Poor documenttion for CD Spin Doctor

[Mike333]

Please......is there a proper manual somewhere for - "CD Spin Doctor" ??

 

ROXIO'S DOCUMENTATION for this product is terrible (non-existent) and their web site isn't much better at getting answers or pdf manuals !

 

 

 

I am importing my vinyl and cassette files successfully but can't figure out how to do the very simplest thing with Spin Doctor: highlighting and dragging, to select a section of a file,..... and then "Cut" or "Delete" unwanted sections of a track before re-saving it.

 

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:

 

I am highlighting and cutting undesired noise pops, spaces between vinyl tracks and other undesirable sections by highlghting and dragging them and I am seeing cute puffs of smoke as sections I hilite like this supposedly delete -- but when I replay the modified tracks the "cut" sections are still there ?

 

How on earth do I find comprehensiblke instructions for editing trackls visually ? It's not much good, this CD Spin Doctor, if you can't edit and delete unwanted sections of a just imported file.

[silvia33]

The documentation for Spin Doctor is the Help document.

 

 

I click on "Help" and the web page for the info on Spin Dr. opens. No help at all!!!

 

Any other help???

 

Thanks,

silvia

[tsantee]

I click on "Help" and the web page for the info on Spin Dr. opens. No help at all!!!

 

Any other help???

 

Thanks,

silvia

I was mistaken. There was a Help document with the earlier versions but this on just takes you to the Toast Support site.

 

What information are you needing?

[tomt.]

The first time I used Spin Dr. I encountered the same "non-feature" mentioned in Mike333's post starting this discussion.

 

I had no problem digitizing an audio tape, but after I opened the waveform in Spin Dr. I assumed I could delete portions I didn't want to save in the final version. So, I went through a lot of frustration trying to figure out what I was doing wrong (although it was entertaining at first to see the puffs of smoke when I tried deleting).

 

The Help documentation, such as it is, wasn't really much help. It explains how to create tracks and how to delete tracks. Silly me, I created a track of what I wanted to delete, then hit Delete. Poof! The pretty colored box disappeared, but the waveform of what I hoped to delete remained.

 

Anyway, I appreciate the time spent by all folks who bothered to reply to this particular discussion thread. You answered my question. The doctor doesn't perform this particular procedure.

 

In case someone else who's trying to delete portions of an audio track finds this discussion, here's a bit more to add to tsantee's mention of using QuickTime Pro:

 

1. Import & digitize the analog audio using Spin Doctor. Save the file.

 

2. Open that file with QT Pro and use the little sliders at the bottom of the timeline to edit out all unwanted audio. (I have QT Pro, so I don't know if this can also be done using only the free version of QT.)

 

3. EXPORT the file after selecting Sound to AIFF and for 'Use" select 44.1 kHz. (Select Export, because if you select Save or Save As, you'll end up with a .mov file.)

 

4 If you want the final file to be an MP3, import the AIFF file you created above into iTunes, then in iTunes select that file, go to Advanced, and convert it to MP3.

[silvia33]

I was mistaken. There was a Help document with the earlier versions but this on just takes you to the Toast Support site.

 

What information are you needing?

 

 

I'm going to copy records (albums) to my computer and then to CD's. I would like a manual or tutorial on how to use Spin Dr. I don't have specific questions, general ones as to: can I take out "scratches", how to transfer from the file I get in the computer to the CD, what does SD actually do, etc, etc... (believe it or not, I like to read manuals )

 

 

Which program would be better to get the music to the computer, SD or Audio Hijack or ???

 

Any help in general...

 

Thanks,

silvia33

[tsantee]

I'm going to copy records (albums) to my computer and then to CD's. I would like a manual or tutorial on how to use Spin Dr. I don't have specific questions, general ones as to: can I take out "scratches", how to transfer from the file I get in the computer to the CD, what does SD actually do, etc, etc... (believe it or not, I like to read manuals )

Which program would be better to get the music to the computer, SD or Audio Hijack or ???

 

Any help in general...

 

Thanks,

silvia33

The new version of Spin Doctor operates in an "assistant" mode that provides step-by-step instructions how to use it. So I suggest walking through that process to see if it answers your questions.

 

Audio HiJack is excellent for capturing audio that is already digital, such as something playing on a Web site. Spin Doctor is for converting analog audio to digital such as converting LPs to CDs or iTunes tracks.

 

You need to connect your Mac to a line-level audio source. This means you need to have your turntable connected to a receiver or pre-amp's phono inputs and then connect the Mac to the receiver or pre amp's line output. Some people use a USB or Firewire audio device such as the Griffin iMic although you can use the audio input built into the Mac if one is present.

 

You launch Spin Doctor and start playing a loud portion of the LP in order to set your input levels in Spin Doctor. When that is done place the needle at the start of the LP and click record. When the first side is recorded click pause instead of stop, turn the LP over and press pause again to continue recording. At the end click the stop record button.

 

Spin Doctor then writes a waveform and automatically tries to mark tracks by looking for silent gaps in the recording. Sometimes this works well. Sometimes not. Personally, I turn off this automatic feature in preferences and prefer to manually select tracks. This is simply done by dragging from where a track begins and stopping where it ends. There is a preference to allow a greater magnification of the wave form and I like using that to fine tune my adjustments. You can drag the start and end points of the tracks. You can even leave parts of the waveform unmarked so it isn't exported in any track.

 

The noise filtering is an adjustment you make based on your own ears. I suggest using headphones so you can fine tune those adjustments. There are far more audio enhancement options than you'll need or even want. I usually just clean up the noise.

 

After using the assistant a few times you'll probably want to be rid of it because it slows you down. There is an option in preferences to turn it off.

 

Most of the rest is pretty easy to figure out. I recommend saving often. Earlier versions of Spin Doctor had problems with unexpected quits which had me going back and marking tracks again. This was not as common with Spin Doctor 3 so hopefully Spin Doctor 4 is also stable, but frequent saves is still a good policy.

[silvia33]

The new version of Spin Doctor operates in an "assistant" mode that provides step-by-step instructions how to use it. So I suggest walking through that process to see if it answers your questions.

 

Audio HiJack is excellent for capturing audio that is already digital, such as something playing on a Web site. Spin Doctor is for converting analog audio to digital such as converting LPs to CDs or iTunes tracks.

 

Thank you very much! I appreciate your time and clarity.

 

silvia33

[tsantee]

The documentation for Spin Doctor is the Help document.

 

There is no audio editing within tracks in Spin Doctor. You can select the track start and end points but you cannot delete content within a track. To do that you need to export the track and edit it with QuickTime Pro or an audio editing application.