Turntables

savage_g

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
if you've already got a reasonable soundcard,I'd get an analog deck run through a decent preamp rather than a usb unit, since the analog-digital convertor's probably gonna be better in your sound card than in a USB turntable that most likely costs less than your soundcard.
Having said that I know a few people that have similar USB turntables to that one and get pretty good quality out of them.
 

Shonsteez

Gurpologist
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 33
Word, i gotta third that....Def better results with a analog table, good preamp, and a decent soundcard...

******************
Aye Mono wut cartridge are F'n with right now?
I was gonna get a new one pretty soon cuz my current Stanton joint is fried now....Prob gonna cop the standard workhorse Shure M44-7 since my boy always uses that one and it sounds pretty clean...
 

mono

the invisible visible
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 20
im on pro concordes. sound-wise theres nothing wrong with shures, decent quality, but id always go with the concorde design, its sturdier. classic cartridges can get f'd up pretty quickly when theres a party and some drunk decides to play records like a real dj.
id love to check out that ortofon "arkive", they say its designed for ripping vinyl and sampling. somehow i believe them. but then again, the rest of my equipment isnt that classy
 

LDB

Banned
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 73
Only thing is, I can't upgrade my soundcard can I? I'm on a laptop...

U need an external sound card anyway. No laptop sound card will give the the best sound that you can get. Not even on in a Mac!
 

Shonsteez

Gurpologist
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 33
Well, first we need to know...
  • What is your budget?
  • What are your plans for recording in the future? (This will help u determine how much I/O u need)
    i.e. Are you just recording a turntables output to your DAW and then manipulating the samples inside your software? Do you plan to record other instruments later on such as bass guitar, acoustic guitar, and also vocals eventually?
Depending on how much you want to do there are very affordable solutions for a basic setup.
 

Cell 2Dee

Bloody Fingers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 110
Well, first we need to know...
  • What is your budget?
  • What are your plans for recording in the future? (This will help u determine how much I/O u need)
    i.e. Are you just recording a turntables output to your DAW and then manipulating the samples inside your software? Do you plan to record other instruments later on such as bass guitar, acoustic guitar, and also vocals eventually?
Depending on how much you want to do there are very affordable solutions for a basic setup.

I will be recording vocals, I've already got my mic. My budget, say £500 ($1000) stretched over saving up.
 

Shonsteez

Gurpologist
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 33
A 1000 is not bad....

So that means u gotta budget a G for a new turntable, a preamp, and a interface.
Since the interfaces converters are going to be one of the most important factors in getting a good sound i would focus more money towards that first and then build around that.

  • If your on a Mac, i would look into the Apogee Duet which is a good starter interface and has excellent converters.

  • For PC and Mac - The MOTU UltraLite is a safe bet even tho the converters arent as good, dam close tho...The trade off is that u gain a shit load of I/O and visual meters vs the Duet but the Duet easily has better converters making it superior IMO.

    I actually have the UltraLite and can vouch its a decent interface, but IMO could have way better converters....For me the selling point was the amount of I/O and form-factor that sold me since I do a lot of tracking that required multiple ins and outs...​
    In your case since u just need a stereo pair or two of balanced or instrument line ins and a mic pre or two the extra I/O isnt as important but still may become more needed later on as u grow as a engineer.
  • If your trying to really save some bucks - you could get something like the M-Audio Solo which will still provide u the bare minimum that u need such as the Duet, but in comparison to the Duet - you will loose converter quality more and more as u lower yourself on the totem pole so just be warned.

  • Once u decide what interface works best for u, u still need a Turntable....
    You can easily get by with a cheaper turntable but make sure that its at least a direct drive and not a belt driven table. Ideally, if u can afford something higher end u will appreciate it later on but since your just getting started something like a Stanton T-60 will be fine...

    The more important part of a cheap table is the cartridge anyways as long as your not trying to scratch later on....If you want to scratch later on u really want to look into high torque direct drive tables....

    So just make sure to cop a good needle and your straight....​

  • As for the Tables Preamp - something like the ART DeeJay Pre II is easily the cheapest solution to get started and render good results.

Then u just gotta cop some good cables and your straight.
 

savage_g

ILLIEN
ill o.g.
I would highly recommend the Focusrite Saffire LE if you've got firewire on your laptop. very clean sound and has decent preamps in it for mics. Also works well as a direct input box for recording guitar. It's about £200.
 

Cell 2Dee

Bloody Fingers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 110
A 1000 is not bad....

So that means u gotta budget a G for a new turntable, a preamp, and a interface.
Since the interfaces converters are going to be one of the most important factors in getting a good sound i would focus more money towards that first and then build around that.

  • If your on a Mac, i would look into the Apogee Duet which is a good starter interface and has excellent converters.

  • For PC and Mac - The MOTU UltraLite is a safe bet even tho the converters arent as good, dam close tho...The trade off is that u gain a shit load of I/O and visual meters vs the Duet but the Duet easily has better converters making it superior IMO.

    I actually have the UltraLite and can vouch its a decent interface, but IMO could have way better converters....For me the selling point was the amount of I/O and form-factor that sold me since I do a lot of tracking that required multiple ins and outs...​
    In your case since u just need a stereo pair or two of balanced or instrument line ins and a mic pre or two the extra I/O isnt as important but still may become more needed later on as u grow as a engineer.
  • If your trying to really save some bucks - you could get something like the M-Audio Solo which will still provide u the bare minimum that u need such as the Duet, but in comparison to the Duet - you will loose converter quality more and more as u lower yourself on the totem pole so just be warned.

  • Once u decide what interface works best for u, u still need a Turntable....
    You can easily get by with a cheaper turntable but make sure that its at least a direct drive and not a belt driven table. Ideally, if u can afford something higher end u will appreciate it later on but since your just getting started something like a Stanton T-60 will be fine...

    The more important part of a cheap table is the cartridge anyways as long as your not trying to scratch later on....If you want to scratch later on u really want to look into high torque direct drive tables....

    So just make sure to cop a good needle and your straight....​

  • As for the Tables Preamp - something like the ART DeeJay Pre II is easily the cheapest solution to get started and render good results.

Then u just gotta cop some good cables and your straight.

Can't I get the Mbox Mini 2 for the interface?
 

Shonsteez

Gurpologist
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 33
I dont see why not, just be aware that choosing the MBox Mini is more of a decision to support the purchase of ProTools rather then just choosing an interface, so if your dead set on getting PT without a doubt and you absolutely don't plan to use any other software other then PT by all means go ahead and make the jump.

I dont own an MBox, but I would assume that the converter quality is very close to something like the UltraLite...it wont be comparible to the Apogee interface tho most likely...
 

Cell 2Dee

Bloody Fingers
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 110
Well for the moment I want to continue using Reason. I've only been using it 1 or two months so far anyway, so I'm nowhere near close to knowing the program. I think I'll get the UltraLite if I can get a good price on it, if not then I might have to settle for the MBox Mini and use it solely as an interface, if that's possible?
 

Shonsteez

Gurpologist
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 33
Reason only creates beats and sounds, you need a DAW for advanced mixing and vocal recordings, etc.

The MBox Mini is prob a cool starter interface - but your buying PT LE along with it by purchasing the MBox so i assume that your planning on making PT your main Sequencing/Recording software then right?

As far as using the MBox mini soley as an interface and just avoiding the use of PT, to be honest im not quite sure what the status is on that? A couple friends of mine have the MBox but they always use ProTools with it since thats why they bought the MBox specifically. Ive never run into somebody that uses one to record into another DAW like LogicPro or something...

I would assume you can, but knowing ProTools i wouldnt be surprised if you can only use the interface with PT only, but hey who knows? Thats something u gotta find out I guess.

I would hit up Dreampolice, hes the goto guy being that he works at Sweetwater.
 
T

The Arkitekt

Guest
Yea i'm like 99% sure you can ReWire Reason into Pro Tools and/or cook somethin up in Reason and track out to Pro Tools for mixing/etc
 
T

The Arkitekt

Guest
Don't go off my advice lol, i'm only 99% sure, double check.
 
Top