Audacity - or what ??

[mikmas]

I am currently playing about with recording from an old Technics analogue tuner (model ST-Z15L) on my Mac via a USB Terratec PhonoPreAmp Vinyl set to 'Line In'. I use Audacity as sampler and very much like the interface and quality of material - mostly from Radio 3.

Problem is that although I can set the sampling rate to 44hz and 32bit when I go to save in an uncompressed format I can use easily (AIFF or WAV) the file is limited to 16 bit. Anyone familiar with Audacity know a way around this, possibly with a different file format, or can suggest a Mac based recorder with more options? - preferably free :lol:

Also any suggestions for an A/D converter for the Mac I could use instead of the (ancient) USB Terratec but one that also include the option for vinyl sampling with an MM cartridge. My Mac Mini 2010 has an optical sound input and also Firewire 800.

Tar :)

[struth]

I got a good one from the states a few years ago cant remember the name to use with audacity and a turntable. I did a couple of tests and was suitably impressed but then forgot about it. I will see if I can find it. sure it worked with both mac and windows. Not sure why you would want to go past 16 bit?

[mikmas]

I got a good one from the states a few years ago cant remember the name to use with audacity and a turntable. I did a couple of tests and was suitably impressed but then forgot about it. I will see if I can find it. sure it worked with both mac and windows.

Cheers for the reply - would be great if you can track it down


Not sure why you would want to go past 16 bit?

... curiousity :lol:
always struck me as weird if you sample at 32 bit that you can only save at 16 bit ... thought things might have moved on

[mr sneff]

What about Wavosaur? It's free, I use it a lot for sample editing, it certainly works at 24bit. Never tried 32bit, but according to the blurb on their website it does work at 32 bits http://www.wavosaur.com/features.php
Nice simple interface that I find easier to work with than Audacity.

[Rothchild]

Unless you are doing any mixing, gain changes or effects processing they there will be no real benefit to be gained from recording a file at a higher bit depth than your interface - 32 and 64bit

Floating point files are great for mixing because of the additional headroom they give to the digital mixbuss (you can drive a floating point file beyond 0dBFS in the mixbuss and it will do no harm to the audio, but if you put a >0dBFS file to the converter (which deals in fixed point numbers) it will clip, distort and generally be horrible) the file will always be truncated (and ideally dithered) back to the output format of the interface (generally 16 or 24bit) at which point it needs to peak no higher than 0dBFS.

As to why audacity won't let you save your hirez files I'm not sure, it's a long time since I used it but it does seem odd as it's a pretty well worked through recorder and should be able to manage all the files you show it.

In terms of an upgrade for your interface pretty much anything that will do you two channels at 24bit 96kHz will do you well and will ensure that you capture all that's there (and probably more than that) I've had good luck with Roland/Edirol and RME interfaces in the past.

[mikmas]

What about Wavosaur?


Thanks for tip David - looks good but unfortunately it seems to be Windows only :(

[mikmas]

Thanks for the very good advice Marc - I'n not very digital literate but I think I grasped the gist. As it is the 16 bit files sound more that adequate to me so guess I'll stick with it :)



In terms of an upgrade for your interface pretty much anything that will do you two channels at 24bit 96kHz will do you well and will ensure that you capture all that's there (and probably more than that) I've had good luck with Roland/Edirol and RME interfaces in the past.

Don't know RME but have tried an Edirol (albeit some time ago) and couldn't get it to gel with the Mac I had at the time. At that point I settled with a fairly basic Behringer FCA202 device via Firewire (using a Quad 33 tape output). Always wanted to try an M Audio but price and complexity put me off. Currently their Profire 610 can be had quite cheap and appears to work OK with Yosemite so am toying with that - possibly overkill for what I would use it for though.

[Rothchild]

I sailed past the Mac bit sorry, traditionally Apogee and MOTU have the best Mac support for their hardware, the Apogee Duet looks like a good (albeit expensive) option (and the Focusrite Forte looks like a slightly cheaper version of the same thing). From the Maudio range the Mtrack + looks like everything you need and more.

[mikmas]

Thanks for those suggestions Marc - looked into them but in the meantime a Profire came up at an offer price I couldn't resist ... so .......