Hi - I'm looking to buy a CD-RW for my imac, but I'm concerned about whether I'm going to need additional peripherals to convert an analog output signal to digital before burning it to a CD. Specifically, I want to convert old cassette tapes to CD. Will I just be able to plug an adaptor from my tape deck's output into the stereo 1/8" jack on my imac and use the software that comes with the CD-RW? Any insight is apprecitated, thanks a lot!

Most CD-RW drives (USB and FireWire) come bundled with OEM Toast. The OEM version doesn't include software to control the recording process. If you upgrade to Toast 4 Delux, there is software called "Spin Doctor" that allows you to record from tapes and LPs. However, if you don't want to more
spend money there is freeware that does this. Look at the following links audio freeware/shareware:
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/mac/AUDIO_RECORDING/
http://download.cnet.com/downloads/

Many of the recorders also allow you to edit the audio file also. I use an editor to normalize the volumes of audio files from different CDs which often have widely varying levels. Also, fade-in and fade-out are useful.

Hope this helps,
kEn

By the way, I just use an audio cable (1/8" stereo pin to 1/8" stereo pin) to connect my iMac input jack to the stereo headphone jack on my Aiwa boom box to record from cassette tapes or CDs tracks that have trouble with audio extraction (this has happened only once). No need for any other hardware. The sound quality is pretty good.

kEn

I've had a lot of success with Spin Doctor. The best way to do it is get a cable with 2 RCA thingies on one end and the same width as a headphone thingie on the other. You get much better clarity with that rather than a cable from your headphone jack.

[welldonep]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ken Boyden:
I use an editor to normalize the volumes of audio files from different CDs which often have widely varying levels. Also, fade-in and fade-out are useful.

kEn . . . may I ask what editor you use to normalize levels?

[JimWall]

I've been doing this for awhile, two programs that I've used again and again Coaster and Sound Studio from Felt Tip. Two things that haven't been mentioned are, the better your input source the better the sound on the cd. You can get converters at Radio Shack for RCA to Mini-plug (the sound jacks on the iMacs are officially called Mini-plugs, original and inventive, ain't it). If you have a good tape deck you can use that to improve the sound. The other big one is noise reduction software. There doesn't seem to be a free one. Ray-gun from Aboretum (sp?) Systems is good and costs about $100. It come with a free sound editing program called hyper Engine that is better than any of the others that are free. If you want a really nice piece of editing software get PeakLE from Bias, about $100. If you are going to do any editing get "good" pair of headphones. Skip the crap you get in the stores. Grado makes an excellent pair for about $40, SR-40. They just blow away anything you can get at most stores for any price. Go to http://www.headphones.com, or http://www.soundscapeav.com to get them.One last thing. Toast sucks. Go get Descripe from CharisMac software. http://www.charismac.com. It rocks, is totally OS9 compatiable and is stable as hell, none of which toast is.

Oh yea, which CD-R drive, I have a Sony Spressa, it came with the Charismac software, and I recommend it, I had to update Retospect to use it but I've had no problems with it, it's USB. Solid and nice.

I hope this helps and if you have any questions just dope me a line. I've done better than 10 tapes to CD, and have had really nice results


James Wall
[email protected]

[GORDYmac]

I also used a simple mini to mini patch cord from an analog cassette dec kto my mic-in jack. I then used SoundSculptor II (http://www.hitsquad.com) to remove the hiss, Normalize, fade in/out and EQ. I then saved the resulting file as an AIFF -- ready to burn to CD.

This can be done for free by recording with SimpleSound, then opening the file in QuickTime Player and converting it to an AIFF.

Good Luck.

Coaster and Sound Studio from Felt Tip are fine but are also shareware. So if you have a conscience, they will cost you $20 or $25 each. I have been using freeware called sonicWorx. The user interface is not as slick as Sound Studio but it is much faster and has a lot more filters. I did a timing on the normalize filter. SonicWorx was about 3 times faster than Sound Studio. SonicWorx also opens and saves audio files about 2 times faster than Sound Studio. The only goofy thing about sonicWorx is the buttons on the "Save as..." dialog are in German! It's easy to figure out what is what from the locations of the buttons and everything else is in English. After the first time through, you don't even notice it. I think the freeware version of this is on hitsquad.com.

Also, I use Koss sportaPRO headphones. They are as good, if not better(more bass), than the Grado's and about half the price. After shopping around on the internet I got mine for about $22.

Tom Reyes is right about using the RCA outputs from a tape deck as opposed to the headphone jack on a boombox. Better quality. I'm just too lazy to unhook my tape deck from my stereo system and carry it over to the iMac. Much easier to bring the boom box over to the computer.

The Toast vs. Describe debate is a good one. The most popular opinion seems to be that Toast is better. Describe has a cool looking user interface, but generally speaking, Toast is more user friendly and more capable.

kEn

Thanks a million, everyone! That helps tremendously.
Tim

[JimWall]

Ken,
Hmmm, I've listened to the Koss and the Grado, I think the Koss does have a better bass responce, but the Grado is more articulate giving a cleaner sound overall, but you can't go wrong with either one. The shareware comment is right on - I should've made a note of that. I didn't like SonicWorx, I found it crashed a lot on me, and it just couldn't compare with the commerical products, though to get what I did cost me $200.
If you do a search on Toast on this board and the one on MacFixit you'll find lots and lots of problems with Toast. It just doesn't work. It isn't total compatable with OS9 (that's a huge problem that should've been fixed months ago). Describe may not have as many bells and whistles as Toast, but it does everything that it says it will do and does them well. Toast keeps falling down, it comes OEM with the sony drive and retail still costs half as much as Toast.

James Wall
[email protected]

James, Your probably right about the Grado being more accurate than the Koss SportaPROs though I don't know that my ear can detect the difference. However my ear can detect the pleasant bass response on the Koss headphones. I haven't heard any no-pro headphones that beat the Koss's on bass. When listening to CDs on a computer where there is not usually treble/bass controls like I do at work, the added bass of the SportaPRO's is welcome.

I am using OEM Toast 4.0.1.1 on my iMac DVSE with OS 9.0.4 and have never had a problem with it. It works great! I only know about my personal experience with it so I'm not aware if others are having problems.

I have been thinking of getting a copy of the CHarimac software to try it out. Especially if it as rock-solid as you say. Never hurts having a backup.

Also, SonicWORX has not crashed on me yet so I see no reason to spend money on another program that does the same thing. It would be nice if it had Applescript support so I could normalize many audio files in batch. Do any of your high end editors support applescript use of filters such as normalize?

kEn

[John_Engels]

I use either AudioCatalyst or Soundjam 2.0 for recording from audio casettes or vinyl. My connection is simply RCA to the video card in my G3/300. But I have also used the sound input jack with Audiocatalyst, which allows the option. I don't know if Soundjam does...I customarily use the RCA connection. The best sound is from Audiocatalyst, though the difference between it and Soundjam is minimal. Both applications work beautifully, simply and reliably.