1st posting to this forum, hope I’ve dropped this query into the right area.
I’ve currently got Audacity 2.4.1 installed on a Dell Inspiron 660s desktop running Windows 10.
Until now, I’ve only used Audacity to record audio from websites etc.
I have a number of cassette tapes from the 90s which I want to digitise using Audacity.
It’s a project I’ve had on the long finger for a long time, but now I want to get going on it.
I’m currently studying the various relevant Audacity tutorials to help me learn what’s involved and to establish a workflow.
As I see it, I have 2 options for how I connect the analogue phono outputs from the cassette deck:
Use the line-in mini jack socket on the PC
Use a Roland UA-1G Cakewalk A2D (bought a few years ago) which connects to a PC USB port
Thinking about these 2 options triggered queries in my mind.
Re. No 1 option, presumably there is an A2D internal to the PC on the other side of the mini jack socket?
Would Audacity record from the digital side of the A2D or from it’s analogue side?
I’m guessing it’s the digital side?
Re. No 2 option, I presume Audacity is recording from a digital stream somewhere on the other side of the USB port?
For the sake of my transfer project, would No 2 be a better option on the grounds that the A2D converter present in the Roland unit is likely to be of a higher quality than the A2D (if present) in No 1. Also, I guess No 2 gives more control over the A2D process whereas the A2D process in No 1 is an inaccessible ‘black box’.
1st posting to this forum, hope I’ve dropped this query into the right area.
… Windows 10.
It should have been the Windows forum.
Would Audacity record from the digital side of the A2D or from it’s analogue side?
I’m guessing it’s the digital side?
Re. No 2 option, I presume Audacity is recording from a digital stream somewhere on the other side of the USB port?
Yes, in either case Audacity “captures” the digital audio stream and sends it to your hard drive. With the external interface, your internal soundcard/soundchip is not involved.
For the sake of my transfer project, would No 2 be a better option on the grounds that the A2D converter present in the Roland unit is likely to be of a higher quality than the A2D (if present) in No 1.
Possibly. If you use your built-in sound card connect to line-in (usually blue). The first thing to check is the noise. Generally, the external interface will have less nose (because it’s isolated from the electrical activity inside the computer case) but noise can get-in through the USB power supply too. Of course, it’s the recording noise you want to check (with no signal) so you’ll have to record and play-back, and make sure the recording levels are matched (with a signal) because if when you crank-up the recording volume you’ll increase the background noise. (You may not be able to adjust the recording level via software level on the external device.)
Usually, the tape noise is the biggest noise source so recording noise from the sound card doesn’t matter unless you have a particularly bad problem. (Noise from the mic input IS often an issue.)
The other thing to check is the recording levels. It’s OK if the recording levels are a little low (or quite a bit low).* You can Amplify after recording (and you’ll probably be doing that anyway). But, if the signal is too hot and you can’t turn it down you’ll get clipping (distortion) that can’t be removed. (That’s rarely a problem.)
…The other specs (frequency response & distortion) are almost always better than human hearing so if you’re listening for a difference, noise is the ONLY thing to worry about.
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If you ever recorded with analog tape, you wanted a hot signal to overcome the tape hiss. But with digital - no tape noise!
And, you could occasionally go over 0dB where the tape started to saturate/soft-clip. Then the NAB record/playback equalization further “softens” the sound of any distortion. Digital is hard-limited to 0dB and your analog-to-digital converter will hard-clip if you “try” to go over.
