My first MD recorder and equipment - help

[soulescape]

Hi all,

I've spent the past few days reading about minidisc's and the liking. However, I just can't seem to come to a conclusion on which one to get. Let me go ahead and display what's important to me.

1.) My budget falls between 150-250 Euros or Dollars. (More about this below)

2.) Recording is my main concern and purpose. I will be doing foley recording and other related recording. (envrionments, machines, cars, glass, farts, everything and etc...) So good recording is a must.

3.) Getting the files to my PC so I can edit and crop them is a main concern. I've heard stories about Sony's copy protection, but I think there's a way around that by recording through totalrecorder or something.

4.) If I understand correctly (correct me if I'm wrong) - recording with a minidisc recorder right out of the box doesn't deliver superb recording results... so.... I think I need to invest in a decent mic. I was looking at the Delta Mic from reactive sounds but I'm open to other suggestions

5.) Above I said "Euros or Dollars". Well heres the deal. I'm American, but I'm currently living in Germany doing contract sound work. I will eventually be moving back to the US. So this brings in to play the battery system. Chargers, etc... (Since the plugs are different). I'd like to buy something that's compatible in both regions. I'm not limited to "US shipping only" because I can have the recorder shipped to my family's address and then have them send it to me in Germany.

I hope that gives enough information for anyone to help me out. I've spent all of yesterday and today looking but I just can't decide.

Thank you!

-Brian

[Bananatree]

Well HiMD is surely what you are looking for, and I think you should look into a WTM (World tourist Model) HiMD recorder NH700 and above. It's got a MIC in and should have compatible plugs, all you should have to do is buy a plastic converter to switch the plugs around.

Out of the box MD reocorders don't have great recording ability as MICs aren't even included. So a battery box/preamp and a decent set of mics would probally do you very well.

[Christopher]

Welcome to the forums!

1.) You may want to get the NH900 from datavis.com. It's an American e-tailer that charges $239 for the unit and you could get it shipped to you.

3.) The totalrecorder method is foolproof, but also check out marcnet's method: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=6087

4.) Reactive Sounds has some great mics, but also check out our Live Recording forum. Ton of info there.

5.) http://voltageconverters.com/

[soulescape]

Thanks for the informative replies. I'll be looking in to those suggestions.

I did realise though.. The 239 for the NH900 is already about the total I had wanted to spend. That's without any other gear (mic, etc...)

On reactivesonds website, there are 2 demo recordings. One is of a "beach scene" and the other of a rooster. It says they used the Sharp MS-722 and one of their mics. The quality of their recordings is just what I'm looking for. Is there maybe a recorder I can grab and also get some gear with it (mic, etc...) that will record with above mentioned quality and keep it in my budget?

I'll browse around for the NH900 and NH700's.

Thanks for the replies!

[soulescape]

Well now I may be even more confused. I understand that this community is about minidiscs and it may be a bit biased towars them, however someone has recommended an iRiver H120 or H140 player/recorder to me. His reasons were that it records compressed or uncompressed and transfers easyly to the PC via USB without hassle. (Drag and drop). Also that it supports ASF,MP3,WAV,WMA,Ogg Vorbis. The models seem to have "just about every input and output that the power user could ask for".

The price is a little heavy though. I don't know, what do you all think? Like i said in my post above, I'm looking to achieve recording quality like on the reactivesounds website. ( http://www.reactivesounds.com )

Help out a confused soul =/

[Kaotic]

@Soulescape

How you plan to keep your original recordings? let's assume you have fill-up the storage on H120, what then? do you erase your recordings, after you upload it to your pc to make way to store new recordings, or do you shell out $300 ~ $400 for another one? what if you want to retrieve your old recordings, assuming you burn it on cd/dvd or whatever. it would be hassle to search for it.

whereas on minidisc, after you fill up 20 of those Hi-MD, if you want more storage, you can alway get more at $6.99 a pop per 1GB of storage. That's far less cost than buying another recorder/player. Since you keep the original recordings on minidiscs, nothing gets erased. Also, it would be a hell a lot easier to retrieve it, as you don't need another storage media to play it back.

another important fact that you need to consider too.

what if you accidentally drop H120, in midst of your recording? you probably lose all your valuable recording content. whereas in md, if you drop it, let's assume the md player/recorder is broken/unusable, but the content on the disc will still be intact, thus your valuable recording content is not lost. all you need is another MD player/recorder to gain access to that content on that particular disc.

hope this will help you decide.

[soulescape]

@Kaotic

VERY valid points! I did not consider them. All of them make perfect sense and have brought me back in to the direction of minidisc.

Now, back to my other post. Maybe I should settle for some smaller options. How about this.

-My budget is $199

-I'll have to buy a decent mic also.

-As long as I can get the files to my PC, I'm ok. It doesn't

have to be ultra-fast drag and drop. So long as I can get them there and convert them or re-play them and save them as .wav (or save the final edited version as .wav) using an audio package like sound forge, cooledit, etc...

- I want the recording quality found on this website - www.reactivesounds.com - there is a sample

recording of a beach scene and a rooster. They say they captured the

sounds using a Sharp MS-722 and one of their mics.

So what kind of minidisc recorder and good microphone can I pick up for under 200?

[RandomHero]

In order to upload a lossless format (PCM) via USB in hi speed, you would need a Hi-MD. Those are the ones that go for $200+ but if you are OK with uploading via analog Line in on your PC soundcard in real time, then you should be fine with a Atrac3 Type-R recorder. You should also try to see if you can score one with Type-S DSP, this enhances LP2 and LP4 recorded files on playback fo better sound when you upload. Those Non-Hi-MD recoders should come cheaper since they 1) can't upload digitally to PC. 2) can only use standard minidiscs.

[mrelwood]

[let's assume you have fill-up the storage on H120, what then?]

Since he want's to record stuff, I strongly believe that he will use the recordings immediately in something, making CD's or sending fart sounds to friends by e-mail. All these mean that the audio will be transfered to a computer anyway. Therefore, keeping them in the iRiver is really not necessary.

So the files are on the computer. What is the cheapest way to store data? It is a continuing battle between CD-R and hard disk. 200GB HD's don't cost that much anymore. Way less than 7$ / 1GB!

[what if you want to retrieve your old recordings, assuming you burn it on cd/dvd or whatever. it would be hassle to search for it.]

I think this is just a matter of how organized the person can be. I myself have lost just as meny MD's as I have lost CD's. And a CD has more room for writing what's in it.

[Also, it would be a hell a lot easier to retrieve it, as you don't need another storage media to play it back.]

If one burns them on audio CD's, I bet he's got more CD players in his house than MD players. But since audio CD's can't play back compressed audio, he would have to listen to the tracks thru a PC. How hard is that?

[what if you accidentally drop H120, in midst of your recording?]

This is a good point. But if a MD player is dropped and gets broken, it can't write the ID tag, so I hardly believe the audio would be usable either.

I am having a Hi-MD vs iRiver debate myself, and though yet undecided, I don't find these practical issues in favour of the Hi-MD. I haven't yet been convinced with the recording sound quality of the iRiver, but nor have I been convinced about the computer connectivity of the Hi-MD. If I record my 3 hour gig on media, I am not going to record the same material again on the computer. Once recorded has to be enough, so the computer connectivity has a high value in my usage.

And if my friend has a laptop with him and wants the third set also, we just transfer the audio for him. And if my friend has a movie he'd like me to see, we just transfer that to my equipment. Would work with Hi-MD also, if my friend would happen to have the Sony program and a certain coverter installed. I doubt.

Actually, this helped me make my decision. No Hi-MD. Unless ofcourse Sharp or others would start manufacturing Hi-MD's without the restrictions. I doubt...

[Christopher]

..nor have I been convinced about the computer connectivity of the Hi-MD.

Have you even tried marcnet's program?

[mrelwood]

Have you even tried marcnet's program?

No, since I don't have a Hi-MD, but what I ment was that all audio you want to listen with the player, has to be transfered in and out with the software, and that audio cannot be transferred on any other computer.

-Aki.