I’m trying to figure out a way to get older recordings I have on tape from either my tape deck or Minidisc (preferably Minidisc as the ATRAC cleans up a lot of hisses and pops) to my PC in order to burn to CD. I’ve tried connecting the L & R audio plugs and the Minidisc line out into the line in on my soundcard and then using Windows Sound Recorder to convert to .WAV. This sounds like utter shite as I’m losing sound quality either from the crappy line in (1/8" plug) or from Windows Sound Recorder. I’ve also tried another sound recorder, the name of which currently escapes me.
I guess my question is this- is there a reasonably priced sound card with a digital/TOSLINK line in (I’ve only seen digital line out)? I’d rather not spend $200+ on a pricey video card just to get L & R lines in. Or is it a software problem and I should try a different media recorder? Or is there another simpler, cheaper way to get from Minidisc to CDR?
Sony makes an MD player that is able to connect to your PC. It can do what you have described. The model number is MDS-PC2. However, it costs about $400, so that may be beyond your price range.
What sort of line in do the SoundBlasters have? From the models that I was looking at (at CompUSA) they only had high-end lines out.
I’ve already got a Minidisc recorder/player that I’m happy with- I’m just looking for a reasonably priced (~$50) way of getting the sound on my PC and thought that my soundcard is the issue (although it could be the software). If $$$ wasn’t an object, I’d probably just buy a standalone CD recorder that plugs into my audio components.
Over the past few years, I’ve been slowly assembling a computer-based home studio from inexpensive and surplus parts for a friend who is a musician (The racks look like launch cotrol for the space shuttle). Audiophile quality input is far trickier than you might think. I say this as someone who designed EMG (like an EKG for muscles) devices for a research lab when I was an undergrad.
I’d suggest that if you want respectable automatic quality (fiddling with each song in a sound/music editor is tedious and generates artifacts - it should be avoided at all costs) you should see if your Sony has an SPDIF OUT, and if your sound card has an SPDIF IN (it won’t be a jack on the back of the sound card, it’ll be a labelled two-pin header on the cound card PC board.] It’s easy to buy/make a plug that to go on that header. Total cost: a few bucks.
There are other solutions, but this is the fastest/easiest by at least two orders of magnitude if it works for you, so I’d say it isn’t worth investigating other options until you try this. I’d need to know more about your hardware before making any further suggestions
If you have USB, I’ve heard there are some $50-70 USB audio input devices that could also work for you, but I haven’t tested them myself.
My computer is a Micron P200 with 128MB RAM. I believe the sound card currently in it is a generic Yamaha (but am not sure). I just bought a Guillemot Maxi Sound Fortissmo but have not opened or installed it because I thought the TOSLINK line was both in and out, not just out. According to the box, the card only has a SPDIF out, not in.
The Minidisc is a portable recorder- the Sharp 722c and has a headphone line out and SPDIF(optical) and Mic ins.
I did a bit of research on the USB audio ins- from what I saw, it seemed to only be for Macs.
Do I understand correctly that your miniDisc doesn’t have a SPDIF out?
Also, what free slots do you have (old ISA cards are often cheap, but the number of ISA slots is down to 1-2 in modern machines, and they are often filled)
There are several USB audio I/O units for Win9x/NT. I agree they don’t advertise as much as the Mac stuff. Not sure why.
Opcode makes one (but they target the semi-pro market, so they are pricey) Here is a link with some other candidates, but they are all semi-pro, too. Still this site (CDrecording.com) looks like a good resource for you.
Another possibility for you to investigate is ‘killing two birds with one stone’ Typically, there are ‘video capture’ cards available for under $50 on E-bay. Obviously they aren’t the state of the art, but they may have stereo ins and audio is much less demanding than video. You should check the specs and reviews carefull before buying, though, to make sure it does good quality stereo audio.
There reason this is an option is that advances in the video field may obsolete a card that has decent audio.
My (current) minidisc recorder does not have the TOSLINK out- most portables don’t. However, I am looking into getting a CD/MD combo with the SPDIF outs (they’re currently under $200).
As for free slots, I believe I have 2 ISAs and 1 PCI free.
OOps- simulpost. I may check eBay as you suggested. I had looked into video cap cards with L&R audio but most were pricey- I was looking at new units though.
