Thought you guys may be interested in this exchange on a guitar newsgroup
about MD. The first bit is about a new user in the UK enthusing about the
magic of MD. The second section is her reply to somebody who has asked her
some questions about it. Although It demonstrates that the enlightened are
still having to do advertising on the manufacturers' behalf, it does appear
that the message is slowly trickling through. It's also great hearing about
the delight experienced by someone encountering MD for the first time. (By
the way, I've changed the names.)
John.
Hi all,
I know this has been said before, but as a new convert I thought I'd add my
voice to the existing chorus of support for portable minidiscs as recording
devices.
A couple of days ago I bought a Sony MZ-R55. It's only fractionally larger
than a cigarette packet. I paid 200 (UK) at the Sony Centre in Nottingham.
(I think they've been recently reduced from 250, since there's an even
smaller version coming out. As with many things, they seem to be cheaper in
the States.)
Today I've been playing with it. I connected my guitar to an acoustic amp,
and ran the amp through a Tascam to the minidisc. (I ran it through the
Tascam because I couldn't see any other way to monitor the input level. If
anyone knows of a way, please let me know.) I've just transferred the
resulting file to my PC, and the sound quality is just PHENOMENAL! Sorry to
yell, but it really is that good. I'd previously used just the Tascam, and
then used Cool Edit to remove hiss, and I was fairly happy with the results.
But this is a totally different league in terms of sound quality. I've also
tried recording with a mic, without the amp, and that also produced a file
of noticeably higher quality than that produced by the Tascam (a Portastudio
414).
So anyone out there who's thinking of acquiring some relatively inexpensive
but good quality recording equipment certainly should not overlook these
little devices.
A.
.
Hi B,
>Hey A. This sounds great! I've been wondering about a way to make a good
>quality scratch recording just for pratice purposes.
I think it would be absolutely perfect for that. You can buy small, portable
mics to go with them. I know virtually nothing about mics, so I just bought
the Sony ECM-MS907 for about 90 UK since I saw that C used that one and was
delighted with it (thanks again C :-). Sony do a cheaper, and a more
expensive, one. This one seems fine, and perfect for practice etc.
>I have a couple of questions about this little dude if you don't mind. Is
the disc inside
>permanent and you just keep recording/erasing on the same one, or can you
put
>new writable disc in there?
They're mini CDs, and you can put them in and take them out. (Actually, the
little CD is protected within a plastic case and ends up looking quite a lot
like a little floppy disk). You can record, erase, record etc as many times
as you like on each one. "A million times" is what the bloke in the shop
actually told me :-) The discs are pretty cheap too.
>Also, do you have to download the recording to something in order to listen
to it (you mentioned your PC) or can you just plug
>headphones or speakers right into the device and listen.
It's just like a personal stereo in this respect. You can listen immediately
via the headphones that come with it, or you can buy some little speakers
and play back that way (or use the ones you already have, of course). I've
not done that yet, but I remember C saying ages ago that he uses little
portable speakers.
>This sounds like a jewel. Thanks for mentioning it.
You're welcome :-) I'd heard they were good, but even so I was staggered by
just how good, small, light, portable, relatively inexpensive and generally
all round sexy they are! ;-)
Incidentally, when I was in the shop I saw another and slightly cheaper
model. (It was another Sony - the MZ-R37). It was larger, but still a *very*
small unit. I asked whether or not the sound/recording quality was likely to
be any different in the two models, and I was told it was not. As is often
the case, the extra dosh was mainly for a reduction in size (plus a couple
of other things, not relevant to recording as far as I could see).
Well, good luck and do check them out. I felt a bit guilty about buying this
thing, since I already had the Tascam, but I don't any more :-)
A.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word
"unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
