For Sale: Denon DN-045R Studio MD Replicator

[specialKid]

Hi,

I have a Denon DN-045R professional studio minidisc replicator listed on Australian ebay at the moment. This was purpose-built for studios to allow true direct copying/replication with no additional ATRAC compression. Basically it makes a clone of the original disc. You can't achieve this with any consumer unit connection and this was about the only machine ever built to do this. This actual unit was originally purchased and used by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. It runs on any voltage between 100V-250V. Please see the listing if you are interested, thanks.

http://shop.ebay.com.au/merchant/little_blackbird

I also have some vintage microphones and other items listed

[sfbp]

Hi,

I have a Denon DN-045R professional studio minidisc replicator listed on Australian ebay at the moment. This was purpose-built for studios to allow true direct copying/replication with no additional ATRAC compression. Basically it makes a clone of the original disc. You can't achieve this with any consumer unit connection and this was about the only machine ever built to do this. This actual unit was originally purchased and used by the Australian Broadcasting Commission. It runs on any voltage between 100V-250V. Please see the listing if you are interested, thanks.

http://shop.ebay.com.au/merchant/little_blackbird

I also have some vintage microphones and other items listed

Just out of curiosity can philippeb or any other MDS-W1 owner tell us what the difference between the two units are? My understanding was that the MDS-W1 will do the same job, effectively.

In addition, when this machine was created there was no MZ-RH1, which allows by a somewhat circuitous means the same effect. Granted, it's a pain, because now you have to play back the .WAV file into some MD machine's optical in (unless you own one of the CD-MD decks), but it is possible.

[philippeb]

Just out of curiosity can philippeb or any other MDS-W1 owner tell us what the difference between the two units are? My understanding was that the MDS-W1 will do the same job, effectively.

The MDS-W1 is the dream machine without which I would not have invested in minidisc.

It offers the same duplication, defragmentation, and composition services as the DN-045R (except for the Windows command software, 100% irrelevant to me). As far as I know, it is also the only symmetric machine, which duplicates tracks from left to right, or from right to left. It can record from two different sources at the same time. It includes a comprehensive built-in timer, which gives you flexibility to program your recordings.

It is also 100% immune to SCMS anti-copy protection (except for pre-recorded minidiscs, irrelevant again). It can also chain two discs, for recording or replay, effectively doubling the recording time (5h24m in mono, my favorite format).

What else should I add ? That I own three units, just in case, for my old days ? That Sony killed the format pretending that their affordable masterpiece double deck could not duplicate tracks or discs ? That I am thankful for life to the generous architect of this machine ?

[sfbp]

Thanks, Philippe.

Question: what does the MDS-W1 do to MDLP data? If you don't know, is there a way you can find out? It occurs to me that maybe it will copy a 5 hour 23 mins LP4 disk perfectly.

I ask this because I have recently been extremely surprised by the fact that I can record at LP4 off a decent source, upload the files intact to SonicStage, and store the lot on a HiMD disk saving a huge amount of real estate in the process - and the result sounds no worse than when I first got it off the radio. IE - the only thing bad about LP4 is that it is totally LOSSY; whereas if you don't touch it at all, maybe it is fine. This might be true for a copy made with MDS-W1 (I noted on another Ebay seller's spiel that copying of LP disks was claimed for the Denon dual device that heads this discussion).

[philippeb]

Question: what does the MDS-W1 do to MDLP data? If you don't know, is there a way you can find out? It occurs to me that maybe it will copy a 5 hour 23 mins LP4 disk perfectly.

Quoting the minidisc FAQ:

Will an MDS-W1 move LP mode tracks?

The Sony MDS-W1 double MD deck will not move LP mode tracks properly. When the MDS-W1 moves LP2 and LP4 tracks to another disc it sets their SP bits on in the UTOC track header, turning LP4 tracks into (silent) SP mono and LP2 tracks into (silent) SP stereo. The track's audio data is copied properly however, so with careful use of TOC cloning to restore the LP bit in the track header, copied LP tracks will play correctly.

I have never tried, because I do not do LP recordings. It seems doable, but tedious: disc copy, followed by TOC cloning, probably followed by track splitting and titling.

I will give a try. You will have to be patient, because my TOC cloning MDS-JB920 sits in my office at work, and I will not be able to access it before Monday. I doubt it will work (with my setup) because the MDS-JB920 does not understand LP formats either.

[sfbp]

So with the judicious use of whatever utility the linux-minidisc folks come up with (I may end up being one of them), one might imagine a fast copy followed by tweaking the bits over USB. Seeing as 80m (but not 1GB, of course) MD's can be read on an SP player (having a contents that say "HiMD") maybe even HiMD could be nicely backed up in the same manner. Mind you, where they are heading, it will be possible just by copying and tweaking the USB-visible image, so probably noone even cares.

(Edit: duh, I remember that's no good, the HiMD's are all recorded using PRML so no way to see those bit patterns).

Thanks for putting me straight, I think I now recall reading that paragraph.