I seem to remember reading either in this thread, or somewhere else, where Sweet Vinyl replied to just such a question. The reason 4 for was because they used an off-the-shelf part that did everything they needed, but had 4 USB ports.
I was sure that was the case. If one is really worried that he got unused USB ports he can charge his phone with it.
I use the USB ports on some of my kit to power fixed LED lamps I use to light my turntable (for cleaning)...
I'd be fairly certain that function has now been blocked on the SC-1 models, through the latest software patch that r.Din referenced. - Kevin - Kevin
Still blocked. Guess we'll only find out what happened, if SweetVinyl tell us. It's possible the functionality is on the roadmap for a future upgrade path, or it could have been a mistake that it was open. It will be frustrating to know that the SC1 can record and never be able to access the functionality, so fingers crossed this was a mistake on the way to making the functionality officially available at some point.
I'd be about 99.9% certain that it was a mistake, though it's interesting to note that the original SC-1 machines actually have that much available memory in them... - Kevin
This may not be a popular response, but the reality is the Sugar Cubes were awways divided into two distinct product lines with two distinct functions at two distinct price points. The recording function was never discussed as a future option of the SC-1, nor was it a matter of this being a feature that was developed after the first models were released. That is what the Sc-2 series was for. Some people feel the Sugar Cubes are already too expensive and the SC-1 series is for them, the pop and click removal only. They certainly don't want to pay for the ability to do needle drops. I had already mentioned this in a previous post a few days ago, but it bears repeating: With the difference in price, I doubt the hardware is the same, Also what manufacturer is going to want the to unleash the tech support nightmare on themselves of supporting a feature that was never intend to run on this series of devices? Finally for every person Sweet Vinyl pleased by enabling recording on the SC-1 series, I image they would get howls of protect from an equal number of users of the SC-2 series. These folks paid big bucks for a feature Sweet Vinyl gave away later for free to the people who didn't pay for it to begin with. Some might demand a refund. As I mentioned two products, two intended use cases.
You’re pretty much spot on with your assessment. If I had purchased the premium models and found out later on that they open up this feature to the lesser end models, i’d be pissed! That would be a very nice feature for my SC-1 Mini indeed. But to be honest, i’m very satisfied with the results i’m getting on my needledrops with it hooked up straight to a DA-3000 recorder.
Fact. Popular or not. That the SC1 has been revealed as recording capable isn't really surprising. All models share the same software, and likely much of the same hardware. They can probably all record.
I was doing needle drops with a Parasound Z-Phono with USB. I wasn't using it as a preamp, just taking it out of my record out jacks and using it as a ADC for my needle drops. I debated whether or not to spring for SC-2 Mini or just get the SC-1. But the appeal was the total simplicity of this solution. No auditioning tracks in order to find the best levels, Discogs look-up, automatic track splitting in some cases. I also liked the idea the you could take the same RAW digitized file and save it in several different formats without having to re-digitize it gain in real time. A considerable time saver. These days I love the simplicity of it. When I listen to an LP I can simply push a button and do a needle drop at the same time. I can listen to up to 10 sides while doing this and save out 1 or more types of digital files for use on my iPhone, iPad, Car, laptop etc. I expect to have the SC-2 Mini for a real long time. For me it is the easiest solution for getting quality needle drops so for me the value added was well worth the price. It just comes along as part of the ride when I listen to my LPs which are often just as quiet as my digital sources.
The extended wait for the SC-1 Plus forced my hand and I'm now set up to record directly from my phono stage as I play. This is one less conversion step than going through the SC1-Plus and the ADC I'm using is (RME ADI-2 Pro FS) is likely to be better performing than the one in the SC1-Plus. So it's unlikely that I'll switch to using the SC1-Plus to record, although I will certainly test it against my current method. You never know, it might be close enough that the convenience of the SC1-Plus wins out in the end. I'm hoping that the new input/output chips at least give a sound upgrade compared to the SC1 and I intend to use a Farad3 power supply with it to further boost sound quality. The biggest beneficiary from this purchase will be a friend who has some shelf space waiting for me to hand over my soon-to-be redundant SC1
I am curious as to your reason for getting an SC-1+ after already owning an SC-1. Was it the SVNR for use with 78's or did you hear/feel the new generation of chip is going to be a big improvement? I really am not able to hear my SC-2 Mini in use, which is why I just leave engaged all of the time. Or are you referring to the clicking problem which seems to be worse in the fist generation models when it occurs? If it is for recording 78's I hope you will share you experience.
It was primarily the recording capability. At the time I placed the order (17 months ago?) I was unable to record and it was the obvious solution. But necessity is the mother of invention and I figured out a way in the interim period that now works extremely well for me. But, also, as you mention, it was that the new in/out chips offer a potential sound quality improvement and yes the clicking problem which I still experience periodically (although that should be a software fix that is applicable to both models).
On message boards manufacturers often only hear when people have a problem with their support and rarely when things go well. I am going to give a shout out to Sweet Vinyl support. On Friday 03/26 my SC-2 Mini stopped downloading the album art, both to the devices front panel and when you saved the recorded file out to disk. When you did the lookup in the Sugar Cube app it found the album art but didn't save it out with the rest of the meta data. Thursday it worked, Friday it didn't. Both the SC firmware and Mac OS 11 had recently updated, but that was 14 days ago and this problem started 2 days ago. I had the SC-2 look up some LPs I had recently digitized successfully, album art and all and now no album art was retrieved. So it seemed like it was some tweak made by Discogs that broke the lookup feature. I wrote an email to Sweet Vinyl on Saturday knowing it was the weekend. I just wanted to get it out of the way while I was thinking of it. Dan (one of the Owners) of Sweet Vinyl got back to me on Tuesday 03/30 saying they had some other similar reports and they were looking into it. He said they too suspected a change to the Discogs API. They were looking into it and would address it in a firmware update. I figured a week or two and it would be fixed. Nope! The very next morning I awoke to find my SC-2 Mini had auto installed a firmware update at 5AM that fixed the album art lookup issue. Nicely done Sweet Vinyl!! If anyone hear is suffering from this glitch, make sure you are on firmware version 2.2-914.
In a way it must s*ck to be them because every time they change something it potentially could affect 100's of programs, plug in's etc. Then again, they probably don't much care. Topic for another thread, but lately the interface tweaks they have done makes my life harder not easier.
I might have to spring for one of these given all the rave reviews. Couple questions: 1) Is there a software equivalent that removes surface noise on needle drops(not click repair) or realtime noise reduction ? (Sugarcube ain’t cheap) 2) How good is the built-in phono pre? Thinking about the SC-2 mini ($3k, ouch, but it’s only $) I’m not one who enjoys audio restoration. I just record a record and it it is what it is, surface noise and all. Appreciate your opinions.
1) The SC-1 Plus and SC-2 Plus which are just coming out now have SVNR (Sweet Vinyl Noise Reduction) which is intended for specialized situations like surface noise found on 78's and tape hiss found on early classical recordings. Sweet Vinyl has said this type of noise reduction is far more difficult to do and can be lossy and will be heard if not used in moderation in the right circumstances. The click and pop removal on the other hand, remove the clicks but otherwise is not audible for most people. You would want one of the XX-2 series models for doing needle drops, and is a one box solution for this. The XX-1 series does only click and pop removal and does not do recordings internally. You would have to handle this task with an external device. 2) I wouldn't know and so far no one has said they were an owner of the SC-1 Mini/Phono or SC-2 Mini/Phono in the poll of which model SC folks here own: POLL The general intent is most folks will install the SC either in a Tape IN/OUT loop on their receiver or preamp or downstream of a separate phono preamp. The XX-Mini/Phono models are only intended for those who need a separate phono preamp. To further complicate things for as far as what you are asking, there is no model with a built in phono preamp AND SVNR. I tend to doubt there will be. People using SVNR for 78's would not tend to be a beginning level user who needed a phone preamp. For you the simplest and least costly solution would be a SC-2 Mini for doing needle drops and click and pop removal. Needle drops don't get much simpler. I know, I had a ADC/DAC box I was using for needle drops. Despite that I got the SC-2 Mini because of the click and pop removal and plus the needle drops all in one box. You can make a few extra clicks when you go to play a record and your are making a needle drop to
So I've run into a little issue. I started to record the 40th Anniversary of the Last Waltz which I thought was five albums but it turns out that it is six (one was hidden under the booklet). I normally process the tracks and not the album sides and I'm looking for a way to process it all as one album but I know that the internal storage can't hold that many sides. Any ideas? Thanks1
It should be easy to do in any program that allows you to edit digital audio files. I happen to use a paid program call Fission on my Mac. The SC-2 Mini doesn't allow you to export chapterized AAC files which I like to use. So I have the SC make AAC files for export and I do all of my editing and track splitting in Fission. Not only can you split tracks, you can just as easily join them. I use the join tracks feature to handle albums that are 2 x 45 RPM albums. I turn two sides into one side. There is a command to either "Clear Split" if you select one split or "Clear All Splits" to remove every split. You would simply save 5 LPs as 10 sides and export them as album sides. Then do LP 6 as 2 more sides. Then you would go in with your editor of choice and trim Side 1 to length and save it. Repeat for Side 2, Side 3, ....Side 12. The reason I would save each of these 12 files is in case your editor crashes at some point along the way, which I could see as a possibility. My LP sides saved as AAC run between 45-75MB per side. Twelve tracks combined will be a single file of 5.4GB - 7.4GB, or more possibly, depending on your CODEC and bit rate. These files may be a strain on your computer, the software, your network, your playback device or all 4. I would save at each step along the way, even if is so slow it hurts. When you have the twelve sides trimmed to length, make a new blank file. Copy and Paste in the sides one by one placing it after the side before it, saving at every step time. When you are through you can clear the splits between sides (Clear All Splits) or leave them. Like I said Fission is a paid app and only for Macs. But I would guess there are plenty of free editors that can join splits and merge tracks on the PC or Mac. Just beware of the file size which is not typical for a single audio file. It may cause the program to misbehave. Good Luck.
