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- Subject: Re: Audio capture (was: A useful smartphone app for DX'ers) PART 2 OF 2
- From: Mark Connelly <markwa1ion@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 7 Dec 2015 20:29:43 -0500
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"PART 2" of wicked long message replying to Paul Walker's posting ...
(4: Early 2000's to present) Audio patched from receiver into desktop or laptop computer. If your computer has a line-level input, this is a simple matter. This is how I digitized all of the analog formats listed above (items 1 and 2) as well as many airchecks and music LP's, 45's, and cassettes. Newer computers seem to have given up the line-in audio jack so you'll have to use the microphone jack instead. Typically an attenuating resistive pad needs to be inserted in the patch cable.
Total Recorder ( http://www.totalrecorder.com/ ) is my preferred software for this though Audacity also is widely used in the DX community.
(5: Mid 2000's to present) Audio patched to computer via an added USB-connected interface board. Sometimes these give better results than a computer's resident sound card. Also, some computers and tablets have no audio input jack at all. Manhattan Products is one of the companies making audio and video capturing interfaces.
This is one: http://www.manhattan-products.com/hi-speed-usb-audio-video-grabber
(6: Mid 2000's to present) Audio extracted directly within the computer from an SDR receiver such as Perseus, Excalibur, SDR-IQ, Afedri, Elad, etc.). This is what I have been doing since I used an SDR-IQ in 2007 and my current Perseus receiver since 2009. Again, it is Total Recorder that I team up with the receiver's audio output and that works great.
Most DX audios I've recently posted have been done this way. These include links from this year's pages:
http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/doc1/audio_march2015.htm
http://www.qsl.net/wa1ion/doc1/audio_aug_to_dec2015.htm
For some interesting background information, read John Bryant's classic "High Tech DXpeditioning" article from 2003:
http://www.dswci.org/specials/tech/hitechdx/hitechdx.html
Some info is still close to cutting edge and, of course, a good deal is dated. Things have certainly come a long way in the past 12 years.
Smartphone audio capture I haven't tried yet. Guess my tendency would be to look for an audio input jack versus doing speaker to mike. But maybe the portability and ease of use advantages outweigh any audio disadvantages. After all, we're recording AM DX, not the Boston Symphony Orchestra. If the stations can sort out their programming well enough for verification, the solution works. Obviously this is the case.
Mark Connelly, WA1ION
South Yarmouth, MA
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