Hi Eric

Yes you do need to go through your amplifier. The preamp in the soundcard won't
handle the signal directly from the turntable. That is because a magnetic cartridge
puts out a very low level signal, especially if you have a high quality moving coil
cartridge as opposed to a moving magnet type. So a magnetic cartridge needs a high
gain, low noise preamp to bring the signal up to the kind of levels that the
soundcard inputs are designed to handle. On top of that, a magnetic cartridge preamp
has a special equalization curve built in, defined by the RIAA (Recording Industry
Association of America?)

Try this, if you haven't already:
- First check that you are plugged into the correct input on your soundcard. The
labels are sometimes difficult to read and to see whether they refer to the socket
above or the one below.
- Have you got an icon that looks like a small yellow loudspeaker in the System Tray
(bottom of your screen, righthand corner)?
- If not, go to Control Panels; Sounds and Multimedia and tick where it says "Show
Volume Control on Taskbar".
- Some soundcard software puts a different icon there, so look for something similar
that says speaker, or sound, or mixer, etc. (When you point to it and pause there
without clicking, some sort of label should pop up.)
- Anyway, DOUBLE-CLICK on this icon and up will pop a mixing console with volume
controls for each input. Make sure the Line In is not muted or turned right down.
(Mixers differ--sometimes you have to select an input but usually you have to NOT
mute it to get it working.)

- If there is no volume control for Line In, got to Options; Properties, and make
sure Line In is selected there.

Sorry to make it long-winded--just covering the possibilities. Hope it works for
you.
I have done the same sort of thing. I've got hundreds of vinyl LPs and have started
putting them on CD for convenience and preservation--it's quite a mission. I'm
interested in what software you are using to record and burn your CDs, what file
format you're using, and any other problems that you might encounter.

Cheers,
K-Rex


Mark Rode wrote:

> Try plugging your turntable directly into the IN Jack. You don't need to go
> through your amplifier because the soundcard acts as a preamp. Plugging in
> directly should also make for a cleaner signal, ... and recording.
>
> Rode
> The NOSPIN Group
>
> >I seem to have set a switch that makes the system ignore input which I
> >think is coming from the LINE-IN port on my soundcard ( Creative
> >Soundblaster PCI-512). As the system was working correctly two days ago, I
> >would appreciate advice about what I might have done.  The 'volume
> >control' settings in the Control Panel's 'sounds and multimedia' look ok
> >--- I am using Windows 2000.
> >
> >(I'm trying to transfer vinyl lp's to the hard disk. A transcription
> >turntable (Shure magnetic cartridge) feeds the record input jack of a
> >stereo amplifier; the tape output is the input to the computer's LINE-IN jack.)
> >
> >Eric Tanenbaum
> >
> >
>
>                          PCBUILD's List Owners:
>                       Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
>                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>

                         PCBUILD's List Owners:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
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