My father in law had asked me about doing this and I recommended that he get one of those USB turntables.  I hope that was good advice.  It might still be very manual but those things claim you can do it automatically using their software, IDK.  I assume they have already taken care of the RIAA "thingy" and anything else you'd have to worry about for transferring the vinyl to CD.

Yeah they are turnkey.  I just dont think there is the same quality in the process as if you hand selected the parts you wanted individually, but then again MP3s and Ipods show that the desire for quality has been traded for quantity. 

I should look into the software because cutting tracks, inserting markers, naming tracks.... it is all somewhat time consuming. 

My girlfriend's father (who has very little computer skills beyond web surfing and email) bought one of those self-contained old timey radio loooking thingies that has a turntable and a CD recorder in it. I think it was $100.
 
He's happy with it.
 
I've not listened to it for fear I'll have some grumpy/confused look on my face due to the quality (and I'm no audiophile like Spaurice).
 

Bapu's technology
 

  Spaurice's technology
 

There are a number of phono pre’s (for RIAA equalization) on the market now … ranging from 30 bucks to whatever you want to spend.

Here is one for $180 that would drop between your TT and your mic pre or mixing board (never used it so I can’t comment on it):

http://radialeng.com/di-j33.htm

My personal collection consists of :
50’s era mono Garrard RC 88 78’s (it took me 3 “changers” to build one that works)
70’s era Marantz 6300 TT
80’s era Dual 606 TT

For Listening (and of course RIAA equalization), mono stuff goes through a re-capped and re-tubed 50’s era mono Sherwood tube integrated amp.  Stereo stuff goes through a 70’s era Crown IC 150.

For transferring, I've used the Marantz TT through either my Crown pre- (or another high end pre- that I have):
(1) directly into the RCA jacks on my consumer grade sound card
or
(2) from the Crown pre- into a mixing board and then into a breakout box.

In both cases (consumer grade card vs. breakout box) I was very happy with the results.

If I was transferring something that was from the 50’s or earlier, with the intention of playing the resulting CD through modern gear, I would probably play the 78 through a complete era specific system, especially the speaker … and then record the output at the speaker with a mic.

No turntable worth its salt would ever put a high gain device like a preamp into the same chassis that had an AC motor. That is just begging for 60 cycle hum.

 
I have a TEAC turntable with an integrated preamp. If you don't have an external pre, you just flip a switch under the turntable to activate it's preamp. I never noticed any excess noise. It was $100  9 years ago.
 
OP, don't you already have a preamp to play the records through your stereo?

Spacecowboy is correct. A turntable needs a RIAA EQ, but this can be restored in software. Mostly its about impedance and gain (or lack there of) that will be the problem trying to hook it into a line in to dirctly record to MP3.

Speaking of which, I do believe one or both of my sound interfaces on the
DAW has a phono pre. I just realized I can actually go direct in to my rig, so I must thank the OP for making me think about this.

Cheers
Shad

bapu


My girlfriend's father (who has very little computer skills beyond web surfing and email) bought one of those self-contained old timey radio loooking thingies that has a turntable and a CD recorder in it. I think it was $100.
 
He's happy with it.
 
I've not listened to it for fear I'll have some grumpy/confused look on my face due to the quality (and I'm no audiophile like Spaurice).
 

I have a Stanton turntable.  It has SP/DIF instead of USB and it works fairly well, but I've been using the line-out into my E-mu sound card.  I suspect most people here on the CW forums--and Coffee House in particular--would have sound cards that probably sound better than anything that would be built into the turntable. 

quantumeffect


There are a number of phono pre’s (for RIAA equalization) on the market now … ranging from 30 bucks to whatever you want to spend.

Here is one for $180 that would drop between your TT and your mic pre or mixing board (never used it so I can’t comment on it):

http://radialeng.com/di-j33.htm

I can vouch for the Radial unit - have used it for years. It is powered by either a wall wart or via phantom power. I go with the XLR outs to my Edirol UA1000 sound I/O and use the phantom power on that. Just be sure to connect the ground wire from the turntable to the Radial unit. There's some mixers out there (and soundcards as well) that have built-in phono (RCA jack) inputs with RIAA eq.

stuhldreher


Sorry, for not explaining what I want to do:
Will this flow work:
record player ---> M-aUDIO dmp3 mic Preamp box --- >Presonus fixbox audio interface ---> record with Sonar...
thanks
 
 
 

And probably have twice as much noice .... as directly.
 
I still recommend a sound card and you can plug the turntable directly to it, and then simply rip up Sonar or Audacity ... whichever you want ... there is no way that when you use more wires and plugs that it is going to sound crisper and cleaner than when you have less things in between.
 
Reminds me of the old days 30 years ago ... few people knew the difference between hi-fi and HI-FI     ... (still a problem today ... and here too!) ... one of them was a 50 dollar turntable with a **** needle and the other was a 400w Marantz Receiver with 2 AMT-Heils and a Pioneer Turnable with a $250 Stanton 680EEE cartridge ... and if you never heard the difference, I'm not sure that you can not appreciate the beauty of the "sound"  .... instead of the "hit".
 
Sonar, like many other tools are pretty much about the quality and the beauty of it all ... but by taking down the quality of what you have ... is not going to make it better ,,, in fact, a lot of geek folks are going to say ... it's crap and sounds worst ... who can blame them when we treat the material with such disdain?
If you don't believe me, grab some Tangerine Dream and go play it on a poop system ... and then check out the digital ... the digital these days has nothing on the really good stuff of those days ... just cleaner ... nothing else. Don't put on a record of The Jackson 5 ... or almost any from that factory in those days ... it was one of the reasons why Michael Jackson wanted to go on his own (other than growing up too!)
 
The "stereo" and "home entertainment" is being really slow to match digital (other than knobs) ... and it will take another 5 to 10 years ... as for the thing that tape could handle distortion and some things that helped rock'n'roll a few years back, it's a matter or time ... and even that subtlety will be added and not an issue.