Karaoke Forums

HI, I have been lurking for a few days (weeks) now and you all seem great.  I was hoping to get some answers for recording with CDG.  I have searched more than a hundred posts all with great idea's and have downloaded several demo and free programs trying to do this but I just can't figure it out.  This is where I am I have a single disk stand alone karaoke and a moniter portable machine. I have a computer and a burner. I have used diskjuggler to backup my cdg.  Other than that I don't use my computer for music. All I want is to record a CD for my grandpa who is very elderly. I don't need whistle or bells. Can anyone tell me the simplest way to do this besides taping it and than trasfering it to CD, which I don't know how to do either.  I have tried Cool edit (which I have (with the forums help) been able to record my voice), Krystal and sonar  but I don't know how to rip the song of my cdg properly.  I hit the rip button in windows media, than in disk juggler, some Grab program and Itunes, than I try to find the song with no luck. I don't even know what wav or MIDI or any of those 3 and 4 letter words mean much less how to convert them. I'm losing it!!!!!!!! What I really want is to see the graphic while I singing but I tried Winamp plugins several different ways and I get some error message so I had to take it all out and just put wimamp back in. I also tried karwin but I get an error that is in FRENCH even when I dowload the English version.  I have tried about thirty different hints and tips from this forum but I must be a bit on the slow side cuz I don't get it. You have probably given this answer a million times but please at least direct me to a simple "search" because I would like to give this to my grandfather soon, and if I don't figure this out soon I've been threatened with divorce!!!:banghead:

to me, audiograbber is free, and very easy.

But so is discjuggler.

look for a disc juggler tutorial on the web. Tons of them out there.

I got both, so I tried dJ with no luck I just tried AG and am trying to find help through it's help button but I can't find anything under ripping or converting. What do I need to be asking? Because I have ripped it but I don't know what to do with it now. There is no save button and I can not find a convert button. Is it already saved and converted? If so why can't I find it when I search through cool edit or Krystal and havent even attepted Sonar.

OK I have been playing with Audiograbber and have read the help section I now know if have to grab it to somethiing. It offers .bin and .wav+ cdg and a few others. I tried these and than went into cool edit and tried to find them. Maybe my computer just can't do it. If anyone has any more suggestion, I'm opened to anything. If not maybe I'll just give my grandpa a  tape.

Thanks Kightshow, I finally got Audacity and it work. I will try to figure out Adobe.  I'm still not sure why cool edit would pull up the files, but oh well.

Audiograbber help to do what you want using your home unit taking from your aux out of the home player to the line in of your computer.
Line in sampling.

This function is found under the file menu.

The "line in" sampling function is used to record from audio sources through the soundcard either internally, ie. from the cd rom, or even a music file on the hard disc, or from an outside audio source such as a phonograph or radio, through the "line in" jack on the soundcard. You can plug whichever audio source you desire into your soundcard and let Audiograbber record from it. For best results, always try to send as good a signal to the soundcard as possible. To record from vinyl it is best to connect the turntable to the stereo and then the stereo to the sound card. Do not connect the turntable directly to the soundcard, as the signal from the turntable is too weak.

The "line in" function has three different recording modes: "manual", "track splitting", and "time scheduled". These different modes are described in more detail later on in text.

To name the tracks is easy. Just enter all the names in the fields in the upper right hand corner. The current track is the one marked with an arrow. It is possible to change current track by clicking on another number. The arrow will move to verify this change.

The "volume meter" (middle of the window) displays the recording level of the incoming sound and is always active even if Audiograbber is not recording. This allows for easier adjustment prior to actual recording. When there is no incoming sound the meter should stay under 0.10% (Good soundcards should however be able to reach as low values at 0.00% - 0.02%). To achieve the optimum recording level adjust the "mixer" so the meter occasionally peaks at 100%, but not too often.

You can click on the "Mixer" button to start Window's internal soundcard mixer. All the audio sources that are not going to be used, ie. "mic, midi", "wav", etc... should be deselected and their respective slide bars dropped to the lowest value to unsure minimal undesired background noise. You must of course also select the audio source you want to record from (usually Line in or AUX) and set an appropriate volume level.

Right above the status bar there is a field which displays which recording settings you are using. These refer to the settings you have selected in Normalize settings and MP3 settings. You need to go out of the "line in sampling" window and back to the main window to change these settings.

You can "shortcut" to the main window however, by "right clicking" on this field and selecting "enable main form" from the pop up menu. Make your changes and then right click on the same field again to close. Be careful however, as it isn't too hard to crash the program by misuse of this shortcut).

At the bottom there is the status bar which tells you what is going on and optionally what you are supposed to do.

A button will be visible right below the "Close" button if there are any files waiting to be normalized and/or encoded. Press the button to initiate this process. This button will not display when the program is recording.

It is also a good idea to click on the help menu, choose "Help for this window" and thereafter click on whatever you want to learn more about.

If you need more professional editing options of your wav files, like click removal, noise reduction and manual fading options etc, then Cool Edit is a very good program.


Manual recording mode, do not split tracks:
This is the most basic recording mode. You will have to press the "Start" and "Stop" button for each track you want to record to a separate file. It is wise with this method of recording to limit recording to a certain amount of minutes using "the minutes to stop after" option in case you forget to come back and press the stop button!

Manual recording mode, auto split tracks:
Enabling this useful function when recording two or more tracks from vinyl (LP's) will allow Audiograbber to detect the silence between tracks, and create separate destination files for each one. Thus saving you the bother of doing it manually. Just play the record straight through in one go and let Audiograbber do the rest! It is a complicated process for Audiograbber to differentiate between record noise during silence and an actual quiet passage of music but it does its best! Use the "track split sensitivity" slide bar to change Audiograbber's perception of silence. Slide the bar to a lower value if Audiograbber clips the songs during the final fade and to a higher value if the program fails to separate tracks.

Time scheduled recording:
This mode is useful for recording from radio when you are away from your PC. It works like a VCR timer, but for radio (or for that matter whatever audio source is connected to your soundcard).
Times can be set flexible. When the program is in "time scheduled" mode it will display the current date and time below the "Close" button. How this is shown is dependent of your computers regional settings (in the Control Panel). Use this same format when entering information in the "Date" and "Time" field (see below).

"Date" field:
Enter a date here (using the proper format) to record only on that specific day. You can leave the field empty if you want, whereby Audiograbber will then record at the same specified time every day. It is also possible to specify a weekday like Monday or Tuesday etc, (in English) whereby Audiograbber will record once a week (on that day) during the specified time.
"Time" field:
Specify the start time (time of the day) for the recording in this field. Remember to use the proper format.

"Length" field:
Specify the duration of the recording here using the following format: hh:mm:ss where "hh" are hours, "mm" are minutes, and "ss" are seconds (for example, One hour two minutes and three seconds should be written as following: 01:02:03).

Get additional info on line in sampling here: Noise reduction

Thanks Danny I for you taking the time to take me step by step. It's hard when you don't know the landuage. I'll try this and let you know how it goes.
Thanks Leo

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Forever catching up!!