Audiophile Archive: Digitizing Reel to Reel Tapes

I may have been the person who said not to bother, but that is based upon having digitized 900 of my own albums. My point in the other thread was that it's very time intensive. However, if these are one off tapes and your friend is only looking to archive, as opposed to regularly using the digitized music, then it's really not that difficult a task.

At the low end, but still good quality, a stand alone CD recorder will do the job. Sony, Tascam and TL (formerly HHB) all make machines in the $500 to 600 area.

A step up in quality is the Alesis Masterlink. It will allow you to recorder at 96kHz 24 bit rates. It also offers some editing capabilities. I think the street price is around $1,000.

Adding an outboard A/D converter such as an Apogee to any of the above would be a subtle, but worthwhile upgrade.

If you want to go all out, you might consider the Genex. It will record up to 192kHz PCM and also DSD. Sorry, I don't know the price.

If you go the CD-Recorder route be sure to get a pro-audio CD-Recorder since it allows you the flexibility of using any CDR media. Hi-Fi CD-Recorders can only use music CDR's which cost significantly more and don't sound any better.

I copy my open reels to a Digital Audio Labs sound card.
I use Samplitude Master for my wave recorder. My intent is to have CD copies that I can listen to where ever I go.
Samlitude will record 192kHz but then you have to go to
16 bit if you want CD's you can play anywhere. The transfers
are great. My sound card sells for around $500.00 I had a
ARC44 card which did a respectible job also. That card can be had for alot less. Start small. The results may surprise
your friend. Joe

With all of the editing functions available on the Alesis Masterlink, I can't imagine using anything else for your project.

Kind regards,
Brian Weitzel
Record Research Labs