fishstyc

If the mics don't get overloaded because u record very loud things, use mic-in. Impedance of line-in and mic-in is different, which will make a recording made with a microphone via line in sound cold and ugly. Although a lot of people here seem convinced that a battery box connected to a line-in will do, it doesn't sound nice. Even with the attery box connected, you should connect to the mic-in, that's what it's for...

Just a question. Sometimes when I read this forums I still see people defend the medium MD because it is reliable and low cost. But if I think of what would be the ideal recording device for me, I always wonder why Sony hasn't developed the memory based MD yet. By this I mean, exactly the same thing, but instead of inserting discs, it would work with SD or something. I only see advantages: - the device would be WAY smaller - no moving parts, more reliable and sturdy and power consumption would even drop - the 2 previous advantages coudl be used to add a larger backlit display => the device could be more user friendly - VERY reliable media - MUCH faster media - SonicStage could work on the card that's in your card reader, you wouldn't need to connect your MD via USB anymore - the price of the media is no argument anymore, because you can find 1GB for less than 10€ and prices will drop even further - because of the speed, you wouldn't need as many "discs", because putting something new on it wouldn't take ages - 1GB wouldn't be the limit anymore I am just wondering for over a year now, am I the only one who sees it this way? I am not nostalgic about the format, in fact I use it because it is the only affordable reliable and high quality device, but I am still frustrated that Sony doesn't seem to move it forward in a direction that seems so obvious to me... What are your opinions? (and should we tell Sony

I don't know if I am repeating someone, because there was a lot to read, but it is completely normal that it's not in sync. MD and your video camera each have their own internal clock, right? And there is always a small deviation. The soundcard in your PC will also deviate from the other 2 devices, so playing back the recorded audio on your PC will play the same audio slightly faster or slower than your MD will. So there is nothing wrong with any of the equipment. Professional equipment would be linked and set as a slave to the same Master Clock, so that every device stays in sync. For synching, I suggest changing the frame rate, because that is discrete and the software only has to double or drop a frame once in a while to get everything in sync. Apart from that it's some math and some trial and error as someone suggested.

It does? Cool, I didn't know that.

It allows you to play atrac3 files, NOT atrac 3+, and NOT atrac. This plugin only exists because Sony developed a software atrac3 codec years ago, I am pretty sure it is that code that the plugin uses. Honestly, I don't think a Linux program will exist soon.

Newer versions of Sonicstage made it possible to get any track off any device AND to convert these tracks to versions without DRM that you could play on any computer. The reason this thread started was out of frustration that we couldn't do what we wanted with our own recordings. Now we can, so there is no need anymore to find a way to do it. I know things could be a lot better, but it takes way too much time to accomplish that, it's simply not worth the time. Even if you would find a new way to get tracks on and off your HiMD, since there is no other way of playing OMA on a pc than installing Sonicstage, you have SS anyway, so why not use it...

If I understood correctly he compared the two copies! Not the copy and the original... This means that he is able to capture more of the detail that the MD outputs via the line-out, when he records with a higher bitrate (if you copy a fuzzy original with a good copy machine, the copy will be closer to the fuzzy original than the copy made by the bad copy machine .

Also look at http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=16088 In this pinned thread there is an easier way, if you have a lot of files. - 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. This'll save you a lot of time

I don't know, but personally I wouldn't use the disc anymore (or not for anything that is of some importance to you). You also might want to try to format the disc from windows...

Only the TOC gets updated, rewriting the songs would be much more unnecessary work (and would be way too slow). Try it out if you're not sure, you'll hear the head move. I never tried this out myself, but it's the only logical way that it can be done. One other possiblilty would be that the file is recreated in the fat table, so that the order of the data in the file is modified, but the actual data stay on the same place on the disc. That would be easy to test, copying the ATDATA file to harddisk, make the changes and compare the ATDATA on the disc with the one on your harddisk. My guess is that this file will not have changed.

It is certainly the best possible quality that you cen get from your Hi-MD recorder. CDs are also linear PCM, sampled at 44.1kHz and each sample represented with a 16bit value, which is the same as sample and bitrate used by Hi-MD. That is why people say it's CD quality. When people say wav-file, they usually mean it is an uncompressed file which stores PCM. Actually a wav-file is simply a container for audio data, so actually a wav-file can contain compressed audio, even mp3. But you may assume that when people say "it's the same as a wav", they mean it is uncompressed audio in linear PCM format.

I can't try your solution since I don't own a RH1... What I meant was the error where the upload fails in SS halfway, because there is some sort of reading error. Apparently the upload function in SS tries only once to read the data, and any minor read error will make the upload fail. A lot of users reported this kind of problem, so I assumed (my fault) you were talking about this kind of error. The operating system will try a few times more before giving up, and so in some circumstances will succeed in reading the file. If you overwrite the file again, the data that has been badly written is written again (indeed overwritten with the same file, the one you copied to HD earlier).

Yes, you overwrite the ATDATA file, so that the audio (= where the problem is) is written again, and in most cases, the problem will probably be solved, meaning you could now import the song again in SonicStage because the reading won't fail anymore. EDIT: While reading your last post, I see that 'corrupted' might mean something else to you. I just wonder when you might get in this situation, I mean no one is going to perform the steps above and deliberately damage a disc, no? So I guess my question is: in what circumstances do you get this error? Low battery while recording or something? Has it happened to you already?

That means that the disc should still be readable in DATA mode. The first thing I'd try in that case is writing the file back (overwriting the original) to the same disc. The fact that you write it again, may make it readable again in SS. (I tried this and it works). That way you can still use SS and upload your files instead of going analog. If that fails, this way may be an option, but I doubt that you could still read your data in the first place. Unfortunately this doesn't help people who are unable to read that ATDATA file, even in DATA mode (the OS seems to try to read a sector a few times before it gives up)... Interesting information though.

Est-ce que tu as désinstallé completement Sonicstage? N'oubliez pas dans ce cas d'aller a "Panneau de configuration"->Logiciels et de désinstaller aussi "OpenMG secure module" etc. (Tous les "OpenMG ...") Après redémarrez et essayez d'installer à nouveau... J'espere que ca marche comme ca... Bonne chance.

That's what is says, but actually it also removes DRM (copy protection) from these files (all files you upload from MD->PC are DRM-ed by default), so you can play them on any computer with SS installed.

The reason I think people want to use the LINE IN is to avoid the mic preamp (so that it can't be overloaded when recording loud signals and to avoid adding the extra noise it may generate, if I understood correctly). The thing is, I suspected that the sound would also be different if you recorded the same thing via line in. This has been confirmed by some test recordings I made. The sound via MIC IN is nice and warm, the sound via LINE IN is thin and hard. Very ugly to my ears. My personal conclusion is that I will never record with the battery box directly through LINE IN, but I will always use the MIC IN. A nicer sound is far more important to me than some noise, and even a slightly distorted mic to me is less of a problem than the ugly sound I get when using line in directly. But you should try it out for yourself of course...

Quite sure (tell me if I make a huge mistake here), since I recorded a few seconds with just a very short unconnected wire plugged in to the mic input (so my md recorder would say 'mic recording'), instead of a microphone and the amount of noise is very audible I think. I didn't really hear a difference with the mic plugged in (noise-wise), so it seems to me that the noise floor of the pramp is a lot higher than that of the mics I have. That's my personal feeling though of course.

Thanx for your insights. I already made a battery module, but my first impression (apart from the noise which probably has to do with my soldering skills), was that the sound was a bit 'empty', clean indeed but lacking warmth (I used line in with the battery module). So I'll have to experiment some more (connecting the batt module to the mic in and see what that does to the sound). I may go for an external mic amplifier one day, because the one in the MD gives a lot of noise. Apart from that I am extremely happy with the binaural mics themselves. Whithout batt module, this recordings were the first where I didn't feel the need to start equalizing immediately, because the sound was not OK.

Thanks for the tutorial. Here's another question (I don't really have a lot of electronics experience): The battery module only powers the microphones, but if I understand correctly, with a higher voltage than what the minidisc sends to the mics. This would also be one of the reasons that the microphones can stand a higher SPL. I thought that the impedance of the input had an effect on the sound of the microphone. So what happens to the characteristics of the mic if you connect it to the line in, via the module? And what would be the effect if you connect the battery module to the mic-in? Is it harmful, will it overload the mic-in, or can you just turn it down, will the mic-in sound diferent than the line-in (I heard people talk about too much bass, may this be a reason)? Does the battery module itself change the characteristics (frequency response curve) of the mic (apart from SPL at which the mic overloads). Many questions I know. Thanks if someone can help me out on a few of these (I didn't read the whole thread so I apologise if someone already answered these).

Hi, I ordered these microphones: SP-TFB-2 - SOUND PROFESSIONALS - LOW NOISE IN-EAR BINAURAL MICROPHONES Would your battery module work fine with these (that is, it will sound good and won't harm the mics)? Thx.

I solved my problem. I copied the whole big ATDATA file from the HMDHIFI directory on the minidisk to my harddrive. At one point I heard some noise as if it was trying to read a certain part 2 or more times, but windows gave no error. I then copied it back overwriting the original file. Then I tried again to import the file and it worked. So if you're lucky and the disc is not severely damaged, you also might be able to save your precious recordings. Good luck.

I have the same problem with 1 mic-recorded track of 28minutes (Hi-SP). AFAIK I have only recorded 2 tracks ever on that disc, the 1st (Hi-SP, 77min) uploads fine, and the 2nd gives me this error... Very annoying, and curious since it was a brand new disc. This has nothing to do with SS CP? Maybe I should try uploading with SS 3.2 and see what it does.

To play OMA files in winamp (if SS is installed), you don't need any extra plugin. Go to preferences->Input plugins->Nullsoft directshow decoder and add OMA to the "Extension list".

If you have a lot of files, this way may be more convenient: 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.