Newbie here: Windows 10, Audacity 2.1.2 (downloaded yesterday).
For the past 15 years or so, I have been digitizing my LP collection using a stand-alone Pioneer CD-recorder. (Other gear includes: Oracle Delphi Mk. III table, SME V tonearm, Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 Cartridge, Audible Illusions Modulus IIB preamp with phono stage). After creating a new CD by this method, I rip it to FLAC and listen on various devices.
I have made around 200+ CDs from my LP collection using this method over the years, however, now that the CD recorder has died, I decided to buy an ART Phono Plus ADC and download Audacity. My high-end audio dealer advised me that there is an Ayre ADC for $4000, but I am not going to pay even a quarter of that at this point. Mr preliminary listening to the ART indicates that it will work just fine.
Anyway, creating tracks on the Pioneer was pretty simple–just press the record button, and a new track was created instantly. On Audacity, it seems that the preferred method is to do this after the recording has been created. I did a test recording and tried the CTRL-M method (during playback), but it does not seem to have worked. It did create a new track, and I did name it, but it did not show the waveform in the box corresponding to this new track. It still seems to think there is a single track.
Is there a way to create new tracks while the audio is being captured? If so, how? Alternatively, if it is better to do it in editing, what is the easiest and/or best way to do this? Why is the CTRL-M method not working?
Most of the work is being done by the physical parts. All you need is a competent preamp (with a volume control) and digitizer and you should be good to go. Did you go down the tutorials for vinyl transfer?
Is there a way to create new tracks while the audio is being captured? If so, how? Alternatively, if it is better to do it in editing, what is the easiest and/or best way to do this?
I don’t know if there’s a “best” way, but I just select/highlight a song and File → Export Selected Audio to create a separate file for each song. (And, I might select a little extra audio and trim the beginning & end later.)
My high-end audio dealer advised me that there is an Ayre ADC for $4000,
Considering the limitations of analog vinyl, that seems obscene to me… Unless the money means nothing to you.
I haven’t tried the ART, but I agree that it should be fine and it does have an analog gain adjustment so you can prevent clipping of the ADC. If you’ve got $4000 to blow, you could get some really nice speakers.
And depending on what you’re doing now, you might want to spend $50 or so on some [u]vinyl-noise reduction software[/u]. (I have Wave Repair, which does an audibly perfect job on most clicks & pops and in the manual mode it only touches the audio where you identify a defect. But, it can take me a full weekend or more to clean-up an LP. I also have Wave Corrector, which works automatically.)
Adding labels at track breaks in the entire LP recording and doing File, Export Multiple does exactly what I want–separate FLAC files for each track.
I am perfectly happy with the ART for now. And I have Vandersteen 2Ces, so no need to shell out money on speakers. Extra cash gets saved in my retirement acct. so I can retire and enjoy my records one day!
