Old 01-01-2020, 12:13 PM   #1
Martin Badger
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Default Playing vinyl into Reaper

Hello .Can you connect a turntable playing vinyl through the Zoom R16 and import into Reaper
please?
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Old 01-01-2020, 01:13 PM   #2
rothchild
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Ideally you need something with an RIAA phono stage between the turntable and the audio interface. You could use a standalone phono preamp or you could use a hifi amplifier with a phono stage and then feed the soundcard with the 'tape out' from the amp.
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Old 01-01-2020, 01:37 PM   #3
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thanks i'll have look, Good band name by the way
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Old 01-02-2020, 06:03 PM   #4
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I use an Audio-Technica USB turntable direct into REAPER. It works great!
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Old 01-03-2020, 02:47 AM   #5
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Thanks for that. What drivers do you use in Reaper. Do you have external speakers?
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Old 01-03-2020, 03:26 PM   #6
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I'm using an old Macbook Pro OS 10.6...you just tell it to use the Audio-Technica in the Audio/Midi control. I haven't used it with any of my Win10's so if you use Windows...it can't be hard.
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Old 01-03-2020, 03:31 PM   #7
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thanks very much
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Old 01-04-2020, 11:46 AM   #8
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The preamp stage for phono is rather critical. It's a tiny delicate little signal. Not to mention the required RIAA eq curve.
The average home receiver's built-in phono input, DJ gear/mixers, USB turntables, and the like can make vinyl sound pretty lo-fi. If you use that level of crude on the way in, that's all the sound that ever gets digitized. The fidelity is left on the cutting room floor as it were.

If this is for something critical and historical to preserve, a proper phono preamp and high level cartridge and table will make the most difference even with a budget AD converter. It's all just stupidly expensive. There needs to be a hunger for this!

If this is just for samples for DJ stuff... Carry on with that USB turntable.
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Old 01-04-2020, 12:51 PM   #9
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I think a reasonably good audio card followed by a quality EQ plugin with RIAA preset settings should be fairly accurate. Am I mistaken? I remember there's an EQ plugin by vacuumsounds that does (forward and backward) RIAA eq.
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Old 01-04-2020, 01:38 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by juan_r View Post
I think a reasonably good audio card followed by a quality EQ plugin with RIAA preset settings should be fairly accurate. Am I mistaken?
Short answer: yes.

The low signal level and impedance mismatch coming off the raw phono signal will lead to silly levels of non-linearity, noise, and blunt signal loss. You can't eq back what never got digitized in the first place.

An inexpensive DJ rig or USB turntable would at least work. Do that if nothing else. It would be genuinely fine for a lot of things. If this was about preserving something historical from vinyl, that's when you need to get snobby. If there's some damage to the vinyl or if we're entertaining the notion to "restore" the lost fidelity from a poor transfer... Much more bang for the buck to invest time into searching for a better undamaged copy and/or someone else's AD transfer.
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Old 01-04-2020, 06:08 PM   #11
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Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB Direct Drive Turntable with USB eliminates the need to set levels, RIAA curves are built in and the results are great. Regardless, you'll likely then be looking for software like Izotope RX Elements or Sound Forge Audio Cleaning Lab to clean up some typical vinyl artifacts, especially old worn out classics...pops, clicks (both softwares), surface noise (Cleaning Lab)...there may be other softwares.
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Old 12-25-2022, 07:42 AM   #12
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Quick tests with Pioneer PLX-500 turntable (has USB and switchable direct/RIAA'ed analog output) showed me that better approach to achieve "ok" sound is to use active DI box rather passive DI box when capturing direct output without built-in RIAA. Output from DI in some series 500 preamp, then old, good RME FF800.

When comparing sound of built-in RIAA and few free VST's, i prefered Vacuumsound RIAA http://www.nullmedium.de/dev/audioplugins/ (you must find file through web archive or similar).

Other option was ZamAudio ZamPhono https://www.zamaudio.com/?p=976
Be aware, this is mono plugin. You have to patch 2 plugins on each side of stereo.
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Old 12-26-2022, 06:21 PM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by serr View Post
The preamp stage for phono is rather critical. It's a tiny delicate little signal. Not to mention the required RIAA eq curve.
The average home receiver's built-in phono input, DJ gear/mixers, USB turntables, and the like can make vinyl sound pretty lo-fi. If you use that level of crude on the way in, that's all the sound that ever gets digitized. The fidelity is left on the cutting room floor as it were.

If this is for something critical and historical to preserve, a proper phono preamp and high level cartridge and table will make the most difference even with a budget AD converter. It's all just stupidly expensive. There needs to be a hunger for this!

If this is just for samples for DJ stuff... Carry on with that USB turntable.
If you’re looking for something that can get the most out of vinyl and can find a Linn Sondeck LP12 that’s had the required modifications, it’s likely going to be your best bang-for-the-buck…. Just don’t forget to properly clean that record first! All those clicks and pops usually come from unwanted dust and dirt which acts like sandpaper on the grooves of a vinyl record when the stylus gets dragged through the groove…. Clicks and pops are NOT how vinyl is supposed to sound. Hell, 200 gram virgin-vinyl can have a noise floor down around -89dB or so…

https://www.linn.co.uk/us/turntables
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Old 12-26-2022, 06:24 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Studiodawg View Post
Audio-Technica AT-LP120XUSB Direct Drive Turntable with USB eliminates the need to set levels, RIAA curves are built in and the results are great. Regardless, you'll likely then be looking for software like Izotope RX Elements or Sound Forge Audio Cleaning Lab to clean up some typical vinyl artifacts, especially old worn out classics...pops, clicks (both softwares), surface noise (Cleaning Lab)...there may be other softwares.
And FYI I do own RX Advanced and would be happy to do the restoration for free (what can I say? I’m a nerd who’s technically retired) and I’ll sign an NDA or anything you need and won’t share it with anyone. If you want, just PM me.
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Last edited by Lynx_TWO; 12-26-2022 at 06:36 PM.
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