usb turntables

Allen wrote:
> Thee Chicago Wolf wrote:
>>>>> That's one standard I never heard of and I had plenty of "old" 78's.
>>>>
>>>> There were old 14" and 16" transcription records at that speed.
>>>>
>>>> - Thee Chicago Wolf
>>>
>>> Then they for business and not for commercial use ?
>>
>> I don't think for commercial. Mainly just used for things like spoken
>> radio broadcast type show things and mainly vocal interviews.
>>
>> - Thee Chicago Wolf
> I recall that those old large turntables in radio stations in the 1930s
> were much slower than 78, 33.33 or perhaps even 16.67 rpm.

Are you sure of that, Allen? I thought some of the old broadcast
transcription disks ran at near 78 rpm, but had to be so large (like perhaps
16 inches in diameter) to be able to go for 15 minutes on one side. (I'm
thinking of some of the material that was also shortwave broadcasted and/or
delivered overseas to our troops during WWII, like Command Performance, or
GI Jive).

This is not to be confused with some of the 16 rpm records used for speech
that came a bit later, I think (but I'm not sure about this)

> The discs
> would hold a 15 minute program on one side. This was before microgroove,
> so the stylus radius was the same as for 78rpm commercial records. Back
> in those days, most of the afternoon programs were only 15 minutes long,
> and some were actually distributed to the stations on disc, rather than
> by phone lines, so that they could be aired to match local conditions.
> Strangely, some programs were sent as manuscripts, with local people
> reading the parts; at one time my father in law was Jack Armstrong, the
> All-American Boy in his home town. That is my ancient history for the day.
> Allen
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

"David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote in message
news:uQtEW0qZIHA.4808@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> From: "Thee Chicago Wolf" <.@.>
>
> < snip >
>
> |
> | I did once see a couple other USB turntable models but it's all about
> | your needs I guess. DO you only need 33 1/3 and 45 RPM? 16 RPM? 78RPM?
> |
> | - Thee Chicago Wolf
>
> 16rpm ?
>
> That's one standard I never heard of and I had plenty of "old" 78's.
>

It's actually 16 2/3 RPM, but it was rarely used except for some voice only
recordings. Now I do have a couple of boxed sets of Columbia 80 RPM records
(circa 1927) and a set of pre electric recording His Master's Voice label
records that don't specify what speed they play at. 78 didn't become a
standard until around 1930, and even then 78 was actually 78.26 RPM in the
USA and 77.92 RPM in Europe.
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

"Thee Chicago Wolf" <.@.> wrote in message
news:7i0dq3t0np247dqajqnstvm7u0cr8ak0ep@4ax.com...
> >That makes sense as the fidelity at such a low speed could not be good.
>>
>>OT:
>>I have a recording of my mother from WWII. It is in the form of a
>>recording made on a
>>special mailer for US troops in WWII. The recording was made on some kind
>>of semi-soft
>>material laid on the cardboard mailer and once the audio recording was
>>made you could fold
>>it up, place a stamp on the outside and mail it like a post card to the
>>serviceman.
>
> My folks had a bunch of these from Europe but they were kind of
> plastic or something. I think their grandparents gave them to my
> parents. It was crazy old-school.
>

There was also something called 'Melody Cards' that you could buy (late 50's
to early 60's), write a greeting and the address on one side and then post
to someone. The other side had a plastic lamination with a recording
pressed into it which could be played on a standard record player (at 45 RPM
IIRC).
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

"M.I.5¾" <no.one RemoveThis @no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote:

>There was also something called 'Melody Cards' that you could buy (late 50's
>to early 60's), write a greeting and the address on one side and then post
>to someone. The other side had a plastic lamination with a recording
>pressed into it which could be played on a standard record player (at 45 RPM
>IIRC).

Those floppy 45s used to turn up in magazines once in a while, as ads
or whatever. In the early PC era, computer magazines would distribute
programs on these things. You were supposed to put the floppy 45 onto
your turntable, record it onto an audio cassette, then read that into
your computer! This was the dark ages, when 8-bit computers used
standard portable audio cassette recorders as an I/O device.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(Shell/User)
Slattery_T RemoveThis @bls.gov
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

"Allen" <allen RemoveThis @nothere.net> wrote in message
news:47a73613$0$22572$4c368faf@roadrunner.com...
> Thee Chicago Wolf wrote:
>>>>> That's one standard I never heard of and I had plenty of "old" 78's.
>>> |
>>> | There were old 14" and 16" transcription records at that speed.
>>> |
>>> | - Thee Chicago Wolf
>>>
>>> Then they for business and not for commercial use ?
>>
>> I don't think for commercial. Mainly just used for things like spoken
>> radio broadcast type show things and mainly vocal interviews.
>>
>> - Thee Chicago Wolf
> I recall that those old large turntables in radio stations in the 1930s
> were much slower than 78, 33.33 or perhaps even 16.67 rpm. The discs would
> hold a 15 minute program on one side. This was before microgroove, so the
> stylus radius was the same as for 78rpm commercial records.

Actually there was no standard 78 RPM stylis radius. The 0.003" radius
normally encountered was a compromise that worked reasonably well with most
record labels, but in fact the requirement was different between labels.
Here in the UK, Columbia required a 0.0028" stylus and His Master's Voice
required 0.0032". The smallest that I know of was 0.0018" and the largest
0.0042". This latter would barely play with a "standard" 78 stylus. This
is often the reason why home reproduced 78s seem to have distortion on the
louder passages of music. Played with the correct stylus, the distortion
almost disappears. A dedicated 78 collector will most likely have 4 (or
more) styli to cover most of the encountered records. The better cartridge
manufacturers will supply these, though they usually have to be specially
ordered. Steel needles for wind up gramophones generally come in one
radius.
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

"Terry R." <F1ComNOSPAM.RemoveThis@pobox.com> wrote in message
news:uWqhfO1ZIHA.5784@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> The date and time was 2/3/2008 8:00 AM, and on a whim, sandy j pounded out
> on the keyboard:
>
>> Hi,
>> Does anyone have an opinion as to which inexpensive usb turntable is the
>> best? I've read a couple of reviews, and all I got was confused. Also,
>> do you have a suggestion for software that will remove most of the noise?
>>
>> Thanks for your help
>
> Hi Sandy,
>
> I heard the Stanton T.90 was a pretty good one. There is some concern
> over ones that have a plastic platter. But then again once you transfer
> your records, you may never use it again, and plastic may be fine for that
> length of time.
>

The difference between plastic and metal is nothing to do with longevity of
life. The platter of the turntable needs to be made from a heavy material
for speed damping purposes (minimisation of 'wow and flutter'), but at the
same time needs to be non magnetic (to avoid interfering with the stray
field from most modern magnetic cartridges). The material of choice is
bronze. Certainly the turntables on which master discs are cut would be
made from nothing else.
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

Allen wrote:
> Thee Chicago Wolf wrote:
>>>>> That's one standard I never heard of and I had plenty of "old" 78's.
>>>>
>>>> There were old 14" and 16" transcription records at that speed.
>>>>
>>>> - Thee Chicago Wolf
>>>
>>> Then they for business and not for commercial use ?
>>
>> I don't think for commercial. Mainly just used for things like spoken
>> radio broadcast type show things and mainly vocal interviews.
>>
>> - Thee Chicago Wolf
>
> I recall that those old large turntables in radio stations in the 1930s
> were much slower than 78, 33.33 or perhaps even 16.67 rpm.

Are you sure of that, Allen (or whoever)? I thought some of the old
broadcast
transcription disks ran at near 78 rpm, but had to be so large (like perhaps
16 inches in diameter) to be able to go for 15 minutes on one side. (I'm
thinking of some of the material that was also shortwave broadcasted and/or
delivered overseas to our troops during WWII, like Command Performance, or
GI Jive).

This is not to be confused with some of the 16 rpm records used for speech
that came a bit later, I think.

> The discs
> would hold a 15 minute program on one side. This was before microgroove,
> so the stylus radius was the same as for 78rpm commercial records. Back
> in those days, most of the afternoon programs were only 15 minutes long,
> and some were actually distributed to the stations on disc, rather than
> by phone lines, so that they could be aired to match local conditions.
> Strangely, some programs were sent as manuscripts, with local people
> reading the parts; at one time my father in law was Jack Armstrong, the
> All-American Boy in his home town. That is my ancient history for the day.
> Allen
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

"Tim Slattery" <Slattery_T RemoveThis @bls.gov> wrote in message
news:ioejq3tj64q4p3b134p75p4iierrshrl0b@4ax.com...
> "M.I.5¾" <no.one RemoveThis @no.where.NO_SPAM.co.uk> wrote:
>
>>There was also something called 'Melody Cards' that you could buy (late
>>50's
>>to early 60's), write a greeting and the address on one side and then post
>>to someone. The other side had a plastic lamination with a recording
>>pressed into it which could be played on a standard record player (at 45
>>RPM
>>IIRC).
>
> Those floppy 45s used to turn up in magazines once in a while, as ads
> or whatever. In the early PC era, computer magazines would distribute
> programs on these things. You were supposed to put the floppy 45 onto
> your turntable, record it onto an audio cassette, then read that into
> your computer! This was the dark ages, when 8-bit computers used
> standard portable audio cassette recorders as an I/O device.
>

'Flimsies' (as they were properly known) were a different thing completely
from 'melody cards'. The former were a thin plastic sheet, whereas the
latter was a card/plastic laminate. I remember the software supplied on
them as well, but I used to read them direct from the flimsie.
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

One excellent software application you could try out is Spin It Again. You
can find out more at this link:
http://www.acoustica.com/spinitagain/
I initially tried to use a VERY long lead from my hifi downstairs to my PC
upstairs, but it introduced too much noise. I had downloaded a trial of Spin
It Again and it performed an incredible job of removing the noise, but it
was not good enough for me. I will have to move my turntable upstairs and
use my preamp with a short lead before trying again.
Basically, the application is quite easy to use and very tweakable so that
you can do extra editing - well see the web site and judge for yourself.
Good luck with the turntable.

Martin

"sandy j" <sandyj.RemoveThis@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2C928EBF-86CA-48E0-982D-2D3DDFB11EC0@microsoft.com...
> Hi,
> Does anyone have an opinion as to which inexpensive usb turntable is the
> best? I've read a couple of reviews, and all I got was confused. Also,
> do
> you have a suggestion for software that will remove most of the noise?
>
> Thanks for your help
> --
> sandy j
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

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 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

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 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables 

Thee Chicago Wolf wrote:
>> Are you sure of that, Allen (or whoever)? I thought some of the old
>> broadcast
>> transcription disks ran at near 78 rpm, but had to be so large (like
>> perhaps
>> 16 inches in diameter) to be able to go for 15 minutes on one side.
>> (I'm
>> thinking of some of the material that was also shortwave broadcasted
>> and/or
>> delivered overseas to our troops during WWII, like Command Performance,
>> or
>> GI Jive).
>>
>> This is not to be confused with some of the 16 rpm records used for
>> speech
>> that came a bit later, I think.
>
> The 16" transcription discs used to play radio shows as well as some
> recorded interview type stuff. Even a 16" at 78 couldn't possibly hold
> 15 minutes. Check out some info here:
> http://www.auldworks.com/articles/dtrans2.htm
>
> 16" discs did come in 16.66+/1 RPM and 33 1/3 as well.
>
> - Thee Chicago Wolf

Thanks for the link. It was quite interesting!
 >> Stay informed about: usb turntables