Auxiliary Input is used to record audio, recording can be an analogue recording of an LP, a digital recording (using SPDIF optical input on a sound card, if supported) of a Sony Mini disc, or even a recording of an audio track playing on your computer (if your sound card can record 'what you hear'). Recorded audio is saved direct into a compressed audio format (such as direct to mp3), audio recording can auto split tracks from an LP into separate files.

Getting to Grips with Auxiliary Input

Follow my lead!, the best way of explaining how Auxiliary Input works is to show a complete tutorial recording an LP. 

Step 1 Connect Hi-Fi to PC

A recording source has to be connected to the PC, for recording an LP I need a Hi-Fi and correct cable to connect the Hi-Fi to sound card, most Hi-Fis will have a 7mm headphone socket and most sound cards will have a 3.5mm stereo input jack, in this instance a 'Stereo 7mm to 3.5mm' cable is required. Your HiFi / recording source might have 2 RCA phono connectors such as those shown on the right, a RCA to 3.5mm cable can be easily sourced. Every sound card should have a way of recording, common connectors are MIC and Line-In, it is preferable to use Line-In when recording.

Step 2 Configure Auxiliary Input

Start dMC Auxiliary Input program (Start Menu >> Programs >> dBpowerAMP Music Converter):

Straight away Options is clicked to setup Auxiliary Input to match your environment:

Taking sound cards and input sources first, Record Using lists all recording devices, be aware certain modems install as a device so it is worth setting this to your known sound card. After selecting Record Using choose which input will be recorded with Input Source, click Select and place a tick mark under the input to be recorded, if using the Line-In put a tick mark into the Select box under Line In.

This Option page is explained in detail, for the purpose of this quick tutorial Set the Output To path where audio tracks should be saved, Auto Start and Auto End are ticked, these options listen to sound from the LP to determine when a track starts and ends and auto presses the record button, effectively auto-splitting a continuous recording into separate tracks. Click Ok to return from this option page.

Step 3 Set the Recording Volume

It is important that the computer sound card and Hi-Fi are both set to correct volume levels (a PC sound card has an optimal input volume), to begin this click :

Set your recording source to play and the VU meter line should jump up and down (if not check your cable), the trick is to make the shown volume level on the VU meter so its maximum just reaches Optimal (as shown). First set the recording volume of the PC to maximum (click on the red volume scale), then change the volume of the recording source (HiFi) until optimal is reached. Remember that you will have to wait for the audio track to reach it's normal volume, it is no good setting the volume level on a quiet part of the track. When happy click End Test.

Step 4 Recording

With preliminaries completed (steps 1-3 are a one time configuration), recording can commence. Set Auxiliary Input to match the number of tracks being recorded: and name each track by selecting Track01 and press F2, press Enter after each track name to move onto the next track. Artist and album information can also be completed, this information will be written to ID Tags in the audio file.

The Record button starts the recording process, but before hand press the down menu to select which audio format is to be used:

Record To lists all compression codecs installed, and Compression Settings sets up any compression variables (such as bitrate to use).

Press Record to start recording, if using Auto Start... and Auto End... from the options page wait until the message Waiting To Record.. is displayed before playing your LP.

Recording Correctly

It is worth mentioning that if compressing to an audio type (such as mp3) your computer must be fast enough to compress in real-time, for mp3 this would mean about a 400MHz computer, if your computer is not fast enough, record to a fast lossless audio format such as Monkeys Audio then compress later. 

In an ideal world, setting Auto Start... and Auto End... with the default settings will work for all albums, but it will not (for example if you have an audio track with a quiet part in the middle Auxiliary input will think the track has ended and will move onto the next one). The Power Pack can help in those instances with something called Smart Track Length, if all else fails switch off Auto start and end and manually control the recording start and end (by clicking Record to begin and clicking again to end).

As dBpowerAMP cannot reach out and pause your Hi-Fi, there are situations when dMC will be busy at the end of recording a track, whilst it is busy, the beginning of the next track will be missed, they are (and shouldn't be used):

• Using Volume Normalize, or any DSP Effect is selected,

• Output file exists before recording, dMC will record to a temporary file first, then copy it over the existing file, this is done at the end of the track and can take a little time to complete.

Power Pack users are helped when recording with many features such as Smart Track Length, learn how to use them: Auxiliary Input Power Pack Enhancements 

Options page describes each option in detail, as well as how to best setup Auto Start.. and  Auto End..

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