The Low Volta

Welcome 3Monkeyheads as Hi-MD are connected using a USB1 connection, never faster than USB1 max. Precise speeds depend on the type of Atrac used, and whether there would be any conversion needed (there would be when trying to put MP3's on a NH700) no...with an NH700 you can not play MP3's, so they would have to be converted to some type of Atrac prior to/during transfer. Even when choosing a very high bitrate Atrac (Hi-SP), you would be converting from one lossy compression format to another, which means degradation of quality. The views on how big/noticable this quality degradation is, differ significantly. Even when using 2nd generation Hi-MD's (which do allow MP3 playback without conversion) some ppl prefer to convert their MP3's to Atrac (saves on battery life and sound degradation is to small to merrit the higher energy consumption) I really wouldn't know, sorry...I'm one of those very strange ppl that don't have even one MP3 on my PC. (and Im not going to create one just to answer this question , as I have got a life, albeit a very small one) Let's get one thing straight, you cannot send an MP3 as an MP3 to your unit (it's 1st gen Hi-MD that won't allow MP3 playback, if you really want this, sell your current player and upgrade to 2nd gen) so we're talking about conversion to Atrac and transferring. Seems (according to some threads on MDCF) that Variable Bitrate MP3's and some other type (don't remember what, as I had never heard of it before...but I'm no MP3 user ) of MP3 can't be understood by SonicStage. They will have to be converted to non-VB, straight forward, MP3's (or wav, or any other format SS does understand) before conversion/transfer... Logically thinking, this way, the DVD-player decodes the MP3, converts to PCM to play (correct me if I'm wrong ), transports the PCM digitally (through optical cable) to your Hi-MD... If this is correct, the same could be achieved by converting your MP3's to wav (= no sound degradation, as wav = lossless) with a (good!) MP3-wav converter, importing the wav's in SS and transferring (or making a CD-image and Simple Burner to get 'em onto Hi-MD) There would still be a losy step, the transfer of a (limited 'cause made from MP3) wav to Atrac, but this step is also present when using your old method: optical signal (= PCM from MP3, therefore somewhat limited PCM=wav) into Hi-MD which conversts to Atrac (using the internal hardware encoder)... so (without imroving the sound quality), you could skip a few steps...but I'm not really sure whether that would actually speed uo things, as MP3->wav conversion can take some time (depending on the program used I guess)... hope this helps, Volta

enjoy your Hi-MD experience! greetings, Volta

thanks for the clarification greenmachine, but shouldn't he have increased the signal (and the quality of the recording) by using (higher) manual levels?

It is widely agreed upon that AGC just isn't good when it comes to recording live music, it' like recording with manual level but constantly turning the volume up or down, as the music is quieter or louder... the fact that you think the recording came out prety well, makes me even wonder whether AGC actually works when recording 'line in'...perhaps someone else knows this? editing (at least combining tracks) in SS is easier than blowing your nose... just select two (or more) tracks (make sure they are in the right order) and select 'edit/combine'...the only problem is that when combining a lot of tracks, long tracks or PCM can take really long (you don't have to do anything, but you shouldn't use your computer in the meantime as background programs can bug out SS) so it is easy, semi-automatic but sometimes very slow just try it with a not so important recording and see if it works for you... greetings, Volta

welcome to the forums, check the "live recording forum" for ideas on mics... this thread helps to explain what you should be looking at when choosing one, and even give a couple of retailers that sell good/cheap mics (like the BMCS's from SoundPro's) since you have a non-Hi-MD player (I think), uploading (i.e. just clicking 'transfer to PC' in SonicStage) will never work, as it is only possible with Hi-MD and it has nothing to do with copyrights at all...for other methods of getting the recording onto a computer...check this thread... not to flame you, but if you know that there are a lot of topics like this, and as most of the info (the how to guide) I've given comes from the pinned (very important) topics in the "live recording" section of the forums...why not try to look around a bit at least next time? greetings, Volta

as said in the live recording faq's try to get used to manual volume setting as level-fluctuation caused by AGC is very annoying and can ruin an otherwise very good recording combining in SS makes sure that you won't have gaps...seemles before converting = seemless afterwards (and you can't mess things up with combining wav's in an editor anymore) but if you have a good editor and know how to use it, there really is no advantage other than not having to do it manually, but just wait while SS does all the work... before you go and edit your recording, make sure that you have a back-up of the original, as recorded and please read through (most) of this thread on editing before you go to work... hope to have helped a little bit, Volta

now THAT's safe and as for some info: from this thread about the OpenMGsecure thing, I was quite sure I saw this in a thread, but can't seem to find it myself... but if you want to try something, try a clean install of SonicStage 3.1 as specified in this thread hope that it helps, otherwise...hope someone with a bit more knowledge has an answer greetings, Volta

welcome to MDCF... these are known to bug out SonicStage, search the sotware/Faq's subforum for Nvidia (using the search-function) as it can be resolved by downgrading the driver a bit norton isn't that bad, but with one virus scanner (and no spyware-scanners) you can't be really sure... look for the "how to keep your PC virus free" thread by kurisu and try TrendMicro housecall and AD-aware... also try searching the software/Faq's for "openmg secure module" as this bug and most likely, some solutions have been discussed already... good luck, Volta

too bad my interviewee didn't talk for another 7 minutes , then we would have known the answer already

I don't really know which lenghts we are talking about, but I have already, whithout any problem, converted one 45min, one 62min and one 64min interview (in Hi-SP) to (3x one 'uncut') wav using the SS3.1 built-in converter...so at least up untill 64 minutes I'm pretty sure it's safe... if I have to do longer interviews, I will test them too... but that could take a while (I hope , 'cause I have to type 'em out too)

strange, I just assumed that all this would be possible, but editing tracks that are also uploaded to PC on the player actually is impossible...it just gives 'PC track, no edit' which makes sense in some strange Sony way, as uploading a track actually means uploading -> writing SS DRM -> downloading the track + DRM back to the player deleting is possible, although there's also a warning that this is a PC-track you're about to delete... If I record in LP2 or SP on a 80min disc in MD mode with my NH900, I can afterwards edit the tracks (have tried adding two trackmarks, erasing the middle bit and combining the two parts left over, in both modes) just fine... but there is no uploading possible with recordings in MD mode... I can't test whether LP2 recordings made with other recorders are still editable with my machine, as I don't have any discs made on other (older) recorders So some of the things you heard are true, others not completely... You can record in PCM and Hi-SP with Hi-MD and you can edit them on the spot, plus later you can upload these edited tracks and perform basic combine/split-actions in SS and convert them to wav and even edit them more in an audio-editor if needed; at this point the DRM put on by SS is gone so the resulting tracks are free to use any way you want, except for editing further on the player, as they are PC-tracks by now... I just really don't see why that last thing would be that big a limitation, how often do you need to edit tracks? and why does that have to be done on the MD-player (the second time, I'm not talking about on-the-spot editing/titling, which is still possible with Hi-MD)? but this is only my humble opinion, you are very much allowed to differ greetings, Volta by the way...I think we have strayed enough from the original topic (mac&himd) by now

hm, what do you mean? Since SS3.0, you can in SonicStage edit (combine/split) tracks ulpoaded to SS while they also stay on the disc in their original form. Even before 3.x, you could upload recordings and keep them on the disc as well (so you could edit the tracks on the player or on the computer). And since SS3.0, a wav-converter is built in (prior to 3.0, this could be done with Marcnet's hi-md renderer), so recordings can be converted to wav and edited in any sound-editing program you want. Later, after you're done editing, you can simply upload the tracks (with SS) to the same or another disc...the only real limitation of SonicStage is that it will allow recordings to be uploaded to PC only once, but with the above methods and the greatly improved stability/reliability of SS, this isn't a real problem anymore... It is your good right to prefer NetMD over Hi-MD, but I doubt you had a clear view of what uploading recordings with SS means nowadays greetings Volta

have had my NH900 in rec/pause for long times (1.5 hours), and I believe there is someone here who has left it on rec/pause overnight, just to see whether/how quick the battery would drain when on pause just search the forums a bit, as this was explained all so much better in that other thread

so, let him give his explanation into a mic, load it onto his laptop, switch discs (also a fun part of MD in my opinion) and go crazy to the (unheard?) beat

no, MZ-NH1, it is meant as an update of the www.minidisc.org site, which isn't any kind of forum, but a quick and dirty guide to all that the MD-experience is made of... a very usefull site for newb's and for people interested in but not really accustomed with the format... as such the link with the forums is usefull to guide newcomers and interested people to the vast knowledge of MDCF (and should be more clear than on MD.org now) but straightforeward and easily accessible info (!not as chaotic/confusing as in the beta now!) for people who are intrigued and interested in MD and not necessarily in a forum, and who wouldn't want to sift through a lot of (not always helpfully named) threads to find the info they need... If the MD.org site was more up to date and offered a number of clear and relevant FAQ's, you would see the number of "hi, I'm new here @ MDCF, haven't looked around at all and because of that I'm going to ask (for the umthousenth time) a question that actually is answered in the pinned threads, which I haven't seen at all, 'cause I'm also posting this in the wrong subforum"-posts deminish significantly I guess... so have a look at my previous post (a couple of posts up) which elaborates a bit on how I see minidisc.org

aka "a customer" and btw...I DON'T stink...

welcome to the forums Coolness, that's exactly what we're all here for greetings, Volta

huh? glad you see potential in this method... but I'm afraid you're thinking about it in a much more sophisticated and tought through way than I did, I guess (as most of your post reads like Japanes to me, and I'm not one of those MDCF-members that can read Japanese ) I was actually thinking of two separate setups (2x "mic-whatever needed in between-recorder") 1 with a low sensitive configuration pointing towards the track for the car-stereo effect 1 somewhat shielded from the track noises, simultaneously recording the speaker/audience afterwards combining both recordings so you would get 4 (2x2 tracks), which can be balanced untill all elements are present as wanted... I agree that the (very) weak point of my idea is to align both recordings so that they're in phase... but please explain you're interpretation further (in non-tech-savvy words ) as I'm interested how you would use one pair of mics with two recorders to achive a better soundpicture (or did I read your post wrong?) [edit] I think I'm slightly getting your point... you mean that one recorder would get part of the frequency range and the other could fill in the gaps as it would get another part better 'cause of the differing setup or something? but if the mics get overloaded (or just not) by the loudness of the car, would there still be anything else to tape? I don't know if I'm making this any clearer now... What I meant could be understood as: in stead of pointing both mic elements of a stereo mic towards one source, pointing one toward one side (car) and the other towards the other (audience). but then you woud lose the stereo effect and it would be impossible to protect just one element from overloading without lowering the sensitivity from the other... so I just thought, well...use two setups, each with their own stereo mics, one with lowered sensitivity (car) and the other as it is (audience and shielded from the loudest noise) and combine afterwards...but if you could lead both mic setups into one 4-track recorder, that would be evne much better...but then the MD wouldn't be used anymore, which is imposible!![/ very long edit]

For me, most important on minidisc.org as a portal site are clear understandable FAQ's on different topics: - equipment browser - everything you wanted to know about mics - other recording material - discs, discs and even more discs(ussions) - sotware: the ten biggest reasons why it won't work and some sollutions - ... you get the picture I guess. All the info is available on MDCF, but you have to look through a lot of posts with not always relevant topic-names... so the biggest role MD.org could play was to bring this very important info together again. Referring to posts or topics is way to chaotic for me, I would like to see (we can all dream, no?) edited, structured info (mostly textual but selected pics are ok) in a consistant style, presented by clear links with a short description of what to expect... perhaps some of the wise men here on MDCF would like to contribute by writing all their knowledge they have already shared in so many topics, down in a coherent text, by topic. And first of all to help with selecting the different topics that have to be present... to be honest, I was convinced by how much info A440 and me (in a little small, unimportant role) have brought together in just two responses in this topic, that it can be possible to concentrate a lot of the knowledge back on one site, and that the MDCF-members can play a (wiki-like) role in this... anyone can disagree with me, but that's what I think should be the main purpose of MD.org... greetings, Volta ps: don't turn it into a second forum...we're already members of a great one and I don't think we'll switch

perhaps the safest way to achieve a good result in this particular case is to use two recorders if possible... I know it's slightly besides the topic of sound-editing...but if you could use one with a battery box and all attenuating stuff to capture the car and another, shielded from the worst noise from the track pointed at the speaker (or the sound system), and later join them in an editing program. Audacity allows multirack recording and controlling the volume of and editing/throwing effects on each track seperately, you could export the combined tracks back as a stereo wav when the sound is exactly the way you want it... this would allow sound manipulation and combining so that the car AND the speaker would be present in the resulting picture. This isn't perfect, as both recorders will produce a slightly different sound image, but since one of the sounds will be so loud, I don't think that will be a problem here... So, if you can get hold of another recorder for a while, I would try it this way...

thanks mrsoul for clearing that up...I had not ever tried to upload edited tracks again before I upgraded to SS3.1, so I totally missed any knowledge of that previous limitation ...but a day in which I learn something is a day well spent! (and our problem is resolved...so everyone is happy )

Jonesyl1, I think that those are the standard factory accessories indeed, except for the Connect card (probably a coupon for one or a couple of free songs downloadable from Connect) but I don't know how important that would be for you... so, I wouldn't really be worried about the accessories, just see whether you trust the retailer and the warranty... and go ahead (if you really want extra accessories, you can still look into importing a Jap version, or buying them separately from eBay or something) BTW...when I bought my NH900 in Belgium, it came with a SONY-Europe warranty, not with a retailer warranty...so when I discovered some faults (and I did real quickly ), I just returned it to Sony and they repaired it for free... could be the same in N-Am, and then shop-wrranty would be unnecessary and way too expensive... anybody know about this?

please read and follow the rules for posting questions about software... they are located above the topic list in the software/faq's-section

that's quite some promise, 'as good as CS mics' especially as they themselves brag about being better than all the rest because of some 'special' treatment and that's also quite a steep price compared to all the other hand-made stereo mics on eBay for example... guess you will have to be a bit more convincing, as established, tested and reliable SoundPro mics are avialable for half the price and please, if you want to sell some mics, put up a "FS: hand-made mics, as good as CS"-topic in the classifieds section and don't double/triple-post this same post in all threads on mics

very true! and leave the editing to the pro's who make those marvelous flat sounding cd's not so very strange, as you remember that his company makes/sells wonderfull (but not very cheap, especially if imported to Belgium ) devices that help to make that recording as good as possible without editing needed...which is only to be applauded hurray for audio-memorabilia