I've been doing a lot of record digitization lately with a heavy focus on 78s. Because they mostly pre-date RIAA equalization, getting the best sound usually requires running the raw captures through software that un-does RIAA and applies the correct curve for the disc/era in question. I've been using Equalizer, a free program by Brian Davies, the same guy who gave us ClickRepair.
That got me to wondering more generally about bypassing RIAA or any other pre-amplification at all and doing everything in software. A bit of Googling suggests that this is actually sort of a trendy thing at the moment and there are even a few pre-amps out there made for exactly that purpose. But my fantasy involves plugging the phono cartridge directly into the recorder (presumably the mic input) and having nothing in between to potentially color the sound.
However, cartridges generally prefer to be loaded with specific impedance and capacitance, which of course a dedicated pre-amp would be expected to provide. I'm wondering if that's something that can also be emulated in software and if anyone has ever tried it.
I wrote to Mr. Davies to see if he had any insight into whether Equalizer could be used for this, but he simply replied that (paraphrasing) it's a hardware issue. Knowing NOTHING about the ramifications of impedance and capacitance, I didn't argue with him because for all I know the math I'm asking about is way more complex than what an RIAA-to-whatever equalizer is designed to do.
Has anyone else tried this? If so, did you have any luck or do you have any advice? "You're trying to fix something that isn't broken" is fine, too. I don't personally hear that I have a problem I need to correct, I'm just intrigued by the concept for the sake of general tinkering nerddom.
Thanks!
That got me to wondering more generally about bypassing RIAA or any other pre-amplification at all and doing everything in software. A bit of Googling suggests that this is actually sort of a trendy thing at the moment and there are even a few pre-amps out there made for exactly that purpose. But my fantasy involves plugging the phono cartridge directly into the recorder (presumably the mic input) and having nothing in between to potentially color the sound.
However, cartridges generally prefer to be loaded with specific impedance and capacitance, which of course a dedicated pre-amp would be expected to provide. I'm wondering if that's something that can also be emulated in software and if anyone has ever tried it.
I wrote to Mr. Davies to see if he had any insight into whether Equalizer could be used for this, but he simply replied that (paraphrasing) it's a hardware issue. Knowing NOTHING about the ramifications of impedance and capacitance, I didn't argue with him because for all I know the math I'm asking about is way more complex than what an RIAA-to-whatever equalizer is designed to do.
Has anyone else tried this? If so, did you have any luck or do you have any advice? "You're trying to fix something that isn't broken" is fine, too. I don't personally hear that I have a problem I need to correct, I'm just intrigued by the concept for the sake of general tinkering nerddom.
Thanks!