"homebrew" mp3-to-minidisc recording station

[Arr-Nine-Hundred]

Hi All,

I normally get the urge to fiddle with Minidisc once a year. Last year the urge lasted only a few days. The reason was that I got frustrated with the recording process. I could not find any decent music player on Linux that would let me have 2 seconds between each track for the auto trackmark insert. I eventually settled on trying foobar2000 on a WINE (a Windows emulator) which worked but seemed like "yak shaving" (eg. a lot of effort to do something simple).

So here in 2013, I felt the urge again but this time I wanted to solve this problem. So over this weekend I built a neat little "mp3-to-MD recording station". What this consists of is a "small form factor" PC running Debian Linux. I use a console-based music player called "mocp" for playing the tracks. I use digital optical for the MD connection. Digital optical means I don't have to fiddle with recording levels and I can use syncro-record. This makes it as "unattended" as possible right now. I can start off playing a playlist and then return to a freshly burnt disc in an hour.

What is interesting is a couple of things:

1. I can run the computer "headless" so there does not have to be a monitor or keyboard attached. I can just ssh to it from another PC and control it from there. I see the same mocp interface but just in a terminal window. Also it is just "one button" power on and off. I can press the power button to turn on and within 30 seconds it is ready to rock.

2. The maintainer of the "mocp" software added a feature to include a user-configurable pause between tracks just for me. (I found 3000ms was best) He literally coded in the feature within 24 hours of me making a request. That is the power of opensource software!

Here are some photos:

http://opticalgarbage.com/minidisc/image/2-IMG_20130527_090642.jpg

http://opticalgarbage.com/minidisc/image/3-IMG_20130527_090710.jpg

http://opticalgarbage.com/minidisc/image/1-IMG_20130525_083016.jpg

I really like doing things on a budget and not overspending. This solution used hardware I already had. The Compaq Deskpro EN is now obsolete and can be bought for £10-£15 (1Ghz Pentium III, 384M, 20G HDD), I used a Trust-brand Digital audio PCI card for the digital optical connection (£5-15). The Sony MZ-N710 is a secondhand unit which no longer accepts power from a gumstick (£10-15) so is a good "record-only" unit.

I recorded "Daft Punk - Random Access Memories" as my test disc (in SP recording mode) and it reminded me of how great MD can sound. Daft Punk used traditional analogue recording means where possible in this album so I thought it would a good candidate for an MD test. Although I prefer to record from mp3, I find that recording via mp3 this way actually "cleans up" the source a little. Maybe a little crazy but it works for me. I listen back on a Sony MZ-R900 portable.

Theres a couple of things with this setup that can can be better:

1. I'd like a little series of "beeps" or something from the PC when the playlist has finished. As running headless means you don't know when it's done unless actively monitoring it. My goal was as little attendance as possible.

2. I'd like it to automount a USB stick when inserted. If you see on the back, I added a USB2 2-port PCI card to accept USB storage. Right now I have to mount them manually. I'm sure this is easily solved within software.

I might look into adapting another lowcost PC like a Raspberry PI for this project. Sadly though it does not have digital optical out although I might be able to do something with a Xitel DG2. Maybe I'll save that project for the 2014 "MD urge" :-)

Anyhow just felt like sharing. I documented the set-up so if anyone is interested in trying it then I can help.

[PhilippeC]

Look like a gass factory what you have done.

Did you use the post-track silence plugin with foobar with your Windows emulator to add a 2 seconds gap between tracks ?

And you could also get audiophile audio output plugins like Kernel Streaming and Asio4all with foobar.

[badactress]

..and here's my mp3->minidisc recording station!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BmeZQojFU-0/UaNcWp4qGWI/AAAAAAAAETg/W-9d0ZMR9nE/w844-h633-no/P1040293.JPG

[Arr-Nine-Hundred]

Look like a gass factory what you have done.

Did you use the post-track silence plugin with foobar with your Windows emulator to add a 2 seconds gap between tracks ?

And you could also get audiophile audio output plugins like Kernel Streaming and Asio4all with foobar.

Sorry what is meant by "gass factory"?

Yes, I used that plugin but it seemed to me a lot of trouble and "layers" in between the sound and the MD. I also wanted to have a separate device for this so I could use my regular computer for other stuff without fear of causing undue sound effects or other things that might effect playback.

I have no idea about the audiophile plugins - what advantages do they give me?

..and here's my mp3->minidisc recording station!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BmeZQojFU-0/UaNcWp4qGWI/AAAAAAAAETg/W-9d0ZMR9nE/w844-h633-no/P1040293.JPG

Ha!

I have the exact same mp3 player! The Sansa Clip+ is a cool little player. Never thought of doing it like this but I guess your problem is going to be ensuring enough silence between the tracks to enable auto trackmarks to be inserted. Also you have to faff about with recording levels a little bit.

[arb226]

..and here's my mp3->minidisc recording station!

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-BmeZQojFU-0/UaNcWp4qGWI/AAAAAAAAETg/W-9d0ZMR9nE/w844-h633-no/P1040293.JPG

Does it properly insert 2 second gaps? Does it play FLAC (I prefer FLAC over mp3 any day).

I am assuming this method is not possible for tracks that have no gap in between them? What would I do in that case?

Besides the Kernel Streaming foobar plugin, does the Asio4all plugin reqlly do anything? Are there other worthwhile plugins? Does using foobar2000 provide better quality than dubbing CD to MD ( I have a Sony CE 525 CD player, and a Sony JB930 MD deck, and I use an optical cable for audio, as well Control A1-II for syncing with Song/album title transfer).

[PhilippeC]

Windows can be configured not to cause indue sound effects. But others programs like ^£%*µ* Skype must be shut up too !

But as you do not use Windows for a real time recording, it is not anymore your problem. But you can still try the plugins for the listening of your Flac files with foobar. This is exactly what I do, using a Creative Platinium Xi-Fi sound card and 24bit-96kHz Flac tracks (digital Chesky & Linn records, Vinyl rips).

[Arr-Nine-Hundred]

Does it properly insert 2 second gaps? Does it play FLAC (I prefer FLAC over mp3 any day).

I am assuming this method is not possible for tracks that have no gap in between them? What would I do in that case?

Besides the Kernel Streaming foobar plugin, does the Asio4all plugin reqlly do anything? Are there other worthwhile plugins? Does using foobar2000 provide better quality than dubbing CD to MD ( I have a Sony CE 525 CD player, and a Sony JB930 MD deck, and I use an optical cable for audio, as well Control A1-II for syncing with Song/album title transfer).

Yes, it has FLAC support: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDisk_Sansa#Sansa_Software_Overview

For tracks with no gap you'd probably have to create a playlist and use a 2-second-silence mp3 spacer file. So it's doable but a hassle.

The advantage of foobar2000 is that is plays a variety of formats, the downside is that the computer is effectively "tied up" with that while recording. If your source is on CD then I think your current solution of dedicated CD-to-MD via digital optical is unbeatable. And you get the titles done automagically - amazing.

[arb226]

I wonder if foobar 2000 provides as good or better quality FLAC to MD vs my current setup of CD to MD...My CD player (Sony CDP-CE525) is often picky with CD-R's resulting in my MD's with skipping, so I want a skip-free, best quality solution...

[badactress]

Does it properly insert 2 second gaps? Does it play FLAC (I prefer FLAC over mp3 any day).

I am assuming this method is not possible for tracks that have no gap in between them? What would I do in that case?

Besides the Kernel Streaming foobar plugin, does the Asio4all plugin reqlly do anything? Are there other worthwhile plugins? Does using foobar2000 provide better quality than dubbing CD to MD ( I have a Sony CE 525 CD player, and a Sony JB930 MD deck, and I use an optical cable for audio, as well Control A1-II for syncing with Song/album title transfer).

I was really just being silly in that mine is so tiny compared to Arr-Nine-hundred's! But yes it does actually play flac files. It's obviously not capable of inserting 2 second gaps where there aren't any, but if you were sat with it, and monitoring while it was recording you could manually add the trackmarks.

[Arr-Nine-Hundred]

I was really just being silly in that mine is so tiny compared to Arr-Nine-hundred's!

"Said the (bad)actress to the bishop"

It is heartening to see I am not the only crazy person to still be listening to digital audio files via MD. We "crazies" have gotta stick together.

[PhilippeC]

to insert gaps where there are not, you must use the plugin "post-track silence" with foobar2000 , "wincue" with Winamp

[badactress]

"Said the (bad)actress to the bishop"

It is heartening to see I am not the only crazy person to still be listening to digital audio files via MD. We "crazies" have gotta stick together.

Lol! I walked right into that one!

[punkrockaddict]

Yesterday i installed an Audigy4 SOundcard to my HTPC system and was surprised by a "minidisc" plugin from the Mediasource player.

Of course this should be usable with non-creative cards too.

Maybe this is what you´re looking for.I didn´t try it because i record via digital out and my trackmarks get set.

[PhilippeC]

I have a Creative Platinum Xi-Fi sound card right now on my PC.

This "minidisc" plugin is exactly here to do the same work than the foobar2000 "post-track silence" and Winamp "wincue" plugins, just adding silence between tracks during real time recording. I prefer the foobar2000 facilities and preferences, that is why I never use the Creative tracks player. But I was very pround just to know that Creative did that thing for MD owners.