Recording a whole cd through the optical in, with the same levels of the original one Options

[giodeluigi]

Hi, I have a TerraTec EWX 24/96 soundcard.
I have recorded an entire cd passing through the optical in, I opened the recorded wav with soundforge and I noticed that the level is lower than the original one.
I have pumped up it with the command "normalize".
But is there a way to directly get the same level than the original one without a later manual editing process?
Thanks for any helping answer.
Giò

[Jurg98]

I'd say you have to increase the REC IN level of your optical input... At least that's how I would do it when recording sth through an analog input...

Nonetheless (I'm sure you have your reasons though), why don't you digitally rip that CD using your PC's CD-drive? Optical or not, a direct rip will give you better quality (at least the volume will be correct as well )...

[giodeluigi]

Thanks for your answer Jurg98,
I think I get the same quality level I get with a direct digital extraction but if I have to copy DVD to a cd or a cd protected with cactus data shield I prefer to record them from an external player.
So you suggest to increase the recording input level?
I left all settings in my soundcard mixer by default and input level is set to -9db.
Should I set it to 0db. to get the same level of the original recording?

[guruboolez]

I've a Terratec DMX6Fire, and use the digital-in for protected CD ripping. No volume problem: I simply can't modify it (I guess it's normal).
I just need to slave the clock to the external one. Without it, I have a lot of glitches.

[Jurg98]

I'm not sure what level you should use, as I suppose it differs from one brand to another. Also think it depends on how your external CD-player outputs the signal... I've never done this myself, so I'm only using common sense here...

I'm not sure about the level of quality though... Direct digital extraction is bit-per-bit (purists will argue that this is not entirely true, since protection schemes like Cactus add stuff bitwise between the music bits), but I'm not quite sure if going through your optical output is the same... But I don't know for sure, so I rest my case...

There are of course ways to digitally "archive" a copy-protected CD (regardless of the protection scheme), but since I do not know HA-policy on this subject, I won't go into specific details...

[giodeluigi]

Have you any digital in volume level in the soundcard control panel?
I have it and is set to -9db by default.

[guruboolez]

Have you any digital in volume level in the soundcard control panel?
I have it and is set to -9db by default.

Yes and No. The volume control panel is the same for analogic and digital, but it is disabled when the selected source = digital-in.

[giodeluigi]

Odd thing....
For me is enabled.....I'll check it better later......

[precisionist]

When recording with digital ins the adjusted level normally is the change of the volume. The level should always be 0dB to get the best results (closer to the original). Normally the records should not be clipped.

It should also be possible to get the same wav files from 2 different methods: Recording the wav with the digital in and ripping the wav with EAC or so. I already achieved this many times.

My experience with protected CDs:
Ripping seems to be the better way (if you can), because the recorded wav obviously contained wrong (but not audible) sample values. I've only analysed one single protected CD in this way so far, so this isn't a general result.

[JeanLuc]

On The mixer tab of the EWX2496 control panel, there is a slider for the digital input ... set this one to 0 dB, select "external" as clock and you will get bit-true copies.

[giodeluigi]

Yeah, nice!
Other settings I'd like to learn....
Stereo link has to be selected?
Which of them: +4dBu or -10dBV???
Where I see if the recording input level is clipping?
Thanks for your advices guys...

@precisionist
my personal experience in ripping protected cds:
recording from an external stereo player seems to be the best solution.
Better c2 errors interpolation then all other my pc optical drives (Plextor 708a included).
With every software I tried I get worst results than an external player.
ATM the best choice for ripping these cds seems to be Easy CD DA Extractor with the proper reading setting.
I have already tried this too but this is not the main reason of this post I'm only trying to understand which is the way to get the same recording level with a digital external recording than the original cd.

This post has been edited by giodeluigi: Apr 16 2004, 20:06

[JeanLuc]

Yeah, nice!
Other settings I'd like to learn....
Stereo link has to be selected?
Which of them: +4dBu or -10dBV???
Where I see if the recording input level is clipping?
Thanks for your advices guys...

Unselect Stereo Link if you want to balance your recording manually ... leave it checked for digital recordings.

+4 dB or -10 dB is for analog input/output only and corresponds to your devices' outpu/input sensitivity - if your signal level is too high/low, just try the other setting.