The official Songcorder thread

[DoomHammer]

Today is the day of the official Songcorder launch.

What is Songcorder?

Songcorder transforms your favourite vinyl records into high quality digital files.
Same sound. New format.

Why Songcorder is the best way to digitize your archive?

Songcorder uses the ADC in your network streamers (Linn devices tested so far, but should be compatible with others, testers welcome!). Once the signal is in the digital domain, OpenHome and Songcast from Linn are used to losslessly transfer this signal and save it as a local file.

It works great for vinyl (including Urika 2), cassette, reel-to-reel, or whatever else you imagine!

It's possible to record digital streams from your favorite Internet audio stations as well.

What are some of the benefits of using Songcorder?

- best possible vinyl rips

- it's easier to compare turntable upgrades (record two samples with and without Karousel and play them back to backon a Linn DSM to hear the difference)

- longer cartridge life (you can listen to the recorded rips after all)

- take your analogue records wherever you are (rare albums that were never reissued in digital format are no longer a problem)

How does it look like?

Where to find it?

https://meraki-acoustic.com/songcorder/

 

[DoomHammer]

On a related note, if you happen to use ProductHunt, we'll appreciate comments, upvotes, and feedback: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/songcorder

 

[Nopiano]

On a related note, if you happen to use ProductHunt, we'll appreciate comments, upvotes, and feedback: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/songcorder

Are you therefore ‘in the trade’ as your Wam profile says not?  

 

[Johannes]

Very interesting. How would you rate the sound?
A friend once made a recording via the Linn digital output into a studio converter (RME), which sounded so boring that it was immediately deleted.
I assume that the song recorder does not separate the titles but converts the whole LP into a file. So you have to edit it, right?

We have records that cost a few hundred euros on CD, so it would be great to convert them. 

 

[Johannes]

Is the licence lifetime or annual?

 

[DoomHammer]

Are you therefore ‘in the trade’ as your Wam profile says not?  

This is an interesting question. Not in gear, definitely. Does software count?

 

[DoomHammer]

Very interesting. How would you rate the sound?
A friend once made a recording via the Linn digital output into a studio converter (RME), which sounded so boring that it was immediately deleted.
I assume that the song recorder does not separate the titles but converts the whole LP into a file. So you have to edit it, right?

We have records that cost a few hundred euros on CD, so it would be great to convert them. 

I'd rather not share my opinion as I'm extremely biased. Some of the current users could share their findings. From what I heard, most are very satisfied. Some even say they never heard digital music sounding that good.

The titles are not separated and the entire recording is one long file.

 

[DoomHammer]

Is the licence lifetime or annual?

Lifetime, including all the bug fixes and new features added to the entire 2.0 series.

 

[Tony_J]

This is an interesting question. Not in gear, definitely. Does software count?

Yes.

 

[DoomHammer]

Yes.

I misunderstood this. Profile updated

 

[Baba Yaga]

I ran a number of test series with the new version.

As I had some recordings made with Urika 1/Circus/Songcorder old -  I compared them with fresh Urika 2/Karousel/Songcorder new - recordings. Easy to spot the difference.

I also compared the fresh recordings with the original. There seems to be a volume difference between the two which makes it hard to compare.

So I can’t comment on the sound quality of the new version. Based on the previous version I know it was close to the original but I felt there was a small difference.

 

[JensA]

Very interesting. How would you rate the sound?
A friend once made a recording via the Linn digital output into a studio converter (RME), which sounded so boring that it was immediately deleted.
I assume that the song recorder does not separate the titles but converts the whole LP into a file. So you have to edit it, right?

We have records that cost a few hundred euros on CD, so it would be great to convert them. 

Hi Johannes, 

I have been using Songcorder for a couple of years now (the previous version did not have any GUI but I do understand from @DoomHammer that the GUI is the only change compared to the previous version)

Sound quality:

My impression is simply that your analogue source (record player, cartridge etc.) will always be the limiting factor aka bottleneck for sound quality rather than songcorder. I do not own a Lp12 but an old Thorens (only). I have now ripped more than 100 records with Songcorder and I am more than happy with the results. Thanks to some members of this forum I also had the chance to hear some Songcorder rips of records played on high end LP12‘s

Title separation / splitting of titles:

Yes, Songcorder creates one file only. Actually two lossless  files: One Raw File and one Flac file. Resolution is 96/24 as I am owning a Linn Majik DS/M. I understand that it will be 192/24 with the more expensive Linn DS/M series.

In case you wish to split tracks, with proper tagging and album art etc. plus perhaps de-clicking and normalization I can strongly recommend a software called Vinylstudio (available for Mac and Win). 

The combo Vinylstudio plus Songcorder is awesome and will cost you just a bit more than 2 vinyl records...

Jens 

 

[Johannes]

Thank you very much for the answers. I still have Wavelab - it works too.

 

[DavidHB]

Yes, Songcorder creates one file only. Actually two lossless  files: One Raw File and one Flac file. Resolution is 96/24 as I am owning a Linn Majik DS/M. I understand that it will be 192/24 with the more expensive Linn DS/M series.

That is correct. The new Majik DSM/4 also does A to D conversion at 192/24 resolution.

In case you wish to split tracks, with proper tagging and album art etc. plus perhaps de-clicking and normalization I can strongly recommend a software called Vinylstudio (available for Mac and Win). 

I strongly agree with that recommendation. The point with VinylStudio is that its focus is not general digital audio editing but the process of making digital recordings from analogue sources more suitable for streaming, with track splitting, click removal, metadata setting and the like. This make it IMO much easier to use than multi-purpose audio editors. 

David

 

[Johannes]

Okay thanks a lot.

 

[Guzziboy]

Once upon a time nearly every amplifier allowed you to tape your vinyl and cds very easily. Just add a cassette recorder. It's about time that amplifiers offered that facility again. These days we have to get into the confusing world of computers.

I yearn for the simple life.

 

[Nopiano]

Once upon a time nearly every amplifier allowed you to tape your vinyl and cds very easily. Just add a cassette recorder. It's about time that amplifiers offered that facility again. These days we have to get into the confusing world of computers.

I yearn for the simple life.

I agree!  A simple Tape/Monitor button is a rarity these days, and it’s not so easy to make do with inputs and outputs not intended for that purpose, is it?

 

[Johannes]

Unfortunately only credit card I do not have such a thing.

 

[JensA]

Once upon a time nearly every amplifier allowed you to tape your vinyl and cds very easily. Just add a cassette recorder. It's about time that amplifiers offered that facility again. These days we have to get into the confusing world of computers.

I yearn for the simple life.

@Guzziboy

Songcorder is - obviously - a piece of software which by nature will not work without a computer.

This being said the new Songcorder is by far the easiest software I have ever come across and fully supports your „I yearn for the simple life“ philosophy.

1. Download and  install Songcorder (definitely no rocket science and a matter of seconds plus you only have to install it once)

2. You connect your Linn DS/M and your computer with an ethernet cable (same difficulty as connecting your tapedeck and your amp with cinch cables in the good old says - I loved my Nakamichi deck)

3. Start Songcorder ( the screenshot in @DoomHammer ‚s initial post shows everything, there are simply no more configuration options. In my case all I was „allowed“ to configure was the directory for storage of the recorded files.

4. You push (with your mouse) the big red record buttom and the recording starts, at the ensd you push the Stop buttom, that‘s it

5. Songcorder will create a lossless raw and flac file which you can immediately play/stream

6. All the rest (splitting tracks, tagging etc is just nice to have).

Jens