An analog question for those who record


I am going to buy either a reel to reel or a VHS recorder to record my vinyl onto for repeated playbacks. Is recording vinyl possible by simply hooking my preamp up to a VCR hitting record and dropping the needle. This would be ideal as it has a long run time via the VCR tapes. I have heard VCRS have good analog sound. Should I just go with a reel to reel? Cassettes arent really an option but I have heard some recordings from vinyl onto cassette that sound great. I also am aware of digital recording using audacity and have used it hundreds of times. However I like analog and if I want digital I will just pop in a cd. Do you think there would be a huge difference in the quality one way or another.
davidnboone
Let me get this straight: You want to record your vinyl onto one of two essentially dead analog mediums because you want to preserve it for repeated playbacks?

I think you're best off investing in a really good analog to digital converter and record it in a high-resolution digital format. You mention that you already know how to do this and have done it before. What was the problem? If it's repeated playbacks you're after, digital is the appropriate medium because it does not degrade with use or time. And the convenience and portability is a nice side-effect.

Instead of a reel to reel or something, put your money into a good A/D converter and a smooth, more "analog-sounding" DAC.

My 2 cents, anyway.

Michael
.

Reel to reel is very expensive. The tapes are very expensive, the machines are expensive, and the maintenance is expensive.

VCR is dying if not dead and the analog side while superior to cassette is inferior to most other possibilities.

The only practical option is recording to digital. With a high quality pro-audio interface you can record 24/192 and smoke the alternatives. Look at Pure Vinyl software coupled with a high quality interface.

I understand your desire to stay pure analog but that ship has sailed.

.
I am also interested in doing hi-rez transfer of vinyl to digital. I won't abandon vinyl. It would just be nice to have it in a hi-rez format. I think 24 bit 196 would be good.

Where can I find an analog to digital converter at 24/196 and what does it cost?

Are there alternitives to the excellent, but pricey, Pure Vinyl set-up?

thanks
Everything about this hobby is costly!!I should have been clearer in the title. I don't really care about preserving my stuff onto vhs or reel to reel. Just making mixtapes of my favorite vinyl selections for personal listening while playing pool. A VPI scout will be used to play vinyl when I want -I don't like repeated playings of costly albums unless I have time to properly enjoy and I want the benefit of not flipping on a different vinyl every other song during a game of 8 ball. I just basically have in mind making mixtapes.I have lots of cds but they do not match the all analog I am after. I already have everything I like on cd but I want analog I just want to have Analog recordings to play on demand.