TerraTec Phono PreAmp iVinyl Assembly instructions

English Manual
Version: 11/9/2006

2 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
CE Declaration
We:
TerraTec Electronic GmbH, Herrenpfad 38, D-41334 Nettetal, Germany
hereby declare that the product:
PhonoPreAmp iVinyl
to which this declaration refers is in compliance with the following standards or standardizing
documents:
EN 55013
The following are the stipulated operating and environmental conditions for said compliance:
residential, business and commercial environments and small-company environments.
This declaration is based on:
Test report(s) of the EMC testing laboratory
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and shall not be deemed as a warranty by the
seller. No warranties, express or implied, are made with regard to the quality, suitability or accuracy of this docu-
ment. The manufacturer reserves the right to change the contents of this document and/or the associated products
at any time without the provision of prior notice to specific persons or organizations. The manufacturer shall not be
held liable for damages of any kind arising from the use, or the inability to use this product or its documentation,
even if the possibility of such damage is known. The information in this document is subject to copyright. All rights
reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the ex-
press written permission of the copyright holders. Product and brand names contained in this document are used
for identification purposes only. All registered trademarks, product designations or brand names used in this do-
cument are the registered property of their respective owners.
©TerraTec®Electronic GmbH, 1994-2006. All rights reserved (11/9/2006).

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 3
Contents
Pre-amplified Congratulations................................................................................................. 4
Technical data .........................................................................................................................5
Connection and Control Elements ........................................................................................... 6
All about Vinyl......................................................................................................................... 8
Tips and Tools ..................................................................................................................... 8
Just one Groove, but a Lot of Music...................................................................................... 8
RIAA filtering........................................................................................................................ 8
Shielding............................................................................................................................. 9
Recording ............................................................................................................................ 9
Wav, Mp3 or AP ..................................................................................................................10
Links .................................................................................................................................. 11
Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1.........................................................................................12
1. Overview......................................................................................................................... 12
2. First steps....................................................................................................................... 13
3. User Interface ................................................................................................................. 15
4. Recording .......................................................................................................................18
5. Rescuing Audio Material .................................................................................................19
6. Descratcher ................................................................................................................... 20
7. Denoiser .........................................................................................................................21
8. Burning CDs................................................................................................................... 22
9. Application Notes ...........................................................................................................23
10. Contacting Us................................................................................................................25
11. Restoration on the Macintosh........................................................................................25
Service at TerraTec................................................................................................................ 26

4 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
Pre-amplified Congratulations
With the TerraTec PhonoPreAmp iVinyl, you have made a great choice. The PhonoPreAmp iVi-
nyl is the complete solution for digitizing analog sound sources, like your beloved LP record
collection, in top high-fidelity quality. The USB connection to the computer is almost too easy.
Even so, please read the following information so that you can start using all of the benefits of
your phono PreAmp Studio USB right away.
Furthermore, the chapter entitled, “All about Vinyl”, provides useful background information
on the LP recording medium as well as worthwhile information on the topic of “digital restora-
tion on the PC”.
The following description is based on use with a PC but can be applied to Mac use without
modification.
Tip: Don't forget to stop in at our website at http://www.terratec.de. There you can find regu-
lar software updates, tutorials and instructions to make your experience with your TerraTec
product easy and successful. If you run into problems, checking to make sure you have the
newest drivers and software version, and then going to our FAQs page will solve most issues.
We hope you find great satisfaction in using your TerraTec PhonoPreAmp iVinyl
...your TerraTec Team

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 5
Technical data
•Stereo input for record player, can be switched to analog line input (RCA/cinch)
•USB bus power supplied by the computer—no separate power adapter necessary
•Suitable for moving magnet (MM) pickups and moving coil (MC) systems with high output
level (at least 2-3mV); standard moving coil (MC) pickups are not supported
•Sampling frequencies of 32 kHz / 44.1 kHz / 48 kHz / 96 kHz are supported
•Input capacity adjustable in three stages (100 pF, 250 pF and 430 pF)
•Filter function with high-precision RIAA equalizer (20 Hz-20 kHz / ± 0.4 dB)
•Harmonic distortion < 0.007 % (5 mV)
•Signal-to-noise ratio: > 86 dB (A)
•EMC-compliant aluminum case
•LED display for level and signal
•Bundled software (Algorithmix Sound Rescue 2.1 TerraTec Edition)
•Windows 2000/XP
•Mac OS X

6 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
Connection and Control Elements
Phono line input (cinch / red = right channel, white = left channel)
This is where you connect the output cable from your turntable. Note that the Phono-
PreAmp iVinyl is designed for moving-magnet (MM) pickup systems. Standard moving-
coil (MC) systems are not supported. If you have a high-output MC system, you can use
it with the “phono PreAmp Studio USB”. However, the output level must be at least 2-3
mV. Alternatively, you can connect devices with line level output, such as tape decks
(refer to the input-level selector switch (point )).
Ground screw
To prevent so-called “AC hum,” you should connect the grounding wire from your re-
cord player to the thumbscrew located on the connection side of the PhonoPreAmp i-
Vinyl. This ensures that your record player is grounded through the computer.

USB jack for connecting to the computer's USB port
The USB port is how the audio data, digitized in the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl, is sent to
your computer. It also acts as the power supply for your PhonoPreAmp iVinyl. Don't
bother searching for an audio jack for your sound card: you don't need one! It all works
digitally through USB.
Using the USB cable provided, simply connect the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl to any free USB
port on your computer.


PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 7
Input-range selector switch
Please refer to the technical documentation of your phono pickup system for the rec-
ommended input capacity range for the preamplifier. Then set this selector switch to a
value that best matches this range. If you cannot find any technical documentation for
your pickup cartridge, set the selector switch to its middle position. Your selection will
be indicated by the LED.
Signal and peak display
These two LED lamps conveniently let you know that the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl hard-
ware is working. If the unit is connected correctly and is receiving an audio signal, the
signal LED is lit (blue, bottom). Its brightness changes according to the strength of the
input signal. The peak LED (red, top) lights if the signal level is too high, causing
overamplification. For adjusting input levels, see item regarding the “Input-level
selector switch”.
Input-level selector switch
Use this to select the type of input signal and how it is to be preamplified. You can se-
lect between minimum (Input Level MAX for devices with maximum output signal) and
maximum (Input Level MIN for devices with minimum output signal) preamplification.
If you are recording a line-in signal, select the Line-IN option. Your selection will be in-
dicated by the LED. In this case, also refer to the chapter entitled Recording.


8 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
All about Vinyl
Tips and Tools
When CD technology took hold of the music recording industry, it eventually replaced all pro-
duction of vinyl records, to the regret of many collectors and enthusiasts. Today, it has be-
come easy for just about anyone to create his own CDs using a computer and a CD burner. This
is the time when the idea of eternalizing (or at least conserving them for the “half-life period”
of a CD blank ...) your old vinyl treasures has become most interesting. Even the restoration
software available on the market today has become more affordable and easier to use.
How, however, do you get the phono recordings into the computer?
First of all, turntables do not provide a signal that is directly usable with sound cards (and
other line devices). Second, many of today's commercial HiFi amplifiers do not even come
integrated with the special phono-input preamplifier required for use with turntables.
Of course, you can always set up your (turntable-compatible) HiFi amplifier directly next to
your PC—that is, if you don't mind having to move all your nicely connected equipment all the
time. That is precisely why Terratec came up with the concept of the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl. The
PhonoPreAmp iVinyl amplifies the output signal of the turntable, turns it into a high-quality,
usable signal, and then digitizes it—all within the device. The digital data are then “copied”
straight to the computer through the USB port. Now you can even archive your records on a
laptop in comfort— without having an unnecessary mess of cables lying around—because the
PhonoPreAmp iVinyl takes its power supply directly from the computer's USB port.
For those interested in the details of the good old phonograph technology, the following is for
you.
Just one Groove, but a Lot of Music
The audio signal is stored on a record as a pattern in the record's groove. This pattern is pi-
cked up mechanically by the turntable's stylus, which converts the “audio data” pressed into
the vinyl into a weak electrical signal. There are two different pickup systems: Moving Coil
(MC) and Moving Magnet (MM or MD for magnetodynamic).
In MM systems, a permanent magnet is moved; in MC systems, the coil follows the movement
of the record's groove. The advantage of MC systems is their lower moving mass, but they
have the disadvantage of an output signal that is lower than that of MM systems by a factor of
10, making it more difficult to achieve a good S/N ratio.
Both MM and MC systems are capable of outstanding musical reproduction, but in practice
the first system is the more common one.
RIAA filtering
Perhaps you've accidentally connected your turntable to the wrong input of your HiFi amplifier
at one time or another. You probably noticed that the signal was not only very quiet, but also

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 9
distorted. The reason: as the deflection of the needle is limited to specific range, high fre-
quencies (= low amplitude) are amplified and low frequencies (= high amplitude) are weak-
ened on the record. The signal from the pickup must therefore be processed (filtered) before it
can be used.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has defined a standard for the changes
to the frequency ranges to ensure that all records can be played using the same filtering. The
quality of the equalization process is thus an important factor in the overall quality of a phono
preamplifier.
Shielding
Due to the relatively low output levels that even moving-magnet systems achieve (MM approx.
2-5 mV, MC approx. 0.1-0.4 mV), a certain amount of protection has to be provided against
external sources of noise. For example, using an overly simple power supply design can result
in unpleasant AC hum.
Unfortunately, the mounting number of electronic devices in an average household means an
increasing amount of electromagnetic interference. While these waves are very weak, they can
still interfere with the signal from the pickup, which is also very weak, as mentioned above.
This problem can be dealt with by carefully shielding the amplifier, as is the case with the
PhonoPreAmp iVinyl.
The ground wire of your turntable, if present, also fits in with this topic. This wire establishes
an electrical connection between the turntable and the shielding to help prevent AC hum.
We've got this one covered, too. The PhonoPreAmp iVinyl is equipped with an extra ground
connection, which passes completely through the device, to the USB port, and then into the
computer. This guarantees maximum shielding.
Recording
Included with the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl is Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1, a professional
software application for restoring your audio recordings. For more information, refer to the
Recording chapter later in this manual. Start Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 as described
in the manual and begin recording.
To achieve optimal level control when recording, it is important to adjust the input level of the
PhonoPreAmp iVinyl correctly. Play the record you want to record and watch the peak LED on
the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl while doing so. Whenever possible, set the input level to MAX. If the
blue LED lights up, it means the input signal is being amplified to strongly. In this case, set the
input level back to MIN. With this setting, the LED should not indicate any more overamplifica-
tion (peaks). Unlike recordings that you may have made in the past with a tape deck, digital
recordings must never exceed the maximum level. In the analog world, this might have passed
for a desirable “tape saturation” effect, but with digital recording technology it leads to clearly
audible distortion which is virtually impossible to “repair”.

10 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
After you have recorded your music using the PhonoPreAmp iVinyl and the Sound Rescue Ter-
raTec Edition 2.1 software, you can also use the Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 to edit your
recordings directly on a digital level. This software is a powerful tool for the restoration of old
records, yet it is intuitive and easy to use. If you would prefer to use a different application to
edit your recording, it should include at least the following functions: removing short, loud
pops (de-click); removing quiet background crackling (de-crack), noise suppression (de-noise)
and the automatic adjustment of the audio signal strength (normalization). The normalization
function should always take place in a separate step after the audio material has been re-
stored successfully.
Some programs offer additional functions such as the broadening of the stereo image (this is
rather restricted on vinyl records in comparison to CDs) and equalizers with which you can
freshen up the sound quality or add a bit of punch. However, please remember that less is
generally better than too much, and that too much tinkering can destroy the authentic sound
of the original recording.
If you generally record the entire side of a record at once, you can cut the recording into indi-
vidual tracks if you want. To do so, you can use Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 or another
audio editing tool. Depending on the software you are using, this function can be automated.
Finally, you can burn the recordings you have made in this way to CD with your usual burning
software.
Wav, Mp3 or AP
All files are recorded by Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 in *.wav format. The raw, uncom-
pressed data of the recording are stored in this container format. The advantage of this is that
all of the song's audio information is available, allowing it to be easily adapted or restored.
The disadvantage is the relatively large amount of space required; as a result, this format has
only limited usefulness, particularly as a trading format.
Therefore, the *.mp3 format is in much more widespread use today. *.mp3 is a compressed
music file in which more or less inaudible portions are filtered out in order to save storage
space. The result is usually no different from a *.wav file. If the compression rates are too high,
however, a significant loss of audio quality can result.
If you do not want to burn your music files to CD or want to trade them as allowed by copyright
law, we recommend that you convert them to an *.mp3 file. Various freeware programs exist
on the Internet for this purpose. In our experience, a program called Audiograbber works es-
pecially well. This program lets you convert files not only from *.wav to *.mp3, but also into
many other formats, some of which are less common. Another useful feature is the connection
to the CDDB. CDDB is a database in which album and artist information is stored. Since track
information can also be stored in *.mp3 files, there is no need for the time-consuming process
of entering them manually.
It is not possible to record in *.wav format at 24bit/96Khz because this sampling rate is too
high for this format. Instead, Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 uses the *.ap format, which is
a special internal container format that can handle recordings at 24bit/96Khz. You can easily

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 11
load and edit this format in Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1. Then, the saved file is in 32-bit
float 96 kHz *.wav format, which is compatible with all common sound editors (such as
Wavelab, SoundForge, Audition, CoolEdit, Audacity etc.).
For additional information on Audiograbber, go to:
http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/
You can also download the software at no charge from this site.
Links
If you are interested in more information, here are some of our recommended Internet links
that you may want to check out. We hope you find them useful and entertaining.
http://fabdp.fh-potsdam.de/lehre/studpro/steffen/record/head/head.htm
This site provides a lot of information on the history of the LP record.
http://www.aaanalog.de/
Information on records, record players and analog technology. A first-class magazine with
informative articles! Highly recommended.

12 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1
1. Overview
Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 is a powerful tool that lets you clean up problematic mate-
rial such as older recordings, directly on your PC. It lets you remove or significantly reduce
unwanted noise while maintaining the authentic sound and quality of the original recording.
Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 is an ideal compliment to recording and CD programs, es-
pecially if you want to eternalize all of your tape cassettes and vinyl treasures—even your shel-
lac phonograph records on CD. Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 offers a vast variety of func-
tions and is specially developed for the multimedia user who does not want to spend hours
learning complicated editing processes or use the multitude of parameter settings necessary
for other professional software. For the two editing modules, Descratcher and Denoiser, only
two parameters need to be set to achieve optimal sound, which normally takes only a few
seconds to do. You can adjust these settings with no trouble during real-time playback. Like-
wise, you can adjust the volume and tone (bass and trebles) of the “cleaned” output signal to
remaster “dusty” recordings.
Features:
•Real-time operation at 800 MHz or better under Windows® 2000/XP
•High stability using its own, separate drivers
•Recording in 44.1 kHz/16-bit (CD format) “red book” WAV format or internal 96 kHz/24-bit
AP format
•Worldwide, the fastest off-line processing
•Fast, intuitive menu prompts
•Removes noises such as popping, crackling, static, scratches and surface noises
•Reduces constant background noises such as tape static, line hum and thyristor hum
•Softens digital distortions and covers signal drops
•Real-time operation during the fine tuning of parameters
•Unique Difference function for listening to the noises that are removed
•All measurements are precise to up to 80-bit decimal accuracy

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 13
Typical Applications:
•Archives and restores old audio media
•Remasters old recordings to CD: from shellac, vinyl and tape
•Removes interference noises on cassette tape recordings
•Filters out and removes distortion in noisy dialogs and in recorded telephone clips
•Reduces distortion in radio broadcasts from medium wave, short wave and FM
2. First steps
Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 is located on the product CD, which is configured for auto-
matic installation. If the autorun application on the CD does not launch automatically, go to
“My Computer” and double-click the icon for your CD-ROM drive. The autorun application
should appear in a few seconds. Select your language and go to the Software menu item. This
is the location of the item Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1. Clicking it starts the installation
routine; after a few brief installation steps, click “Finish” to conclude the routine.
The first time it is launched, the system is searched for compatible CD-recording applications.
Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 has been tested with WinOnCD™ 3.6 to 8.0, EasyCDCrea-
tor™ 5.0 to 6.0, EasyMediaCreator 7.0 to 8.0, Nero 4.0 to 7.0 and Feurio 1.63. If a compatible
CD-recording application is found, a dialog appears and asks you whether the found applica-
tion should be used for writing audio CDs. Answer “Yes” if the application mentioned is your
preferred burning program. If a compatible CD-recording application cannot be found, verify
that one of the CD-recording programs listed above is installed correctly on your system. You
can start a search for CD-recording applications at any time by selecting “CD recording” in the
system menu, which you can open by clicking the icon in the upper-left area of the window.
The dialog window for selecting burner software
Select the program that you prefer most for burning your audio CDs. Also refer to Chapter 8.
Burning CDs.
To quickly verify that Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 was installed successfully, simply
click the button and select the democlic.wav file for editing. Sound Rescue TerraTec Edi-
tion 2.1 supports *.wav files according to the Red Book “16-bit/44.1 kHz” standard, as well as
the internal 96 kHz *.ap format, which processes data into 32-bit float / 96 kHz *.wav files,
which can then be opened and used in an external audio editor.

14 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
User Interface
Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 has an intuitive interface. Its features are clearly arranged
and truly easy to use and, at the same time, it offers powerful functionality. The upper half of
the window contains the areas for the DeScratcher, Analyzer and DeNoiser features, and be-
low these is a strip with other adjustment options for sound optimization. Below this is the
Playback area, which displays the actual audio material in the Waveform window as well as
control buttons for other program functions.
Quick Instructions
Follow the steps listed below to achieve—in very little time—a high-quality, remastered, re-
cording of, for example, and old, scratched LP record. More details are provided in the chap-
ters that follow.
1. Click the button, enter a file name and start recording your new audio material.
2. Click the button to open the “Select Input File” menu. Select the WAV file that you
want to process. The file you selected is loaded and its waveform is displayed in the Wave-
form window.
3. Start playback with the button. You should now hear the audio material and be able
to view the level-control indicator. In the Analyzer window, the frequency profiles of the
input and output signals are dynamically displayed as is the noise print. You can pause
playback with the button and “rewind” back to the beginning of the clip by clicking
. During playback, you can restart playback at any position you like simply by clicking
the position in the Waveform window.
4. If your recording contains sudden popping noises, use the Declick adjuster to try to filter
them out.
5. If your recording has humming or buzzing noises or, in the case of a recording from an LP
record, a constant background crackling, use the Decrackle adjuster to filter it out.
6. To reduce or remove noises such as tape static or constant LP surface noises, use the De-
noiser feature by adjusting the threshold and reduction adjusters.
7. To compare the original sound with the filtered signal, click the button.
8. Use the function to listen to the noise that has been filtered out.
9. Adjust the volume slide so that the volume level never quite reaches the red range.
10. Use the button to clip off the extra audio material to the left of the current marker
position.
11. Click to save the remastered audio material to a new file.
12. Click to optimize the loudness level of the audio material.

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 15
13. If you click the button, the current audio material is sent to the associated burning
software as a new track. Simply repeat this step to put together an audio CD instantly,
which you can then burn.
14. The functions of the parameters for the Descratcher and Denoiser features are described in
the chapters entitled, Descratcher, Denoiser and Application Notes.
3. User Interface
Editing area
The editing area of Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 consists of four main parts: Descratcher
(left), Denoiser (right), Analyzer (in the middle) and the Bass/Treble/Volume controls (bot-
tom). Two sound-level meters let you control the output level while, at the same time, you can
adjust the volume and the bass and treble levels using the sliders mentioned above.
Because the processor requirements of Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 are quite low, you
can optimize all parameters and simultaneously hear the results in real time while editing your
tracks.
The editing area of Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1.
lets you listen separately to the noises that are being filtered out during
processing in real time.
lets you listen to the input signal by bypassing the DeScratcher and De-
Noiser filters.
indicates the CPU usage of the computer, i.e. the percentage of CPU time
being used by Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1.
Analyzer graphically displays the volume and frequency curves, which is useful for
visually verifying the filter levels.
DeScratcher effectively removes pops and crackling from the audio material.

16 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
DeNoiser removes noise and static from the audio material.
Playback Area
The Playback area is located in the lower section of the Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1
interface. Using its features, you can record a WAV file, load a file for editing, start and stop
playback, and jump to any position in the WAV file by moving the cursor within the Waveform
display.
After loading a WAV file, its name and format are displayed in the status window below the
Analyzer and its waveform is displayed in yellow in a normal view, meaning it is adapted to fit
within the width of the Waveform window.
The playback area of Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.0
The edited audio material can be stored offline. To this end, select the file dialog with the
button. The sampling frequency of the output file corresponds to that of the input file
(44.1 kHz or 96 kHz for .ap files). If converting these formats or converting the sampling rate,
for example, from 96 kHz to 44.1 kHz, always use a suitable, high-quality tool provided in your
editing or sound card software.
Note that the functions “Norm”, “Split”, “Track” and “CD” only work with 16-bit, 44.1 kHz wav
files. For .ap files, these functions are disabled, because the resulting file format would not be
compatible for creating audio CDs.
The Buttons and Controls in the Playback Area
File Functions
opens the “load” file dialog box
opens the “save” file dialog box
Audio Functions
normalizes the audio material to maximum loudness
splits the audio material at the current marker position
sets the marker at a position in the audio material at which a new track
most likely begins
sets the marker at the position where the loudness is at its maximum

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 17
starts the associated CD burning software
opens the help file
Control Functions
asks for a file name and opens the recording window
starts playback
interrupts playback
returns the playback cursor to the beginning of the clip
View Functions
shows the entire audio material of the file
zooms in on a length of about 20 seconds of the audio material

18 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
4. Recording
With Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1, you can also make recordings, of course. To do so, click
the button and specify a location and name for the resulting WAV file in the dialog box
that opens. You will now see the AlgoRec window, which shows you the input level for the
standard recording device as configured in Windows. Recording at first is paused .
The AlgoRec recording window of Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1
Adjust the level so that it never quite reaches 0dB, i.e. the red range. Going into the red range
can cause digital crackling noises, which cannot be completely filtered out by the editing
tools. Clicking the button opens the Windows recording controls.
Click to start the recording. The recording is written to the file in Red Book format
(44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo .wav) or in an internal 96 kHz .ap format. Both formats can be edited
directly with Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1. To create an audio CD, however, only the
44.1 kHz, 16-bit, stereo .wav format will do. After being processed in Sound Rescue TerraTec
Edition 2., the internal 96 kHz .ap format is saved as a 32-bit float 96 kHz wav file, which can
then be opened and used in external audio editors. Use the system menu to select the format
you want to use (click the title bar of the recorder using the right mouse button). Click to
quit recording to the file you selected earlier. If you like, you can now press again to spec-
ify a new file and create a new recording.

PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English) 19
5. Rescuing Audio Material
This section provides more details on how you can edit your recordings.
Restoration
After you have recorded the entire side of an LP, for example, you may want to rescue and re-
store the recorded audio material using Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1. Start playback
with the button. If you enable the button, the DeScratcher and DeNoiser
filters are bypassed so that you can listen to the original recording. Disable the bypass option
to listen to the effects of the restoration filters in real time. You can adjust the settings of the
DeScratcher and DeNoiser filters during playback and see the difference in the Analyzer while
hearing it at the same time. To hear only the noises and crackling sounds that are being fil-
tered out of the audio material, click . Adjust the control slider to your liking and
refer to the chapters on the DeScratcher and DeNoiser functions for more information. Adjust
the volume slide so that the peak level never quite reaches the red range. Once you are satis-
fied with the results, stop playback by pressing and save the results by clicking the
button. The new audio material is loaded and displayed automatically. To avoid mistakenly
filtering a file that has already been filtered, the bypass option is enabled automatically.
Optimization
Use to find the positions having the highest peaks and check whether they are the result
of pops or the normal audio material. When you are completely convinced that the quality of
the material is good, you can raise its recorded volume without your recording being over-
amplified by clicking the button. Now save your results again.
Creating Tracks
After successfully restoring your digital recording, you will probably want to pull out certain
tracks from the length recording. If you click , Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1 auto-
matically finds for you a position that is likely a pause between two tracks. You can of course
search for such pauses manually simply by listing to the audio material with , stopping
the marker with . Then you can zoom in on the section of the recording using the
button and reposition the marker more accurately.
Use to write the audio material to the left of the marker to a new file or to delete it alto-
gether.
The Split window of Sound Rescue TerraTec Edition 2.1
Select the option you want to execute, provide a name for a new file if necessary and then
click OK. Save your individual track here and burn it onto a CD.

20 PhonoPreAmp iVinyl (English)
6. Descratcher
The Descratcher function effectively removes pops and crackling noises from old vinyl and
shellac records as well as from audio files in which the tone quality has been decreased dur-
ing recording because of switch noise, digital crosstalk or thyristor humming.
The Descratching algorithm consists of two parts: the Declicking Filter and the Decrackling
Filter. While the Declicking filter is running, usually to remove relatively loud clicks and pops
from old vinyl records or switch noise from digital or analog audio devices, the Decrackling
filter removes any remaining, usually quiet but dense crackling.
The higher you set the Declick parameter, the more cracking noise is removed. When it is set to
0, the filter lets through nearly all cracking noises. To remove cracking noises from soiled vinyl
records, a Declick value of about 50 is good in most cases.
A typical popping noise in a signal from a vinyl record (left) and the reconstructed signal (right).
The higher you set the Decrackle parameter, the more crackling noise is removed from the
original. The highest setting, nearly 100, dampens the actual input signal. In general, this pa-
rameter can be set to 80 without resulting in any audible depletion of the original sound. In
some cases, an extremely high setting, even up to 100, can be used to improve the quality of
the audio material.
To minimize the depletion of the original sound in the Descratching procedure, you should
listen very carefully to the effects of the Declick and Decrackle parameters at various points of
the recording before deciding on their final values. In doing so, the Difference function in the
Playback area will certainly be a great aid. It allows you to set the parameters in a very intui-
tive manner. With it, you can switch between the original input signal and the input/output
signal difference, i.e. the portion that has been removed by the Descratching algorithm. Nor-
mally, you do not want the signal difference to contain any part of the original signal that you
want to keep. For more notes on optimizing the settings of the Declick and Decrackle parame-
ters, see to the Application Notes.
Note also that the Difference functions can be applied to the Descratcher and Denoiser func-
tions simultaneously. If you want to run the Descratcher only, leave the sliders (threshold and
reduction) for the Denoiser set to 0.