dex Otaku

Your link to download the WAV file doesn't work. The pumping and wheezing is definitely caused by the AGC. The purpose of AGC is to alter the recording levels dynamically to prevent the recorded signal from being distorted; if the dynamic range of what you're recording is very high [and especially if it's lowest levels are also very high] you will be driving the AGC into action constantly, which produces the volume pumping. Trying the "loud music" setting might improve this. The ticking is possibly either the mic overloading, or the mic preamp overloading - more likely the preamp. As I haven't heard it, this is only a guess. Again, I'm making a guess here, but it's likely that the noise in your recording is caused by something in the room where the recording is being made. It's possible that something in there is making the noise without your realising it - our brains tend to filter these things out. Ventilation systems, PA amps/speakers, steam heat systems, air conditioning, &c. are all likely culprits. There's also the possibility that something in the church is putting out fairly high-intensity ultrasonics; ultrasonics get recorded as lower harmonics by MD recorders, as they have no hard filtration on the input to their analogue to digital converters. Chances are, if you were using a voice recorder, you would be having the same problem - but with worse overall quality.

I can't lend any solid advice on this [as I simply don't know] but it seems to me that it would depend both on your hardware and your software. I wouldn't count on most editing/recording programs understanding track marks over SPDIF, personally. As I said, I don't really know, but it seems implausable unless you're using esoteric pro software/hardware combinations [like the old protools scsi mac interface]. I'd look in the online help and docs for your editing software. Perhaps you'll find something there. Sound Forge doesn't mention any special support for SPDIF recording, for instance.

It is next to impossible to make gapless transcodes of mp3s [though it would be simple to implement a gapless mode on the player which would consume slightly more power than normal]. If you want your transcoded mp3s to be gapless: 1) import them into an audio editor as one long track 2) mate the end/beginnings of tracks together so they are seamless 3) import them as one long file into Nero or software that allows you to mark tracks in their basic track editor 4) mark the tracks 5) make a CD image of this 6) mount the CD image using ImaveDrive or something similar 7) import to SS as if it were a normal CD Or, better yet: Get the actual CD and rip it with SS or Simple Burner.

It's a design compromise. #1) very few people use mono modes for other than recording. So why have it on a downloader? #2) since the new recording bitrates are joint-stereo, you can record a split-mono signal and basically get twice the bitrate's quality for the single actual channel. i.e. recording in mono using joint stereo is the equivalent of recording at twice the bitrate [all bits get allocated to the one channel of audio]. Mono in PCM mode would have been nice, but still, I see little purpose in the extra effort to implement something so few people actually need, let alone ever use.

I've never used an R50, so I have no opinion on this.

I have a DTS transcode of the Police disc [which I also own] and some of the tracks are not badly done. They obviously had a different approach to mixing than PF would.. or Peter Gabriel. "UP" in DTS is amazing. I've always been a big Polic fan.. so it was a had-to. I find the remixes of the stuff from Syncronicity are nice. The effect is more subtle than with other such re-dos, but still nice.

Nice.. I wish I could find someone with an 8-channel sound card [8 input] and an SACD player. I can't afford an SACD player and would love to hear the 5.1 mix of Dark Side of the Moon [yes, I own it].

Correct, sort of. As it is digitally/discretely controlled, yes, it's likely that the actual level adjustment comes after, not before, the initial preamp gain. In high sens mode, preamp distortion will show up even with levels that show good on the meters [you have to monitor to tell it's distorting]. So yes indeed - opening the WAV files in your editor, if you see that the signal's peaks are below 0dBfs but there is still distortion - this is the mic preamp running out of headroom. Which isn't surprising, considering the fact that it's running off a single 1.5V AA battery. There are several possible fiexs to this problem, of course: 1) using a battery box and/or external preamp, via the recorder's line-in 2) moving the mic farther from the subject 3) attenuating [preferably passively] the mic using something like the radioshack volume control.

There is no atrac3plus 132 kbps. The modes are: ATRAC: SP and SP mono ATRAC3: LP2 [132 and 105kbps], LP4 ATRAC3plus: HiSP, HiLP [64 and 48kbps]

You only need phone recording software if you plan on using a voicemodem to record from a phone line. In my experience, almost all TAPI equipment is shoddy and untrustworthy, so recording directly with editing software from a phone adapter or on a HiMD and uploading after is still more practical. I have a NH700 and it works great. To start with you might consider an inexpensive lapel mic or a pair of auris mics from reactive sounds; for less than $100CAD you can get great sounding mics that are perfect for stereo as well as interview recording. A telephone-line adapter can usually be found at RadioShack or, if there's one in your area, browse around the electronics section of a Princess Auto store. They sell surplus gear including audio, telecom, and computer equipment. Phone adapters can sometimes be found on their shelves for less than $10CAD, and you'll never know what else you might find there [including cheap microphones that can be used in a pinch].

Mic sensitivity does one thing and one thing only: It increases the base gain of the mic preamp by somewhere between 30-40dB over the 'normal' setting. The end result is, you guessed it, higher mic sensitivity [as well as increased preamp noise]. In the vast majority of situations, unless you're recording birds or people whispering, you should never need to use high sens. It will drive the mic preamp straight into distortion with louder sounds. In combination with AGC, high sens can be used for "radio" like recordings that are higher compressed and catch literally all of the sound, albeit with no dynamic range whatsoever.

CBC own [at least[ hundreds of the old R37 too, it's one of the nice units that actually has buttons and switches on it. ATRAC 4.0, no mdlp, but a metal case, standard AA batteries, and good controls.

run your own freedb server locally that you can write your compilation discs' info to...

If you import the mp3s into SonicStage, it should get their tags correctly. It does make mistakes, though: * tracks #s must not have preceding zeros * track numbers must not use "trknumber/totaltracks" format [it must just be "1", not "1/14"] * certain "invalid" id3v2 tags will not import; SS falls back to v1 at this point - but sometimes it just doesn't work, too. * the best way to get SS to read tags is to make sure the tags are all valid, using a tag editor to refresh them all to follow the current "standard" for padding, etc. Um, yeah.

SCMS is unrelated to this. PCM tracks contain SCMS flags. Streams in other formats basically don't need SCMS, because unless the device at the other end can recognise what type they are [as PCM-EXtensible streams] they are completely useless. Incidentally, I find it interesting that so many here keep mentioning DVD players that will transcode AC3 to PCM; I have never seen this feature before. I've never had cause to look for it, but still - the first thing I do with most players is acquaint myself with their interface and features [especially looking for plain stereo vs. dolby stereo downmix options for people without surround systems]. Since 1998 I have done this with around 300 players, and have never seen one that will transcode audio formats.

Petition Sony, again, for Mac support. Or - liscense the technology for Sony, and make the support yourself. Or - illegally backward-engineer their technology, and make the support yourself. Not really much for choices, are there. I wish Sony would just give up on the PC-centric thing. Their market would widen considerably, IMO, if they opened certain parts of their DRM standard et al, or at least made modules that would enable software writers on other OS platforms to make music library managers that could access the HiMD [and netMD] without anyone having to break copyright or patent laws in the process. It would also open the door to better HiMD/netMD compatible software on the PC.

I'll nitpick for a second here: * You can only upload from Hi-MD formatted discs. * You can only upload tracks that were recorded on the unit itself; tracks downloaded from a computer can not be copied back off. * You can only upload once. Trying to upload again will simply delete the tracks from the disc.

It's really odd that this has been necessary. I just reinstalled my entire system. When putting SS back on, I used the 2.3 web installer, then installed the newer version of Simple Burner found on the fora, then the Wave Converter from Sony. All of them work. No uninstalls needed, no reinstalls, nothing odd going on. I don't understand why different people have such completely different experiences with this. The sources, ultimately, are the same - so why should it make any difference?

I realise it was a horrible, not to mention unhelpful, answer, but it had to be said. Those who have the most problems tend to be those who are running copies of Windows that have never been maintained at all, with hardware that is questionable as to its functional state [such as old CD drives with outdated firmware, &c.]. Aside from that, the answers to these questions are spread all over this fora multiple times already. Time to update the how to upload document to include advice on using HiMD as intermediary media only, not as permanent storage.

You can back the database up using the SonicStage Backup utility, which can be accessed from SS itself. The backup would be best done to the hard disc, then split up to CDRs or DVDRs. Backing up to the HiMD itself would be extremely slow and wasteful of the discs. CD and DVD blanks are much, much cheaper, and much, much faster. Unfortunately, I do not know how to import the OpenMG tracks from Real's software.

Generally speaking, if you have fairly reliable hardware and a properly-maintained OS, SS will run just fine 99% of the time.

A CD should work fine. The soundtrack formats are sometimes printed on the cover for a DVD. I've found PCM tracks to be pretty rare; they're always stereo, so trying the stereo version soundtracks on various DVDs might evenually find something that is PCM. Most stereo soundtracks are 192kbps AC3 too. Seems silly to me.

All MDs resample their input, so 48kHz data should be fine. [They even resample 44.1kHz input signals.] Perhaps you're trying to play AC3 audio over the line. You can only copy PCM soundtracks. Most DVDs do not have PCM soundtracks.

Hmm. How many discs are there to copy?

I can pretty much assure you that you lose a lot more by going fake SP than by the analogue route.