Audacity Forum

My unit is ITUT-201 and there is NO tone arm counter weight....

Sounds like I need to JUST take this thing BACK..

thanks

designmr wrote:My unit is ITUT-201 and there is NO tone arm counter weight....
Sounds like I need to JUST take this thing BACK..

Maybe, if you are sure the stylus looks straight looked at front-on. There are no online details for this turntable, but a record player without an adjustable weight for the arm is pretty crappy anyway, and will quickly degrade records from the 70s and 80s. If you must have a USB turntable, Ion are amongst the better ones, though the "cheaper" ones have no cueing lever.

Gale

Thanks Gale. If I can not adjust the arm, I do NOT want to take a chance and damage my albums. So, I will ask for the receipt and just look for one with an adjustable arm...

Just looking on internet, and most say "ADJUSTABLE TONE ARM". This box DOES NOT mention it....Ok, it was a gift, and they didn't know to look....fair enough..

Gale Andrews wrote:

designmr wrote: If you must have a USB turntable, Ion are amongst the better ones ...
Gale

Also consider the Numark devices - Numark & ION are basically the same company - the Numark TTs are a little more expensive but they tend to have heavier platters and better tone arms and cartridges (but check the specs - there is plenty of tech detail available online).

I ran an ION iTTUSB for the first few months when I was transcribing my vinyl. The electronics were really good, but I eventually gave up using it as I was getting too much wow&flutter, presumably due to the lightweight platter. (not noticeable on rock records and my 45 singles - but shows up on clasical piano).

What I use now is my old Technics deck which I rescued from the attic, gave it a good home service and treated it to a new cartridge. I also bought a small phono preamp (ART DJ-Pre-II) and an external USB soundcard (Edirol UA-1EX). This combination has given me excellent results.

My old ION iTTUSB is still doing sterling service for a friend of mine who bought it from me to digitize his mainly rock collection ...

WC

stevethefiddle wrote:OK, I've done a quick "Google".
"AK5371" sounds like it should either be a sound card or a Russian semi-automatic weapon, but in fact it is an AD chip with USB and stereo microphone inputs. Your turntable may easily be seeing the turntable as that (usually they have names like "USB audio").

MrEd wrote:if I try to troubleshoot that device, it tells me that the driver is not installed and the device might not work.

If that is using the Windows Trouble Shooting Wizard, then I'm not surprised. I've never yet had any useful information from them. Many USB devices are designed to be "driver-less", so it is quite likely that the trouble shooter will register that as a problem.

MrEd wrote:If I go into "Control Panel" "Sounds and Audio Devices" and the "Hardware" tab, the USB turntable shows up there as AK5371

That is good - and it doesn't show up as a yellow question mark, or have a red sign by it?

Are you on Vista or XP?
If you are on Vista, you will probably have to enable it in the Control Panel as a recording device. If you are on XP, go straight to the Sounds and Audio Devices icon (in Control Panel Classic view) and see if you can set it as the default recording Device.

I am on XP and the turntable (AK5371) does not show up as a yellow question mark or have a red sign by it. I have tried going into the Sounds and Audio Devices icon but it will not let me set it as the default recording device. Any other ideas?

I have XP and even though the AK5371 is listed under Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices, it will not allow me to set the turntable as a default. Any other suggestions? It does not have a red mark or yellow by it.

MrEd wrote:I have XP and even though the AK5371 is listed under Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices, it will not allow me to set the turntable as a default. Any other suggestions? It does not have a red mark or yellow by it.

So you click in the dropdown box on the Audio tab of Sounds and Audio Devices, arrow up or down to select the AK 5371 then hit ENTER, but the AK 5371 entry won't stay selected and rolls back to your inbuilt sound device? Once you have tightened the USB cable, switched on the turntable, rebooted and gone back into Sounds and Audio Devices, what are the exact names of the choices in the dropdown?


Gale

I have un-installed and reinstalled the Audacity software. When I go to the XP control Panel and select Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices, the Audio tab does not list the AK5371 under any dropdown, either the playback or recording. It is listed under the Hardware tab, however when selected I am informed that there is not a driver present. I have selected properties and try to reinstall the driver. It looks for the driver and it is not found. On the driver tab there are no listed details. Can you send a link to a driver that I can download?

Thanks, MrEd

MrEd wrote:I have un-installed and reinstalled the Audacity software. When I go to the XP control Panel and select Sounds, Speech and Audio Devices, the Audio tab does not list the AK5371 under any dropdown, either the playback or recording. It is listed under the Hardware tab, however when selected I am informed that there is not a driver present. I have selected properties and try to reinstall the driver. It looks for the driver and it is not found. On the driver tab there are no listed details. Can you send a link to a driver that I can download?

I don't believe there are any drivers to be found. This is the chip the turntable is using:
http://www.akm.com/prodfolder-usb.asp?p=AK5371A

and according to its data sheet it should produce a signal compliant with USB Audio Class generic drivers supplied by your system. The only USB turntables we've ever heard about simply use a generic set of USB Audio Class drivers. Windows Device Manager would state the "manufacturer" of these as Microsoft, and the driver files would all be in WindowsSystem32.

* Are you sure if you right-click over My Computer > Properties: Hardware Tab: Device Manager that there are no yellow question marks against the "AK5371" or against the Universal Serial Bus controllers?

* Do any other USB devices you have work if you plug them in?

* Have you replaced the USB cable with which you connect the turntable to the computer? These are a common cause of USB turntables not being properly recognised by the system. In a nutshell, whatever Device Manager says, if the AK 5371 is not seen in Sounds and Audio Devices, it isn't properly recognised and you can't record from it. Reinstalling Audacity won't change that fact.

So, contact the manufacturer of the turntable using the instructions that came with it. By all means ask them for a driver, but I think this is a red herring. There are no online contact details I can find for "Innovative Technology", so if you cannot find details, contact the company that sold you the turntable, or follow the return instructions given.

If other USB devices of yours don't work, then obviously there is the possibility the USB ports are non-functional. If the Universal Serial Bus Controllers have errors shown in Device Manager, then that is likely your problem. In that case, set a System Restore Point, then uninstall all the Universal Serial Bus Controllers and reboot. Assuming your system is not corrupted, Windows will reinstall the Controllers properly when it restarts.

I think we are probably running out of help we can give you here now.


Gale