(I didn’t find anything in the search function on this specific question.) I just got a minidisc recorder. So you know, Sony MZ N707 is $150 at Best Buy. ($230 at Circuit City) I believe I can only transfer self-recorded music (from microphone) via analog, not digitally to the computer. Am I correct? The player came with an optical (digital) line and a USB cable. The manual says digital download from computer only is possible. Is there much lost transferring sound from line out to line in at sound card? Is there a back door workaround?
I recorded some old record albums onto minidisc recently. I’ve had this old Dubliners album from early 70’s with the best version of Kitty Come Down to Limerick on banjo. That’s the very recording/tune that got me interested in Irish music. And I saved a recording on reel-to-reel I got from a guy the 70’s- loaned me a vinyl record: The Wild Geese, “Quays of Galway Town.” It has the alltime best whistle tune ever. Help me out and I’ll post it.
Tony
Tony
I’m pretty sure you’re correct, Tony - you have to transfer from md to PC in real time, analog, using a cable connecting into the headphone socket on the md and the line in on your sound card. I have not heard of any way to get around the problem.
I have noticed a bit of low-level white noise creeping in, and people here suggested to me that the quality of the cable and sound card might be an issue. I’ve also read that in a digital to analog to digital transfer, some noise is inevitable.
Answers to many questions you never realized you needed to ask, BTW, can be found at http://www.minidisc.org/
The people there have been running a petition campaign to persuade Sony to permit digital output, but without success. Probably because Sony have a foot in both camps - the music industry and consumer hardware - and are trying to restrict piracy as well as sell portable devices.
Did you know, for example, that you can only make 3 generations of a digital recording using an md? The recorders encode the generation information in the recording, and when you reach the limit, they refuse to cooperate.
Luckily this won’t apply to anything you record from a microphone.
My frustration at the moment is trying to find a CD/md deck that can handle the MDLP compression. Plenty available in Europe and some in the States, it seems, but I haven’t found one here in Canada.
Thanks for the info, Steve. Yeah, I was aware of the limitations you mentioned. I don’t blame them for protecting their own financial interests, but it annoys me that those limitations interfere with me recording myself and doing what I want with the recording.
Tony
There is a home MD deck with optical out that is sold at http://minidisco.com but it’s $300-someodd and always out of stock. That might be a workaround but I don’t know for certain. I use the line out and an analog plug out to my sound card. There is some introduction of noise but I can’t do anything about it.
With a good sound card, background noise shouldn’t be an issue. Check music store webpages (rather than computer store webpages) for ideas. For $300 you can get a nice 4 input sound card that will do almost noiseless transfers as well as turn your computer into a digital 4-track
TONY: the difference between analogue out and digital out is miniscule. The quality of your microphone is way more important, in the long run. Also, when you record albums and tapes, ALWAYS turn off the automatic level control (ALC), which Sony calls the automatic volume control even though it’s an input level … but I digress. {Lord, stop me now!}
Hiss could come from a cheezy sound card, but more likely it comes from putting in a low-level signal through the MICROPHONE input instead of the LINE input on your computer. Also - are you turning off the AVLS (as Sony calls it), the thing that prevents the MD from playing loudly and ruining your hearing? Lots of people confuse it with the auto-level input (which you should also turn off, as I mentioned earlier). Line-level is 26/30 on Sharp MDs and, I think, 30/30 on Sonys (unless you were smart enough to get a Sony with a separate line out).
By the way, converting analogue to digital or digital to analogue doesn’t create any hiss, as such.
Stevie: Boynton Pro Audio sells the Sony 440 and 940 home decks. The 940 (which I own and love) has digital outs.
Maybe this is OT, but why is everyone trying to get their MDs into computers? I’ve only had a computer for a week, so there may be much I do not yet grok. If I need to copy an MD, I usually make a cassette (for my car or for a friend), and if I have to make a CD I just plug the edited MD right into a CD recorder? What am I missing?
I think what I would love to see (and hear) is to digitaly record music live on the MD from a mic, and then transfer it to my computer digitaly, and then burn it on a CD… Jon
On 2002-12-07 02:06, ELLIOTT wrote:
Maybe this is OT, but why is everyone trying to get their MDs into computers? I’ve only had a computer for a week, so there may be much I do not yet grok. If I need to copy an MD, I usually make a cassette (for my car or for a friend), and if I have to make a CD I just plug the edited MD right into a CD recorder? What am I missing?
Elliott, I don’t have a cassette recorder, and in order to record a CD on my computer I have to start with computer files. I don’t have the ability to record a CD directly from a live source. That’s why I have to get it onto my computer first, to make wav or mp3 files.
I also have to get it onto the computer if I want to email a clip to someone.
On 2002-12-07 04:38, Jon C. wrote:
I think what I would love to see (and hear) is to digitaly record music live on the MD from a mic, and then transfer it to my computer digitaly, and then burn it on a CD… > > Jon
Is that asking toooo much?
As far as I know, yes. No MD portables have digital out capability, to my knowledge.
Just to update: as I posted on Clips site, I uploaded analog line-in to my computer sound card, which is nothing special, from the minidisc, and I got very decent reproduction and no noticeable hiss.
(I looked at my cd burner in the computer, and there’s no direct line in.)
Tony
This year I visited a whistler who had a setup in the living room, where you play into a mic and it is instantly recorded onto a CD. I’d never seen that before. It didn’t use a computer at all. Benefit - very simple to use and record onto CD, even seperate tracks. Down side? You get one shot at each track, and if you screw up, oops, that’s it, you’ve got an error in the final piece. We produced a CD of sample tunes that day but the first track is blank because the microphone wasn’t fully plugged into the jack.
AVANUTRIA - You can e-mail a music clip? TOO MUCH! How do you do it? E-mail me if this is too OT for this thread.
There are no MD portables with digital out. The Sony 940 home unit has optical and coax outputs. It also edits to 1/84th of a second, normalizes levels, plays music up to 300% slower (in .1% increments!), has a screen you can read, a comfy remote, etc. etc. And it copies from your portable, too. $300-350. I’ve seen 'em used for $200.
But, as TonyHiggins says, going analogue into your computer has almost no effect on sound. The quality of your mic is WAY more important.
If you’re using a separate burner, why not record onto a CD-RW, edit as needed, then copy it onto a CD-R?
Also - What does “disable BBcode” and “disable Smilies on this post” mean?
\
–^ = = = = = = = (((
whistle on & on …
[ This Message was edited by: ELLIOTT on 2002-12-09 15:19 ]
On 2002-12-07 16:10, ELLIOTT wrote:
You can e-mail a music clip? … How do you do it?
You can email any file as an attachment, and an mp3 of music is no different. If you need help in using attachments on email, send me a message and I’ll try to help you out.
If you’re using a separate burner, why not record onto a CD-RW, edit as needed, then copy it onto a CD-R?
Because for those of us who can’t burn directly to a CD from the MD, as I mentioned before, that method would not work. Besides, it’s much more convenient for me to have the data directly on my computer, as I can send it to people, upload to share, put it in Winamp without wondering which CD it’s on, etc.
Also - What does “disable BBcode” and “disable Smilies on this post” mean?
It means, if you type something that normally would be valid code to create html or a smily, it would not create the effect. For example, in this post I have turned off smilies. Now I can type which would normally become a smiley face. If I were writing a number list of items, I would want to be able to write and not have it become a smiley face.
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2002-12-07 16:27 ]
Thanks, Avanutria.
Let me try this … .
I do not neccesarily endorse the previous face.
I’ve only had a computer for a week, so I’m still figuring it all out.
Jon
which would normally become a smiley face. If I were writing a number list of items, I would want to be able to write