I recently bought a UCA202 to record some vinyls to my pc. All seemed simple enough but I’m stuck as can be, hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.
I read several topics but couldn’t find one that solved my problem. Apologies if there ends up being such a topic.
It’s a simple set-up, turntable, uca202, windows 10 pc + audacity.
When connecting everything the first time it worked, but the recordings were very soft, after some searching I found I had to install a driver
(BEHRINGER_2902_X64_2.8.40) as I am running it on windows 10.
So after installing and rebooting I opened Audacity, and see as recording option : LINE BEHRINGER USB WD. I figured this was a good sign, but when I tried to record it gives me
So after installing and rebooting I opened Audacity, and see as recording option : LINE BEHRINGER USB WD.
That’s new after installing the driver? Are there any other USB audio choices showing-up? That might be the ASI04ALL driver but that’s just a guess… I don’t think the ASIO driver should show-up in Audacity but I’m not sure…
The UCA202 is “class compliant” and it works with the regular Microsoft-supplied drivers. The last time I checked, the only driver you could get from Behringer is ASIO4ALL, and that doesn’t work with Audacity because Audacity is not an ASIO application. Audacity works with regular Windows drivers. (And the UCA202 doesn’t have true ASIO drivers so ASIO4ALL is a band-aid in case you have an application that needs ASIO hardware/drivers).
but the recordings were very soft,
If it’s very quiet and all highs with no bass, that means you don’t have a phono preamp. A phono preamp amplifies the signal and applies the RIAA equalization to bring the frequency response back into balance.
It’s a simple set-up, turntable, uca202
A “traditional” turntable needs a phono preamp. The UFO202 has a built-in preamp. If you have an older stereo with a phono input, it has a built-in preamp. If it has also has tape outputs you can connect tape-out to the UCA202. Or, you may be able to use the headphone output.
USB turntables have built-in preamps and some modern analog turntables also have them. If you have a newer turntable, check for a “line/phono” switch and select “line”. But most turntables (and all “high-end” turntables) are still made the old way with no active electronics.
Well, after reading your post I decided to remove the driver and start from scratch
When opening Audacity I see two options,
Microsoft sound - input
Stereo-mix Realtek HD (onboard soundcard)
No third option.
Also…after connecting my UCA202 the green light doesnt burn anymore. When connected between pc and turntable I can still listen via headphone and turn it on and of with the monitor switch.
PS, I didn’t install AS104ALL drivers, did come across those, didn’t download&install
As I was understanding I could connect the turntable direct to pc, I googled for sound problem and came across that solution to update drivers for windows 10. Which, seeing experiences with windows updates, did make some sense.
I have an older Yamaha amp. I know it has phono in, I’ll check if it has a ‘tape out’ option.
If not I’ll have to buy the UFO202 I suppose…right…
The UCA-202 provides a plug-and play interface for “line level” audio connection to a computer. “Line level” is approximately 0.9v peak to peak maximum.
The output from a record player cartridge is typically in the region of 1/1000th of a volt, so it requires quite a lot of amplification to bring it up to “line level”.
Also, the output from a record player cartridge is very light on bass. This is a design feature of how vinyl records are made. The bass frequencies are reduced (a lot) so as to avoid huge wiggles in the groove which would otherwise cause the stylus to be thrown out of the groove.
So the first job of a “phono pre-amp” is to amplify the signal about 1000 times bigger, and the second task is to boost the bass (and reduce the treble) so that you hear the correct tonal balance. The tone adjustment is called “RIAA Equalization”.
The UFO202 has a built-in phono pre-amp, and a switch so that you can select “phono” or “line level”, depending on what is plugged in. When switched on, the phono pre-amp provides the required amplification and RIAA equalization for connecting a record player.
Now I use my old Yamaha amp in the setup, in between turntable and UCA202, using the tape rec.
When playing vinyl the sound on the headphone is much louder&better, so recordings I assume should be better as well.
However, the next problem in my journey to record has risen…my pc now doesn’t recognise the UCA202 anymore.
When connected the green light doesn’t turn on. When connecting to other pc’s, it lights up right away.
my pc now doesn’t recognise the UCA202 anymore.
When connected the green light doesn’t turn on. When connecting to other pc’s, it lights up right away.
Does the computer have another USB port? Do you have something else to test the USB port? A thumb drive or USB-mouse, etc.?
The owner’s manual says “The LED indicates the status of the USB power supply.”
I think you provided a real clue when your main computer wouldn’t turn the light on. That’s a bad USB connection—or USB service. The service is poisoning all its USB connections. Stop using that computer.
You should pay attention to what the built-in diagnostics are telling you.
I have multiple Behringer USB devices and they all turn the light on and they all work straight out of the gate.
The newer machines make you authenticate the connection and other inconveniences, but you are way over what “normal” is supposed to look like.
And yes, the UFO-202 has all the cartridge and vinyl compensation built-in. I use a Hafler Preamp between my turntable and a UCA-202. So you got the whole front of that correct.
Live, real-time production is stressful on a computer. The video people run into this all the time. Just because your computer will write letters and produce spreadsheets doesn’t mean it’s up to picture or sound.
It depends on what you want to do and how much work you want to do, but here’s a suggested outline -
Export to WAV (whether you save an Audacity project or not). I usually combine both sides into one big file so I can do the “processing” all at once.
Run the Click Removal effect. Try the Repair effect on any remaining clicks & pops. Alternatively, you an try [u]Wave Corrector[/u] which is a FREE vinyl clean-up application, or another of the [u]special-purpose vinyl clean-up applications[/u]. I have Wave Repair ($30 USD) and it does an audibly perfect job of removing most clicks & pops, but like Audacity’s Repair effect you have to “find” the defects manually and it can take hours to fix-up one song.
Run the Audacity Noise Reduction effect to remove background hum & hiss. But, listen to the result because noise reduction can leave “metallic sounding” artifacts and the cure can be worse than the disease. I usually just apply Noise Reduction to the fade-ins and fade-outs (and maybe during quiet passages) where the noise is noticeable/objectionable.
If you have an older “dull sounding” record, use the Equalization effect to boost the highs by a couple of dB. (It can be helpful to “calibrate your ears” by listening to a known-good modern-digital recording on the same computer/speakers.)
Run the Amplify effect (or the Normalize effect) to bring the peaks to 0dB. That will “maximize” the volume, or in case equalization (or some other effect/adjustment) has pushed the peaks over 0dB, it will bring the levels down to prevent clipping when you export. It’s usually best to run that on the whole album so the relative loudness between tracks remains as originally intended.
…Finally you can export to MP3 files, or burn a CD, etc.
…Finally you can export to MP3 files, or burn a CD, etc.
Please note at no time did we delete the original Perfect Quality WAV file. That’s your archive copy. You can make a WAV into anything else, but editing or doing anything to an MP3 will cause sound quality degradation.