Which prompts the question: Why are manufacturers limiting the use of recording equipment? Some powerful lobby must be responsible for this. And, following the usual investigative logic, the first question is to ask, "Who has a vested interest in limiting audio recording equipment versatility?" The answer is obvious, those who are convinced they have much to lose. And these are music artists and anyone who produces audio tracks for a living.Icsaszar said:
The problem with limiting individual freedom to appease a lobby group verges on the undemocratic. It puts every use in the same category: that of content theft, which is not necessarily true in all circumstances.
I am one who does not like networked streams as they are rigid and inflexible if one does not have a deep pocket. A music library is much more flexible as it offers me to choose. Streams don't.
Give me the ability to buy my music tracks.
Remember the 'Home Taping is Killing Music' campaign and the responses to it?
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And there is SCMS and other copy protection systems. You own a DVD but you aren't permitted to make a backup, you can't copy the audio track to listen to in your car, you can't record it to video tape (e.g. to edit the best moments of your favourite films into one story - strictly for personal use (what else?)). Duplicating a CD is not evident for the laymen either.
The 'Boombox' pictured can take us back to the '80s while adding a modern touch.
With an RRP of £250 (currently selling for £190), it's got to be good, hasn't it?
GPO Brooklyn Portable 1980s Retro Style Music System Boombox with CD, Cassette, DAB Radio & Bluetooth - Silver
- IWOOT UK
With an RRP of £250 (currently selling for £190), it's got to be good, hasn't it?
GPO Brooklyn Portable 1980s Retro Style Music System Boombox with CD, Cassette, DAB Radio & Bluetooth - Silver
- IWOOT UK
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Here's an interesting little audio recorder with a cassette retro look - the Reloop Tape 2.
Reloop Tape 2 – Thomann UK
Reloop Tape 2 – Thomann UK
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Ever own a computer? Been able to copy CDs and DVDs for almost twenty years, not that Ive done it. And there are a large number of digital recorders that come wit decent mics for cheaper than a cassette recorder ( and cassette was never hi quality ).
Examples from tascam. Zoom H1n Handy Recorder (2018 Model), Black: Amazon.ca: Electronics
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Making recording more inaccessible to the large masses 'helps' to protect the market share of artists and content publishers. The drastic continuous drop of acessibility of recording by the masses, started about 25 years ago contradicting advances in technology, which should have made recording by the masses simpler, not more complicated, low quality and virtually inacessible.
It is a waste of time to try to digitally record if AD converters in common sound chips are not up to the task, but only sufficient to provide 'good' sound for social media.
Good questions to ask:
a) Can users choose good sampling rates for ordinary installed ADs?
b) To what resolution do common man's ADs work?
I tried to read threads by forum users who tried to create their own recording hardware interfaces, but it seems, they all gave up to the daunting task. Creating a recording interface complete with a pre-amplifier, AD and computer bus interface, is a task for specialised engineers. Lobby groups know that, and they abuse it.
It is a waste of time to try to digitally record if AD converters in common sound chips are not up to the task, but only sufficient to provide 'good' sound for social media.
Good questions to ask:
a) Can users choose good sampling rates for ordinary installed ADs?
b) To what resolution do common man's ADs work?
I tried to read threads by forum users who tried to create their own recording hardware interfaces, but it seems, they all gave up to the daunting task. Creating a recording interface complete with a pre-amplifier, AD and computer bus interface, is a task for specialised engineers. Lobby groups know that, and they abuse it.
The sound chip on my low-price PC is probably a Realtek ALC262, sells for about $2 in small quantity. On my PC I am offered 16 bit stereo at three bitrates, 48k and up. In 30+ years of professional recording I have never had more resolution. (I have delivered good sound with much less.) AGC is easily defeated. I do not expect a brilliant preamp: that problem was solved before 1938 and cheap by 1999.
ALC262-VD2-GR in Tray by Realtek | Future Electronics
http://realtek.info/pdf/alc262.pdf
My impression is that 99% of people do not really want to record anything. They say they do, but when they start to try they give up at the first confusion. Musicians like to record but only a few grow past the dixie-cup stage. For the few who are serious, recording on PC is easy and the PC does not much limit quality (mike placement IS everything). Designing a complete recording system from capsule to console to flash-drive IS a big project for anybody who has a life.
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My neighbor loaned me his pristine copy of the 1973 "Now and Then - the Carpenters" LP, so I could make a COPY of it.
Which I did, but on my Akai 4000D reel-to-reel.
Came out great too!
And on occasion, I'll pop in a cassette of music on my Technics auto-reverse dual-cassette machine.
Ain't nobody gonna tell me I can't make "copies" of something on a machine that I bought specifically for that purpose.
That's just idiotic nonsense from the ones who want to control your life.
I ain't no sheep.
Which I did, but on my Akai 4000D reel-to-reel.
Came out great too!
And on occasion, I'll pop in a cassette of music on my Technics auto-reverse dual-cassette machine.
Ain't nobody gonna tell me I can't make "copies" of something on a machine that I bought specifically for that purpose.
That's just idiotic nonsense from the ones who want to control your life.
I ain't no sheep.
Audio recording is something the cheapest PC can do at quality levels better than a reel-reel tape deck, much less the frequency limitations and s/n ratio of cassettes. Free software like Audacity make recording and editing fast and easy. And, or course, ripping a CD happens at ~50 times speed, a few seconds per 4 minute track. A $10 thumb drive can carry hundreds of albums.
Granted much on-line music is done with poor quality low bit rates, but even 192Kbps mp3 is better than my old cassettes. Today storage is cheap so 320kbps mp3 or flac files are no problem for space.
Not only are audio cassettes obsolete, but so are video tapes and camcorders. I have a $200 digital camera (Coolpix L830) that I have been putting photos and HD videos (c/w stereo sound) on the same memory card for the last 5 years, and it's still half empty. I could also use my $180 phone (A20S), where I have a $15 memory card half full of my whole music library and 15 years of photos and home videos. I also use a thumb drive in the car, again c/w my whole music library.
Granted much on-line music is done with poor quality low bit rates, but even 192Kbps mp3 is better than my old cassettes. Today storage is cheap so 320kbps mp3 or flac files are no problem for space.
Not only are audio cassettes obsolete, but so are video tapes and camcorders. I have a $200 digital camera (Coolpix L830) that I have been putting photos and HD videos (c/w stereo sound) on the same memory card for the last 5 years, and it's still half empty. I could also use my $180 phone (A20S), where I have a $15 memory card half full of my whole music library and 15 years of photos and home videos. I also use a thumb drive in the car, again c/w my whole music library.
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Motivated by your claim, I tried Audacity to record my voice and got far better result than the last time I tried. But I would like to get better results.
My question is can I add a pre-amplifier to the microphone PC input?
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If you want to do 'good quality' recordings why bother with consumer gear when there is a whole dedicated market to it?
Check pro gear ( or semi pro gear) and get yourself the tools needed ( iow a soundcard -focusrite offer is great and not this costly and integrate most things you'll need- and a microphone). From your description edbarx your issue with digital is to me more about the way of using the gear than the gear itself. Digital have different limitation than analog.
Tape ( reel to reel) sound good if you can wistand a bit of noise. The issue being to find good tapes now and deck with still usable heads.
Cassettes were a consumer version of RtR, so somewhat downgraded but in a way better than mp3 to me. However if you want to 'copy' music on a budget ( so no Studer or Ampex tape recorder) digital is hard to beat imho.
Check pro gear ( or semi pro gear) and get yourself the tools needed ( iow a soundcard -focusrite offer is great and not this costly and integrate most things you'll need- and a microphone). From your description edbarx your issue with digital is to me more about the way of using the gear than the gear itself. Digital have different limitation than analog.
Tape ( reel to reel) sound good if you can wistand a bit of noise. The issue being to find good tapes now and deck with still usable heads.
Cassettes were a consumer version of RtR, so somewhat downgraded but in a way better than mp3 to me. However if you want to 'copy' music on a budget ( so no Studer or Ampex tape recorder) digital is hard to beat imho.
I just took hundreds of cassettes I've been saving for 40+ years to the landfill. Most one of a kind recordings. Needed to lighten the load. First my high end Sony cassette deck went bad. Then my JVC dual well replacement's rubber belts stretched to unuseability. Eventually I bought a $1K+ Tascam pro studio deck on ebay for under $100. It was missing some covers for transport switches. But it worked nicely for a year b4 it decomposed. Glad to see it all go tho I miss my Teac half track reel to reel from the early 70's. Nevertheless, even the Teac didn't do any better than today's digital recorders where the sky is the limit. And as with anything good, there's a learning curve. My first Philips (or was it Norelco?) casstte recorder certainly didn't make a sound that one could be proud of, no matter the cloudy memory.
Preamplifier
What you could do is add a mixer/preamp to the line inputs because the weakest (noisiest) point in the chain is the microphone preamp and some sound chip/card microphone inputs are mono only. Ie bypass the sound chip mic preamp.
But the logical thing to do is buy a USB mixer+DAC. This is not more expensive than a preamp and is a more complete solution.
Top 10 USB Mixers of 2020 | Video Review
And there are other "DAW" recording software that you may want to consider:
10 Best Free Audio Editing Software For windows 2020
Digital audio workstation - Wikipedia
What you could do is add a mixer/preamp to the line inputs because the weakest (noisiest) point in the chain is the microphone preamp and some sound chip/card microphone inputs are mono only. Ie bypass the sound chip mic preamp.
But the logical thing to do is buy a USB mixer+DAC. This is not more expensive than a preamp and is a more complete solution.
Top 10 USB Mixers of 2020 | Video Review
And there are other "DAW" recording software that you may want to consider:
10 Best Free Audio Editing Software For windows 2020
Digital audio workstation - Wikipedia
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