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Best possible sound quality from MD (Hi-MD?!) to PC?

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harmonika

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Dear all,

I wish to do field recordings using MD (Hi-MD?!) and digitally transfer that to PC for processing.

What would be a good combination of tools? (or possible the best in terms of sound quality) ?

I don't know anything about the new MD formats, nor modern players and their possibilities. I now use a Sony MZ R70, but have only managed to upload my work in a lossy analog way through MD headphone output to analog in connectors on a DI-Port (MindPrint) connected to my RME PC card.

Are there some kind of MD recorders/players/decks that allow digital transfer to PC via USB2? Or Hi-MD or whatever new stuff is out there? The old JB920 deck gives S/PDIF output but may not be available, and had some mechanical problems according to this site.

Someone here said "Why not enter the computer age and get a Hi-MD unit? Then you can upload PCM or Hi-SP compressed recordings (in real time) digitally to a computer using USB to get a wav file you can edit."

So given the above, I'd very much appreciate a pointer (not to ebay please!) as to what might be a good setup. If it's available in Europe that is even better!

Thanks,

Monika

:love:

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Well, I could spend up to 7-800 EUR to get good quality. I see the "Sony MZ-NH1" sells for ca 500 EUR on "Sony style".

What would you suggest?

Also, in the Hi-MD forum,

I've tried to read along the huge and somewhat disparate thread on "Marcnets" home-made tool to upload Hi-MD to PC.

But I also saw another thread where a moderator (you?) indicated that the transfer from Hi-MD to PC was rather simple using just a USB cable, though the "SS" program appears to be weak.

I don't get this - if it is that simple to do, why such a hoopla about the "himderer" by Marcnet?

Surely I've missed points browsing the posts, but reading it all in detail would take eons...

Cheers,

Monika blink.gif

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Hello Harmonika,

The situation is thus:

* You can record on your HiMD and upload to your computer, yes. There are is currently no simple way [i.e. as part of SonicStage] to export to .WAV for editing and SonicStage does not permit burning of your own recordings to normal audio CD.

* SonicStage [sS] contains bugs which will occasionally trash a track as it is being uploaded. By 'trash' I mean that it never finishes the upload to SS, and it also destroys the track on your disc. Meaning that your recording is lost forever and cannot be recovered by any currently known means.

* There are two main methods for conversion to .WAV being used. First is to use a piece of software called Total Recorder, with which you can [digitally] record your tracks directly from the HiMD [controlled by SonicStage] without having to worry about losing any tracks because of SS bugs. When you're finished copying tracks this way you can -then- upload if you wish without having to worry about losing your tracks since you already backed them up.

* The other method is to upload them in SS [risking losing tracks without having any backup] and then use marc's very excellent convertor program to convert them to .WAV for editing and/or burning.

The hoopla is about the fact that the Total Recorder method requires that everything be done in real time - a 28 minute recording takes 28+ minutes to copy. With marc's himdrender program, you can convert that 28 minute track in less than 30 seconds.

The important things to keep in mind are:

* marc's software is still in alpha, meaning it'snot guaranteed to work perfectly [though it usually does, now]

* going the himdrender route means you -must- upload your tracks first, risking their destruction before you have even had the opportunity to do anything with them.

Cheers.

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Forget it! I just burned myself with it. Get a small inexpensive mini DV camera that fits in the pocket and you got the back up sound that is easy to get into the PC. I just lost Can $ 400.00 on an MD recorder. For that price I could have gotten the camera. OK it is a bit bigger but it works without headache.

Laszlo

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Forget it! I just burned myself with it. Get a small inexpensive mini DV camera that fits in the pocket and you got the back up sound that is easy to get into the PC. I just lost Can $ 400.00 on an MD recorder. For that price I could have gotten the camera. OK it is a bit bigger but it works without headache.

Consumer [and even some semipro] video equipment does not usually allow for manual control over audio settings.

Most cameras have barely-adequate mic preamps on them, and the sound is highly compressed-limited, with no way to turn it off.

While MiniDV and the like offer 12-bit and 16-bit audio, the analogue portions of most equipment are such crap that it doesn't make it worth trying to use for anything serious.

I should know. I used to use a Hi8 [with AFM audio] for simple stereo location recording. The difference between that [or the Canon MiniDV sitting here] and my HiMD with binaural mic is .. well, quite large.

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I still think the audio is as good at 16 Bit if not better than the audio from an MD unit thorough the sound card. Don't forget that would be a sort of backup of the camera's audio in case of a goof up and might have to be placed next to the video track.

For me it did not work well enough.

Laszlo

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I would suggest the following

Sony MZ-NH1 (you have volume controll and levels on the remote so wont need to pull the unit out of your pocket to keep adjusting things).

Use total recorder to copy the audio from the MD to the PC by playing the MD back with SonicStage. This plays the file from the MD via the USB cable into the PC in real time. Advantage is that it will not trash the file. If you dont have the time for realtime copy then use the other method to transfer the audio.

BTW there have been a few reports of SS2.2 not having the required filter anymore for OMA playback that is needed for the faster than realtime copy. Hunt out SS2.1 if you can.

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Tried to to upload from MD to PC via USB with Total record ( with Win 2000 Platform). The MD unit would refuse to Play back and as a result of that Total Record could not read it. The tracks were recorded with a mike and since they were not originaly from the computer Sonic Stage provided only unidirectional link from the PC to MD.

Laszlo

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