I have a couple of vinyl records I would like to transfer to digital. I have a high-end, but old turntable. It has a headphone jack. I have this DIGITNOW USB Audio Capture gizmo:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079CBGDST/
Is that good enough to be able to make good digital copies of the vinyl record tracks?
If not, what do I need?
If the turntable has a built in pre-amp then that should be fine - if not you will also need a pre-amp.
Some manufacturers make a combined pre-amp and soundcards - the ARTcessories Art Pro Audio USB Phono Plus is a good example:
https://artproaudio.com/product/usb-phono-plus-v2-phono-preamp-with-usb/
WC
How can I tell if it has a pre-amp?
Is that because the “volume” coming out of the headphone jack is too weak?
Thanks
Are there two wires coming out of the turntable or three? If you have a third, thin black wire in addition to the two sound cables, then you need a preamplifier.
Sound on a vinyl record doesn’t “fit,” so it’s intentionally distorted to boost the high pitch sounds and reduce the low pitch sounds. When you play the record, you have to correct that somehow. If you have a stereo amplifier in the living room, it will probably have “Phono In” connections and a little screw for the third wire.
Also see the Behringer UFO-202 USB adapter.
Koz
Your adapter has some nonsense words in the description.
You probably don’t have vinyl cassette tapes. Cassette tape players do have fully corrected sound and you can probably plug one of those directly into this adapter. But probably not the turntable. You didn’t give a turntable model number, so we’re all guessing.
If you pick the wrong combination, the music won’t have any bass notes, or the sound may hum at you. Or both.
Koz
I found the turntable. It was in a box in the attic.
It’s a Dual 1219. I have a 14-page owner’s manual. There is a single port that looks like a headphone jack (port?), but my headphone plug doesn’t fit. And it’s in a location where it would be awkward to plug anything in.
So, I guess it is not going to work for digitizing any LPs. Rats
What does the user manual say about connections?
That’s probably not a headphone jack… Maybe it’s not an audio jack at all? I would expect two (left & right) [u]RCA connectors[/u]. Turntables need a preamp and when that turntable was made “stand alone” or “component” turntables didn’t have any electronics inside. Normally the preamp was built into the stereo receiver. Modern receivers rarely have a “phono input” so you’ll need a preamp or an interface like the UFO202 which has a phono preamp built-in.
USB turntable have a preamp built-in so virtually all turntables with USB have line-level analog outputs.
I found the technical service manual, but everybody is trying to sell me a user manual for dollars.
It does need a preamp because the turntable has no electronics inside. That’s the good news. The bad news is the system doesn’t seem to have that grounding wire to prevent hum and buzz in the sound.
There’s other not so good news. The Dual 1219 is a semi-autmatic turntable. Again I don’t have the user manual, but the service manual is monstrously complicated with settings for lead-in groove needle drop accuracy and auto muting so the arm motion automation noise doesn’t get into the show.
It’s as close as you can get to a record changer without actually changing the record. Apparently, you put the record on and push a button. It does everything else.
Unfortunately, the alternatives may be worse. Most “transfer your records to the computer” turntables are complete trash. Literally. What are you going to do with it when you get done with the last record? Leave it for your son or daughter? More likely, put it on the street for the city to pick up.
Some of them are in such bad shape they fail before the last record.
This is where you wear your manager hat. How much fuss are you willing to go through to transfer your records when you can get most of the music on-line?
Koz
Nothing that I can find.
A lot of sites were trying to sell manuals, but I did find one place and was able to download it. I can post it if that would help, but am inclined not to bother as I don’t think this thing has a audio out. I searched the service manual pdf for “headphones”, “phone”, “jack”, “port” and a few others. Nothing found.
This is where you wear your manager hat. How much fuss are you willing to go through to transfer your records when you can get most of the music on-line?
Koz
I only want to transfer a couple of records of groups I was in back in the Roosevelt Administration (FDR, not Teddy).
We have a neighborhood group. I bet someone has a setup I can borrow for a day.
I did find one place and was able to download it.
Did you save the address?
You can try to post the document on the forum, but there is a 2MB data limit.
It totally does have an audio out, but the connection type is not normal.
There is a way to transfer vinyl “flat” with the volume distortions built-in and then correct it later in Audacity. I remember there was some discussion about a special process because you can’t exactly follow the RIAA vinyl specifications in the computer. The processes were designed around old electronics technology.
And yes, that’s where the RIAA first made its name. A standard way to press disks. You used to have to tailor your player to the record company. Was that just the most fun.
Koz
I think it was here: http://www.edsstuff.org/docs/dual_1219_service.pdf
You can try to post the document on the forum, but there is a 2MB data limit.
It’s almost 4MB, so I uploaded it to OneDrive. Here’s the link:
https://1drv.ms/b/s!ArBLbKVM2K_HiOwTBmS0p-DUH_U4Ig
This is the Service Manual. I could not find the owners manual.
Cynthia,
I had a quick look at your DIGITNOW Amazon link, your Service Manual, and a couple of Dual 1219 links on the internet. Now, koz and DVDdoug have vastly more experience in this area than I, but I say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
I say give it a try and see what you get - there is minimal downside and you might learn something - it just might even work! Just plug in the red and white/yellow cables from your turntable into the corresponding connectors on the DIGITNOW. I don’t see a phono switch on the DIGITNOW, but it isn’t going to kill the show. (You can use Effects > Amplify to bring up your level after you make the recording). If you get a little bit of mains hum due to no ground, there are ways to remove that in Audacity.
Before you start, I would recommend downloading a more recent version of Audacity, see here: Audacity ® | Downloads
And for general LP recording with Audacity, see here: Sample workflow for LP digitization
I tried to plug the Digitnow cables into what looks like it might be an audio out port. None of them fit. I don’t think it is even a port at all. The one jack that was small enough to fit inside, did not find any sides. It is like it is just a hole in the chassis.
I found a neighbor who has a complete setup including pre-amp that he has used to digitize several of his LPs. He said he’d let me borrow it.
This is the Service Manual. I could not find the owners manual.
Thank you. I have the service manual. That’s not the important one for this job.
So to be obsessive, RIAA processing is available in Audacity 3.0.2.
Select the whole song > Effect > Filter Curve > Manage > Factory Presets > RIAA.
If you don’t correct for RIAA somewhere in the transfer, the music will be gutless and screechy. That’s what the music in a groove really sounds like. That’s what “Phono-In” on a music system does.
I know you were having trouble sleeping not knowing that.
Koz
Ahhhh, now I can finally get some shut-eye. 
But seriously, that’s good information. Many years ago, I took one of those LPs to a professional sound studio and had them convert it to both .wav and .mp3 files. In the process, they also did some cleanup and some volume balancing. The .wav files are huge, roughly 7.3 times the size of the .mp3 files. On my PC speaker, I can’t tell the difference. When I get the turntable, I want to digitize some those same tracks and then run the Audacity RIAA processor to compare the quality. I also want to compare the sound out of the turntable to the digitized versions.
The .wav files are huge, roughly 7.3 times the size of the .mp3 files.
Ding! (that’s the alarm bell).
MP3 gets its tiny, efficient, convenient sound files by cleverly hidden sound damage and leaving some sounds out. I’m not making that up. That can work when your goal is tiny files for your Personal Music Player for running on the beach, but it’s a terrible format for music production. The first time you make an MP3 from an MP3, it stops being able to hide the damage and by the third time, the music can be trash.
We had a poster who produced a terrific music appreciation show for broadcast. He downloaded MP3 files, commented on them and then sent a completed MP3 production to the station for broadcast. They broadcast it, but they couldn’t make their MP3 podcast. Couldn’t do it. The music was garbage.
So do everything in WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit and only make the MP3 files as a Final Product (see: running on the beach).
We got the producer out of trouble by delivering to the station in perfect quality Audio CD, eliminating the MP3 step in the middle.
Koz
MP3 gets its tiny, efficient, convenient sound files by cleverly hidden sound damage and leaving some sounds out. I’m not making that up. That can work . . . . .
