----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <[log in to unmask]>
> I'll add one more thing to this discussion. At least one of the many flash
> recorders out there, the Zoom H2, can also act as a USB audio interface.
> So you could have both a portable recorder (in the Zoom's case, a portable
> recorder capable of 4-channel surround recording) and a somewhat quick and
> dirty USB interface all in one device. I just recently used the Zoom to
> make a bunch of cassette transfers, some music and some spoken word, all
> of decent to very good (as good as cassette is capable) audio quality. I
> transferred at 44.1kHz/24-bit and was very happy with the results.
> What I'd like to know from the original poster, Bill Fliss -- what are
> your intended uses and what is your budget? If you are doing high-quality
> professional transfers, you'll want something much different (and, alas,
> more expensive), than if you are "putting my LPs into my iPod" or
> transferring a stack of worn 78's for personal use. Also, if your input
> devices are balanced or unbalanced output, consumer or professional
> operating levels, is important to know. That said, one thing to add to my
> recommendation of the CardDeluxe is that you can jumper-set its operating
> level and its input and output circuits are comfortable receiving and
> feeding unbalanced lines. So to interface with consumer electronics, all
> you need is to set the jumpers at -10 nominal level and buy four 1/4-inch
> to RCA adapters.
> I use a M-Audio 2496 exactly the same why John does -- as a
> listening/preview workstation card. It does the job fine. One problem I
> had using it for a transfer interface was that the computer's lousy
> grounding structure created hum when connected to a properly-grounded tape
> output from a well-made Japanese receiver (set up to tape FM broadcasts).
> That problem was solved with Radio Shack's in-line audio transfermer
> cable.
>
Passing note...
What I plan to do is to terminate the cartridge leads from an older
ceramic-cartridge "record
player" in a "mimi-phone-plug"...which I can then plug into the "Line In"
jack of my sound
card, since a ceramic cartridge puts out a line-level (c. 1 volt) signal! I
used a similar setup
for many years...feeding the cartridge output from my c.1960 RCA "record
player" into
the "Line In" of a Sony r2r machine which was the functional centre of my
"sound
system" at the time (and could be hooked up to a Sony cassette deck,
allowing me to
put countless 78's onto cassettes!).
Steven C. Barr
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