Transferring LPs

[michaelagiles]

Good morning! I searched for a solution for this but couldn't find anything.
My venerable Wxp juii@ recoding/ LP transfer system seems to be dieing quickly and I am looking for an replacement. A HiFi berry ADC system with audacity looks like it might work but I am not sure about actual recording media? Can i send it to a HDD attached to the RPI?
Anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help!

[Nutul]

Good morning! I searched for a solution for this but couldn't find anything.
My venerable Wxp juii@ recoding/ LP transfer system seems to be dieing quickly and I am looking for an replacement. A HiFi berry ADC system with audacity looks like it might work but I am not sure about actual recording media? Can i send it to a HDD attached to the RPI?
Anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help!

If I were you, I'd digitize the LPs on a PC using an adequate sound card; then (from probably .wav) convert them to FLAC, tag them accordingly, add album art, and transfer them on the HDD / SSD where all your music is.

[michaelagiles]

Good morning! I searched for a solution for this but couldn't find anything.
My venerable Wxp juii@ recoding/ LP transfer system seems to be dieing quickly and I am looking for an replacement. A HiFi berry ADC system with audacity looks like it might work but I am not sure about actual recording media? Can i send it to a HDD attached to the RPI?
Anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help!

If I were you, I'd digitize the LPs on a PC using an adequate sound card; then (from probably .wav) convert them to FLAC, tag them accordingly, add album art, and transfer them on the HDD / SSD where all your music is.

This what I have been doing but my old desktop is dying and I am looking for a new solution. I only own laptops now and don't know whats available in usb connected AFC's any more. I used to use an edirol usb interface but gave it away! I haven't done an extensive search yet - thought I would see if anyone had experience with the HiFi berry units.
Thanks!

[Tim Curtis]

What level of quality are you trying to achieve?

[TheOldPresbyope]

Good morning! I searched for a solution for this but couldn't find anything.
My venerable Wxp juii@ recoding/ LP transfer system seems to be dieing quickly and I am looking for an replacement. A HiFi berry ADC system with audacity looks like it might work but I am not sure about actual recording media? Can i send it to a HDD attached to the RPI?
Anyone have any other suggestions?
Thanks for your help!

I suggest you peruse the HiFiBerry community forum for questions and answers about doing this. For example, in a quick search I came across this thread https://support.hifiberry.com/hc/en-us/c...ping-Vinyl

I didn't read it carefully or look for others but at least that thread establishes that HiFiBerryOS + the DAC+ADC hat + audacity can do what your asking. The question is, what parameters might need to be optimized.

HFB claims a "Dedicated 192kHz/24bit high-quality Burr-Brown ADC" which is decent. I'm not sure about the fixed gain settings available for the ADC. It'd prebably be happiest being fed line-level from a turntable cartridge preamp (which would also provide RIAA equalization).

Regards,
Kent

[Nutul]

This what I have been doing but my old desktop is dying and I am looking for a new solution. I only own laptops now and don't know whats available in usb connected AFC's any more. I used to use an edirol usb interface but gave it away! I haven't done an extensive search yet - thought I would see if anyone had experience with the HiFi berry units.

Not a big difference between a laptop and a desktop, everything is USB nowadays, so you are fine either way.
Have a look at this one.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum...iew.49127/

As an alternative you can search for the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen. or the Motu M2 (a bit pricey...)

This is your guy when it comes to these interfaces:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0HrD4c...8KK9jPzzGg

His reviews are technical, and from an audio-engineer point of view.
Generally, if he says an interface is good, be sure it is.

What you will need, in addition:

- a phono stage to connect your turntable (as if you were going into a pre-amp)
- two instrument-cables RCA (phono-stage side) <=> 1/4'' mono-jack (interface side)

[Tim Curtis]

If the LP rips are going to be post processed for noise reduction, de-clicking and other such repairs and you want a very high quality result then avoid Audacity and instead use a pro-audio tool like Adobe Audition. Its algorithms are light years better than those in Audacity.. This is based on my personal experience digitizing a set of Classical Guitar recordings.

[Skip Pack]

If the LP rips are going to be post processed for noise reduction, de-clicking and other such repairs and you want a very high quality result then avoid Audacity and instead use a pro-audio tool like Adobe Audition. Its algorithms are light years better than those in Audacity.. This is based on my personal experience digitizing a set of Classical Guitar recordings.

I use a Steinberg UR22 mkII USB sound card, similar to the Focusrite Scarlet or the Motu, maybe a bit cheaper, and it works great. You do not need a powerful computer at all, so the laptop should work well. I use an inexpensive but beautifully designed and executed program named VinylStudio:

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/download.aspx

The workflow is logical and efficient with good results. One thing I do that I do believe helps is capture the sides at a high resolution, 192K/24bits. This is overkill for sound quality if your levels are set right, but it lets the pop and tick reduction processes work better as those flaws have a sharper rise time than the music itself letting the software distinguish the bad stuff from the good more effectively. I set the 'cleanup' parameters to the lowest setting and it works effectively without smoothing out the music itself.

Skip

[michaelagiles]

If the LP rips are going to be post processed for noise reduction, de-clicking and other such repairs and you want a very high quality result then avoid Audacity and instead use a pro-audio tool like Adobe Audition. Its algorithms are light years better than those in Audacity.. This is based on my personal experience digitizing a set of Classical Guitar recordings.

I use a Steinberg UR22 mkII USB sound card, similar to the Focusrite Scarlet or the Motu, maybe a bit cheaper, and it works great. You do not need a powerful computer at all, so the laptop should work well. I use an inexpensive but beautifully designed and executed program named VinylStudio:

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/download.aspx

The workflow is logical and efficient with good results. One thing I do that I do believe helps is capture the sides at a high resolution, 192K/24bits. This is overkill for sound quality if your levels are set right, but it lets the pop and tick reduction processes work better as those flaws have a sharper rise time than the music itself letting the software distinguish the bad stuff from the good more effectively. I set the 'cleanup' parameters to the lowest setting and it works effectively without smoothing out the music itself.

Skip

Thanks gentlemen! All assistance appreciated! I have done a little research on usb interfaces and there look to be several good choices here with good software etc.The HFB option looks workable but complex programming wise. 
Re Audacity : I have used it for many years with good results - my needs are very simple. Tim - how do you find Audition superior? It was originally developed from Cool Edit if i remember correctly and that was only slightly easier to use and not noticeably better in other respects.
Thanks again!

[Tim Curtis]

If the LP rips are going to be post processed for noise reduction, de-clicking and other such repairs and you want a very high quality result then avoid Audacity and instead use a pro-audio tool like Adobe Audition. Its algorithms are light years better than those in Audacity.. This is based on my personal experience digitizing a set of Classical Guitar recordings.

I use a Steinberg UR22 mkII USB sound card, similar to the Focusrite Scarlet or the Motu, maybe a bit cheaper, and it works great. You do not need a powerful computer at all, so the laptop should work well. I use an inexpensive but beautifully designed and executed program named VinylStudio:

https://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/download.aspx

The workflow is logical and efficient with good results. One thing I do that I do believe helps is capture the sides at a high resolution, 192K/24bits. This is overkill for sound quality if your levels are set right, but it lets the pop and tick reduction processes work better as those flaws have a sharper rise time than the music itself letting the software distinguish the bad stuff from the good more effectively. I set the 'cleanup' parameters to the lowest setting and it works effectively without smoothing out the music itself.

Skip

Thanks gentlemen! All assistance appreciated! I have done a little research on usb interfaces and there look to be several good choices here with good software etc.The HFB option looks workable but complex programming wise. 
Re Audacity : I have used it for many years with good results - my needs are very simple. Tim - how do you find Audition superior? It was originally developed from Cool Edit if i remember correctly and that was only slightly easier to use and not noticeably better in other respects.
Thanks again!

The modern, as in for at least a decade, Adobe Audition has nothing to do with cool edit. Its noise reduction, spectral healing, rumble reduction, click/pop/abrasion removal etc algorithms are professional level quality. I used to to transform excellent quality vinyl rips and some really bad CD's into perfection. But that was my goal and so the cost for a tool like Audition was just part of the budget.