Line In for recording

[gilloz]

I am trying to record audio files from my turntable to my computer. I bought a pre-amp to connect between my turntable and Line In of my Creative Audigy SE sound card. I am using Steinberg's Pinnacle Clean recording software. The waveform is totally flattened on both Negative and Positive peaks and the sound is distorted with the Line In control to the bear minimum. Even at the bear minimum the waveform is flatten on both ends. My pre-amp,PP400,has no attenuation control. Would I need to attenuate the signal prior to it going in to my sound card? Without the pre-amp, my signal looks normal with the Line In control set to maximum, but is low in volume. Manual said I needed a pre-amp. Any advice would be appreciated. 1st attempt in recording to my computer, BTW.

 

[Tmagic650]

I love my Creative Audigy SE, but I don't record from or to it. I'm afraid you will need to buy a much better sound card, one like M-Audio produces. You'll need to spend a good deal of money. There are stand alone devices that can do this. Do a Google search. I see you are using an old Soyo Dragon motherboard. Nice board in it's day. Good luck

 

[turbo1]

normally,pre-amps does'nt have knobs or controls to attenuate the signal.
it will just give you pure line level pick-ups that is equivalent to taking off the
volume control (potentiometer) of an integrated amplifier & it will give you
the maximum volume with no control.

simple analogy:
too much volume will over-drive your speakers,will clip & eventually burn
your magnet wires or voice coils.the worst is,it will backfire to your stereo
amplifier chip & it will be blown away.

what you need is an integrated amplifier with phono in & line out (output).
& a set of RCA (left & right) cables with a 3.5 mm (minijack) adapter /converter or a pre-built RCA (left & right) to 3.5 mm minijack.

line in/out cicuits (input/output) have attenuation control response for about
0 to 50 watts tolerance.And the safest so far that I know that can handle the line level signals (especially going to your computer).

You got a distorted response because the signal is not attenuated coming from your PP400 to your sound card & yes you’re right,you need to attenuate the signal prior to loading It to your sound card.you might also kill your sound card otherwise.

 

[gilloz]

Thanks TMagic650 and turbo 1 for your responses. It's all moot now. I mailed the unit back. After running more tests, it was beginning to be obvious that I had to attenuate the signal coming out of the pre-amp before going in to my Line In on the sound blaster card. Adjusting the Line In control and the attenuation levels in the Recording software, only reduce the distorted signal to a minimum. It basically looked like a fat thick bar with no semblance of a waveform. Talk about an overdriven signal, this was it. This pre-amp has a fixed output with no control. I need to get a mixer of sorts with an adjustable output in order to make this work. Well, what did I expect for $19.99 plus shipping, right? Live and learn. Thanks guys for your time and replys.