Most laptops only have an in-built microphone for recording audio clips so I had to find some device that would convert analog audio from, say the tape outputs of my amplifier, into USB or firewire (as my laptop has these interfaces), or maybe a PCMCIA card that does the same job. A hunt around the Internet and also around Simlim Square (a big electrical market here in Singapore) came up with the Griffin Technology PowerWave Box.

The page was last updated on 20th November 2005.

Simply connect your phono inputs from your amplifier into the box and then connect the USB cable from the box to your computer. The PowerWave device comes with a loop through mode that allows you to monitor the input, so I plugged in some headphones and , lo and behold, I could hear my amplifier. For details of the product follow this link: Griffin Technology

On plugging in the USB cable I soon got a message recognising the PowerWave USB device. There is some supplied software with the device, but this software (CoolEdit) is for converting .wav files into other formats (including MP3) but there is nothing for recording. I found that Sound Recorder should be used for recording (supplied with Windows), look under Programs/ Accessories/ Entertainment.

Before recording you need to make sure that the PowerWave is being used as the audio source. To do this click Edit and then Audio Properties from the drop down menu at the top of the Sound Recorder Panel. You should see a screen like the one on the right. In Sound Recording select the PowerWave Composite device and close the panel (I also found I needed to select the Volume level to be maximum).

Now go to the sound recorder, play something from your amplifier and press the Record button (the red button). You should see some activity on the meter line. When you have recorded, say, 20 seconds worth, press Stop and then save the file. The file will be saved in your My Music folder unless you direct otherwise. Click on the file and you should hear what you recorded.

The CoolEdit program provided with the PowerWave device also allows you to convert this file to MP3 format for a smaller file size, which I needed to do to keep the attachment sizes small enough for easy playing on the Internet. However this program is only a trial version and when I looked at their website I found they had been bought by Adobe and the product is now released as Adobe Audition.

However before purchasing the product I found a limitation in Sound Recorder, it is limited to 60seconds of recording. Searching the Internet I could find no solution to this, but I did find a recommendation to use another program, CDex, for recording. Download the CDex program and once installed and running go to Tools/Record and from the Analog Input menu select the PowerWave device. Click Record and this time you have no limit on your recording time. This program also allows you to save in MP3 format as well as .wav format although the editing capabilities are not as comprehensive as the Adobe product.

If you have any problems drop me an e-mail, I am no expert but I may be able to point you in the right direction. My e-mail address is on the home page. For information I am using a Toshiba Satellite laptop running XP professional. Good luck.

As a postscript to this a friend also pointed out this product from Apogee for recording audio: Apogee Mini-Me