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[NY40Male]

if you take a portable cassette..hook it up to the Line In on the sound blaster card
and import music from a cassette....
how is the quality?
what format do you bring it in as?
i appreciate the help thanks

[zevele1]

would like to know as well

[JimH]

There is a FAQ here on recording that may help.  Pay close attention to the "auto test" option.  Getting the level set correctly is the only difficult part.

If you record to wav or ape, the sound will be what you hear if you play the tape through your PC.  Good, not great.

[email97]

Hello,
Since getting MJ7, I have been digitizing my entire tape collection (Self-Improvement Stuff).  My wife thinks I have gone nuts!  But I can get about 10 tapes on a CD (mp3 and wma files)

Anyway, what I have found, is that, if you are recording seminars, using a tape player with a MONO setting in it and encoding set to 96Kbits gives me the best result with the least amount of space used.

The down side to recording tapes is the inherient "motor" noise you get.  If I had a better equilizer on my tape player, it probably be better.  But, the trade off of getting so much on a disk, is worth the annoyance.

Also, the sound card makes a differents.  On one computer, the "motor" noise was bad, on another it was almost non-existant.

I haven't tried to record music cassettes so I can't help you there.

Hope this helps!

[Alonso Nefarious]

re. motor noise: If you want to play around with making it go away get an audio editing package (Cool Audio, for instance), get a sample of tape with just noise one it, and subtract the noise from the recording.  It's kinda a fun project, gets you familiar with the tools, and can have amazing results.

[JimH]

Could the noise be a ground loop problem?  Radio Shack might have a device to help.

[maleman]

When I started converting LP's (albums, vinyl, etc) using the Line In feature, I noticed a slight hum.  My turntable was properly grounded and what I came to realize is that my laptop had a built in microphone that was not muted.  Once I muted the mic (via sound card options), the humming went away.
I have used the Auto Test feature and it works very well.
Thanks,
Mike

[Cotton-Eyed|PLS|Loo]

I've found that I get much better results if I unground all my equipment (using the little 3 prong to 2 prong adapters that I've been warned countless times not to use: reader beware - I have no academic training in electrical circuites beyond highschool physics).

My understanding is that the ground wire in home power supplies is a safety feature. The idea is that electricity would 'rather' run back to ground using a great conductor (like a metal chasis on a computer case) than push its way through you and your wet wet clothing to the floor (also grounded but not as well as properly grounded home electrical wiring).

Without proper grounding you run the risk of electrical shocks and increase the risk of damage to your equipment due to spikes in power (not limited to lightening) and accidents like spilling apple juice into your amplifier whilst also getting yourself wet.

That being said I would point out that while I have intentionally ungrounded all my stereo components - they are all plugged into an enthusiast grade UPS which IS grounded. Spikes should be eaten up by my UPS and never reach my components.

Finally - if you do this you are waay on your own.

Note that this will remedy noise (60hz hum) typically found in home power circuits. Try running your recording through a spectrum analyzer and see if there is a steady peak at 60hz. If so you could also opt to simply 'notch' 60hz [I wouldn't do this to my music, but if you feel running ungrounded is a bad idea this will work with only some loss of music authenticity].

Alonso and JimH have both made really good suggestions on ways to fix things. However they may not work - it depends on what's actually hapenning.

I recommend that you do not take the ungrounding route - if you do you're on your own. Again I'm not an electrical professional so this is certainly a unprofessional opinion.