Off Topic - stereo to PC question

As long as we're hypothetically copying hard to find tapes, and willing to shell out for hardware, you might also consider a recording device that was designed for the task. It seems to me that one can get a decent digital multitracking device for the cost of a decent multitracking software package these days ;) (I may be exaggerating here... but they're cheap) For instance, I've seen a new unit -- a Boss BR-532 -- which records on "smartmedia" (4-track), and lists around $400 (I think). I hear that the 128M cards, which are said to hold 90 minutes of audio run about $45. Obviously this uses some compression, and you wouldn't get the best quality, but it would provide an easy way of mixing some of the hiss out and adding some mastering effects if you'd like. This might also be problematic for recording a cassette tape since I think it only has one channel in. (You could do it, though) I wouldn't use this for doing original recording personally, but for re-mastering a cassette, or other light-duty stuff, it may be just the ticket. I personally have a Fostex VF08, which I paid about $480 for from audiolines.com, but which lists around $599. It's a slightly more heavy solution, and has 5GB or so of disk in it. No compression, sound records at 44.1khz 16-bit. The unit also has 20-bit ADC and 24-bit DAC with 64/128x oversampling respectively. It's an 8-track unit with 2 channels in. I can tell you from experience that this machine could probably make "smashing pumpkins" sound good. (My opinion, of course... and don't get me started on "smashing pumpkins.") (These are mostly from memory, so I might be wrong on some of this... look it up) At any rate, one could record, mix, and master the cassette on a similar unit, and transfer the resulting digital audio to your computer through the SPDIF digital out. Wow, that was tangential. Regards, Chris Christopher Smith, Perl Developer Amdocs - Champaign, IL /usr/bin/perl -e ' print((~"\x95\xc4\xe3"^"Just Another Perl Hacker.")."\x08!\n"); '