Fred said:
I recently bought an Audio Technica LP to Digital Recording System.
This will let me create CDs from some of my LP phonograph records.
This device has a preamplifier and stereo input plug for the
microphone jack on the computer. Unfortunately, the microphone input
seems to be only monophonic. What I mean is that both tracks of the
stereo record get combined by the microphone input, and then play
equally monophonically in both speakers.
The sound card is to be used mostly to get separate Right and Left
inputs to produce a stereo CD.
If I've overlooked anything, or there is something to tweak in my
computer that will give me true stereo please let me know. The the
sound software is NVIDIA nForce.
Fred
I cannot find good quality info for your system, but I did pick up
a suggestion that the machine uses a FIC AU31 Nforce2 motherboard.
So the following is pure guesses on my part.
There are two jacks on the front of the computer. Microphone and
headphones might be the labels on there.
On the back of the computer, there are three jacks. The computer is
5.1 output capable, but if you set the sound preferences to "stereo",
then the back jacks turn into LineIn, LineOut, and Microphone.
The rear jacks in such a system, are referred to as "multiplexed".
They are all output jacks, if you select 5.1 audio output. That
might be suitable for playing DVDs, for example.
But if you change the sound setting to 2 channel stereo output,
the rear jack definition changes. Two jacks become inputs (LineIn and
Microphone), and one jack is an output (LineOut).
On such systems, there are a couple "tricks" in the built-in sound
audio control panel. The microphone should have a selection, to
select between "Microphone1" or "Microphone2". That is how you
select between the front and rear microphone jacks. So, switch the
speakers to stereo (two channel mode), and then you gain a microphone
jack on the back.
The characteristics of the jacks, is a function of the CODEC used. Some
CODECs have stereo front and stereo rear microphone. Others have only
monophonic front microphone, but stereo rear microphone. The rear jack
is the one you want.
The second trick, is the "20dB boost" button. The microphone has a slider
for gain, but there is also a button. The button adds extra gain to the
microphone jack.
In terms of characteristics, the microphone jack is probably too weak
to properly pick up a dynamic (moving coil) pickup from a turntable.
Even with the 20dB boost engaged, there might not be enough signal
from the ADC, to make a nice recording. If the cartridge on the turntable
was a ceramic one, that has a higher level output, and that might work.
The turntable you bought, has a switchable preamp. If the preamp is
enabled on the turntable, you should be able to connect the
turntable to the "LineIn" on the back of the computer. LineIn accepts
somewhere in the vicinity of 1Vrms or so signal level.
So you should have a number of possibilities:
1) Set built-in audio to 2 speaker (stereo) mode.
2) Use rear jacks
3) Set microphone selector (MIC1/MIC2) to select rear microphone
It should be stereo capable. I don't think I've seen a rear mic
spec that is only mono.
4) Set microphone 20dB boost, if you are not receiving enough signal
5) If the turntable preamp is being used, it is possible that
the LineIn would work as an input option as well. LineIn is stereo.
Quality wise, a preamp external to the turntable and computer, might
do a better job, than say the internal preamp that came with the turntable,
or using the microphone 20dB boost button on the computer. It generally
pays to do the "gain" function in a more quiet place, so a clean high level
signal can be sent to the computer.
Those are the options I'd explore, and then if all else fails, add a
new sound card.
Paul
