Sweet Vinyl is a small company and I try to think of that when I have temporary frustrations. This is the type of innovative device a small company that thinks outside of the box often comes up with. With all that's going on in the world right now and with them being in California doing the time of COVID pandemic that had to have been tough. California shut down almost completely. Tech support can sometimes get overwhelmed for various reasons, but they sometimes go above and beyond too. I have gotten emails from both of the founders replying to a problem or question I have. Sometimes these have come at 1:0o or 2:00 AM my time, which means they are answering emails at 10:00 or 11:00 PM in CA. How many times do you get that from big companies? You are right to moan, but like you said all it takes is a record you would not be able to listen to if it wasn't for the Sugar Cube.
So, does anyone have any idea when Sugarcubes will be in stock again? I emailed SweetVinyl several months ago, but no response, and no updates on their website or social media.
Hi Hogues - sorry about the delay in my response, I hadn't puttzed around with my SC-2 Plus nor this forum for over a month. Thank you for your suggestions! I had plugged in the catalogue numbers, as I've tried again more recently. It seems that the SCs do not use the sound patterns to detect song gaps (which maybe everyone else already knew from some of the literature provided), but relies solely on track timing info from Discogs, which is sometimes unavailable. I now see (thanks to you) that updates are posted via the Support option in the SC app. I did find a feature that voids my initial complaint about the lack of precision being available to accurately place the track split markers. At the time of my complaint I didn't know of the "second" windows that pop up when in the "Trim Tracks" mode. The manual shows this window, but I didn't know how to get there and subsequently did not understand the significance of it. I learned that this much more precise "second" trimming window becomes available when you click on one of the "Start" or "End" buttons on the initial Trim Tracks window. So now I am way more happier about the SC-2's track trimming features - precise queuing is actually quite easy. Maybe at some point SweetVinyl will add an auto track split option (similar to Goldwave's). Thanks again, Hogues!
SC-2 Plus Equalization Feature . . . Does anyone know how to use this feature? Specifically, is the SC-2 Plus "looking" for a non-RIAA input when using the Equalization settings? Or are these Eq. settings to be used "on top of" the typical RIAA-affected phono audio from the Phono Pre-Amp? So, if the first case is true, then in order to properly apply the SC-2's Equalization options, I would need to obtain a phono pre-amp that has a non-RIAA option. I've seen such phono stages out there, but there don't seem to many available.
SC-2 Routing Options . . . I think that there is no routing option that would allow me to make two digital copies of the same LP simultaneously, but one copy from the SC-2's ADC that has no "repair" or other alterations applied and a second copy with all the selected repair option (pop & click removal, noise reduction, etc.). I think such a routing would be quite useful as I archive my LP collection. Or, perhaps I don't fully understand each of the routing options and "double" recording is possible? Comments? Thank you!
I received the 2.3-523 update approximately 3 days ago. While playing an album yesterday I was surprised to hear a couple of pops. Checked my SC-2 and soon discovered that it was kicking out of Click Repair between tracks. Same phenomenon could be replicated by raising and lowering the tone arm. Notified SweetVinyl yesterday and described the problem and today when I logged on to my email I had a reply from them and revision 2.3-577 was ready and waiting to be downloaded into my SC-2 as per their email. This revision has fixed that problem. I have not experimented with file saving yet on this new revision.
Exactly what I'm dealing with, except I emailed them a couple of times but have not heard back. Maybe that update is not for SC-1 owners?
Sorry, I can't answer that regarding the SC-1. In my experience, SweetVinyl has always been prompt to reply and in this last instance, on a Sunday.
I emailed them last Wednesday, hopefully they will get back to me soon, did you send yours to support@sweetvinyl?
The SC-2 doesn't allow you to make 2 simultaneous recordings with different options (format, bit rate, click removal settings etc.), but you can output different file types from the same original recording session. Let me explain. The Sugar Cube makes the initial recording itself in a pure raw format. That digital file is stored in the recording buffer with no processing. The buffer holds around 10 album sides. When you are ready to output digital files you select the LP Side(s) you wish to save with a particular file type and settings. in the Save Menu. Then you select to save out an entire side or a series of files by choosing Side Format or Track Format. You can only output all sides or all individual tracks in a given output session. You go into the Side or Track Format dialogue box and choose the format to be used for that particular output session. Then you output the sides or tracks with those settings by choosing Pre-Process. The raw files remain in the recording buffer until you remove them form the recording buffer. You can reoutput the same raw files with different settings as many time as you wish. For example you can output an album side(s) as an AIFF file, 192 kHZ sample rate, 24 bit sample size, click removal 5 etc. Once those files are pre-processed with those settings and saved out to your hard drive or NAS you can save files out from same original recording session in a completely different format. For example you could switch to Track Settings and save out individual MP3 files, 48 kHZ sample rate, 16 bit sample size, click removal 3 etc. You can save the initial recording session over and over again with different settings. Not quite as quick as simultaneous recording, Realistically I doubt that would be a widely used feature and the processing power required would be even greater. This would affect the the cost of hardware and the speed. The way the Sugar Cube works you still do save considerable time saving multiple formats. You record the LP once in real time and say that process take 20 minute for a 20 minute LP. You then use the Pre-Process function to output sides or tracks in the format you wish. If you desire sides or tracks in a different format with different settings you go in and change the Track Format or Side Format settings to suit. It takes mere seconds to change the settings. You then Pre-Process the files with the new settings. Summary: Initial Recording Session Record 20 minute LP: 20 minutes Change Track or Album Format Settings: <1 minute Pre-Process: 3-4 minutes (on my system) Files Ready and Save to Disk: <1 minute Addition Formats: (If Needed) Re-Record LP: 0 minutes (not needed) Change Track or Album Format Settings: <1 minute Pre-Process: 3-4 minutes (on my system) Files Ready and Save to Disk: <1 minute Repeat as Needed You are looking at a total of an additional 6 minutes or so to get the same LP in a different digital format.
I just had a worrying experience. At a certain point in an album I heard an obvious digital glitch. Got up and moved the needle back, waited until the same point in the song and it glitched again. The SugarCube locked up and wouldn't let me change any settings. I had to reboot. After which it played through without issues. I'll send an email to Sweetvinyl in the morning.
I have a SC-1 Plus. Any recommendations on best software for a MAC to use for recording and playing back and in what mode?
Please report back if they respond, I emailed over a week ago and still waiting to hear back about my issue!
I'd send them another email and give them a nudge. I sent my email an hour ago. I'll keep the thread updated.
I did, I've sent a couple since last Wednesday. I did hear back from Dan this past Sunday, but only to tell me he is no longer helping with support and to email support@sweetvinyl, which I had as well.
I just did not write the .com part in my response, emails have been sent to [email protected], that's the address right?
I still have not heard back from sweetvinyl but I just noticed that my SC-1 has now updated itself to 2.3-577 and is no longer having the issue of being kicked out of click repair between tracks. The only update I’ve experienced prompted me to power off the unit and this one did not, so not exactly sure when the update occurred, happy to have it working properly now! My only criticism is now when I switch between bypass and repair, there’s a bit of a lag that makes comparing the 2 difficult. Not so much an issue for me as I’m using my tape loop to connect the SugarCube, so I can easily hit the monitor switch to fully bypass it. All good for now.
Jim0830, Wow, thank you so much for that well written and detailed explanation. Totally makes sense - no need for a Phono stage with dual outputs. It is, as you mentioned, easy enough to save processed or not or both or with as many different settings as I choose, with the raw file being kept intact until deleted. Thanks again!
How does this device differentiate clicks, pops, and other distortion inherent in phonograph records from actual recorded audio? What if there are intentional samples of surface noise embedded in the audio. Yes! This is actually a thing with kids nowadays in their hip-hop and rap music! Will this device remove that intended noise? If the device is converting to digital and back to analog, wouldn't that defeat the point of one's goal to hear pure analog playback? I thought pure analog playback was the reason some audiophiles prefer records.
The simplest answer I can give is that the format doesn't affect the sound as much as you might think. Some records sound better than CD's, and vice versa. Compact Disc has the innate advantage of no surface noise, but it doesn't necessarily sound better. The source recording comes first, garbage in, garbage out, as they say. With the SugarCube you're hearing whatever was on the record, with almost no crackles. It is like error correction, but for vinyl. Better ears than mine say there is a small change in tone, but they also say it still sounds like vinyl. A new stylus/cart would change the sound in a far more dramatic way.
As for your second question they use a very high end ADC converter to get the signal into the digital domain and do its magic in the there. It then uses a very high end DAC to get it back into analogue and go to your pre-amp. It seems to be a bit counterintuitive, but the proof is in the sound. I have not been able to hear a difference in the sound except for the clicks and pops being removed. After Fremer posted some positive reviews of the SC I decided to take a chance and order the SC which had just come out crowd funding when I purchased it. My ears have not been able to hear negative results from the ADC/DAC conversion, For me it is the best money I have spent on my stereo system.
A review from Copper Magazine Issue 154 (PSAudio): Deep Cleaning: The SweetVinyl SugarCube SC-1 Plus – PS Audio
