I’ve been using a Citronic USB Phono Line RCA Adapter for recording vinyl to laptop, and then convert to mp3. Mostly it is great, the tutorials are easy to follow, and everything is user-friendly.
However, a few tracks appear to “trip-over” themselves in places. It sounds a bit like the track has jumped by a micro-second; like it’s lagged a bit and needs to catch up with itself. That’s the best I can describe it!
It only appears once or twice in a few tracks, but it’s noticeable enough to be annoying.
I’ve connected the Citronic Phonos from my amplifiers output and not plugged the turntable directly into the device. All recording levels have been set to the specified -0.6dB, and I’ve click-removed and normalized. When I set the recording input level even lower, it happens about ten times worse.
Plug Citronic into an empty USB port not into a USB computer hub.
Edit > Preferences…, look at the Recording section and see if increasing “Audio to buffer” helps.
Our tutorials say to set the recording level such that the recording meter peaks at about -6 dB. Aiming for -0.6 dB is too loud, it may go over 0 dB then you get distortion.
Aiming for -6 dB may mean the recording level slider has to be set to 0.6 or even much lower. The level the recording turns out at is what matters.
Hmm, that would seem unexpected. In the Recording tab of Windows Sound, right-click over Citronic > Properties then look at the “Advanced” tab and other tabs. Are there any settings there for effects, or corrections for audio problems like noise? Normally there aren’t for a USB device, but you should check.
All recording levels have been set to the specified -0.6dB, and I’ve click-removed and normalized. When I set the recording input level even lower, it happens about ten times worse.
I assume the problem is there before you remove the clicks or do any other processing? Recording volume shouldn’t make any difference. but it might make glitches more noticeable.
Glitches during recording are usually related to multitasking.* (Even if you are only running one application, the operating system is multitasking).
Close any other applications and try to minimize the number of background operations. Some people find it helps to disable their anti-virus, and if you have a laptop some people find it helps to turn-off Wi-Fi.
Got to Edit → Preferences → Recording and try increasing the buffer/latency.
If you are recording at high resolution (such as 24-bit/96kHz) try 16-bit/48kHz.
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When you record, the digital audio streams into a buffer (memory like a holding tank) at a nice constant rate. Then when the operating system gets around to it , it reads the buffer in a quick burst. If the buffer doesn’t get read in time, the buffer overflows and you get a glitch.
Playback works in a similar way, except the buffer is filled in a quick burst and the danger is buffer underflow.
Bigger buffers are usually better, except they increase latency (delay). In this situation where you are recoding records or tapes, a few milliseconds of delay is not an issue and there is no downside to a larger buffer.