dex Otaku

MDs and HiMDs have "plug-in power" on the mic inputs. You can get additional headroom [i.e. record higher SPL] with powered mics by using a battery box or external powered preamp, though. I have the SP-TFB-2 mic from Sound Professionals and they work quite well with themic preamp built into my NH700. The Auris mics are of similar ilk [close to the same sensitivity and peak SPL] so should woud just fine as well. If you're going to be recording extremely loud sounds a battbox or preamp would be needed, though.

What model do you have? Try disconnecting all sources of power for a minute and then reconnecting it.

I'm just curious as to what this could generate.

No. There is no way to 'rip' MDs using consumer portables. You can copy MDs digitally using home decks, and there are professional units out there that allow other options as well, but they are quite pricey. The only way to transfer from MD to your computer if all you have is a portable is by analogue means, i.e. through a normal audio cable.

Considering the fact that the dynamic range experienced at a typical rock concert is extremely low [unless you actually want all the quietest crowd noise possible], using manual levels and recording with peaks as low as -30dB [0 being digital peak] should still give you excellent results. Actual professional sound recordists leave as much as 20dB of headroom free just in case - i.e. peaking at -20dB. The amount of noise incurred by increasing the volume later in post should still be negligible, even with a 16-bit system. It's better to have lots of headroom than it is to have lots of clipping. Chances are, if you were getting clipping before it was from either a) levels set high enough that those rare peaks clip or the mic overloading the preamp on your MD recorder. Using an external preamp [not a battery box] which runs to the line-in of your recorder is another option for you. The preamps on most MD/HiMD recorders are rather anemic when it comes to raw headroom due to issues surrounding miniaturisation and low power designs.

It sounds to me as though your CD drive is losing sync during rips. SonicStage and Simple Burner [which both use the same libraries for ripping] do not use the most accurate ripping methods available, and thereby depend almost completely on the quality of your drive and the discs being copied. I'm with Jadeclaw on this: try ripping using software that is relatively assured to make accurate copies, i.e. Exact Audio Copy [www.exactaudiocopy.de], then converting the resulting WAV files using SonicStage.

The AT822 runs off its internal battery only, so a battery box will make no difference. See http://www.audiotechnica.com/prodpro/profi...iles/AT822.html Stated specs list max. SPL as 125dB which is quite high for mics running off a single AA battery. That is the spec to pay attention to when you're wondering how much headroom it has.

Due to the evident lack of interest, I'm just going to forget about this.

Typically the only real difference with a 'warm sounding' mic is in the response curve of the mic itself, unless you're experience proximity effect as with a condenser. Fine-tuning with EQ in post is a much simpler and cheaper solution. Otherwise you might consider trying out a tube pocket preamp. I've never tried a mic sim, myself. It doesn't make much sense to me - unless you know the exact response curve of the mic you're recording with in the first place, there's absolutely no way to accurately model the sound as coming from something else. The concept seems rather gimmicky, IMO - aside from which, the same effect can be reproduced with EQ and possibly phase-delay in post.

http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html

1) Yes. 2) Dual RCA to stereo 3.5mm cables run anywhere from $2-$15 depending on what kind of cable quality you're going for. I'd say thta for hooking up in your car, the variety available for about $5 should be perfectly fine. 3) Based on the claim that the power supply includes an adapter for 1.5/3V units, and that it says it works with MDs, I'd say that yes - the car connecting pack should work. Please don't blame me if I'm wrong, though. If you check on the Sonystyle website they should probably list compatible accessories, and I imagine that car kit would be one of them. 4) The NH900 and NH1 both have line outputs. Other HiMD models have only headphone outputs. Either will work, but the signal will be higher from the models with line-out. I regularly use my NH700 [similar to the 800 but not available in the US] by plugging it in to people's stereo systems using the headphone out, and performance is just fine with the volume turned up all the way. It just means having to turn the volume control on the amp up louder than you'd have to with a line-out model. The iPod's output is substantially higher in level than all of the HiMD models, and would work as well. I'd say that going by the AUX in is a fine way of doing things, as long as you can deal with having to manipulate your portable while driving. As for advice about which HiMD model to get, if budget isn't so much of a concern I'd recommend the NH900 since it can use both the gumstick battery and AA batteries. It also has a half metal/half plastic case, whereas the lower models are all-plastic. If you're budget-conscious and don't need portable recording capabilities I see nothing wrong with the NH600. I would highly recommend reading about people's experiences with SonicStage before diving in with HiMD, though. Cheers.

I think that after Bush's first term, featuring environmental policy heading downhill, women's rights being tossed out the window left and right, people's freedom in general being trodden on, recommencement of military buildup, a completely assinine war with no justification or legitimacy whatsoever, and the fact that Bush is a frikking bonehead.. that basically all Americans need to do their best to show up and vote the idiot out of power. When it comes to US politics (I'm Canadian) there's a prevailing thought in my head which has been there for most of my life, especially in response to things like pre-election public opinion surveys showing Bush in the lead: Are the Americans really that outright [expletive deleted] stupid? Good luck on your paper. Hopefully in the process of writing it, you'll come to your senses.

On the last page in the SS options is a setting for "allow SS to rename files according to library info" or something similar to that. Ready for this? If you check that box, then go to each file, hit F2 (rename), add a letter to the track name, hit enter, hit F2 again, delete that letter, hit enter, and you've got a file with the name you've selected. If you name the tracks on your HiMD before uploading, SS will name the files on you computer accordingly regardless of the rename option I mentioned above. SS has an oddity in its file rename option, too: sometimes, for no reason whatsoever, it will add "00-" (and these numbers increment somehow, I also have "03-" files) to the beginning of the filename.

Heading into the next biggest city here, having been offered a trainee position as a cable puller for a film shoot. As I've never worked professionally in the film industry this could be a real door-opener. It means eligibility to enter the union, for instance. Which means next time I could make $18/hr instead of $8. Not thinking about it. Just going. @whee.

Hmm. Maybe try asking on that thread, or PM one of the people who mentioned it from there.

Transfer from standard MDs [sP / MDLP modes] must be done by analogue means. Use a 3.5mm - 3.5mm stereo cable from the headphone output of your NH700 to the line-in on your sound card. Make sure to disable EQ and AVLS, and turn the volume all the way up. To actually get line-level signals you will have to increase the input level a bit.

I'll point out - it's not -my- method. People here had worked it out in theory before HiMD was even released to the public, and I simply wrote out some instructions on it. Which is why I'm proud of this place [MDCF] - I tell people that yes, I bought into what is essentially an emerging technology, a risk investment-wise, yes - but people here already had a workaround ready to go before the format was even released.

NetMD does not allow transfers from the players to a computer in any case. Only HiMD does this, and that's with limitations [such as there not being any Mac software for it - though VPC for G5 is out now, that might change things for some people]. To find MD portables with digital outputs, check the equipment charts on www.minidisc.org . I would say MD is comparable to DAT in terms of general 1st-generation recording quality. HiMD does linear PCM recording, which is why I bought a HiMD recorder. It's important to keep in mind though that most MD equipment is consumer equipment. Feature set and quality are compromised in certain ways for the sakes of both portability and power consumption. Some pro equipment such as the MDP-500 by HHB offer full digital I/O as well as USB transfers in the clear with either Windows or Mac computers. Others [like one made by Marantz] have only AES-EBU XLR digital out.

Perhaps I was merely lucky for a while.

I got complacent tonight and transferred tracks without making the backup first. Lost 1 track. [1 of the 3 most important, out of about 35-40 tracks, on the disc]. SONY: YOU NEED TO FIX YOUR SOFTWARE.

My only gripe with using it as portable storage is that it's sooooooooooooo loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow.

SonicStage probably stores the current folder used for its files in the registry. All you probably need do is take that registry entry and tack /Hi-MD" to the end of it to get the default location SS uses. No searching required. edit: See HKLMSOFTWARESony CorporationOpenMGContentRootDir

What needs to happen is for Sony to make a recovery util for the audio "virtual partition" used by HiMDs. It wouldn't actually be that different from diskdoctor, it would just have to be custom-built for the filesys they use on top of FAT for audio.

Have you looked at this: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=5914 Specifically, try the dependency walker.

Heh. My rent is almost half of my monthly income. I usually spend about half of every month not eating or eating at friends' places because I'm simply out of food and money. My equipment manifest is not killer, by any means. A 1 year-old computer [athlon xp 2500+] was my payment for work on a project last year. My HiMD was partly the result of a good tax return and birthday money. The rest of my system is mediochre at best; logitech z680 speakers, koss neo-canalphones that require heavy EQ to sound proper, but at least I still have my Sennheiser headphones. The majority of my money gets spent on food.