73 replies to this topic

[howeejin]

howeejin, on 02 August 2011 - 02:09 AM, said:

oh! than i got it, thanks.
one more thing, somewhere on this forums there a SonicStage CP 4.3
what the diff between this and that

never mind, i have read it, it seem CP 4.3 got problem...

[sfbp]

howeejin, on 06 August 2011 - 11:10 PM, said:

never mind, i have read it, it seem CP 4.3 got problem...

This IS Sonic Stage 4.3 CP.

[howeejin]

sfbp, on 07 August 2011 - 12:42 AM, said:

This IS Sonic Stage 4.3 CP.

oh, than why two post

[rlegro]

I do thank the many people who have contributed to discussing this problem, and those who have offered solutions. Glad to hear some of you are back up and running. I am, too, finally, after about two working days worth of struggle, On my fairly new 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium system, my MZ-N1 became a brick. Thanks to support here and elsewhere I finally managed to manually install the NetMD760 driver and get the device properly recognized, but it remained a brick in terms of functionality, since I still couldn't actually do anything with it via Windows.

The SonicStage 4.3 Ultimate install at first left me with much the problem I had trying earlier SS versions: I got a "restart your PC and then try running again" error message. Applying Home Premium's limited XP or NT compatibility mode on the application did get me slightly further, namely to the SonicStage splash window, but then another error advising that "the database is being used by another program." No, it's not! And then I thought: What if I logged out as a user and back in as admninistrator? Yup, that worked. The "other program" was my administrator profile, even when it wasn't running, apparently.

I originally went through a similar ordeal four years ago with another MD recorder and my then-new Vista machine, but this time it was even worse.

Thankfully I didn't have to go to my last-gasp resort: setting up a virtual machine to gain functionality under XP. I'd have to learn how to use one of the third-party virtualware products. I'd simply refuse to spend the money to upgrade to Win 7 Ultimate and its built-in XP virtualization -- that to me would be simpler and more elegant, but still a rip-off. Luckily, I've got an unused but legit copy of XP in stock. But that's a hell of a thing, having to do serious OS surgery just to run a legacy device. How Microsoft ever became the world's leading OS provider and Bill Gates one of the world's richest men still eludes me. Another option might be a Linux driver or Linux running WINE, but I doubt that will succeed either.

Patience! This two-step installation approach does work. Remember to use Compatibility mode under program properties (Vista worked for me) before launching Sonic Stage.

[sfbp]

All I can say is - it works. Numbers of folks have succeeded.

Probably you have to REMOVE some drivers that got installed by mistake. Start with this thread.

[rlegro]

As you can see, Inquisitor, I edited my message to report that I did finally get it running after one last try. Who knew a Snickers bar and a 20-minute time out could be so productive?

[sfbp]

I glad you got it working.

Not sure what you did, or what you mean about 2-steps. I will re-read your post. If you mean that following Sony's direction of rebooting was required, this probably arises out of something being required to be removed, not just deleted from the registry. In fact it's a good rule that when you DEINSTALL something, this is the time to reboot the system.

You definitely do not need Virtual XP mode if you have the 760 driver installed, that is clear. And it will work for all devices we tried so far. Last night I heard of yet another device ID that we haven't seen, and the plan would be to add it in once the installation can be verified for both 32- (052) and 64- (760) bit versions of Windows.

[rlegro]

Thanks for the followup. To clarify, by "the two steps" reference I just meant the need to uninstall the old driver and SS, reboot, then install both the NetMD driver and 4.3, then reboot again. The two specific steps I meant were installing the NetMD driver and then 4.3, but now that I think back, maybe 4.3 contained the driver in its own routine archive, so that's only one step. Though, if you count the reboots and uninstall routines, you're back up to three or four steps! You see, I was punch-drunk by the time I did this successfully.

Anyway, when I de-installed older versions of the driver and Sonic Stage, one of the several SS apps in my program list (I think it was one of those SS update packs) advised that I'd need to reboot, which I did. After that, I installed the new packages. while logged in as Administrator, figuring that would be more reliable. Since I normally don't run the system as the administrator, I then rebooted into my standard user profile. After that I got the "reboot and try again" message from 4.3. Running 4.3 in my standard profile with administrator privileges seemed to fix that as I saw the 4.3 splash screen for the first time, but then I got the "another app is using the database" message.

After playing with this awhile and almost giving up, I figured out that the only way this works for me is to be logged in as administrator. Otherwise, as regular user, I get one of the two above error messages, even if I launch the program with administrative priviileges. This is not terribly inconvenient but it is annoying, so maybe when I have another block of time to burn, I'll remove the program and driver again to see what happens when I install them as a standard user.

[sfbp]

Correct. Sony has ALWAYS said you need to have administrator privileges.

But you do need to install NETMD760 BEFORE SonicStage. Or replace the drivers that the latter puts there. The "Ultimate" version does NOT include the 64-bit driver, as Sony has never officially supported Sonic Stage (the driver came from Japanese-only software which is effectively SS version 5.2) on 64-bits.

If you have multiple units, you may have even more problems unless you manually insist on the driver every time.

Good luck, and please keep us posted of your futher adventures

Stephen

[GsyNiall]

Hi there! This is my first post - please excuse me if I seem like a novice use - I AM!

I have two Sony MD recorder/players: my original (beloved) MZ-R700 and a MZ-R707 that I got because it has a USB port.

I've been recording classical concerts presented by my own choirs / orchestras etc for over 12 years now and the quality is amazing (on one occassion the BBC used my recording of a concert because their own was cr*p!) . I have recorded here in Guernsey, in various French cathedrals and churches and in Brecon Cathedral.

I have NEVER had any commercial Mds - and I never use the units to take a "portable" recording of my own CD collection.

My question is (finally!): does the latest Sonic Stage software allow me to download recordings from MD to my computer without having to do it (as now) in real time using the earphone as output? You will appreciate that this takes for ever with a big concert - and then I have to do all the editing.

Many thanks

Niall (Guernsey, Channel Islands, Great Britain)

[sfbp]

Yes - but ONLY if you buy, beg, borrow, or steal an MZ-RH1 (or MZ-M200 which is the same + a microphone bundled) to upload these tracks. You'll need a PC - this particular trick of the RH1 won't work with a Mac.

Sorry about that. The only other way to get a decent DIGITAL recording off a recorded MD, is to buy an MD deck that has optical output and process that with a PC or Mac. Of course, that is real time - but it's less expensive than an RH1, probably around 50 quid. Whereas an RH1 will set you back 3-4 times that.

[philippeb]

Yet another alternative is the HHb MDP500 Portadisc deck, that has a USB Audio input/output, and does not require any extra software on the PC or Mac.

[sfbp]

Thanks Philippe, I had completely forgotten about that.

And you can also buy, on Ebay, an optical-in sound card for $15 which effects the same. I have one, I just don't use it. It will turn optical in to USB at the PC. Of course, it still needs a deck with optical out, but I sometimes forget it is easier to have USB in than optical in, the last couple of years, especially with the proliferation of laptops instead of machines with bus and plug-in cards.

[neil90uk]

OH man thanks

thought id never see the day id be able to get my net md working again


MANy many many many thanks