himd renderer

[mbhbaritone]

Help please.

How do i actually download this (version 54). I click on the link and ok the first prompt but then i have a winzip box telling me i have 8 (?) programmes and it doesn't offer any prompt - what do i click do actually open the thing>

?

Thanks

[greenmachine]

In the net it is essential to know the basics how to use a (de-)compression utility. Why not make yourself familiar with it by reading the manual? Not using winzip myself, but there's usually an "extract to" or something like that in the menu. Many files you download are compressed in one way or the other to save space/bandwidth and need to be decompressed before they can be used.

[mbhbaritone]

In the net it is essential to know the basics how to use a (de-)compression utility. Why not make yourself familiar with it by reading the manual? Not using winzip myself, but there's usually an "extract to" or something like that in the menu. Many files you download are compressed in one way or the other to save space/bandwidth and need to be decompressed before they can be used.

Thanks for replying.

To be honest my head is spinning from reading manuals. I've spent two days trying to upload (my own gigs over last 2 years) by following pinned links etc and I'm at wits end as a beginner.

Only option in the winzip box that sounds like what you say is "extract from archives". Is that right??

I have a previously failed upload cocert which i know i daren't try and upload again on SS (it'll prob delete as it was on early version SS at the time). Understand that Marcnet's version is the answer but niaively again thought it would be a next/next/accept conditions/ type of thing and then reasonably self explanatory.

Any help gratefully received - cheers

[A440]

Only option in the winzip box that sounds like what you say is "extract from archives". Is that right??

Yes, extract it to a folder where you can find it.

A zip file is considered an archive. WinZip unzips that compressed archive file so you can use it.

Open the new Hi-MD Renderer folder and click on the .exe file. MD Record is on the bottom.

But first, get rid of that old SonicStage--uninstall it--and download a 4.x version from Downloads or 4.0 from here:

http://s23.quicksharing.com/v/9374647/Soni...200_UN.exe.html

Hi-MD Renderer needs SonicStage.

[mbhbaritone]

Yes, extract it to a folder where you can find it.

A zip file is considered an archive. WinZip unzips that compressed archive file so you can use it.

Open the new Hi-MD Renderer folder and click on the .exe file. MD Record is on the bottom.

But first, get rid of that old SonicStage--uninstall it--and download a 4.x version from Downloads or 4.0 from here:

http://s23.quicksharing.com/v/9374647/Soni...200_UN.exe.html

Hi-MD Renderer needs SonicStage.

Thanks A440. That seems to work and I'd already downloaded the latest SS as suggested.

Further queries:

1. Only reading the HiMD Rend guidance now, and i see that actually it doesn't bypass SS at all it works from it. So I was working on a false premise that it was a way around previously corrupted uploads being trashed by SS now - it'll still happen if i have to use SS first surely.

2. As such it looks like I'm back to the analogue upload methods on the pinned links - fair enough but please someone shout if I'm missing a trick here.

3. Help please on this one!

Everything I've ever read here says "don't edit on MD before upload" on basis that it is more likley to lead to problems on upload.

BUT

I can't see how else to edit. Audacity (if i can ever get the files across to it from SS) seems so complicated and in SS itself i can't see the tools.

NB All i want to do is move track marks and clip out applause. Therefater it'd be nice to create a 'best off' CD from various gigs.

Isn't there (please!) somewhere a simple tool for doing this. For once the actual MD itself does seem to offer the facility (re track marks/deleting) but then I'm back to creating poss probs with uploads.

cheers

[A440]

1. Only reading the HiMD Rend guidance now, and i see that actually it doesn't bypass SS at all it works from it. So I was working on a false premise that it was a way around previously corrupted uploads. being trashed by SS now - it'll still happen if i have to use SS first surely.

With tracks that SonicStage has misued, you are going to have to do it in realtime, yes. As long as the tracks will play on the disc itself, you're fine.

SonicStage isn't just for uploading (though that's pretty much all I use it for). With a Hi-MD unit connected to the computer, SonicStage will control playback on the tracks and play them back through the computer--the sound comes off the disc, through the USB and through the computer's soundcard, where it can be recorded. Hi-MD Renderer's MD Recorder uses SonicStage's control of the disc to play back each track one by one and record it to the computer as a separate track. Since you're not uploading--just playing back--SonicStage won't mess with the tracks on the disc.

3. Everything I've ever read here says "don't edit on MD before upload."

Editing before upload was a huge problem in old versions of SonicStage. No one has complained about it for a while, and Dex Otaku did some serious testing and had no problems. You can edit on the disc.

Assuming you can upload, though, you can also use SonicStage. Once you highlight an uploaded track, all the Edit commands should become available. Edit includes Divide, which should allow you to chop out applause, etc. Then you can rename or re-number your uploaded tracks to put them in the order you want. Keep the original disc for a while to make sure you have the original running order in case you want to upload again.

Audacity isn't so difficult. Open the file (.wav or .mp3) and just hold down the shift key to highlight the section you want to play with. You can zoom in to see the waveform very precisely and make a very exact cut. You can cut a selected section, copy it, add effects (like a fadeout), etc. And unlike SonicStage, it has an Undo command in case you make a mistake.

[mbhbaritone]

With tracks that SonicStage has misued, you are going to have to do it in realtime, yes. As long as the tracks will play on the disc itself, you're fine.

SonicStage isn't just for uploading (though that's pretty much all I use it for). With a Hi-MD unit connected to the computer, SonicStage will control playback on the tracks and play them back through the computer--the sound comes off the disc, through the USB and through the computer's soundcard, where it can be recorded. Hi-MD Renderer's MD Recorder uses SonicStage's control of the disc to play back each track one by one and record it to the computer as a separate track. Since you're not uploading--just playing back--SonicStage won't mess with the tracks on the disc.

Thanks very much A440 for your patient and helpful reply. I'm encouraged to keep going!

I'm still confused by one thing you said (above) though. Yes, the tracks still play on MD and yes I get that that previous SS glich means I have to now upload in "realtime". But what you go on to say suggests that HiMDRenderer is ok for that job? So is HiMDREnderer a realtime thing - i thought not? Totally confused, sorry!

[marcnet]

HIMDRenderer can do both:

1) It can convert your OMA/OMG files (Sonicstage creates these when uploading) to Wav/FLAC/MP3/OGG - faster than realtime

2) It has a secondary function (via the MD Recorder button) that can start the MD playing automatically to selected track(s) and do an analoge recording of those tracks via an audio cable to your sound card - realtime recording.

Edited November 22, 2006 by marcnet

[mbhbaritone]

HIMDRenderer can do both:

1) It can convert your OMA/OMG files (Sonicstage creates these when uploading) to Wav/FLAC/MP3/OGG - faster than realtime

2) It has a secondary function (via the MD Recorder button) that can start the MD playing automatically to selected track(s) and do an analoge recording of those tracks via an audio cable to your sound card - realtime recording.

Ok, thanks, that explains in part. But how does that tie in with the pinned advice by dex Otaku and others?

They give 3 options for paranoid users (or those with previouslycorrupted by SS material) - are any of those options using your programme?

Option 1 refers to analogue (as you do above)- for that i guess i need to buy a "male to male" cable - didn't come with HiMD kit.

Option 2 seems to use the USB i have - is this perhaps one I can use with your programme?

Sorry to stretch people's patience here but this stuff if like a foreign language to those, like me who are musicians but unitiated on computer matters.

Thanks

[A440]

Going WAY back to your original problem, were the tracks on the MD titled by SonicStage when it tried to upload them? Probably with a time and date stamp, like 2006-11-01 etc.? That would indicate the old SonicStage tagged the tracks as uploaded, so you would probably have to use the realtime method.

But if you're feeling brave, you could just test uploading a track again: Put track marks around a brief bit of applause and try uploading that with the newer SonicStage. If you lose it, no big deal. But if it uploads, you could just upload the whole disc again and save a lot of realtime.

Option 1 refers to analogue (as you do above)- for that i guess i need to buy a "male to male" cable - didn't come with HiMD kit.

Option 2 seems to use the USB i have - is this perhaps one I can use with your programme?

Dex's advice is a little out of date but it still works. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=6330

Option 1, the analogue method, is now automated with Marcnet's MD Recorder function--it starts each track on the MD as a separate recording. Yes, you need two cords. The USB controls the unit, playing the tracks one by one, and the male-to-male cable carries the playback out of the headphone jack and into your computer. You can find the male-to-male miniplug cable at just about any place that sells electronics.

Option 2 needs only the USB, and will give higher fidelity than the analog method. But unless you are very lucky in the kind of soundcard installed with your computer, you will need Total Recorder, about $18, which records the sound as it is going into the soundcard. The Standard version has all the features you need.

http://www.highcriteria.com/

Agreed that this can be extremely confusing. With any luck, however, you now have a less restrictive SonicStage for your newer recordings and uploading those should go smoothly from the start.

Edited December 26, 2006 by A440