Motu M4 for vinyl ripping

[ScotDP70]

Hi there,

My vinyl ripping set-up consisted of a Rega P3 turntable -> Arcam A19 amp, which has an onboard phono stage -> Apogee Quartet ADC (Pro Tools edition) -> laptop -> Pro Tools DAW

However, the Quartet is currently back in Scotland just now and here in LA I have a Motu M4 for ADC, otherwise it's the same set-up. My question is: what is your opinion on using the M4 for ripping: is its ADC good enough to match the rest of the kit I have? What is your experience of this interface for ripping?

Thank you.
Scot.

 

[staticV3]

Hi @ScotDP70! Welcome to ASR.

Vinyl is an inherently low SNR medium and as such, can be captured in its entirety even by low end Interfaces.

The M4 is a highly transparent recording device, so you have nothing to worry about. You could probably record at -40dBFS Peak levels and still capture everything.

 

[ScotDP70]

Thanks, Static

 

[AndyMorris]

I've just bought an M4, haven't used it for ripping yet, but have rigged it into my PC , speakers and phono amp to have a play. Sounds fine and very nice to use. My understanding of the SINAD figures from ASR Review suggest to me that its so much cleaner than a deck, cartridge and phono as to make no difference.

Does Pro Tools have any restoration tools available for click, crackle and noise removal? I currently use VinylStudio which does a pretty good job. I 'record'using Audacity as it gives me a better feeling for whats going on with levels and so on.. Also you can restart the recording for when it hits a skip and you have to give the record a deep clean or patch in an alternative source for a moment.

 

[ReDFoX]

I've just bought an M4, haven't used it for ripping yet, but have rigged it into my PC , speakers and phono amp to have a play. Sounds fine and very nice to use. My understanding of the SINAD figures from ASR Review suggest to me that its so much cleaner than a deck, cartridge and phono as to make no difference.

Does Pro Tools have any restoration tools available for click, crackle and noise removal? I currently use VinylStudio which does a pretty good job. I 'record'using Audacity as it gives me a better feeling for whats going on with levels and so on.. Also you can restart the recording for when it hits a skip and you have to give the record a deep clean or patch in an alternative source for a moment.

I found that Audition's automatic click removal tool works excellent in most cases. Somehow it leaves transients unlike iZotope's de-clicker. iZotope is great for reeeeally bad cases such as flexi or worn out vinyl.
Just remember not to go crazy with it, I rarely go above 25 on that Audition de-clicker. In some cases a 2 pass approach is preferable: heavy first pass and then finishing one with lighter settings.
I will advise you not to use any noise reduction systems as they inevitably destroy quiet parts...

 

[mocenigo]

Hi @ScotDP70! Welcome to ASR.

Vinyl is an inherently low SNR medium and as such, can be captured in its entirety even by low end Interfaces.

The M4 is a highly transparent recording device, so you have nothing to worry about. You could probably record at -40dBFS Peak levels and still capture everything.

Indeed I am always a bit puzzled by the “high quality” vinyl rips digitised at 192kHz/24bit or even DSD256. What are they expecting to capture?