greenmachine

Update SonicStage to its latest version, it will remove the restriction. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=9586

The buzz will be significantly quieter, but might still be noticable in quiet passages.

Other than that, try using more efficient ear-/headphones. Be careful with your hearing.

Try peak level normalizing your mp3s with mp3gain (apply max no-clip gain for each file). You can't go higher than that without introducing clipping or using dynamic compression.

Hi-MD can upload recordings losslessly to the PC via USB faster than realtime, record in PCM (no lossy compression in the first place) for 94min/1GB or for almost 8h/1GB in high quality compressed mode (Hi-SP, comparable to NetMD's highest quality setting Atrac SP). It can reformat standard MDs to almost twice the capacity (~300MB).

Give LAME's latest encoder a try. Propably the highest quality vbr mp3 encoder around.

The SS3.4 MDCF offline installer's not available yet, but i guess it soon will be. Stay tuned.

I've noticed these as well on one (the one that came with my used unit) of my four 1GB HiMDs (the other three, which i bought new don't show these marks), as well as on some (maybe one of four) of the standard discs, more often on non-Sony brands. On some MDs you can even hear the scratching noise while recording. It scares me and i hesitete to record on these particular discs. I bought a great part of my standard MDs used and don't know what happened to them beforehand, maybe they were stored in a car, got too hot and deformed? Is it harmful to the magnetic head? [attachmentid=1483][attachmentid=1484][attachmentid=1485]

We have Hi-MD these days with all its benefits. I think this is what you want - if you can / want to afford it. Otherwise, NetMD and a few pre-NetMD devices with MDLP capabilities can be had used for relatively little money. Take a look at the equipment browser for details.

I use little plastic bags to protect them from dust. Two are stored away in a cardboard, the other one is used regularly.

Thank you Sony and thank you dex, this is great news for live recordists. Any problems uploading unit-combined tracks? What about uploading combinined tracks where the recorder has been stopped in between [and the TOC (or whatever it is called) been written]? (I don't plan to do this often, just curious about reliability of unit-combined tracks in general)

There are also the 1st generation units. NH600(D), NH700 and NHF800 run directly with AA's, while you can attach a case to the NH900. Only the NH1 needs its own proprietary li-ion battery, which i guess will be hard to find in 10 years. By the way, there are also inexpensive high capacity rechargeable NiMH AA's, which will last even longer than most Alkalines. Do your environment a favor and use rechargeable batteries.

Lectures/interviews/voice in general should be one of the easiest tasks which virtually any microphone can handle more or less satisfactory. Complex signals like music/noise show the real qualities of the microphones. You can find lots of sound samples made with my microphones in the gallery to judge the quality for yourself: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?act=m..._album&album=50 http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?act=m..._album&album=42

With a little bit of luck you can get a used NH700 via ebay. It's real HiMD with all its benefits. Has mic-in with low and high sensitivity settings as well as line-in. Recording quality is virtually as good as the quality of the incoming signal.

Try mp3gain.

This is an annoyance for live recordists for years now, but Sony doesn't seem to care. Currently the only solution would be to practice finding your way through the menu quickly.

I think HD fragmentation and HD read speed do play a major part for first time opening. For the second time it seems to open quite fast even without vast amounts of RAM or a fast CPU as long as you don't have a huge library. Still this program seems pretty much like a resource hog which i don't use more often than necessary.

SS3.4 23/3s P3/600/256 empty library

Or use the eq to compensate for the rolloff.

The wm-61 are not easily available where i live. I had to find high quality alternatives. The specs are partly manufacturer's specified values, partly estimated. Don't take them too seriously, they're not 100% accurate but should rather represent a rough orientation point. I might even consider to remove them completely in order not to confuse people with not too important numbers. The various sample recordings tell more about their quality these. By the way, i don't plan to do this professionally, it's just a hobby, which i enjoy at the moment.

Listening to yesterday's live recording in pcm. Blessed be these extraordinarily talented performers and composers, even if i didn't understand half of it. [attachmentid=1473]

Try 95mb.com. It has a few oddities as well (propably like all free services) but they're mostly acceptable (in my opinion).

No, but you can use a trick to lower all bands (possibly with exception of 100Hz) one or two notches to gain deep bass that sounds not much unlike the megabass. Take a look at this thread if you can read and interpret frequency analyses: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=13741

A shielded cable just blocks electro magnetic fields / radio frequencies somewhat better. If you stay away from EM/RF emitters, it doesn't really make a difference. Use whatever is available. Your choice of mic capsules and mic placement will make the big difference in sound quality in the end, not the cable.