High-resolution vinyl LP archival, playback, editing and music server software
Jan 16, 2020 Hi Was after some advice and opinions on ripping vinyl please. I have 2 Technics SL1200 Mk2's and am looking to rip some vinyl to Wav form for mixing on digital decks etc. I have a new Mastersounds 2 valve mixer that has a RCA record out. What is the best method to get decent quality.
Pure Vinyl is much more than just recording software. It's a sophisticated system for getting the most from your treasured LP records!
Stereophile - Editor's Choice Recommended Components, 2010 through 2020
The Absolute Sound - Editors' Choice Award Winner, 2014 through 2020
Stereophile - 2010 Product of the Year Award Winner
The Absolute Sound - 2013 Product of the Year Award Winner
Pure Vinyl 5 preview available. The Pure Vinyl 5 preview can be used in place of Version 4 to embrace the functionality of major and minor new features; the download link to the latest preview update can be found on our News page. This is a free upgrade under a Pure Vinyl 4 license code (contains the string 'PuVa-40000' or higher). A discounted upgrade for Pure Vinyl 3 and earlier licenses is available. Click the Buy button for more information.
Pure Vinyl 5 includes over 50 new features and performance improvements over Pure Vinyl 4.
A few of the major new features added in Pure Vinyl 5:
- Internet lookup using only the catalog number from the LP jacket (view video)
- Automatic pop and click removal
- Substantially revised and simplified yet more functional user interface
- Automatic, time-saving track locator with improvements over Version 4 (view video)
- Incorporates the latest version of Pure Music®
* The track locator functions best on albums with breaks between tracks, typical of most LPs. The track locator also is designed to function with those 'live' or classical albums mixed with negligible interruptions between tracks, and to accommodate fade-ins or fade-outs / final note decays. The free demo download allows evaluating its performance in your own usage scenario.
Linking analog LP playback with the precision of high-resolution digital music reproduction
- LP Playback / Recording / Editing / Archival
- Precision Optimized 64-Bit RIAA Vinyl Correction Curve (IIR design, with phase response identical to analog RIAA correction)
- Directly links audiophile caliber analog vinyl playback and the advantages of high-resolution (192 kHz / 24 bit) digital audio reproduction and recording / archival
- Single point of integration for analog and digitally sourced music
- Supports 192 kHz 24 bit Sampling for State of the Art, High-Resolution Digital Quality
- Painstakingly Designed to Preserve the Warmth, Clarity and Dynamics of Vinyl Reproduction
- Pristine, 64 bit (Double Precision) Floating-Point Internal Signal Path for No Added Distortion 6
- Helps Optimize Turntable Setup by Providing a Repeatable Baseline: Just Record and Compare
- Features
- Unique, 'Scratch' Style, Grab & Spin 'Vinyl Cueing' Nondestructive Audio Editor
- Automatic Track Locator
- Cueing Trigger 'Noise Gate' feature Automates Recording Process; Just Lift Stylus and Flip the Record
- High Quality 64-Bit Sample Rate Converter for Exporting CD Format Tracks to Digital Players (iTunes, iPod, CD-R)
- ZEPHRR® Zero Phase Shift 64-Bit Rumble Filter for Resampling; Adjustable Frequency, up to 96 dB / octave slope
- Adjustable Noise-Shaped Dithering for Word-Length Reduction
- Built-In Correction Curves for pre-1955 Vinyl / Shellac
- NetSend for Streaming Audio to Other Computers (up to 192 kHz, 24 bit, uncompressed)
- Nondestructive, Integrated Pop and Click Editor / Peak Finder
- Ultra High Quality Integrated Multithreaded Sample Rate Converter
- Virtual Line-Level Preamplifier / Source Selector (for audio interfaces with more than 2 analog input channels)
- Built-In 2/3/4-way Crossover (with 64 bit internal resolution and Adjustable Time / Phase Alignment) (for audio interfaces with more than 2 output channels)
- AudioUnit Plug-In Support (add parametric / graphic EQ, etc.)
- 'Picture Disc' Feature (Integrate Album and Label Artwork with Vinyl Image)
- Space-Saving Rendering of Virtual iTunes 'Bookmark' Tracks For Playlists from Vinyl Recordings (Without Creating Separate Physical Tracks)
- Also Built-In: Channel D's Acclaimed Pure Music Digital Music Player
Comments from Pure Vinyl users |
Software RIAA Curve* Advantages for Real-Time Playback
*Pure Vinyl's RIAA and other curves are continuous time, minimum-phase filters, the same as analog filters.- Perfect Interchannel Amplitude and Phase Match
- Perfect Amplitude and Phase Match to RIAA Curve
- No component (resistor / capacitor) temperature variations or aging effects / deterioration
- No Added Distortion or Noise (resistors / capacitors / inductors not used for RIAA curve)
- Continuously Adjustable (slope and cutoff) Rumble Filter
- Dozens of alternate curves included (pre-RIAA)
Software RIAA Curve Advantages for High-Resolution Digital Transfer
All of the above advantages, plus:- Increased capture headroom and resolution (up to 12 db / 2 bits)**
- Channel D ZEPHRR® Zero Phase Shift, Continuous-Time (not FIR) Rumble Reduction filter***
- Facilitates pop / click removal because impulses may be removed pre-RIAA filter
***A zero-phase-shift rumble filter cannot be made with analog circuitry.
What you need
You'll obtain spectacular results with any equipment depicted below and your existing turntable setup. (In case you have a USB turntable, adding an ADC/DAC such as the Scarlett below and using the turntable analog output instead of the USB output will deliver a substantial improvement in quality.)Example #1: Entry Level ADC/DAC (built-in preamps): Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (2nd Gen) 192/24 USB Audio Interface (available at Amazon and other retailers).
The Scarlett and similar ADC/DACs include adjustable-gain, built-in preamplifiers that accommodate low output moving coil as well as moving magnet cartridges. A set of adapters is required to connect your turntable (RIAA EQ provided by Pure Vinyl software). A $50 adapter discount coupon is available if you have purchased a Pure Vinyl license; or $50 off a Pure Vinyl license after an adapter purchase.
There are other ADC/DACs at higher prices, offering better quality analog to digital and digital to analog conversion (plus higher output channel count, which can be used for multi-amping via Pure Viny's built-in adjustable crossover). But the disparity in performance across different prices is not as great as it was even just a few years ago. Outstanding quality is now available for extremely reasonable prices.
Incidentally, a line-level preamp isn't required; the line outputs of the ADC/DAC may be connected directly to your power amplifier(s), with playback volume controlled in Pure Vinyl software.
Always choose an ADC that includes a DAC in the same unit, such as shown above or below, rather than adding a stand-alone ADC to an existing digital playback system and using a stand-alone DAC for audio monitoring during recording (or 'live' LP playback). This would be impractical, for reasons explained here. Of course, you can use any DAC for playback of your recordings; the distinction is that it's impractical to use a stand-alone DAC for real-time monitoring during recording.Example #2: Premium ADC/DAC plus separate preamp: Used in our audio trade show exhibit rooms for the last several years, this also comprises the heart of the reference LP to digital transfer system used at Channel D.
The Lynx Hilo 192/24 ADC/DAC (with unique, user-configurable touchscreen display) is popular with our users who are seeking the highest quality LP to digital transfers. The Hilo was designed and built in the USA by top audio engineers (and musicians). Lynx has been in business for over 20 years and the quality of their products is unmatched. The Hilo will also deliver superb playback of your digital music files, and supports native DSD audio output.
Mastering-quality ADC/DACs such as the Hilo usually have line level inputs requiring a separate phono preamplifier. To take advantage of the RIAA EQ feature in Pure Vinyl software, a 'flat' (non-RIAA) preamplifier is needed. An excellent choice is our Seta Model L for low output moving-coil cartridges. Also built in the USA, the Seta has been rated a 'Class A' phono preamplifier by Stereophile magazine since 2010 and listed in Stereophile editor John Atkinson's Associated Equipment sidebar for his audio component reviews for over 5 years, since December 2013. (He even purchased the review sample!) This combination will deliver unmatched results for high resolution vinyl transfers. Our Seta Piccola (MC/MM) and Lino C (MC) phono stages also are outstanding products, and good matches with the Hilo or other ADC/DACs. In a 2015 shootout of seven different ADCs on Michael Fremer's Analog Planet website, the $4,750 (total) Hilo ADC + Seta Piccola combination tied for first place in reader votes as sounding the best, based on the posted sample files. The other first place winner employed a $26,000 phono preamp + $2,600 step up transformer - not including the price of the analog to digital converter.
Playing LPs with Pure Vinyl
The PLAY mode of Pure Vinyl was designed to closely recreate the experience of vinyl playback. Just as in the editing process, the stylus can be dragged and dropped anywhere on the surface, to cue a particular track. This is made simple by employing the spinning vinyl record metaphor. To flip the record, juct click on the label. Records with more than two sides (double, triple, etc. albums) can be used with the player - each click moving to a different side of the next disc.
Pure Vinyl also can automatically 'flip' the record at the end of the side - for uninterrupted playback in 'album' format.. but better, because there's no stylus wear with repeated play, nor a vinyl surface to scratch. Every play sounds like the first one - at super quality 192 kHz 24 bit.
Recording LPs with Pure Vinyl
Naturally, the Pure Vinyl Recorder can apply precision RIAA EQ in software... high-quality output is provided for flawless monitoring while recording, using the software-based EQ, if desired.
The adjustable, threshold-based triggering feature doesn't start recording until the needle drops - and even can be configured to omit that 'needle drop' part of the recording. When the tonearm is lifted at the end of the side, the triggering pauses the recording, giving you the opportunity to flip the record, clean the other side, grab a snack, etc. At this time, the application is 'deaf' to incoming audio. When ready to resume recording, just click the Lock button, re-arming the recording.
Pure Vinyl scrupulously maintains a high-quality 64-bit floating-point (double precision) processing path from the moment that the sound is sampled, through the entire downsampling operation, and on to monitoring and playback, to insure that you don't lose any of your precious sound.
Downsampling (decimation), if creating track files in other formats is desired, is properly performed, using widely vetted techniques. For example, 192 kHz audio is first upsampled and zero-padded, then antialias filtered and decimated.
All sound file formats used are lossless: AIFF or Apple's CoreAudio (.caf). The latter format permits recordings of unlimited duration with any sample rate or sample size. Exporting sound files to 16-bit (or 24 bit) 44.1 kHz CD format is done using Apple Lossless Compression (to .m4a) or AIFF. If lossy (mp3, aac) compression is needed, the pristine audio files can be compressed by converting via iTunes.
Editing LPs with Pure Vinyl
The inherent surface noise of vinyl makes track cue assignment difficult, because music fades are contaminated with surface noise. Linear-style waveform editors are not quite up to the task of working with digitized vinyl. Using apparently quiet waveform locations as track boundaries, without careful auditioning of selected marks, is likely to result in track marking mistakes.
Pure Vinyl uses a patented 'virtual vinyl' cue guide image generator coupled with a DJ-inspired 'scratch' technique where the record is 'grabbed' and 'spun' to accurately locate cueing points. A Looping feature allows precisely honing or verifying the locations of track intros and fade-outs.
Pure Vinyl's proprietary SNAPTO Automatic Track Locator, not found in any other software product, makes quick work of the potentially tedious task of locating track cue-ins. LPs do not fade to 'digital black' between tracks, making track location much more difficult than editing purely digital recordings. However, our specialized track locator algorithm handles this difficult task with aplomb. Likewise, the Tidy Tail feature automatically trims silence from the ends of tracks, even in the presence of gradual fade-outs in recordings.