Thread: Ripping My Mixes From A Tape To Mp3

Ez All.

I'm having major problems recording a mix straight to my hard drive as my PC can't cope with an external soundcard & Serato plugged in at the same time (my PC just bluescreens everytime) but what I'm able to do is record the oldskool way, onto a cassette tape.

I'm not clued up at all on PC's and have never ripped a tape but I've tried everything to try and get a decent sound from tape to mp3, I'm using Cool Edit as the software, I'm sure it's just something simple that I've overlooked/not thought about. My bedroom is like maplins with the amount of cables I've purchased

I've also purchased an external soundcard http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/Trust_5. ... ersion.asp but the sound is exactly the same as if I'm plugged right into my PC. Are there settings I need to turn off/on?

I've just phoned Swipezster for some help but he's about as much help as a chocolate fireguard :p

Any help would be very much appreciated as it's doing me fooking head in now!

Basically, how you do a rip a tape onto a PC

My first reaction is to advise you find another means of recording as the tape isn't the best medium...although it's what we all used BITD...Reproducing from a cassette tape to make a first generation copy will magnify all the sound defects, like noise etc...
So altewrnative recording devices 1. borrowed second PC/laptop... 2. VHS videotape machine (will give 32KHz quality) 3. Harddrive TV recording device...
You havn't given details of your computer but I suspect it is rather old and hasn't got enough RAM to drive the Serato and Cool Edit at the same time and the Bluescreens mean :
1. you have malfunctioning hardware and/or your hardware device drivers are not working properly with your Operating System (Windows) or
2. Windows is corrupt and reversely not reading your hardware(soundcard in this case)....

So get someone who knows about computers to look at it..it is not difficult, it probably only needs a back-up of all your data followed by Killdisk and a reformat and a reinstall of Windows and your applications and some more RAM if possible.. (don't get a shop to look at it.. they often don't have a clue and they charge for that IM(not so)HO...lol) BTW I am a qualified computer technician...

RIP A TAPE TO PC: just play back your cassette tape and record with Cool Edit...make sure you've made all the appropriate connections physically and virtually inside the computer...make sure your mini-jack is going into the red record input on the computer's soundcard...

Or into record line input on your external soundcard now make sure the USB is connected...If there is no sound (playback and record), using that external soundcard means the USB drivers have to be enabled...

Assuming you are using XP Windows...Go through START> Settings> ControlPanel> Sound and Audio Devices> select the Audio tab...now you have the drop downs in the Sound Playback and the Sound Recording you need to select the USB codecs which should have appeared automatically since you connected the USB device...

If you need more don't hesitate , but more information would be helpful..

Thanks a lot for your reply Malcom, I think I'm well on the way to sorting it out now, cheers fella

you're welcome...don't hesitate tho....