bit hard to get your head around by comparison).
 
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