What’s Under the Hood
Got Vinyl? Converting LPs to CDs Part 1: Terminology & Hardware
If you are of the pre-CD generation, odds are that you still have a collection of vinyl albums, from 78s and 45s to LPs, lying around your home. You probably have many albums that have not made it to a CD. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could transfer your valuable album collection to CDs? New music CDs cost $12 and up; you can use your Mac to record, filter, and then burn a CD for a fraction of the cost. Just bear in mind that the quality of the recording will not be the quality of a store-bought CD. However, it can sound as good as the original album and it beats searching for a copy of a CD you’ll never find.
Although you can record audio onto your Mac using the microphone input, the quality of the sound will not be of CD quality. If you have ever hooked a microphone up to your Mac, think about what your voice and other sounds were like as they came out of your speakers. There is tremendous distortion and signal loss as sound passes from the input device through the microphone input.
The only way around this problem is by the use of a PCI sound card, or sound input devices that plug into your USB port. At this point, there are no devices designed to utilize the FireWire ports on your Mac. Before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a moment and look at some key terms you will need to understand if you want to make a CD-quality transfer of your precious vinyl.
Sound
Sound is produced when particles (or molecules) vibrate. If you have ever looked at a woofer on a speaker, you can see this as the woofer moves in and out. Try holding your hand in front of the woofer or a sub woofer and you will feel the air pulse with the rhythm of the sound being generated.
Analog to Digital
As I just said, sound is a series of periodic vibrations. A phonograph takes these vibrations and converts them to electrical impulses. These impulses are an analog signal. Due to this transition between mediums there is always some loss or degradation in the sound quality. An analogy to this is making copies of a non-digital (i.e. VHS) home video. If you take the original and make a copy of it, you would see losses in picture and sound. Now if you take the copy and make a copy of the copy, the degradation becomes very severe. The picture becomes muddy and the sound is muted in quality. This type of degradation is due to noise that is inherent in any analog signal. No matter how well you shield the analog cables, they will still pick up random electrical noise as the signal is passed from one end to another.
When sound is converted into a digital format, it is converted into a series of numeric values by an Analog to Digital Converter, or ADC. Since there is a large amount of information found in sound, the computer takes “snapshots” or samples of the incoming signal at regular intervals. The number of samples per second is called the sample rate.
Sample Rate
The sample rate has a direct effect on the audio quality and the size of the file. The greater the sample rate, the higher the quality of the digitized sound. Since raising the sample rate increases the number of “snapshots” per second, this in turn increases the size of the resulting file. The sample rate is measured in kilohertz (kHz). Professional audio and audio CDs use 44.1 kHz. Although you could set an audio program to a sample rate higher than 44.1 kHz, when it comes to saving your project the sample rate must be re-adjusted to 44.1 kHz, or your CD will not play in regular CD players.
Bits Per Sample
The number of bits per sample is the complement to sampling. As we all know, a bit is represented by a binary code of a zero or a one. The binary coding of an audio signal produces a series of numbers called bits that are organized in a very specific way. All complex sounds contain a great deal of information at any sample interval. Audio CDs operate at 16 bits of data per sample. That adds up to a possible 65,536 values that the signal can take at that sample. Although you can sample at 24 or 32 bits, 16 bits is enough to describe even the most complex sounds.
The advantage of recording at a higher rate is that you are able to spread out the data and get a higher resolution of your recording. This in turn improves the quality of the transfer.
AIFF
AIFF stands for Audio Interchange File Format. It was developed by Apple as a standard file format for saving sound files of any type. After you make the initial transfer of your LPs into your Mac, you will save your file as an AIFF. AIFF sounds can also be played on PCs.
Gain
Gain is similar to the volume of a recording on your stereo. Whereas the changing of the volume level by your stereo is temporary, changing the gain on your recording is permanent. When you adjust the gain of an audio file, you are changing the actual volume of the file. In an ideal recording, the gain should be such that you hear a large dynamic range while keeping your signal-to-noise ratio in check. Increasing the gain will also make noise embedded in your transfer more pronounced.
Filters
Filters are special types of software designed to remove frequencies in your recording. An analogy would be the plug-ins that are so widely used in Photoshop to adjust photographs. Some of the most common filters you will need to make CD-quality disks are: Pop, Rumble, Hum, Noise, Equalization, and Normalization. Depending on the program you use, these names may vary but they will still do the same thing.
We’ll discuss these terms further when we get around to editing our audio recording. Now, let’s move away from the science lesson and move on to the type of hardware you will need.
Step One: The Turntable
As with any journey, we must start with that all-important first step. Having a good turntable is probably the most important factor in converting your LPs to CDs. Using a nickel-and-dime turntable will produce poor results when you digitize the sound into your Mac. I had a very good Techniques Turntable that I bought back in 1977. Sadly, the belt on it broke and I made the mistake of not replacing it for several years. When I did have it replaced, the motor had gone bad.
As I soon discovered, buying a turntable is easy; but buying the right turntable is like finding a needle in a haystack. I went to Best Buy, Circuit City, Tweeters, and Fry’s. Finally, the people in a music pawn shop I went to directed me to the Guitar Center. As I soon discovered, this is where most party DJs go for their tools of the trade. As luck also had it, they were having their end-of-year clearance sale.
Jessica (one of the very helpful people at Guitar Center) was very versed on what I would need for a replacement turntable. The first thing I learned was that I needed a turntable with a built-in pre-amp. On older receivers, there used to be phonograph jacks for the right and left channels (plus a ground). Built into the receiver was a pre-amp that would boost the signal that could be used by the stereo. If you already have a setup like this, then you can move onto the next step to moving your sounds into your Mac. The only thing you might want to think about doing is replacing your needle if it is worn. A newer needle will improve the quality of the sound transmitted from the turntable.
Most home entertainment centers that are built today do not have phono jacks except on high-end units. This means that you will have to find another way to boost the signal or you will need a hearing aid to hear your albums.
As I just mentioned, one way to go is to buy a turntable with a built-in pre-amp. The advantage of this is the fact that everything is in one package. You can tell if your turntable has a built-in pre-amp by checking to see if it has a ground wire. If it does, then your turntable does not have a built-in pre-amp, and you will have to buy one separately. These units can cost anywhere from $25 to $100 and up. If you do decide to replace your turntable, then I recommend that you get a turntable with the pre-amp built in.
By doing my homework I was left with the choice between a Stanton and a Technics turntable. Although both companies make good products, I found that Stanton was the clear leader. As I have learned in the past, don’t let the manufacturers’ name guide you to the right product. The top of the line Technics turntable ($750) did not have half the features of the one I got from Stanton ($450).
Stanton STR8-80
Try to set your price range to around $150 to $250. Check to see what type of head and needle cartridge comes with the turntable. If the cartridge head is not removable, and looks cheap, look on. Some more expensive turntables ($300 and up) even offer digital output. If you can find a good deal on a digital turntable, grab it. That is exactly what happened to me.
As I said earlier, Guitar Center was having their end-of-year clearance sale and I wound up walking away with a $450 Stanton STR8-80 turntable for $200 (currently going for $220). It has every bell and whistle I could ask for on a turntable. If you are in need of a new turntable, I highly recommend this model. With that out of the way, we are ready to look at how to import your audio onto your Mac.
Step 2: The Right Connection
Now that you have selected the turntable you are going to use, the next step is deciding the best way to connect it to your Mac. In essence, there are two ways: direct and indirect. Let’s look at the direct way first.
If you have a turntable with a built-in or separate pre-amp set up, then hooking it up to your Mac is a no-brainer. All you need is a set of cables with RCA jacks to go from your turntable to a sound card or USB device. We will talk about these different devices in just a couple of paragraphs. If you got lucky and have digital output from your turntable, the same applies except you will use a digital coaxial cable.
If your turntable does not have a pre-amp, you are probably hooked up to your stereo or home entertainment center that has one for your turntable already. Under no circumstances should you use the headphone jack as an output to your Mac. Using the headphone jack will not send a pure signal to your Mac. The volume, bass, and treble controls will affect the signal coming out of the headphone jack. If, after making your recording, you wish to make changes in the bass and treble frequencies of your music, you can do that with an equalizer software filter.
In most cases, your receiver should have a set of RCA output plugs on the back. If you have a tape deck, you can use the output jacks from it as well. Then all you have to do is run a set of RCA cables from your receiver to your Mac.
Step 3: Plug Me In
If you have followed my instructions up to this point, you probably are holding onto a set of RCA or digital cords. The next step is deciding what you will do with those cables. If you own a tower Mac, then one way to go is with a PCI sound card. I must recommend that you go to a store that is best suited for such a purchase (i.e. an audio store). Once again, I found Guitar Center an ideal place to go. People who do audio work for a living go there for their needs. Thanks to their knowledgeable staff I was able to make the right purchase without breaking the bank.
I wound up buying the Audiophile 2496 PCI card by M-Audio. This card allows me to hook my turntable directly to my Mac by either RCA or digital cords. It offers data paths that are bit-for-bit accurate and supports up to 24-bit/96 kHz performance. It also has a total harmonic distortion of 0.002% and a frequency response of 22 Hz to 22 kHz. What this all means is that whatever your turntable puts out will be completely captured by this card. I must admit that I got lucky at getting this card for $125 since it has now gone up to $180 at Guitar Center.
Audiophile 2496
Unless you plan to go beyond mastering your albums to CD, do not buy a card that goes beyond your needs. If you are going to use RCA plugs, then you do not need a card that supports digital output. There are many cards available for less than $125. Just make sure you do your homework before you put your money down on any audio card. M-Audio does make cards that are designed for those who plan to use only RCA plugs as their connection.
If you own an iMac, iBook, or PowerBook, then the use of a PCI card is not an option. It is also worth bearing in mind that the microphone jack no longer comes built-into current Mac models. If you own one of the newer models without a microphone jack, your only alternative is to use USB input devices. No FireWire devices are available at present.
Griffin Technology offers a great device called the iMic ($35) that plugs right into your USB port. The device works in both OS 9 and OS X and does not need any drivers. You may need to rearrange your USB devices because the iMic tends to work best when plugged directly into your Mac. Control of the iMic is done within your Sound preferences pane. Again, no special software is needed.
iMic
Although the iMic can sample at 24-bit, Apple’s audio manager is limited to 16-bit sampling. Because the iMic stays outside your Mac, it eliminates transient noise that is produced by the power source, hard drive, CPU, and other components found in your Mac. The iMic is not perfect, but is a good entry-level way to import your LPs into your Mac.
The iMic also comes with software called Final Vinyl that is hardware-specific and is expressly made for the transfer of LPs to CD. A spokesman from Griffin Technology informed me that Final Vinyl has the ability to boost the signal from your turntable in case you lack a pre-amp.
No matter what device you go with, make sure you read what’s on the box. Does it support OS X? What software comes with it? Although my Audiophile 2496 did boast OS X-native support, the CD sampler of utilities that came with it was all for OS 9. I talked to M-Audio about this, and they have created a new disk with OS X utilities.
I also recommend that, whatever device you do buy for your Mac, you should go directly to the company’s site and check to see if they have a newer driver for your unit. Even as I write this article, M-Audio is in the process of writing a new driver for my sound card.
Wrap Up (for Now)
This concludes the hardware portion of transferring LPs to CD. Now you have a full month to get your equipment in order in preparation for part two of this article. Next month we’ll discuss how to use your Mac as a recorder and the different types of software available. Then we’ll discuss how to remove the pops, hisses, and other unwanted noises with the use of software filters; how to make a play list; and then how to transfer to CD.
Copyright © 2003 Robert C. Lewis,
rlewis@atpm.com. Robert is a Mac consultant.
Also in This Series
- Tips—Getting More Out of Your Mac · June 2003
- Got Vinyl? LPs to CDs Part 3: The Playlist and Burning to CD · May 2003
- Got Vinyl? LPs to CDs Part 2: Recording and Editing · April 2003
- Got Vinyl? Converting LPs to CDs Part 1: Terminology & Hardware · March 2003
- Eye Candy for the Mac · February 2003
- New Year, More Utilities · January 2003
- ’Tis the Season · December 2002
- What’s Under the Hood · November 2002
- What’s Under the Hood · September 2002
- Complete Archive
Reader Comments (52)
I'd also be interested in learning how best to transfer audio tapes to CD via a Mac using the Griffin iMic. Is it possible, for instance, to play the tapes from a Walkman-like device through the iMic?
Yes, it's possible. I used a little bookshelf tape player hooked up to the iMic which was then hooked up to my Cube via USB. Griffin even has a nice little utility (Final Vinyl) that will capture the sound coming in from the iMic. Play the whole tape and save it as a large AIFF file. Open the AIFF in a sound editor (Amadeus is good) and start cutting it up into tracks. Use iTunes to covert the tracks to MP3 for your iPod. You can also burn it to CD.
It worked great for me. It still sounds like a tape, but at least it won't degrade any further.
However, I've found that Coaster (freeware) is even better because it has separate precise level meters and other options for fine tuning your operation (IMHO). The only downside is that Coaster is OS 9 only.
--Ernie
You may have to configure iTunes, but I think I just dragged one tune into a new folder in iTunes or used import. Anyway, once that's done, it's automatic afterward.
There are several freeware and shareware downloads, as well, to edit your tunes. Have fun!
If you can't get it done, e-mail me. I will try to help.
Thank you.
First, in response to the FireWire statement, I did a great deal of research and did not come across any FireWire devices. True, the MOTU is a FireWire device, but it costs $795. It is the type of rack used by professionals. If I was going to discuss products at this price range, I might as well discuss a turntable that goes for $7,000 (sorry, I do not know the brand). I also discovered in my research that you do not need the transfer rate offered by FireWire. The people at M-Audio & Griffin Technology told me that FireWire is just not needed. The transfer rate supplied by USB is fast enough. As far as that rack is concerned, it is just plain overkill for this article.
Next, lets talk tapes. Most of what I will discuss in part 2 will overlap with tapes. The extra filter you will need is one that removes hiss. The point I made about finding a decent turntable is also true about tapes. Yes, you can get away with an inexpensive Walkman or boombox, but, again, bear in mind that you will be moving your sounds through the headphone jack. As I said in my article, the sound leaving that port will be affected by the volume/bass/treble you have set. If you want a clean transfer, you really need a tape deck. Remember, your audio output device is the first link in the chain. If that link is the weakest link, then that is what you will wind up with. Your initial recording is the most important step. There is no way to restore frequencies that are not transferred by boomboxes and Walkman-type devices.
This next one, I must direct at Gary's comment:
Again, I must emphasize that use of the Mac microphone jack is not wise. It is not a well-shielded input device. Why do you think new Macs no longer come with it? If you even hooked a mic to that jack and listened to your voice, then you know how distorted it is. Go to any music store like Guitar Center, and they will confirm this. I just looked at the Feb. issue of MacFormat where they did a similar article to mine. The hair on my neck went straight up when I read that the author of that article said to use the mic jack. I put a great deal of work into getting my facts straight and the first thing I learned was NOT to use the mic jack. The way you connect to your Mac is the second link in the chain. The iMic by Griffin is the cheapest ($35) and cleanest way, for the money, to move your sounds into your Mac. Now I will step down off the pedestal.
With that out of the way, I will clue you into part two. Part two will discuss how to record and clean up your recordings. The programs we will look at will be Amadeus II, iMic/Final Vinyl, Jam/Spin Doctor, and Montage/RayGun. This covers a gambit of $25-$250. Remember, Final Vinyl is product dependent on iMic. At this point, I do not plan to discuss Peek LE or Spark LE because the programs do not have the filters needed to complete the job. Only their full programs include the needed filter and they will cause sticker shock for some of my readers.
I hope this group letter helps answer some of the comments made by all of you. End of line.
I'd like to point out that DigiDesign Pro Tools is available free for OS 9. Perhaps that will also be reviewed in the next article.
I hope Apple will increase the number of bits the Audio Manager can handle to at least 24 bits. There are advantages to recording your sound at the highest bit level and sampling rate even if you must downsample to 16 bits and 44.1 kHz later. With the higher parameters, you have more information to deal with if you must do noise control and other forms of sound shaping. Thus, you are not as likely to lose information as easily as when you are editing at lower parameter levels. On to the next episode!
No, I'm using the iMic with iMic Control (v1.5) with OS X 10.1.5. No problems at all.
Also iMic Control is necessary (or certainly recommended) to control the line input levels from the iMic, at least when I'm using it with Audio Hijack Pro.
--Ernie
1. There is significant line noise with a turntable connected straight into the iMic with the turntable ground line either tied to my receiver case or free. Handling the iMic increases the noise noticeably. The preamp boost is set to 20db and the input level is set to give slight "red" levels at peaks.
2. With the turntable going through the receiver then to the iMic, the signal is saturated (solid full scale levels, a bit of wiggle in the lows, but no red) and the input level will bring down the apparent level, but doesn't bring the signal out of saturation. I don't have a way to reduce the source level in this mode. Looks like a mismatch.
3. I recorded one side of one album and had significant regular dropouts in the data file created along with some apparent scrambling of the tracks. I haven't sorted all that out yet.
I have a ways to go before producing satisfactory MP3s.
In my situation, I recorded all my favorite songs from my albums to cassettes first. Then, I recorded the cassettes to my hard drive with the iMic. Then, one can use an application like Amadeus II to slice up the recording into individual songs/files.
By the way, I've recently been evaluating Amadeus II vs. Sound Studio vs. Peak, specifically for slicing and dicing big MP3 files of streaming audio. Amadeus is the only one which will read MP3 files, plus it's simple to use and inexpensive, so I will be buying it.
I use a Roland ED model UA-30 USB box. The UA-30 has in/outs for analogue line, guitar/mic, digital optical, and coaxial. It has been updated/replaced, so I'm not sure what it's called now.
I experience significant data drop-out. I have been encouraged to switch to FireWire because USB is just too slow to keep up. The data loss sounds like ticks, which are common on vinyl, so I did not notice it at first except when there are severe cases. If I use any clean source like a MD through the analogue in, it is very noticeable. I could not remove these ticks with Peak.
Any comments on my experience?
Using an old turntable, a pre-amp, and an iMic, in addition to LP signals, i receive a radio broadcast. Has anyone encountered this? Could a new, good turntable be the answer? Any ideas? Much thanks for any help.
Robert Frye
I just contacted a radio engineer friend and here's his help to find where the RF is leaking in. At each step, listen for the RF to go away.
In each step, disconnect and reconnect a few times to be sure you are hearing the RF.
Hope this helps.
Brian
Robert Frye
I also have a new Stanton STR8-80. I don't know that my setup is of use to you. For one thing, am burning LPs to CDs on an iMac. I'm using a Griffin USB iMic from the turntable to the computer. I'm recording using Amadeus software and burning using Toast 5.2. I am told one can download the latest version of Amadeus II here. I hope this is of use.
R. Frye
Hi all. After talking to several audio engineers, I found out that the data transfer rate is quite fine over USB. As a matter of fact, I was told that Firewire is overkill in transfer rate. M-Audio just took the Audiophile 2496 and made an in-the-box version that connects via USB. It is called the Audiophile USB and retails for about $250. If Firewire was needed for audio, then M-Audio would have made it Firewire. Believe me, USB is good enough for audio transfer.
I would be interested in finding out how he captures the MP3 streaming audio, i.e. from where, and with what.
To capture MP3 streaming audio, I use Audio Hijack Pro to capture from any source I choose (iTunes, RealOne, Internet Explorer, etc). AH Pro allows you to choose your source as well as how you want the audio encoded (AIFF, MP3, various sampling rates--you choose). I know it's overkill but, for music, I choose 256 kbps MP3.
Example: I want to capture some high quality hits from the 70s, so I use iTunes. The source is Radio, 70s pop, and I select WOLF FM at 128 kbps. I use AH Pro to target iTunes as the source, set my encoding rate, click "Hijack" and click "Start Recording." I try to keep each recording about two hours maximum because, at this file size, it takes Amadeus 5-10 minutes to load the file.
To process the big MP3 file, I load it into Amadeus and start playing it. If I don't like the song, I click ahead 2-3 minutes. If I come across a song I like in the big stream, I set markers in Amadeus just before the song and just after. You can click into the stream at any point to begin playing the music and set markers. I then save the song selection to another small file. I keep doing this for the whole stream. I reprocess the smaller files (individual songs) with Amadeus to cut out any material before and after the song and then add fade in and fade out, if appropriate, to make the beginning and ending sound better.
Many others at the above web site's forum use AH Pro to capture all-night BBC programs. I find AH Pro and Amadeus to be a powerful combination.
I hope this helps.
Jim
The biggest advantage I see is that it gets the sound input outside the case and isolated from potential sources of electrical interference.
Where my problem differs from some of yours in the forum (very useful, by the way--congratulations to all participants), I have a huge collection of high fidelity audio cassettes containing nearly 50,000 songs. Slicing up the tracks manually will take longer than my projected lifespan, so I'm seeking a program or a script that will run in OS X and find the flat spots in the wave form that represents silence between tracks, then copy the individual tracks to a folder.
Manually keystroking or pasting the titles of 50,000 songs will be labor enough and I realize this is unavoidable, but does anyone here, and especially you, Robert, with all your wonderful research and experience, have a clue as to how I can find such automation?
I'm running OS X 10.2.6 on an AGP Power Mac 450, but will be moving to a dual processor G5 as soon as they ship, then Panther OS when released. I could, if advisable, hold the project until then.
Also, if I were to buy a sound card for my G4 and use the digital output from the turntable, would that eliminate the need for a pre-amp? I'm new to the audio area on a Mac and would appreciate some advice. Thanks.
Alternatively, you would have to get a phono preamp to boost the output of the phono cartridge from approximately 4 mV to roughly 2 V. FYI, it's not just a matter of boosting the output. This is why people who think they can boost the signal using a program like Final Vinyl or Amadeus or whatever, end up with lousy sounding CD-Rs of their vinyl. Yes, the signal needs to be amplified considerably, but there is also the issue of equalization. Records are cut using an RIAA curve. If you do not run the output from the turntable through an RIAA equalizer, you will end up with improper frequency response (lean bass, among other things). All phono preamps have an RIAA equalization circuit built in. (The digital output from the turntable handles RIAA equalization for you so that's not an issue. I am referring purely to the analog outputs.) A discussion of why RIAA equalization is used gets somewhat involved, but it basically has to do with the fact that lower frequencies require larger grooves which leads to less music on the record and also more problems with groove modulation, etc. So, the RIAA curve allows you to make a smaller groove. Then, it boosts the bass using an equalizer after the signal is picked up by the stylus. As a result, if you don't use an RIAA equalizer, you get mediocre bass response.
So, what you need is an inexpensive moving magnet phono preamplifier. This will both boost the output and deal with the equalization of the RIAA curve. You can find one at Sam Ash or most any other "DJ" or "pro audio" shop. Do a search for "phono preamp" at one of those online web stores and you should come up with some choices.
A solid, audiophile-grade phono preamp is the NAD PP-1 which retails for $110 but can be had for a little bit less (usually under $100). If you do web search for it, you will find it at a variety of shops. A place that sells them at a discount locally here in Chicago is Saturday Audio Exchange.
Give them a call or send them an e-mail. They do sell via mail order and they do stock this item. I have sent a lot of people in your position to them for PP-1s in the past. (I do not sell them at my store and, even if I did, I would not try to sell to a reader because it represents a conflict for me to give advise that financially benefits me.)
The NAD unit is, by far, the best-sounding unit for under $100. In order to beat it, you would have to spend about $250 which makes little sense to me, given the application we are talking about here, but it might make sense to buy a PP-1 instead of, say, a $60 phono stage because it really will sound better and leak less noise into the signal than a less expensive model.
Of course you have to weigh the cost of a sound card with digital inputs and decide for yourself if that makes more sense.
I want the name of the cheapest thing possible! :)
Also, the belt is broken and I'm replacing it. I was wondering if more expensive belts are really better than cheap ones. Also, there is a little black round thing with a hole in the middle that came with my turntable. Where does that go?
I'm so lost!
Thank you, so much!
There is absolutely no difference between belts. Virtually all of them are made of some sort of rubber that should last an awfully long time. The only thing you should care about is that the belt provides sufficient tension to provide a consistent speed. Make sure the belt fits tightly and there is no slack. Beyond that, a belt is a belt.
The little black round thing is most likely an insert for 45s because many of those have a center cutout and they require a 45 adapter in order to fit onto the spindle.
Cheers,
--Evan
I've been given conflicting advice by sales people about what I need to put vinyl onto my powerbook and then my i-pod. please can you help.
ps my set up, if any help is: 2 technics 1200's and a stanton mixer running through a NAD amp.
Cheers,
Will
I'm wondering if the microphone jack on the iMic makes the best connection for inputting sound from my stereo. Wouldn't it be better if they had made the iMic with RCA jacks instead?
The "EDIROL UA-1A Audio Capture Interface" looks like a similar audio input device with RCA input. But I haven't been able to find much about it without buying it. Has anyone used this instead of the iMic?
Matt
Thanks for considering the assist - Zig
Thanks for your help.
ddt
a perfect solyion to those who grew up with a technology...treasure the same ... but are unable to metamomorphose it to the new era technology....
how doi i get to part two!
arun
Could not record sound. A brief search revealed that older iMics (version 1056) are not compatible with newer OSX. Griffin will sell an updated iMic fro $15 + shipping if you have this situation. I have 1970s Rotel receiver and turntable w/ newer Shure cartridge, feeding from output to tape RCA jacks into iMic. Looking forward to great results when the new iMic comes in. This article and comments are most informative.
Ziggy - Somewhere you can get tonearm balance kits for your tonearm. Your turntable may also have an anti-skate adjustment which you'd dial in according to how much weight there is on the stylus.
Final Vinyl is available as a download from Griffin.
I intend to buy the ION iTTUSB turnatable. Do you think this will solve my problem?
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