Hi, I'll be going home in a little while and I need to digitalise a few of my vinyls. The things is that I will only be traveling with an android tablet (and whatever cables/adapters I'll be needing), no laptop/interface etc.

I've been looking around but I'm not quite sure at this point and prefer to make sure I'm good before I go. I don't really care about latency, as long as it records in good quality.

Has anyone any experience with this? Is quality going to be OK or will I have to deal with noises, ground loops and the likes?
It seems to me it's just like recording any sound with a mic expect in this case it comes from a turntable.

according to latency test my tablet gets 14ms so it's decent, CPU is a snapdragon 8+ if that matters at all.

Is there a free android app that can do this and let me save to either wav or flac (not online)? A simple audio editor will be able to the trick, right? I checked bandlab and a few others but I'm not convinced at this point, hence my question.

Thanks for your input.

 

Get a mobile DAW (FL Studio, Cubase, to name a few - sister site has FL Studio for Android) and try to bring an audio interface. You need two line inputs to make it work, otherwise you're gonna take a hit on quality before it even reaches the software that is doing the recording. But that also depends on what the player is and what outputs it has available.

Edit: just for completion’s sake, can you do it without an interface? Probably, yeah. You need to build a cable or work with adapters, but I'm not too sure about the quality, though.

 

Thanks for your answer. By audio interface you mean a proper interface with RCA input (I have an Axe i/o, but it's kind of bulky and it's not USB powered) or simply one of these cheap USB "soundcards" for mobiles, with one mic input type thing (in which case I just need to get a 2 RCA to Stereo cable)?

 

do you really need to? someone else has probably already digitized that album, and likely has done so on a more optimal setup. I'd just download theirs

 

Well, the very first thing you need is an amplifier with a 'phono input', to connect your turntable to.
That's because a normal turntable has a different kind of signal, it's not a line output.
You might have a USB turntable, then you don't need such an amplifier, but I doubt if USB turntables can be connected to tablets.

Other alternative to a 'phono amp' is a converterbox like this:
https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0703-AAA
Second hand, older product:
https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-U-Phono-UFO202-Audiophile-Interface/dp/B002GHBYZ0

 

thanks but that's not my question, I am just checking how to make it work with an android tablet (specifically the tablet/android side of things). I have done this multiple times with a computer and interface, it's very simple. But you're right it's not a line output.

 

Provided that every damned android device does not have a standard behaviour, is mandatory to have a phono adapter, there are for sure external audio interfaces that have phono input, if not you need an external adapter box.
Then the interface must be recognized by the damned android device.
Then you must have an app like a daw (FL, N-track...) that can recognize the audio interface.
Then ONLY you can try to record.
By chance I saw this on yt:

 

Last edited: May 9, 2024

Please explain.

 

you need a preamp with a RIAA eq curve, so the record sounds like it was recorded to sound. I've used output from a stereo amp with an aux output (rca) and a dj mixer with an rca out. i recorded into SoundForge from sonic factory. Cooleditpro is another fav. On android, only google knows what you have since they wrote the operating system.

I assume your device has a usb interface and no dedicated audio input, since you state nothing about model,mfg, etc.
you should look for a usb audio interface with a rca or 3.5mm stereo connector. than figure out your cabling go back to your audio device that is playing the records.

 

do yourself a favor, the android device will break or become obsolete or lost at some point. pay a couple bux for a dedicated hardware recorder like the zoom h4n - you could find these on ebay for less than a hundred bux, all day, every day. It records wav or mp3, it record stereo,mono, or multi-trak. it has built in mastering and eq curves and basic fx like reverb etc. it has xlr inputs as well as stereo mics, it runs on a couple aa batteries or ac power. records to a sd card. great for field recording, or recording off of radio,internet radio, stereo - well any sound source, since its an audio recorder.

 

BTW since 1995 I ripped from turntable hundreds of vinyl records with SoundForge first then with CoolEdit, only to be replaced during years by remastered versions available online.
Now just less than 10 remaining.

 

goldwave. Old school but modern editor. Similar to sound forge or wavepad or whatever the steinberg one is called.

 

I keep them all, they don't take much space and I don't mind having 2 or 3 versions of an lp or two.shit I probably have 20 copies of the dark side of the moon in various mixes and releases, not counting the live bootlegs..

 

I'm curious if the OP will solve the issue...
I tried years ago with a Samsung tab and i succeded in recording but at the end it was really a pain in the ass and the results were disappointing.
Laptop, external audio interface, done.

 

yes even an old Atom netbook from ebay for 40$ will make a good dedicated ripping machine for vinyl, just add a turntable, a preamp, and some software like cooledit pro 2.1 or soundforge and you can leave it be while you use your other computer for everything else.


once its in the computer, you can use software to slice the tracks, and filter out rumble and static..
also has 2 sd card slots so you can copy diretly to sd card for moving things to other devices..
windows xp,sturdy and reliable- will run windows 7, but why bother???

 

I forgot that many of these have SD card readers built-in as standard. I'm not sure I would spend all the time ripping vinyl, but it will definitely work for just grabbing samples over lan, and moving samples to scsi2sd sampler. Thanks for mentioning this.

 

did you ever get this to work???

 

Yes, you can digitize your vinyls with an Android tablet. Use a high-quality external audio interface and an app like Wavelet or Audio Elements to record in WAV or FLAC. Ensure good connections to avoid noise and ground loops. A simple audio editor will help with basic editing.

 

Last edited: Sep 16, 2024

I actually managed to find a desktop computer so I did it the old fashioned way

 

You should be fine with your setup! Use a high-quality recording app like Hi-Res Audio Recorder or Audio Evolution Mobile Studio to save in WAV or FLAC. Make sure you have the right cables/adapters to connect your turntable to your tablet, and test for noise/ground loops beforehand. Your Snapdragon 8+ and 14ms latency are more than enough for this.