How do I record digital audio from my CD-ROM drive?

Here’s the process for recording from CD-ROM to (or through) Dakota:

1. Verify that your CD-ROM drive has a fully-functional 2-pin digital audio output. Some drives have a 2-pin output, but it’s not connected to anything inside the drive! The Dakota FAQ page of our website has a list of CD-ROM drives that have a fully-functional 2-pin digital audio output.
2. Make sure the ribbon cable (included in the Dakota package) is properly connected from the drive’s 2-pin output to Dakota’s internal CD-ROM connector.
3. In the Clock/Device Status tab of the Dakota control panel, set the “S 1:2” device to CD-ROM, *and* set the “Clock Source” to Dig In S/PDIF. (CD-ROM drives are automatically set to Internal sync, so Dakota must be slaved to the CD-ROM drive.)
4. Load an audio CD into the CD-ROM drive, and begin playback. (Some CD-ROM drives only have active output if an audio CD is spinning and the drive is actually counting playback time.)
5. If you want to listen to the audio through Dakota’s outputs connected to a D/A converter, open the Patchbay tab of the Dakota control panel and route the S/PDIF inputs to the desired (optical or coax) outputs.

Knowledge Base