KCT

Gwen Stefani, 4 in the Morning, Cool, Started it

David, I have exactly the same as pictured above, however mine does not have the label on it !? In case you are interested in picking up another one. Rgds KCT

Who, in they're right mind would use MS Vista and this POS Sony software, both loaded with DRM as if there were no tomorrow ? Sorry for my lanquage, but needed to vent a bit. Cheers KCT

Tre, I could help you with that, I just went through that myself with my collection of over 200MD's. I use a fully automated setup doing optical real time playback into an TOS Link Interface card. The wav's are 24bit or any other format you require. If you even have an ASCII plain text file with all the track info, things are a breeze to take care of. PM me if you are interested. I use SP only, MDS-JE510 Behringer SCMS stripper (digital only) and/or Behringer SNR2000 noise suppressor (analog only) Cheers KCT

WTB new SONY Headphones MDR-A15, if interested to sell please e-mail at I_fly_xl_2006 <at> rogers.com

Do a search on 'blankdisk' error and 'overwrite head' and you shall find tonnes of info on that matter. As far as I remember, there may be an intermittent contact problem with your overwrite head springy contacts or the OWH does not fully lower all the way to the disc surface for some mechanical reason. This will cause no data been written to the disc. With this failure mode while recording any disc content will be erased without a chance of data recovery. Cheers KCT

Well certainly this is a nice unit but with these kind of features and the fact it comes from the UK makes me wonder if the price tag is below 10000 $ per unit or not. I was wondering, I am considering to buy a PCGA-MDN1 bay USB drive, what software other than SonicStage could be used with it to access the data on a disc. If someone could help, would be greatly appreciated.

Hi milomind, well, I have something very similar in mind, the data stream I try to record and analyze is the PCM of a RC remote control system used for RC airplanes and such. Provided the distortion of the square wave signal is not to bad it should easily be possible to store this kind of information so as old C64 and Atari programs. If I have some spare time and get to it, I post some results. Cheers Kay

Thanks for the replies. I am intending to use the deck to record a sort of slow data stream rather than music. I am just curious if the data stream can be reproduced accurately without bit errors. I am not so interested in the actual audible performance with square waves at this point, yet this is very important for true audio reproduction. Cheers Kay

Hi, I was just wondering, using a MDS-JE510, can I record square waves and replay them undistorted ? Cheers Kay

I had encuntered similar issues when using ROLAND optical interface with Windows XP, it turned out working just fine when using Windows 95/98. So I believe the MS operation system was at fault not the MD unit or Sound Card. Cheers KCT

Get a Behringer SCR2000 Digital Match unit, it takes care of the SCMS. They sell for about $30 on E-Bay these days. Cheers KCT

A440, the script controls the Sound Forge Recording software and the MD Deck via the IR Titler. First the script ask for MD number and which track to start with, then runs SF and Hyperterminal, then the script programs the MD player to play the first track only. The recording is timed and stopped accordingly, then the script gets the Track info and saves the WAV file with this information as file name. Then repeats this process until all tracks are recorded. Yes, I am routing the optical through the SCR2000 to get rid of the SCMS which is optional and needed for the consumer ROLAND EDIROL interface only. If you have a good soundcard that has optical in and ignores SCMS that would do the job to. Otherwise going through analog ports would work too. The noise reduction unit is optional and analog only. For that the script need no changes. Just plug into different input and select different source within SF. Sure you can use other MD units but they must have IR control capability. Eventually the script may need to be changed depending on the IR codes used for a perticular MD unit. I have not looked into Hi-MD or NetMD Recorder option as I do not own such MD units and probably would require to run SONY software which I don't like. Yes, it is realtime recording, but I am not in a hurry. It will be a winter project for me to complete my entire collection.

Hi JNewell, I did something like that and put a description here. Cheers KCT

Hi All, I figured I share what I have done, perhaps it helps someone who wanted to do the same thing. So I recently decided to save my old recordings to a large hard drive with as little as possible loss. I wanted to save the Audio Content as WAV file to prevent additional content loss. Later I would still have the option to convert to MP3 or other format if needed. So I went on e-bay and bought for little money a MDS-JE510 for that purpose since I have a larger task to complete ( some 200 MD's) and would not want to tie up my living room setup with this effort. What I wanted was to have a fully automated conversion process in which I only have to insert a new MD once in a while. For this setup I used the following devices.: A SONY Laptop Penti II with Windows 98 a ROLAND digital Interface EDIROL a Behringer SCR2000 Digital Interface with SCMS 'handler' (optional) a Behringer SNR2000 Analog Noise Reduction (optional) a SONY MDS-JE510 EasyTitle and for Software I used Sound Forge 6.0 and for the automation part some scripting software from Acrasoft called Gound Control. Microsoft Excel came in handy as well for some pre-formating the data files. Below you can find the script I wrote to run this process. I did not really care much for clean programming, so please excuse that. Also note, depending on the computer speed some delays may vary. I chose 50ms key delay and 15ms execution delay in the System Settings Menu of Ground Control. I was also working with plain text files, which contain play time and artist - title information. The playtime data file (playtime.txt) has the format: MD#, Track#, Playtime in seconds 0,1,322 0,2,349 0,3,738 0,4,413 0,5,210 0,6,355 0,7,400 0,8,444 0,9,405 1,1,32 1,2,131 1,3,175 1,4,175 1,5,193 1,6,113 1,7,287 1,8,255 1,9,135 1,10,141 1,11,217 1,12,212 1,13,96 1,14,165 while the Artist data files (MDxx.txt) are as follow: MiniDisc # 3 - Groove Zone Volume 4 1) Janet Jackson & Luther Vandross - Best things in life are free (Extended) 2) Alexander O`Neal - Criticize (Single) 3) Atlantic Starr - Where M.... (Single) 4) Midnight Star - One Life to live (Single) . . . Cheers KCT // Input MD Number and then find out how many Tracks are on this MD // ************************************************************************ InputBox("Enter Minidisc Number",%MD_Num) PutVar(%FileName,"C:\md_DOS\ok\") AddString(%fileName,%md_num) AddString(%filename,".txt") // ************************************************************************ InputBox("Enter Track Number to start with",%ST) // readlines out of MDxx.txt into variable %B, and display total_lines in %A PutVar(%a,0) OpenFile(1,%filename) :Loop If(ReadLine(1,%,DoNothing(),Goto(":Exit1")) Increment(%a) Goto(":Loop") :Exit1 CloseFile(1) // subtract 1st line from line count Subtract(%a,1,%a) // ************************************************************************ // Run Sound Forge RunProgram("C:\Program Files\Sonic Foundry\Sound Forge 6.0\forge60.exe",Normal) // ************************************************************************ Delay(2000) // Run Terminal RunProgram("C:\WINDOWS\Desktop\HyperTerminal\Computer2Computer.ht",Normal) // ************************************************************************ // Find Play Time of first Track GetStringLength(%MD_Num,%MD_num_length) OpenFile(2,"C:\md_DOS\ok\PlayTime.txt") :Loop3 If(ReadLine(2,%c),DoNothing(),Goto(":Exit3")) Left(%c,%MD_num_length,%MD_play_time) If(Equals(%MD_num,%MD_play_time),GoTo(":Exit3")) Goto(":Loop3") :Exit3 Subtract(%ST,1,%Trk_num) Repeat(ReadLine(2,%c),%Trk_num) GetStringLength(%c,%len) Subtract(%len,%MD_num_length,%len) Subtract(%len,3,%len) If(MoreThan(%len,"3"),Subtract(%len,1,%len)) Right(%c,%len,%Play_time) // ************************************************************************ // open MD file again and skip first line // readlines out of MDxx.txt into variable %Audio_File_Name, and Track Number in %Trk_num OpenFile(1,%filename) If(ReadLine(1,%MD_label),DoNothing(),Goto(":Exit2")) Repeat(ReadLine(1,%MD_label),%Trk_num) :Loop2 If(ReadLine(1,%Audio_file_name),DoNothing(),Goto(":Exit2")) Increment(%trk_num) // Here goes the meat of setting up the MD player and controlling Sound Forge // prepare Recording GoSub(":Setup_MD") GoSub(":Setup_SF") GoSub(":Record") // set Timer with Track Time TimeoutMessageBox("... please wait ...",%Play_time,Information) Delay(250) MinimizeWindow("MD_Copy_2_HD.gc - GroundControl") Delay(250) ActivateWindow("Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0 - [sound 1 *]") // Save as Wave File GoSub(":Save_Wave") // Get Play Time for next track GoSub(":get_play_Time") // Loop until last track on MD GoTo(":Loop2") :Exit2 GoTo(":End") // Subroutines, Goto End before running into these // ************************************************************************ :Setup_SF ActivateWindow("Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0") Delay(2000) // MD prepare PC Recording SendKeys("^r") // PC Recording start, sendkey r after ^r was send // PC Recording stop, sendkey spacebar Return() // ************************************************************************ :Setup_MD // MD prepare Play Track ActivateWindow("Computer2Computer - HyperTerminal") Delay(250) // Send Command - MD Program SendKeys("[:079f") Delay(250) // Send Command - MD Track depending on trk_num If(Equals(%trk_num,1),SendKeys("[:0780")) If(Equals(%trk_num,2),SendKeys("[:0781")) If(Equals(%trk_num,3),SendKeys("[:0782")) If(Equals(%trk_num,4),SendKeys("[:0783")) If(Equals(%trk_num,5),SendKeys("[:0784")) If(Equals(%trk_num,6),SendKeys("[:0785")) If(Equals(%trk_num,7),SendKeys("[:0786")) If(Equals(%trk_num,8),SendKeys("[:0787")) If(Equals(%trk_num,9),SendKeys("[:0788")) If(Equals(%trk_num,10),SendKeys("[:0789")) If(Equals(%trk_num,11),SendKeys("[:07c0")) If(Equals(%trk_num,12),SendKeys("[:07c1")) If(Equals(%trk_num,13),SendKeys("[:07c2")) If(Equals(%trk_num,14),SendKeys("[:07c3")) If(Equals(%trk_num,15),SendKeys("[:07c4")) If(Equals(%trk_num,16),SendKeys("[:07c5")) If(Equals(%trk_num,17),SendKeys("[:07c6")) If(Equals(%trk_num,18),SendKeys("[:07c7")) If(Equals(%trk_num,19),SendKeys("[:07c8")) If(Equals(%trk_num,20),SendKeys("[:07c9")) If(Equals(%trk_num,21),SendKeys("[:07ca")) If(Equals(%trk_num,22),SendKeys("[:07cb")) If(Equals(%trk_num,23),SendKeys("[:07cc")) If(Equals(%trk_num,24),SendKeys("[:07cd")) If(Equals(%trk_num,25),SendKeys("[:07ce")) If(MoreThan(%trk_num,"25"),MessageBox("Track more than 25 !!!!")) // Send Command - MD Pause Delay(250) SendKeys("[:07a9") MinimizeWindow("Computer2Computer - HyperTerminal") ActivateWindow("Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0 - [sound 1 *]") Return() // ************************************************************************ :get_play_Time If(ReadLine(2,%c),DoNothing(),Goto(":RTN")) Left(%c,%MD_num_length,%MD_play_time) GetStringLength(%c,%len) Subtract(%len,%MD_num_length,%len) Subtract(%len,3,%len) If(MoreThan(%len,"3"),Subtract(%len,1,%len)) Right(%c,%len,%Play_time) :RTN Return() // ************************************************************************ :Save_Wave ActivateWindow("Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0 - [sound 1 *]") Delay(700) // stop recording SendKeys("r") Delay(5000) SendKeys("(%{F4})") // save as wav Delay(100) SendKeys("(%f)") Delay(1500) SendKeys("a") Delay(500) SendKeys("MD_") Delay(500) SendKeys(%MD_Num) Delay(500) SendKeys("_Trk_") Delay(500) SendKeys(%Audio_file_name) Delay(500) SendKeys(".wav") Delay(500) SendKeys("(%s)") Delay(500) // wait for save as wav to complete ActivateWindow("MD_Copy_2_HD.gc - GroundControl") // calculate best time for waiting while saving file (depending on computer HD speed may vary) Multiply(%play_time,170,%ANS) Multiply(%play_time,100,%pl_tmp) Subtract(%ANS,%pl_tmp,%ANS) Divide(%ANS,100,%ANS) TimeoutMessageBox("File been saved, please wait ...",%ANS,Information) // close SF SendKeys("(%F)") Delay(500) SendKeys("c") Delay(500) SendKeys("(%{F4})") // wait for 2 s Delay(2000) // reset MD player ActivateWindow("Computer2Computer - HyperTerminal") Delay(100) SendKeys("[:079d") Delay(500) MinimizeWindow("Computer2Computer - HyperTerminal") // Run Sound Forge again RunProgram("C:\Program Files\Sonic Foundry\Sound Forge 6.0\forge60.exe",Normal) Delay(2000) Return() // ************************************************************************ :Record ActivateWindow("Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0") // record Delay(500) SendKeys(" ") // play MD ActivateWindow("Computer2Computer - HyperTerminal") Delay(100) SendKeys("[:07aa") MinimizeWindow("Computer2Computer - HyperTerminal") Return() // ************************************************************************ // Close open Files :End CloseFile(1) CloseFile(2) // ************************************************************************ // Terminate Application ActivateWindow("Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6.0") Delay(500) SendKeys("(%{F4})") Delay(500) ActivateWindow("Computer2Computer - HyperTerminal") Delay(500) SendKeys("(%{F4})") Delay(500) SendKeys("y") // ************************************************************************ // Copy Files :DOS Delay(5000) ActivateWindow("Exploring - My Documents") Delay(500) SendKeys("^a") Delay(500) SendKeys("^x") Delay(500) SendKeys("{TAB}") Delay(500) SendKeys("h:") Delay(500) SendKeys("~") Delay(500) SendKeys("{TAB}") Delay(1500) SendKeys("{TAB}") Delay(500) SendKeys("{DOWN}") Delay(1500) SendKeys("(%F)") Delay(2000) SendKeys("n") Delay(2000) SendKeys("f") Delay(2000) SendKeys("MD_") Delay(500) SendKeys(%MD_num) Delay(500) SendKeys("~") Delay(2000) SendKeys("~") Delay(500) SendKeys("^v") :finish

No one here who can help ?

condenser, yes, the MZ-1 has digital optical in and output. Great for field recording and other uses.

Hi, does someone still use the WinRemote software for titeling ? I contacted the author of it via e-mail but did not get a response. Is this software still been maintained and available elsewhere ? Thanks

Hi, I am new to the MD forum but long time user of the cool MD. I own a MZ-1 and a MDS-JE510. I like to add, the MZ-1 is a STEREO unit, not mono. I bought this unit shortly it was released in Germany about 1992-93 and used it extensively at home, in the car and on the go. I still have the unit today and never had any trouble with it. Works great like a charm. The only annoyance is the build in SCMS. Even tho SONY did not spec. the unit outside normal temperature ranges, it works just fine in my car at -20C and +40C or even more. Too bad that SONY is discontinuing the MD legacy. They had something really good in there hands, just did not understand the concept of customer support.