Total Recorder

xoxoxoBruce · 01-04-2006, 02:13 PM

I've written before about Total Recorder. Great product, even a dufus like me can muddle through.
Well, that was one of the casualties of my recent crash. But not to worry, just download a fresh copy, spend an hour rummaging through my electic filing system to come up with the "product key" and I'm cool.
Unfortunately, they released a new version in October so although it's new and improved my "key" isn't valid.
I emailed them, telling them my story and giving them my old "product key", hoping I could download the previous version even though it wasn't showing on their front page.
NOTICE~~I did not whine. I swear on my mothers eyes, I didn't.~~

They responded with the "product key" to the new version and their blessing.
Realistically, despite it's audio prowess, it's an inexpensive product, but the gesture tells me these are good people to do business with.

glatt · 01-04-2006, 02:39 PM

I've been thinking lately about converting many of my old vinyl records to MP3s so I can play 'em easier. Can this Total Recorder do that? I guess I'm looking for something that will record from the line in (microphone?) jack and will let me split up each album side into several different tracks for each song. Must also convert them to MP3.

Cheap is good.

SteveDallas · 01-04-2006, 03:11 PM

I'm also a Total Recorder fan. I bought it at least 3 versions back and they've never charged me for subsequent updates.

Glatt, try it out. I've done that before with a couple old things for Mrs. Dallas and they came out OK and I just have the basic Total Recorder. (Auto track splitting is dependent on having a certain amount of silence between tracks, but you can do it manually too.) However, they have an audio restore plugin that is intended to deal with problems like this. I don't know if it's worthwhile or not, but you can download a demo.

glatt · 01-04-2006, 03:19 PM

Sounds promising. I think I'll check it out. At that price, it's not much of a risk either.

Elspode · 01-04-2006, 03:34 PM

I recommend it wholeheartedly. Yes, it could be used to digitize your vinyl, provided that you have a way to plug the turntable into the computer (those big old records won't hardly fit in that little DVD drive).

While we're on that track, do those of us who have digitized vinyl recommend preamping the turntable output before it goes to the computer?

glatt · 01-04-2006, 03:38 PM

I plan to use my amp as a pre-amp. The output to the tape deck should work well. I hope.

I even have an RCA to 1/8 inch minijack cable already. Cool huh? I hope my microphone line in jack on my PC is in stereo. I think it is, but we'll see.

Undertoad · 01-04-2006, 03:45 PM

Some older turntables require a special kind of pre-amp, a "phono pre-amp" which pre-amps the signal coming from the needle. Older receivers and more expensive receivers have this circuit built in.

SteveDallas · 01-04-2006, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

I plan to use my amp as a pre-amp. The output to the tape deck should work well. I hope.

That's the way I did it, and it worked fine.

glatt · 01-04-2006, 04:28 PM

The real test will be to see if my turntable and old amp still work. I haven't used them in about a decade. The turntable had a new stylus then, so it should still sound pretty good. The drive belt might be a little stiff, but other than that, I'm not sure what might have deteriorated over time while it was sitting in the corner.

xoxoxoBruce · 01-04-2006, 04:49 PM

IIRC, it grabs the signals before the sound card messes with them.
Ran the turntable into the phono jacks on an old Sony Str AV-760 then hooked the tape out, where the signal comes out to a tape deck, to the PC's audio in jacks. Worked great.

CAUTION ~ Don't set this up in the middle of your damn desk so you can't do anything else until it's broken down.

Elspode · 01-05-2006, 03:29 PM

Total Recorder drops an imitation soundcard driver in place of the actual driver (this is selectable, BTW, as TR's driver can cause some audio lag in video games, I've noticed) which captures all sound sent to the soundcard, and then routes it where you want it, basically. The advantage to this over just sticking cables in your soundcard output is that you skip the analogue conversion and can record an actual digital streaming signal...or so I gather.

glatt · 01-05-2006, 03:39 PM

Any of you ever try Audacity? I came across it when I was reading good reviews on Total Recorder. Audacity is open source freeware and claims to be able to record WAV files, split them into tracks, and make mp3s out of them. It doesn't do the neat trick of capturing streaming audio that Total Recorder does, but $0 versus $36 is a pretty big difference. Anyone try it?

xoxoxoBruce · 01-06-2006, 01:18 AM

$36? You need the Pro version?

Pie · 01-06-2006, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

Any of you ever try Audacity?

I tried it once, but couldn't get it to work correctly on my Mac. I went back to Audio Hijack (Rogue Amoeba, $16) for capture of streaming sources and Amadeus (Hairersoft, $36) for encoding/manipulation.
I used Amadeus to rip my grandmother's entire cassette tape collection (~50 tapes) to MP3 and cds. It was all Hindi or Telugu music that is no longer published. Most of it was older than I am...

glatt · 01-06-2006, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

$36? You need the Pro version?

Maybe I read the description of the two wrong, but my understanding is that you need the pro version to break up the tracks. If I wanted one long 25 minute track for each album side, the regular $12 version would be just fine.

01-04-2006, 02:13 PM	#1
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Total Recorder I've written before about Total Recorder. Great product, even a dufus like me can muddle through. Well, that was one of the casualties of my recent crash. But not to worry, just download a fresh copy, spend an hour rummaging through my electic filing system to come up with the "product key" and I'm cool. Unfortunately, they released a new version in October so although it's new and improved my "key" isn't valid. I emailed them, telling them my story and giving them my old "product key", hoping I could download the previous version even though it wasn't showing on their front page. NOTICE~~I did not whine. I swear on my mothers eyes, I didn't.~~ They responded with the "product key" to the new version and their blessing. Realistically, despite it's audio prowess, it's an inexpensive product, but the gesture tells me these are good people to do business with. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

01-04-2006, 03:34 PM	#5
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	I recommend it wholeheartedly. Yes, it could be used to digitize your vinyl, provided that you have a way to plug the turntable into the computer (those big old records won't hardly fit in that little DVD drive). While we're on that track, do those of us who have digitized vinyl recommend preamping the turntable output before it goes to the computer? __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

01-04-2006, 04:49 PM	#10
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	IIRC, it grabs the signals before the sound card messes with them. Ran the turntable into the phono jacks on an old Sony Str AV-760 then hooked the tape out, where the signal comes out to a tape deck, to the PC's audio in jacks. Worked great. CAUTION ~ Don't set this up in the middle of your damn desk so you can't do anything else until it's broken down. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

01-05-2006, 03:29 PM	#11
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	Total Recorder drops an imitation soundcard driver in place of the actual driver (this is selectable, BTW, as TR's driver can cause some audio lag in video games, I've noticed) which captures all sound sent to the soundcard, and then routes it where you want it, basically. The advantage to this over just sticking cables in your soundcard output is that you skip the analogue conversion and can record an actual digital streaming signal...or so I gather. __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

01-06-2006, 01:18 AM	#13
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	$36? You need the Pro version? __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

01-04-2006, 02:39 PM	#2
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	I've been thinking lately about converting many of my old vinyl records to MP3s so I can play 'em easier. Can this Total Recorder do that? I guess I'm looking for something that will record from the line in (microphone?) jack and will let me split up each album side into several different tracks for each song. Must also convert them to MP3. Cheap is good.

01-04-2006, 03:11 PM	#3
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	I'm also a Total Recorder fan. I bought it at least 3 versions back and they've never charged me for subsequent updates. Glatt, try it out. I've done that before with a couple old things for Mrs. Dallas and they came out OK and I just have the basic Total Recorder. (Auto track splitting is dependent on having a certain amount of silence between tracks, but you can do it manually too.) However, they have an audio restore plugin that is intended to deal with problems like this. I don't know if it's worthwhile or not, but you can download a demo.

01-04-2006, 03:19 PM	#4
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Sounds promising. I think I'll check it out. At that price, it's not much of a risk either.

01-04-2006, 03:38 PM	#6
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	I plan to use my amp as a pre-amp. The output to the tape deck should work well. I hope. I even have an RCA to 1/8 inch minijack cable already. Cool huh? I hope my microphone line in jack on my PC is in stereo. I think it is, but we'll see.

01-04-2006, 03:45 PM	#7
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Some older turntables require a special kind of pre-amp, a "phono pre-amp" which pre-amps the signal coming from the needle. Older receivers and more expensive receivers have this circuit built in.

01-04-2006, 04:28 PM	#9
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	The real test will be to see if my turntable and old amp still work. I haven't used them in about a decade. The turntable had a new stylus then, so it should still sound pretty good. The drive belt might be a little stiff, but other than that, I'm not sure what might have deteriorated over time while it was sitting in the corner.

01-05-2006, 03:39 PM	#12
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Any of you ever try Audacity? I came across it when I was reading good reviews on Total Recorder. Audacity is open source freeware and claims to be able to record WAV files, split them into tracks, and make mp3s out of them. It doesn't do the neat trick of capturing streaming audio that Total Recorder does, but $0 versus $36 is a pretty big difference. Anyone try it?

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