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teddanson
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Post subject: Zoom U-44 Posted: 27 May 2020, 13:11 |
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Joined: 16 Nov 2018, 14:21 Posts: 1570 Location: New Delaware Has thanked: 448 times Been thanked: 496 times
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Hello. I've had a little read around with regards making bit perfect captures of AC-3, DTS and Digital audio tracks on Laserdisc. I saw mention of the ESI U24 XL being a good choice for the job, as well as a few other internal cards (no use to me, I don't have a desktop computer). I was going to get an ESI U24 XL when I spotted a bargain deal for a Zoom U44. This thing looks like it is more than capable of doing the job. Just wanted to post about it here to raise awareness and also see what anyone else thinks? It's a bit much buying one new, but if you can find a good used one for a good price, this thing looks like it has serious potential. When it arrives, I'll try out capturing an AC-3 track (True Lies) and a random Dolby Digital track and report back. Anyone else tried the Zoom U44 or similar? https://www.zoom.co.jp/products/production-recording/audio-interfaces/u-44-handy-audio-interface
_________________ Blog: The Coterie / L'boxd: Diary Pioneer CLD-R7G, CLD-D925 | Yamaha APD-2 | DVDO Edge, VP50 Pro
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teddanson
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 17:40 |
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Joined: 16 Nov 2018, 14:21 Posts: 1570 Location: New Delaware Has thanked: 448 times Been thanked: 496 times
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No replies? It's dangerous to go alone. So I'll take this! ** Zelda treasure chest opening SFX ** The ZOOM U-44 arrived in today's post. If I get a chance later, I'll try and do a bit perfect capture of True Lies AC-3 or maybe a Digital Stereo track. Hopefully this thing works. So far, Reaper likes it.
_________________ Blog: The Coterie / L'boxd: Diary Pioneer CLD-R7G, CLD-D925 | Yamaha APD-2 | DVDO Edge, VP50 Pro
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teddanson
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 21:09 |
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Joined: 16 Nov 2018, 14:21 Posts: 1570 Location: New Delaware Has thanked: 448 times Been thanked: 496 times
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Just ran a quick test there. It confused me for a moment as the SPDIF setup was a bit funky. I just captured the Digital Stereo track successfully from the True Lies AC-3 LD as shown below, note the playback device is just my internal computer soundcard. I have to switch between devices manually at the moment as I think it will only output via the SPDIF Output when working with SPDIF connectivity to the audio interface. You can also use the device as a DAC/headphone amp of sorts which doesn't really help here for what I'm looking to achieve but I figured to mention it anyway. The AC-3 capture has not been successful just yet. The clock won't sync at 44.1 sample rate, it will at 48,000. Only thing is, all I get then is the AC-3 tone and that is all (this is LD Player > APD-2 > SPDIF OUT > U-44). I'm pretty confident it can do it, I just need to figure out where I am going wrong. I don't think I have any DTS discs in my collection, though I didn't really get this device solely for that, I got it so I can backup the digital tracks when capturing my LD collection to play back on my NAS. As for the device, I got it used for an absolute steal (about a fifth of the RRP, slightly less tbh). Right place right time kind of deal. I also have some Phono/XLR cables some place and a couple of MIDI instruments I would like to connect to it to record music and backup my vinyl collection. Otherwise I was going to go with the ESI U24 XL when a good deal came up.
_________________ Blog: The Coterie / L'boxd: Diary Pioneer CLD-R7G, CLD-D925 | Yamaha APD-2 | DVDO Edge, VP50 Pro
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teddanson
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 02 Jun 2020, 22:30 |
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Joined: 16 Nov 2018, 14:21 Posts: 1570 Location: New Delaware Has thanked: 448 times Been thanked: 496 times
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DISCO! I sussed it out! A bit of reading at trusty Doom9 pointed me in the right direction. I was getting confused that all I was capturing in Reaper was the AC-3 tone. This is the audio container tone apparently (excuse my ignorance if I phrased that wrong). What I needed to do was capture the tone and then run it through Besplit to unpack it all to an *.ac3 file. This is the output, captured at the correct sampling rate, with the correct SPDIF clock sync. Also, just to be absolutely sure my Zoom U-44 can do what I hope it can do, I swapped out the Toslink and used the digital coaxial input. This also proves (from another post I made here on the forum) that my suspected broken APD-2 Coaxial output port and cables do actually work. Hooray! Here is the Besplit output from my 57 second True Lies AC-3 sample capture. As you can see, 5 channels, 384kbps as is expected and required by law! [00:00:00:000] +------- BeSplit ----- [00:00:00:000] | Input : ac3test.wav [00:00:00:000] | Source Sample-Rate: 48.0KHz [00:00:00:000] | Channels Count: 5, Bitrate: 384kbps [00:00:00:000] | Output : ac3test.ac3 [00:00:00:000] +--------------------- [00:00:57:216] | Writing ac3test.ac3 [00:00:57:216] +--------------------- [00:00:57:216] Operation Completed ! [00:00:01:000] <-- Process Duration
Here is the unpacked AC-3 file in all it's glory! I opened it in Audition 2020 CC in the hopes of getting the full file information, which indeed it gave me as you can see below. The only thing I messed up on was I set the L/R digital input to be the same inputs so it didn't record the other channel. I can fix that easily enough though when I record it again. The Zoom U-44 seems to be working perfectly and is recording Digital Stereo and AC-3 correctly. Hooray!
_________________ Blog: The Coterie / L'boxd: Diary Pioneer CLD-R7G, CLD-D925 | Yamaha APD-2 | DVDO Edge, VP50 Pro
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teddanson
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 07 Jul 2020, 00:09 |
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Joined: 16 Nov 2018, 14:21 Posts: 1570 Location: New Delaware Has thanked: 448 times Been thanked: 496 times
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Finally finished my setup today with the arrival of a couple of DTS discs to test. Again, Cockos Reaper is the tool to use here for a bit perfect capture. First I captured the signal in Reaper using the Street Fighter DTS Laserdisc as a test. A couple of minutes was enough for a test. The file needs to be captured at 44.1 (where AC-3 is 48) and 16 bit. The resulting file needs to be saved as a WAV file with the exact same settings. I then ran the resulting WAV file through DTS2WAV. This decodes the file (which, if you play it back without decoding it, just sounds like the AC-3 signal noise I did in my AC-3 capture). It converts the DTS signal and all the padding, frames, data etc to a *dts file. The resulting file size is slightly smaller due to the corrections that WAV2DTS makes. The result is a perfect *.dts audio file which you can either play back in VLC Player, or mux in to a custom MKV etc, whatever you want. You could do the same with a DTS audio album if you wanted to. Regardless, the end result is that the Zoom U-44 works perfectly, so if you want something to perform bit perfect capture of AC-3 and DTS Laserdiscs, then you now know the Zoom U-44 is an option for you should you wish to buy one. I won't post screenshots here as it is all pretty much the same as what I've posted prior. However here is the log from my Street Fighter test file, just to show you what you should expect to see spat out. wav2dts sfdts.wav FileSize : 35724726 bytes Initial invalid bytes : 5386 Last bytes rejected : 174068 ------------- Valid Header FrameSizeRead : 3585 bytes. FrameSize14le : 4096 bytes. FrameSize16be : 3584 bytes. NumFrames : 8678. Channels mode : Surround. SampleRate : 44.1 KHz. Done, created : sfdts.dts
I'll write this all up properly in a blog post at some stage, complete with audio samples, pictures etc. Hope this helps someone anyway.
_________________ Blog: The Coterie / L'boxd: Diary Pioneer CLD-R7G, CLD-D925 | Yamaha APD-2 | DVDO Edge, VP50 Pro
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admin
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 07 Jul 2020, 03:58 |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37 Posts: 4569 Location: Tokyo Has thanked: 300 times Been thanked: 1166 times
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teddanson wrote: Regardless, the end result is that the Zoom U-44 works perfectly, so if you want something to perform bit perfect capture of AC-3 and DTS Laserdiscs, then you now know the Zoom U-44 is an option for you should you wish to buy one. Added on my shopping list. New on Amazon US is $180 right now (but has been fluctuating between $130 and $200) New on Amazon JP is $155 (out of stock). 2nd hand it seems to be going for $85~110 in Japan. Julien
_________________ HARDWARE DATABASE HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
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admin
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 02 Oct 2020, 16:43 |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37 Posts: 4569 Location: Tokyo Has thanked: 300 times Been thanked: 1166 times
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teddanson wrote: It is a superb device for AC-3 and DTS. Just ensure you use Reaper to capture the audio. The drivers are on the Zoom website as well as the manual so really buying unboxed you are not missing anything. Finally got a U44 with an MSH-6 mic (both boxed ) for $170 (MSRP $260) . I might sell or trade the mic for a XYH-6 to be able to record live music. Julien
_________________ HARDWARE DATABASE HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
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teddanson
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 02 Oct 2020, 17:01 |
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Joined: 16 Nov 2018, 14:21 Posts: 1570 Location: New Delaware Has thanked: 448 times Been thanked: 496 times
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Good stuff! I never got any add-on's with mine, just the U44. I run mine off batteries, it's still going strong! I'm keen to see how you get on with it. Keep the thread updated.
_________________ Blog: The Coterie / L'boxd: Diary Pioneer CLD-R7G, CLD-D925 | Yamaha APD-2 | DVDO Edge, VP50 Pro
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admin
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 04 Oct 2020, 10:16 |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37 Posts: 4569 Location: Tokyo Has thanked: 300 times Been thanked: 1166 times
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teddanson wrote: I'm keen to see how you get on with it. Keep the thread updated. U-44 installed on laptop. Firmware update failed and got me quite worried: time-out at 0/2, then the process froze and took most audio-related apps down with it. Playing on headphones with foorbar2000 would crash after a few seconds. Reboot.. seems to be OK so far, foobar2000 included. Waiting for my LD-S9 to come back from Pioneer for DTS and AC3RF -> RFD-1 -> AC3 captures! Julien
_________________ HARDWARE DATABASE HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
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admin
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Post subject: Re: Zoom U-44 Posted: 04 Oct 2020, 12:14 |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2002, 23:37 Posts: 4569 Location: Tokyo Has thanked: 300 times Been thanked: 1166 times
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teddanson wrote: Blimey. Glad mine is on the latest fw! I wonder would it work for recording DTS audio CD's? I think you can simply rip the WAV file (with EAC for example), no need to resample it externally. Tried again the F/W update (1.04 => 1.10) after a clean reboot and it worked fine this time. Julien
_________________ HARDWARE DATABASE HLD-X0/9 LD-S9 OPPO 105/205 SL-1200G LDD-1 MSC-4000 R2144 PONTUS II C45 MC257
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