dex Otaku

Chances are this is [for both of you] a MP3 system codec issue.

I have had this happen myself [i.e. I was the engineer]. That's why I added the bit about "using someone else's equipment."

The recording may technically still be there, but as there are currently no audio data recovery tools for HiMD, there is no simple way to recover your recording. The malfunction was what we call "user error." Considering the warnings in the manual [and, with my NH700 at least, in the form of a sticker right on the back of the unit] and elsewhere about using fresh batteries and/or the AC adapter, I don't think you should surprised that you lost your recording.

With nearly all lossless codecs, 2:1 compression is in fact a BEST case scenario, not worst. Worst-case scenario is 1:1 or slightly below it [as with, say, white noise]. Most lossless packing methods average 1.4 - 1.6:1 compression. Estimating time left with 2:1 as the ratio would be overly optimistic to say the least.

It depends on the sound board. Your end of the connection will always be the same [3.5mm stereo/TRS] but the other end can be any of several, depending on the model and make. Some possibles: * dual RCA jacks - Mackie boards have tape inputs/outputs like this. This is the simplest possible connection from your perspective. * 1/4" stereo via headphone jack - some boards have no outputs for tape at all, only a mono or stereo main output; if the FOH engineer isn't using the headphone jack [they usually do in indoor venues] you can use appropriate cabling to plug in; you can also the headphone volume control to set levels this way * 2 mono 1/4" jacks [1 per stereo channel] - some boards will let you take the direct output of mixing buses this way; again, appropriate cabling is all you usually need, as these kind of jacks will usually work with both balanced [TRS] and unbalanced [TS] 1/4" plugs * 2 mono XLR jacks [1 per channel] or 1 XLR [mono only] - many boards for professional use have only their main outputs [some Soundcraft consoles are like this]. If the headphone out isn't an option [it often won't be] then having cabling to plug in via the mono XLR output [stereo usually going to the PA, and no self-respecting engineer will allow splitting the main output of the board] may be your only choice. There are several other possibilities, as well. The simplest answer to this question is: there is no simple answer. The only way to know you can jack in to the FOH console is to know what the console is before getting to the venue, and taking the appropriate cabling/adapters with you. If you don't the equipment at their end beforehand, the only possibility for you is to cover your bases - take cabling and adapters for every possible connection method. If you ask the sound engineer and they say they don't know how to do it, ask them, "Why don't you know?" Considering how simple it usually is to hook up a recorder [assuming you have the cabling], any engineer who can't figure it out in 30 seconds or less is either using someone else's equipment, just starting out with their job, or shouldn't be behind the board in the first place.

Whoa. I didn't say not to use it; I just said there might be ways with better fidelity. What I'd do is compare the digital copy with the best possible analogue copy I could make, and go with the one I feel sounds better.

In the future, having tested that SS 3.4 apparently has no issues uploading tracks joined on the unit, I'll likely use this method for recordings with only a few tracks. Note to users who want to join tracks on their portables: to repeat the manual [as well as the sticker on the back on 1st gen HiMD units]: use the AC adapter while editing. The 10-15 minute limit was based on that [with my machine, my hdd interface, my hdd's, &c.] being the threshold with PCM files above which SS would appear to lock up completely. This depends on your hardware, &c. If anyone wants to invest the time to find their own hardware's threshold, they're welcome to. Using the bubble-join method [i call it that because it reminds me of bubble sorting] is more about limiting the number of files in each tracks, and keeping the size below that threshold for most of the operation. Once you've joined many tracks to bring them up to that threshold size, the rest is about joining as few huge tracks as possible in each pass until you have only the one to end with. The threshold is important but does vary. It's also completely non-destructive, and therefore, completely risk-free.

There are plenty of programs that can do it, actually. What it really comes down to [for me at least] is what interface you're comfortable with. I can't help but mildly distrust SS's combine function - anything that is supposed to be 100% I/O and no DSP should not use enough CPU to lock up a computer.

I've only had SS crash once while doing a combine with lots of tracks [200+, same situation as you really]. That was back in the days when uploads could only be done once; the crash took the combined file [to the point it had reached at least] -and- the originals with it. Luckily I had already exported the uncombined WAVs. What I've found works to get around SS locking up or appearing to lock up during combines is to only do a few tracks at a time, totally no more than maybe 10-15 mins of recording. Select as many as it takes to get that time, starting from the beginning of the "album" .. then combine .. do this for every 10-15 mins in your recording .. then go back and combine the remaining tracks 2 at a time, in order, giving you files 20-30 mins long .. then combine the remaining several files selecting the first two tracks in the album .. giving you a big combined track 1, and keep doing the same until you only have one track. It may seem a ridiculous length to have to go to, I know. It did work for me, though. Another possible solution? Export everything as WAV, drop the tracks on a playlist in foobar2000, make sure they're in the right order, select all, right-click, and select Convert->Run Conversion as Single File Output. Make sure you set the conversion format to WAV. It should seemlessly combine all of the tracks into one new large WAV file. [You could also do this to lossless-packed formats from fb2k as well.] Good luck.

Simplest method - * upload your recordings as-is * convert to WAV as-is [this is a backup that is faster to reach than re-uploading, which you can also do] * use SonicStage's combine function to combine the tracks * convert to WAV again and edit as you wish The only significant problem I've seen with the SS combine function is caused by how the hardware of HiMD acts when recording through line-in; there can be tiny repeated sections at the automatically-placed trackmarks [auto t.mark being something you can't disable when recording with line-in]. If your recordings were made through mic-in, you shouldn't get repeated chunks whether you mark manually while recording or using "time mark". One possible problem [as you've already hinted at here] is that if you don't sort the tracks in your library correctly when selecting them to combine, then they'll be combined out of order. Simple solution: make sure they're sorted correctly before combining.

Thoughts: * This has been one of the recommended methods since day 1 - use a deck [or any unit] with an optical out to a computer with optical in, or a HiMD via optical in in PCM mode [if you're not recording in PCM mode you're not getting a "lossless" copy, debate on "lossless" notwithstanding since the source [MD] is already lossy] * The MZ-1 uses the original ATRAC decoder, so the full benefits of later incarnations of ATRAC [i.e. Type R / 20-bit converted recordings] are not realised in the process [there is still some benefit to it, but the window-scaling of later ATRAC versions is missing]; the quality of copy this way might actually be -less- than if you just used a current portable's [analogue] headphone or line-out to your computer's line out

Actually, the TFB-2s are mounted in the ends of two round soft plastic hooks, which fit inside your pinnae. The mics themselves actually go right in front of your ear canals, and with some experience can be used as mild earplugs while recording [ideal for me with hyperacusis]. It's also possible to wear headphones over top of the mics, too, not that that is useful for recording, but it does mean that with circumaural 'phones you can stop to review what you're recording without removing the mics. I use a cheap [but surprisingly decent sounding for $48CAD] pair of folding Koss UR-29s for this [and for mixing at live shows]. It's very easy to stealth with these. If you wire yourself correctly [i pin the cables to my collar and run them around the back through my clothes; that with my long hair they're invisible] he majority of people don't even notice you're wearing them. Those who do notice nearly always assume they're earphones of some kind. It's definitely a unique way of recording [after all, effectively you are the microphone] but I do not recommend it for just anyone to try. When I make soundscape recordings I usually go sit somewhere and meditate for 20 minutes. I have the patience to make myself comfortable and not move, basically, for at least that long. This keeps the [stereo/binaural] perspective of the recording consistent from beginning to end. I've made recordings of myself walking, and later made the mistake of listening to one while walking [and, uh, chemically-altered shall we say]. It made me unable to walk, because it was realistic enough to encourage that actually feeling of immersion that is honestly so rare in most recordings. [i also love Aaron Ximm of quietamerican.org's recordings for this reason, though again - don't listen to them while walking, if you can help it.] Um. Yeah.

Look into the "analogue hole" debate .. if the MPAA and RIAA get their way, with all analogue means of copying being watermarkeded/DRM'd in some way, and manipulation of content DRM'd in any way limited to "professinal use" with "professional devices", the only people left able to actually legally produce content will be those corporations with the megabucks in their pockets to do so. It's kind of a scary and sad situation. If they really have their way, then the ony entertainment the average person will be able to enjoy will be in playhouses and musical venues, with actual people performing in front of an audience. Recording will die except for the rich.

You can probably sort by "date imported" using the All Tracks view, and select the dupe tags more easily. It is a bug if adding the same MP3 directly with the file and again through a playlist makes duplicate entries .. Another case where this can happen is if you have both MP3 and atrac3plus versions of some files when rebuilding a library. You should head over http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14296 and add this to the list in the post.

The current state of OLED research.

It just goes to show .. the sweeptone tests I did on my RH10 [digital amp] when I got it showed that by default it sweetens the sound compared to the NH700 [analogue amp]. I tend to listen with the high end turned DOWN at least one or two notches, but then, I have hyperacusis. Turning up the anything/eveything above about 2.5kHz = physical pain at even moderate volumes. That said, I'm aware of the compensation I have to do [any what it sounds like compared to actual "flat"], and comparing the RH10 to most other players, it still has an almost exaggeratedly-sweet high end.

Er, _IT_ can do both. [although technically I, given the tools, can both dull the sound and amplify artifacts. heh.]

Caution: do this at your own risk. If you can't find your music library or lose DRM info for downloaded tracks, don't blame me. The following basically re-sets your library. Incidentally, you may have duplicates because of transcoding MP3s and then rebuilding the library - the transcoded [atrac3/plus] files will show up, and the MP3 files will show up as well. The following will not get rid of duplicates that exist because of this problem, but it will show where the duplicates are - either in the SS library as atrac3/plus [or other OMA format] tracks, or as MP3, WAV, or WMA files elsewhere on your computer. To re-set your library... Part 1: empty the library. * In the library view, select EVERYTHING. Simple way to do this is to click the box at the bottom-left that looks like a checked box * Hit "delete" on your keyboard [don't just say yes, keep reading] * When SS asks, "Are you sure you want to remove..." make sure the checkbox beside "Delete this music file from the computer" is NOT checked * click "Yes" Part 2: re-import everything. * Find you SonicStage library folder in Windows Explorer. Drag it onto SS in library view. It will re-import your atrac3/plus files [as well as the other formats storable in OMA] * Check for duplicates now; if there are dupes, then they're OMA files. Do your housecleaning now * Find the rest of your music library [MP3s, &c.] and drop it onto the SS library view from Explorer * If you have dupes now, they are MP3s, WAV, or WMA files. Again, do your housecleaning if necessary * By housecleaning I mean: if there's both an atrac3plus and MP3 file in the library after this, choose which one you want to keep [if the MP3 is the "original", keep it - under most circumstances, keep the original of whatever you have, even if it means having to make SS convert it for downloading again later], and delete the one one you want to throw away [select it, hit delete, make sure the checkbox for "Delete this music.." IS checked, click "Yes"] HINT: if housecleaning is necessary, try using SS's "All Tracks" view and sorting the entire library by artist, album, or codec [switch between different sorting methods by left-clicking on their column header at the top of the library in "All Tracks" view]; this should allow you to discern duplicates more easily than using the Albums view where you can only see one album at a time. Columns for "codec" &c. can be enabled by right-clicking the column headers at the top of the "All Tracks" view and checking/unchecking the different columns listed in the context menu that pops up. Note that if you have a lot of MP3s that are poorly-named or improperly tagged, sorting things to figure out what to get rid of will become a job from hell. Lesson: tag and name things sensibly in a way that's conducive to sorting all on its own. This is not a perfect process, but you can at least figure out where the duplicates are and handle them however you wish. Since it involves removing track references from the library, but not actually initialising the library, rights info for tracks uploaded with SS pre-3.2 and tracks purchased from Connect should be retained without any problems. Once you get the library to the state you want it in, it's a good idea optimise your database. Go to Tools-Options, and on the "Advanced settings" page, click the "Optimize" button beside "Database optimization".

I can do both, as well well as the fact that it has artifacts of its own. If used carefully it's not an altogether bad thing though. A tradeoff, as with many forms of DSP.

If your original cable was defective in some way, sure. There really shouldn't be a difference, though.

Curiosity's sake update: The RH10 service manual shows the display as being mounted directly on the "PANEL [uPPER] SECTION" PCB [see page 49]. So, no dice on any possibility of dislodged ribbons. [There is a ribbon between the PANEL PCB and the logic board in the bottom of the unit, but this isn't dislodged, otherwise your buttons wouldn't be working.]

It's also very handy if you master your own CDs with any regularity - a FLAC or WavPack file, or anything for that matter supported by Nero through plugins, with a cuesheet = fast rippable disc image for SS or SB. I tend to make CDs fairly often, like when I've recorded shows for friends. The process is cumbersome [because of the CD layout software I choose to use, which lack CD-Text support ubt does everything else in a way I like with an interface I am very comfortable with] because it involves burning a CD-RW, ripping it with EAC to a WAV image with cuesheet, editing the cuesheet to read exactly how I want it to, and finally making the image into either a FLAC [which has fairly easy support for embedded cuesheets] or WavPack image .. I back those up on DVD-R. When I want to make another copy of the disc, I just burn it directly using the cuesheet in Nero. I also, of course, can burn a nero image which I can then mount and rip with SS or SB, as mentioned already. Of course, using foobar2000 as a player, I can also drop the cuesheet into any playlist and play it, with all the track info and such shown properly. Heaven for the anal-retentive armchair archivist. What I wish I could find is something like Virtual CloneDrive that allows -recording- straight to image files, so I could cut out the CD-RW part entirely. Any suggestions, anyone? Virtual CD-R drive software?

To even be labelled as "USB" the cabling itself has to meet the quality specs set by the SB Implementers Forum [see http://www.usb.org]. It's still possible to find cheap cables vs. sturdy cables, but the properties of the cabling itself [i.e. impedance et al] has to meet the specs for bandwidth required by either USB 1, USB 1.1, or USB 2. The RH10, as with any HiMD unit, doesn't exceed the bandwidth requirements of USB 1.1 [the actual stated spec used by HiMD, regardless of the packaging claims made by some that they are USB 2.0]. Your camera, by comparison, is probably using 10x or more of the bandwidth potential of USB 2.0. [for curiosity's sake: HiMD's max. stated read speed is about 9.8Mbps; USB 1.1 maxes out at 12Mbps; and USB 2.0 maxes out at 480Mbps] The simple answer: your camera's cable should be no better nor worse than the one that came with your RH10. Either cable should exceed the bandwidth requirements of any HiMD unit. Correction: "Your camera, by comparison, is probably using 10x or more of the bandwidth potential of USB 2.0." should read "Your camera, by comparison, is probably using 10x or more of the bandwidth potential of HiMD." d'oh.

Best of luck, sete.

From previous reading there were a few things I gleaned about OLED. They may in fact be incorrect as I'm working from memory, which is of course fallible: Blue OLED was reported as having the shortest life; last estimates I read from research were around 10,000 hours, though; at the time of the research [sometime in 2003 if I'm not mistaken] companies working on OLED were waiting to increase lifespan and quality control in production before actually using them in consumer devices. sete: did your RH10 go through any rough handling before this happened? The display controller is possibly connected to the display itself by means of a ribbon cable, which may have come dislodged from its connector. [That said, Ill note that the LCD displays in Sony units I've disassembled, including the NH700, are soldered to the same circuit board as their controller, so this is iffy at best.] I would look into warranty coverage if it still applies. If you bought your unit from another country, the cost of return-shipping to Sony might give you warranty coverage [some companies let warranty apply as long as service is performed in the country of purchase]. If your warranty is expired, it might be less expensive to replace the unit than to have it serviced. In any case, I would suggest contacting Sony to at least ascertain what your options are. If they refer you to a local service depot, ask for an estimate first.