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Simple Guide:
Digitizing Vinyl from a Linn DSM to a Mac with Songcorder & VinylStudio
Version 2.0 dtd 22-01-2018
The Problem:
You are a Mac owner and want to digitize some of your nice vinyl records in top (HiRes 96/24 or even
higher) quality, add the results in lossless format (FLAC or ALAC) to your (NAS-)music library and stream
the ripped songs to your Linn DSM
BUT
you are afraid of spending ages with splitting tracks, manual tagging (you hate typing the names of all the
songs!), adding album art etc…
The Solution:
For the price of less than a handful of vinyl records or HiRes downloads you can get the software package
(Songcorder, SoX and VinylStudio) which will enable you to transfer your vinyl recordings into properly
tagged lossless files VERY quickly: It shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes for a record.
Hardware Requirements:
-

Turntable (ofcourse, but it doesn’t have to be a LP 12 J )
(any) Linn DSM
Mac or PC connected via Ethernet/LAN to the Linn DSM (PowerLan/Dlan might work but WLan will
most likely not work!)

Software Requirements:
-

Songcorder for Mac OS X/macOS
Songcorder records the Songcast stream of the Linn DSM on the Mac as audio RAW file.
Download link https://doomhammer.github.io/songcorder/
Price: You can support Songcorder with a Paypal donation to developer DoomHammer

-

SoX (Sound eXchange)
Sox “the Swiss Army knife of sound processing programs” is required for converting the RAW file
into WAV file format.
Download link: http://sox.sourceforge.net/
Price: You can support SoX with a Paypal donation

-

Linn Konfig installed on the Mac/PC
Download link https://www.linn.co.uk/software

-

Vinylstudio for Mac OS X or Windows
Download link: http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/download.aspx
(alternatively via Apple App Store).
Vinylstudio is a very powerful vinyl recording software, in this setup it’s being used for tracksplitting, click & scratch removal, semi automatic lookup of tracklisting and album art, transfer of
lossless files into music library. (There is a bunch of alternatives to Vinylstudio on the market and if
you want to save the 30 Euro for Vinylstudio you should try the freeware Audacity).
Price: about 30 Euro
1

-

Homebrew for Mac
Homebrew ( https://brew.sh ) is “the missing package manager for Mac Os” which will allow you to
install SoX (and many other tools/software) easily.

1. Software installation and configuration
Warning/Disclaimer:
Songcorder and SoX have no GUI and do require Terminal commands for the first installation.
Be aware of this, I take no guarantee…(although it worked for me)
1.0 Linn DSM configuration within Konfig
I am using following settings:
Device->Advanced->Digital Output Mode: RAW, although 88/96 and 192 do not make any difference
on my Linn Majik DSM. It appears that you are “limited” to 96kHz/24bit with a Linn Majik and only the
Akurate and Klimax DS(M)’s will give you the ability to rip with 192kHz.
Sources->Phono->Input Level (Vrms): 4
you can try 1 or 2 but you might encounter clipping which is a killer for any digital recording.
With 4 the recording level might be as low as 25 pct but I don’t think that this is any problem as
these will be 24 bit recordings and the loss will be no more than 2 bits J
Sources->Phono->Digital features: ON
2.0 Homebrew Installation
Just follow the selfexplaining instructions on https://brew.sh , i.e. you have to open Terminal on your
Mac (CMD + Space key will open Spotlight, type terminal and ENTER will open a Terminal Window),
then type (better copy and paste)
/usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl –fsSL
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Installation of Homebrew might take a while and you might be answered to enter your (admin on Mac)
password.
2.1 Songcorder for Mac Installation
-

Download Songcorder for Mac https://doomhammer.github.io/songcorder/
Open Terminal
Make Songcorder “executable”:
chmod +x /Users/username/whatever/songcorder
(where /Users/username/whatever/ should be replaced by the exact path of the songcorder file
2

2.2 SoX for Mac Installation
-

The latest version of Songcorder supports the option to save vinyl-rips directly in FLAC file format.
SoX does support FLAC file format but you have to add the FLAC support manually.

-

In case you have already installed SoX without FLAC support you first have to deinstall SoX (if SoX is
not installed on your Mac you can skip the following SoX deinstall part):
Open Terminal (CMD+Space, type Terminal and ENTER) and type
brew remove sox

-

Install SoX with FLAC support by typing
brew install sox –with-flac

-

SoX with Flac support will be installed.

2.3 Vinylstudio Installation
-

Should be straight forward http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/VinylStudio/download.aspx
Any problems/issues can be posted on http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/forum
Developer Paul Sanders is extremely helpful

3. Recording Vinyl with Songcorder
The latest Songcorder version introduces – among other improvements – two nice features:
A) Option to choose between lossless formats WAV or FLAC
and
B) Filename Option
-

Open Terminal
Type
./songcorder –f filename
where filename could be for example
TheWho_LiveAtLeeds_Side1
if you are about to record side one of this great 1970 live album

-

You should then simply follow the instructions
o Select Network Interface (should only be one) and select 1
o Select Linn Device and select the number of the Linn DSM
o Select the file format in which you would like to save your rip, options are WAV or FLAC
o After a couple of seconds the recording on the Mac will start (file audio.raw in the same
directory as songcorder)
o Start the playing the vinyl record
o To stop the recording press q
3

o Songcorder/SoX will automatically create filename.wav or filename.flac respectively (96/24
or higher depending on your hardware) from the raw stream
o Once you have finished recording both sides of the vinyl you should have one (if you have
one record for both sides) or two wav files.
I prefer to have separate recordings, .e.g.
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo – Side 1.wav and
Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo – Side 2.wav
4. Converting the WAV (or FLAC) files into properly tagged lossless files with VinylStudio
(If you are happy with one large WAV or FLAC file for each vinyl side you have ripped you can skip the next
part, ofcourse)
Start Vinylstudio
Select Record-Tab, Insert Artist, Album Title, Release Year and Genre:

Click the Import Sound File(s) button and follow the selfexplaining dialogue to import the wav file(s)
created by Songcorder/SoX:

4

Change to the “Split Tracks” Tab:
Vinylstudio will generate waveforms of the wav files:

Click “Lookup Track Listing” button, select the database (my preference is Discogs).
A “lookup” will usually return a couple of matching albums to choose from, Import Album Art will show the
album cover, if available:

5

Once you are fine with the selected album and album art click “Use selected Listing” and “Close”
Vinylstudio will insert track splits (in case length of tracks was found in database):

However this should be checked and corrected manually (pretty easy with a headphone and a mouse
attached to the computer)
Once you are happy with the track breaks / splitting select the “Save Tracks” tab:

6

Select the Select the album
Check the album and clicking “More” will give you a variety of options:

I usually scan an album for clicks (I know Linn LP12 Owners do not have any bad records so they can skip
this…)
7

Don’t be shocked by the number of possible “Clicks”…

and normalise the record: This is very helpful as the Phono settings of Konfig (see above) result in a
comparatively low recording level:
8

Once this is done I just add the track to my iTunes library (but this is no must, configure Vinylstuio
according to your requirements). I am saving in ALAC lossless format as iTunes doesn’t work with FLAC
format but Vinylstudio is capable of saving files in FLAC format.

9

Finished!
The Vinyl Rips appear properly tagged in lossless format in my iTunes library.
Apart from manually inserting the artist, album title, year and genre all other information including song
titles has been collected by VinylStudio

Have fun!
22.01.2018
10



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Title                           : Simple Guide Digitizing Vinyl  2.0 22.01.2018 96 ppi
Author                          : Jens-Michael Arndt
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