A440

Are you sure it's not your headphones? Try a different pair.

Back in the bad old days, SonicStage had a horrible check-in/check-out feature that prevented transfers of tracks from computer to multiple outboard devices. The files are still on your computer, but they're "checked out" so SonicStage wouldn't transfer them again. Those files may still be locked because an old SonicStage was used with them, and possibly the new SonicStage still won't unlock them. Have you tried Hi-MD Renderer? It may be able to convert tracks that are in My Library to .mp3 or another unencrypted format. Try it and see if it will convert them to .wav or .mp3 (make sure you are using a high bitrate for .mp3, >192) and then import the converted files back into SonicStage. Hi-MD Renderer is free (though you can send Marcnet a donation) and worth a try. If Hi-MD Renderer won't work, and your only copy of the files is on your computer, and you are desperate to have them, you could make a realtime recording: either analog out of your headphone jack (from the computer) into the MD, or digitally by playing them back on the computer with SonicStage and recording them with Total Recorder, which costs $18--it intercepts sound on the way to your soundcard and records it. Make sure you're recording in .wav or high-bitrate .mp3.

Just out of curiosity: When you connect via USB, does SonicStage list the tracks on the disc? Can they be played back from the disc itself through SonicStage? And have you tried, just as an experiment, recording in Hi-SP or Hi-LP?

When SonicStage is properly installed and working, it's pretty self-explanatory. You plug in the RH1 (or other USB-connected Minidisc unit) and a window will open with the tracks on the disc, along with nice red transfer arrows. I suggest you install it before the RH1 arrives and click through all the Options under Tools, including Advanced settings. Just go through them and you'll see what the program offers.

If the File Conversion tool doesn't work to remove DRM from those uploaded tracks--and I have no idea whether it does or not--then wouldn't converting them to .wav or using Hi-MD Renderer offer total freedom?

That's odd. Perhaps it means that all the tracks are already in ATRAC. But they may not be in ATRAC without DRM, so uncheck those boxes and run the file conversion tool if it will let you.

Rocktap, make sure that under REC SET you have SYNC RECORDING turned off. That may be inserting the track marks if you're using mic-in. As others have noted, there's no way around track marks with Line-in.

Note that this is exactly one song. It costs $1.99, twice as much as an iTunes download. And it is "personalized," which means that if it is shared online they could conceivably track down the horrible pirate who dared to deprive Jessica Simpson of a fraction of that day's makeup budget. "The new track, costing $1.99 (£1.07), can be personalised before the song is downloaded, allowing users to have their name inserted in the lyrics." Yes, the guy from Yahoo is right that DRM decreases value. That doesn't mean the music companies are really listening yet.

You probably transferred them with an old version of SonicStage that limited the number of transfers, adding DRM (digital rights managment). Try this, from this thread: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...=DRM+SonicStage In SonicStage, go the the menu "Tools" and select "Start File Conversion Tool". If it opens up, click Next and then UNSELECT both options ('Delete Files' and 'Add DRM'). Click Next and the tool will start converting all drm-ed files to non-drm-ed files.

Audacity has a Mac version, and it's free. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Happy fiddling.

People have talked about this, but it has never happened to me. Track marks themselves don't repeat material. I believe what has happened to some people is that combined tracks will include repeated material. But since it hasn't happened to me, I couldn't say. When recording through Line-in, the unit automatically inserts a track mark if it detects 5 seconds of silence (or, actually, 5 seconds of signal below its threshold). Some people have had trouble with recordings made at a low level that force them to recombine all those little tracks--hearing repeated material. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Since you're handy enough with editing software to slice out 32 bars precisely on the beat, you should be able to deal with this on the off chance that it does happen.

The NH600 only does Line-in recording. And be careful: the NH600D does not do real-time recording at all, only USB transfer.

Oops, forgot about Real Player. I've always hated that program even more than SonicStage.

If I understand you correctly, you're trying to take a file from the minidisc and place it directly into a playlist. I don't think SonicStage does that. All the Transfer function does is copy the file into My Library, not a specific place in My Library. I don't use playlists much in SonicStage, so if I'm misunderstanding you and you're trying to deal with a file that's already in My Library, I hope someone else can help you. Title your tracks as soon as you upload them (using numbers at the beginning to preserve the order). Then clicking on the various columns in My Library gives you many different ways to order the tracks. Another hint: Turn on the Group function on your recorder: under Menu/REC SET there's a setting for [icon that looks like a folder] REC. Each time you Stop recording and then start, the next bunch of tracks will be in a separate group (or folder, or album, which you can title), and they will upload within those folders, so you don't have to make playlists out of them. Do your combined tracks play back properly through SonicStage while they're still in Hi-LP? I hope so. Try converting them without putting them in a playlist: just leaving them in My Library and converting one at a time. Maybe the playlisting is getting in the way. Otherwise, you might try reinstalling SonicStage. It's a complicated program, and maybe the one nugget of it that converts to .wav didn't install properly. Before reinstalling run the Backup Tool--you probably won't need the backup, but it never hurts to have one. You can also try the homegrown alternative to SonicStage's "Sav as .wav": MarcNet's own Hi-MD Renderer program. Once you have the files in My Library, HiMDRenderer can convert them to .wav , .mp3 or other formats. To download the latest version go to the last post in this thread. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=12683 Usually the hard part has been getting the music from MD to computer, so this is an unusual glitch.

The only way to get playable music onto a minidisc is through Sony software: SonicStage, SimpleBurner (easy transfer of CDs) or the Mac music transfer software for Macs. There is no other program. You have a NetMD. The next generation of minidisc units, Hi-MD, allows the unit to be connected as a data drive. But a music file that has been dragged-and-dropped to Hi-MD is still not playable by the unit. Only files that have been transferred by SonicStage are playable. That's how Sony engineered it.

I just copied in_atrac.dll into Winamp's Plugins, clicked on an .oma file and right-clicked "Open With..." Winamp and it worked fine. Is that what you're doing?

Most of the info is with the files, but it's: 2 low-priced Church Audio binaurals (I don't think he makes them any more, they were about $35) clipped pointing outward on my shirt collar with windscreens Mic Madness Mini Battery Module---> Line-In Probably about 18/30--didn't write it down Hi-SP, NHF800, uploaded to .wav and converted to Lame alt-preset-standard at 192 kbps. There's no post-processing. But the crucial thing is that I was in a great spot: right near the soundboard, near some real fans who kept quiet. And Bonnaroo really cares about good sound. Oh, and I am an Elvis Costello fan. But the people around me were chattering a lot during his set. I need to go through those recordings and see if there's something worth uploading.

I'm a PC user, so I'm unfamiliar with the Mac software. It may have bugs that are just being discovered. However: With SonicStage, simply inserting track marks while recording has never been a problem for me or most other users when uploading. SonicStage did formerly have very serious problems if a track mark was made and later removed within a track--hence the old warning against editing a track on the unit. But with 3.4 even that is no longer a problem. I am reluctant, more from superstition than anything empirical, to upload giant tracks because if there's any glitch anywhere in the track, you could conceivably lose the whole thing. So while recording, I simply push the Track button between songs during applause (usually on my remote, but obviously you can do it on the unit too). You have a few choices. If there are natural breaks in the music--I know those fiddle medleys get long, but probably not 90 minutes long--then just press the track button while recording. Or listen back and add some tracks during playback. Or if you don't want to be bothered and don't mind doing a little editing afterward, you could go into Time Mark under REC SET and pick an arbitrary length--5 minutes? 10 minutes?--and have marks automatically inserted.

To save in .wav format, SonicStage goes through two different operations: it uploads the recording from the unit to your computer, and then on the computer it converts that upload to .wav files, either by making an uncompressed version of your original recording (if it was Hi-SP or Hi-LP) or by removing its DRM information (if it was PCM). To troubleshoot, let's separate the two operations. I have SonicStage 3.4, so 4.0 might be slightly different, but basically you want to NOT have it Save to .wav while uploading. Don't worry, you can Save to .wav later. In 3.4, under Tools/Options/Transfer/HiMD/Transfer Settings/Advanced (on the bottom), UNCHECK "Save in .wav when importing." As I say, 4.0 may be slightly different, but the option should be in there somewhere. Once that is unchecked, try uploading again, and see if the tracks upload without a problem. There have been times that SonicStage just didn't want to save a track to .wav, but would do it just fine as a separate operation. SonicStage has been through a lot of versions, and in versions before 3.4 it sometimes used to choke on tracks that had been combined on the unit. Later versions seem to have fixed that bug, but it's still mentioned in the FAQs. Still, instead of combining all the tracks on the disc into one giant upload, it might be better to leave your tracks separated so that SonicStage doesn't have to process so much data at once. Did all the tracks upload? (I'm going to be optimistic.) Under Edit in SonicStage, there is a Combine function. Once tracks have been uploaded, you open My Library, highlight the tracks you want to combine--(Important: Highlight in the order you want them combined, because there's no Undo once they're combined)--and let SonicStage combine them. Edit also has a Divide command that's actually pretty good--it lets you finely adjust where you want to divide. OK, one more question: What format are the tracks recorded in? Hi-SP, Hi-LP, PCM?

A better sound source is always the best improvement, so that's an excellent start. Raising the recording level probably also helped. The idea is to get the highest level you can get without overloading. If 15 works for you, then definitely use it. PCM rather than Hi-SP probably gave you a little more definition and detail in the sound. It won't change the volume. Your problem with bass is your microphone. It only picks up down to 100 Hz, so it's missing a lot of bass. AGC is not good for music because you can hear it raising and lowering the level. You should always use manual. I would always use Low Sensitivity for music, even unamplified. Just put the Manual Volume up higher--even somewhere in the 20s. Test at home with your stereo, but also look at the levels when recording the first song live. For editing, I use Audacity, which is very simple and straightforward. Its only quirk is that it uses its own format (.aup), so that instead of "Save" you have to click "Export to .wav"--no big deal. Remember, you should always keep an unedited copy of your original recording, because every adjustment you make actually gives you lower fidelity. Noise reduction is not for this purpose. Noise reduction is for problems like static or something like a rumbling air conditioner: a steady noise interfering with the recording. For noise reduction, you give the program a sample of the noise alone to analyze, and it removes frequencies matching that noise from the rest of the recording. If you apply noise reduction to music, you are going to eliminate part of the music. Normalize will find the loudest part of a track and then amplify the rest to be closer to that peak. You can use that on your quieter tracks. I don't think bass boost is going to help you much because your mic isn't picking up the bass. But try it and see if it helps. You could also just try boosting bass when you play back the music instead of changing the track itself. Don't know what to suggest about the order. The key is to get the best recording to begin with and do a minimum of post-processing. So start saving up for a better microphone. If you are in Europe, look at this thread: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...14388&st=15 When you get a new mic, you are going to have to experiment and find settings that work best with it--they won't be the same as your current mic. You may also need the attenuator or a battery module because as the mic picks up more bass, the preamp in the MD recorder overloads sooner. But it's worth it to have a better microphone.

I haven't used that microphone, because I prefer omnis, but I do trust Sound Professionals for quality and customer service. I like the look of that microphone pair because you'll get true stereo separation with it, which should also help you pick out instruments in your jam sessions. Definitely get an extension cable. Even with a directional mic pointed away from the unit, I would hesitate to use it the way it's pictured because the MD unit makes an intermittent whirring sound that the mics may pick up. Amplified music easily drowns it out, but acoustic music might not. With your specialized needs, you might call Sound Professionals and talk to them first to see what they recommend. It's not one of those giant anonymous web retailers. They are quite friendly and they do know their mics. The potential problem with any mic that picks up more low register is the preamp in the minidisc unit. It doesn't like bass, and can overload easily. (My guess is that's one reason that Sony's mics "for minidisc" cut off at 100 Hz.) It's something you would have to find out by trying the new mic in your situation, since it depends completely on how loud the sound is. If it does overload, then the quick cheap fix is an attenuator/headphone volume control, about $7 at Radio Shack, and go mic-attenuator-mic-in. The higher-fidelity fix is to get a battery module, about $50, and record through Line-in instead. Either way, I think it is much better to have a full-range mic. Once you hear those recordings you won't want to go back to the 100 Hz bottom end.

SonicStage is a PC program. There's no Mac equivalent if you want to use it to download music from a Mac computer to MD. The MZ-M** and MZ-RH1 models have a program called .wav importer that allows PCM recordings to be uploaded from those machines to a Mac. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=11840&hl=

CD files are .wav files. That's what a regular CD player, and probably your car player, can read. (Your PC can probably read both .wav and .mp3 files.) .wav files don't include the tag information that mp3 files include. Converting to .wav from .mp3 would lose the titles again. You would have to add the titles with CD Text. Only certain players can read the CD-Text--maybe not your car player or your portable CD player--but perhaps Cakewalk has a way to add the text so it will show up in those devices that can read CD-Text, like maybe your computer.

Minidisc units record better than decently. They will reproduce virtually as good a signal as you put into them. They are slightly quirky but easy to use once you get used to those little quirks. For maximum music storage you would want to get a Hi-MD unit which will take a 1GB disc and records three times as much information on older minidiscs (74 and 80-minute standard minidiscs). Best price: MZ-NH700, about $150 Takes an AA battery, so is slightly thicker than some other units. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553220 Best features: MZ-RH1, about $330 You're probably talking about an electric instrument? Every minidisc recorder has a line-in jack with a standard stereo miniplug. If you can get a connector from your instrument (or amplifier) to a stereo miniplug, then you should be able to record directly. You may need a simple adapter to change the mono signal from your instrument to a stereo signal and to change the size of the plug.

You need to try to isolate the problem a bit. It could be the cord, the unit, the disc or the software. With any of the first three, your test would be to use a different one if possible.