Hatrack River Forum: Know anything about "connector cables"?

This is topic Know anything about "connector cables"? in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :

I recently purchased a digital voice recorder, intending to transfer my crazed mumblings to the computer.
There were a couple models; I went for a lower end one. Only problem was that it has no readily available way to transfer stuff (ie: cables or some such thing), but it does have both a headphone and a mike jack? Port? Plug-in hole.
I asked the nice man behind the counter if there was something else I could use. He said that there was a cord that had a plugger-in thing for a headphone/ mike plug-in thing on one end and a USB plug in thing at the other.
But I can't find one.

Can you suggest anything?

(Sorry for my failing at technical terminology..)

Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :

What is the manufacturer and model?

Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :

Olympus Digital Vice Recorder VN-1000

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

If it has a headphone jack but doesn't mention anywhere in the manual the existence of this USB-terminated special cable, I think you'll probably have to run the headphone connection to the line-in (or mic) port(s) on your PC's sound card and record the files manually using audio software. It's possible that the manufacturer makes a cable that actually allows you to perform file transfers, but you're best off searching for that specific item on their website; it would almost certainly be model-specific.

Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :

My headphone cord ends in headphones. How does that work?

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

The socket into which you plug the headphones is a standard size (probably a mini stereo jack). If you get a male-to-male cable, of the same sort that's probably connecting your computer speakers to your PC (unless you got cheap speakers that have a cord which is actually wired directly to one of the speakers), you can plug one end into the recorder's headphone-out and another end into your sound card's line-in.

This will unfortunately require you to manually record the sound passing through your card, but there's no reason -- beyond sheer boredom -- that you couldn't do it.

Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :

quote:
there's no reason -- beyond sheer boredom -- that you couldn't do it.

Unfortunately, I'm sure I'll disprove that.

Sound card: Does that happen to have yellow/white/ red plug-in places? -doesn't know what a sound card is-

And, thanks.

Posted by Morbo (Member # 5309) on :

quote:
Originally posted by aiua:
Olympus Digital Vice Recorder VN-1000

Don't record your vices! It will be your undoing at trial! [Razz]

A sound card is a plug-card on the motherboard that handles sound input and output. It's what you plug speakers and headphones into. It usually has sockets on the back of the computer, often color coded to help putting the system together.

Most systems don't come with mikes, but many soundcards have input(s) for mikes or line-in, as Tom says. On the two computers I have, there are little pictures of headphones and mikes by the appropriate sockets, in addition to the color coding.

Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :

Computer sound cards don't vary much. These connectors are always found on the back of the computer, although most recent models have connectors on the front of the case. They're the same colors, front and back, to represent their uses.

The green jack is for output, to the speakers.
The red jack is for a microphone input.
The blue jack is for input from other devices. (line-in, as TomD said.)

They're all 1/8" stereo jacks, kinda like your headphones use. You'll probably use a stereo audio cable, with 1/8" jacks on both ends, to connect the voice recorder to the input (blue) connector. If you don't have this cable, the local electronics store has them for under $10.

You will need a program on the computer to capture the audio and save it in a file. I'm not sure what your computer has, but I've used MusicMatch with good results. There are many programs out there, and I'm hoping a good jatraquero will come up with a better recommendation for you. [Smile]

The yellow/red/white jacks are normally used for video, with yellow representing the video signal, and the red and white representing left and right channel audio. (Stereo audio...sometimes the devices only uses white, for monaural audio). Notice I said normally; I'm trying to simplify things for you. [Smile]

Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :

Audacity is a great program, and not just for that application. I highly recommend it, and I think it would work fine for this....

And it is free. [Big Grin]

Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :

XD Didn't notice the vice thing..

Thanks so much for all your help.
One last question, though.
With this hooking up to a computer, can I record elsewhere, then come back, hook it up to computer, then press play or something and it'll pop up on screen, or can I only get it onto my computer if I've got it all hooked up and recording while I'm speaking?

Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :

With this device, you can record elsewhere and play it back -- and copy it to your PC -- by pressing "play" once it's connected to your sound card.

If you just want to record audio while sitting at your computer, all you need is a mic or headset that terminates in a mini-stereo plug.

Posted by aiua (Member # 7825) on :

-sends waves of gratitude-