DJ SKuBa Posted February 26, 2005 Report Share Posted February 26, 2005 Hey, im totallly new to minidisc but im looking for something portable that has the best recording features, bascially to use as a recorder to get random sounds and stuff. I also am looking for soemthing that has good playback time and exteremely high quality since i will be using it for live performances. I hear sharp makes the best recorders but i dont knwo where to start... any suggestions.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted February 27, 2005 Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 Welcome to the forums..what's your maximum budget? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ SKuBa Posted February 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 (edited) no budget... its pretty much if its worth it ill get it.. keep in mind that i will be using this for professional recording and play back... pretty much using it for concerts. So im gonna be needing digital inputs, uncompressed recording etc etc... pretty much im looking for somethin thats portable but a beast... recording quality must be like crystal... hope u can help ... i heard the sharp 722 and the 888 and those 700s adn 800s are good. Put it this way... i will also be using this to play back pre recorded materials for large crowds and i need to be POSITIVE... it will NOT skip or pause or anything... Edited February 27, 2005 by DJ SKuBa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted February 27, 2005 Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 If it's important for you to be able to upload recordings directly to your computer, without quality loss, then your only choices for the moment are Sony's Hi-MDs: the NH-700, NHF-800, NH-900 or NH-1 . They have greater capacity because they can use 1GB discs, they record in PCM rather than (compressed) SP, and they upload your recordings via USB. Look at the Equipment Browser tab here for more info. The PCM recording will be CD quality, as good as your input, depending on your source: mic, soundboard, mixer, etc. Others here disagree with me, but for recording and uploading all you need is the NH-700 or NHF-800 (same unit with an FM radio in the 800). They have a line-in and optical-in input. (It's the same jack.) If you're recording a concert from the audience, though, you're likely to be getting an analog signal from a microphone via mic-in. You can listen to some concert recordings at the Yahoo mailboxlivefrommd (at) yahoo.com , password 1minidisc1 . The 900 and NH1 are more expensive in order to add some metal in the construction, a digital amp for crisper, pushier playback, an improved remote control, and digital pitch control. Some of those features might be useful to you as a DJ. The Sharp recorders you mentioned are not Hi-MD, and the only way to get a recording out of them is via the headphone jack in realtime. Sharp has not made any Hi-MDs that record in PCM or upload, which is a shame since Sony could certainly use some competition. Having waited this long, you might want to wait until April when Sony introduces its newer Hi-MDs. Prices on the old ones should drop, and the newer ones should have some of the early bugs worked out. It's very unlikely you'll have to worry about skipping. It's extremely hard to make one of these units skip. Gapless playback is more difficult, but it can be done by joining together separate tracks--search these forums for "gapless." I regularly record concerts to Hi-MD, making track marks during applause, and upload them to the computer and burn them to CD. Here's how you'd do that. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=6330 If I want a gapless CD, I use Nero to burn it without gaps between tracks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ SKuBa Posted February 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 (edited) Im not necessarily looking for easy upload to the computer since 99 percent of the time it is going the other way, from the computer to the MD, but USB may be helpful there.. What im concerend about is the recording and playback quality. from alot of these reviews it says sharp is better because it allows the user to pretty much control just about everthing as far as recording goes. I heard the preamps are better and it has louder outputs... idk what to do... its funny, your the 1st person who said sony is good for recording... I mean basically i want a recorder, recording the best quality possible totally uncompressed at 44.1, the output i just want powerful. Some i hear have heavier bass or treble. Im looking for a TOTALLY FLAT output, somethin which has no frequency stronger than the other. Also i noticed that sony recorers input track marks every time 2 secons of silence occur and do not start at the end of the medium. Problem is that some recordings may have mutliple secons of silnece and are necessary to be there but not a new track.... oh boy, Its crazy cuz thers so much out there... what do we think about Sharp MD-DR77 or the 722.... Edited February 27, 2005 by DJ SKuBa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted February 27, 2005 Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 Hi-MD is the way to go for live recording, period. I would wait until a Sharp Hi-MD unit comes out this year and then judge. If you had to choose from what's out now, a NH900. If you wait until second generation Sony Hi-MD, then go with a RH10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ SKuBa Posted February 27, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2005 im not looking really for live recording in the sense that you guys may be thinking... i think most people use them for recording concerts, i will be recording like 10 second sount clips or whatever for dj samples... OR i will be recording through a cable either analog or digital.... and the problem is that i hear sony puts track marcks every 2 second gaps exist.... that may be a big problem since baiscally what im going ot be doing is recording from my computer my prerecorded songs and playing htem back live... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Only Hi-MDs record in PCM. The Sharps are a previous generation and record at best in SP. If you want PCM, Sony is your only choice. From what you describe, you probably do want the NH-900 or the soon to be introduced NH-910, because the digital amp should be louder and punchier for output. If you are downloading music to the MD via USB, which is the quickest and most precise way to get songs onto MD, you won't get track marks within songs, silence or not. The track marks occur if you are recording into the MD via Line-In in realtime. But that's unnecessary. If the songs are on your computer, they can be transferred via USB with SonicStage, which is ugly and clunky but does do that job without problems. Even if you are recording via Line in, track marks are inaudible and will not create a gap in your MD recording. You can also get rid of them by individually deleting them with the Track button, which is bothersome but not difficult. The problem with the automatically inserted track marks is that when you upload something that's all chopped up into tracks, then try to burn it to a CD, many CD burning programs add silent gaps between tracks. But that doesn't seem to be your concern. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ SKuBa Posted March 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 (edited) i see how it works... so it is possible to delete the track marks and if the songs are already on my computer EVEN IF THEY HAVE A 2 SECOND GAP... if i go usb it will not recognize the gap and will be streamless... keep in mind my purpose for using this, if the timing isnt correct all the music gets messed up since those 2 secosd are timed to the song if u know hwat i mean. so the 900 or the 910 would do the trick as far as what im looking to do...and what is the NH1? obviously i knwo NOTHING here so please forgive me...i wonder, will optical also act the same as usb or would it act as analog. This is since my system is running with a recording interfacte which can output in pretyt much everthing but USB... convenient no, but i think that probably will do the trick... as far as quality, i want to be able to set all the recording parameters myself vs have it automatically set, is that possible... pretty much want to have this so i can do ti all myself and dont want any SONY parameters... and last thing... is there a "silent mode" in which EVERY click of a button doesnt have a "beep" following it etc. sicne this will be used live i think the beep is rather unprofessional if u knwo what i mean. so can i just have it so that no matter what i do its silent untill the songs play....thanx for ur help btw been VERRRY well, helpful ... Edited March 1, 2005 by DJ SKuBa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted March 1, 2005 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 There is a no-beep mode, it's under options. If you record via optical or line-in (it's the same plug) you will get the track marks with any 2-second gaps. If you record via Mic-In you can turn off Sync Rec in the record settings and get no track marks until you insert them yourself. Either way, the track marks don't make an additional gap themselves, they're just bookmarks. If you're playing back through the unit there won't be any additional silences. It's like a mix CD: the tracks are there so you can pick a song, but the playback is gapless.Playback via computer or burning to a CD might turn the track marks into silence, but the MD itself does not. The NH1 is the current top of the line recorder: thinner, fancier cradle, fancier remote, better battery. But as far as I can tell there is no significant functional difference from the NH900--someone correct me if I'm wrong. Take a look at the Browser tab on the front page of this site and you can see details on every model. Despite the clumsiness of Sony's software, which is the only way to record via USB, it is a digital transfer and it is faster than realtime. Try it before you go the slower way, and see if it has enough user settings to satisfy you. If not, you still have your own options. If you can wait a month until the new models are introduced, you may have more options for getting the music onto the MD: possibly, if Sony has come to its senses, a simple transfer of mp3 files. Since your needs are very specialized, it might be worth some patience to see if the new models are better for your gigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ SKuBa Posted March 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 wow you do know your MD's well. im honestly not even looking to get MP3s uploaded only std wav. files since mp3s are compressed and encoded already which removes some of hte sound quality. so basicaly what your saying is that if i get the 900 ill be good to go as far as sound quality, recording, and playback. i hope ur right but im gonna go with you on this one. any suggestions where i can get the 900 mad cheap? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted March 3, 2005 Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 I'd still suggest you wait a month. If the new Hi-MDs aren't significantly better in some way--who knows, they might have a louder output--then you'll still get a nice price drop on the NH900. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ SKuBa Posted March 3, 2005 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2005 (edited) well i guess i could wait a month, i mean i guess what ill do is hit up these forums again to see what you guys think about the new ones since as you know, i know nothing... i searched the site and noticed there was a MZ-RH910 and a MZ-RH10 just wondering what the difference is between those adn the NH-900 or the NH1 or if there is any difference... its just gets more and more complicated i think lol. Edited March 3, 2005 by DJ SKuBa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iosono Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 I'd still suggest you wait a month. If the new Hi-MDs aren't significantly better in some way--who knows, they might have a louder output--then you'll still get a nice price drop on the NH900.←I'm new here. Been reading this series of posts. I'm a musician who wants to be able to record live performances and my piano at home as well (not for final "studio" quality but hopefully decent). I've read about the superiority of the Sharp as the other guy here in varying features.Is it really true there are NO Sharp Hi-MD recorders out there? And if there aren't... can't you still record around 2 hours of live music on a Sharp unit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted March 6, 2005 Report Share Posted March 6, 2005 Yes, there currently are no Sharp Hi-MD units.I would honestly persue Hi-MD for a live recording option. Whilst legacy MD was a good choice at the time for certain applications, the flexibility of Hi-MD makes it nearly impossible to recommend an older unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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