Topic: OPINIONS ON CD RECORDERS?

[porphyry]

In my quest to make perfect digital copies of stuff recorded digitally (ie. DAT or minidisc) I want to gather everyone's opinion on this:

CD RECORDERS.

You buy a good CD recorder, hook it up to your DAT or minidisc deck, then make a digital recording to CD. Then you put the CD in your computer and do the editing.

Is this a worthwhile alternative to copying the material to your computer through a good soundcard?

CD Recorder Vs. Soundcard.

Advantages? Disadvantages?

Opinions please.

[mirth]

My guess is that folks will say go via the soundcard just to avoid the unnecessary DAE gen in your recording.

Can't speak from experience, tho... I tape to laptop. YMMV.

[BillF]

I am no expert, but I would try to keep the digital all the way as far as possible.  Once the conversion is done, there is no reason why to go back to analog except to listen to it.   I would agree to keep the digital gen as low as you can.  
Depending on how you get the digital copy into your system (DAT etc...) I would not want to convert back and forth just to edit or whatever.  

I beleive in the KISS method - Keep it Simple - prevents STUPID stuff from creeping into your recordings and usually after you can do anything about it.

[Brian Skalinder]

First, welcome!

Second, are you YELLING FOR A REASON, or is your caps lock busted?  

Third, as Mirth and BillF suggest, some tapers and traders frown upon the unnecessary DAE in the source info.  You'd effectively be doing the following:

01.  Record to MD
02.  Transfer MD digitally to CD Recorder
03.  Burn CD on CD Recorder
04.  Digital Audio Extraction of CD on PC
05.  Editing / mastering on PC
06.  Burning audio/archive CD

If it were me, I'd just pick up a cheap soundcard that doesn't resample.  It'll cost less than the CD recorder and prevent unnecessary DAE.  Problem solved.

That said, if you have access to a free/ridiculously cheap CD recorder, there's no real reason why you couldn't use the CD Recorder as long as you [a] don't mind the DAE step, and document the DAE step in the recordings you distribute.

[porphyry]

sorry for the CAPS... its just thats its so loud in here i had to speak up...

[porphyry]

yes i must admit i may have already answered the question to myself when i thought maybe the only problem would be the DAE but you have to wonder, how much can go wrong with the Digital Audio Extraction? does the type of CD-ROM make much difference? i mean, if its just reading zero's and one's then how many errors are you likely to get?

i realise this is probably pretty naive though.

[Brian Skalinder]

yes i must admit i may have already answered the question to myself when i thought maybe the only problem would be the DAE but you have to wonder, how much can go wrong with the Digital Audio Extraction? does the type of CD-ROM make much difference? i mean, if its just reading zero's and one's then how many errors are you likely to get?

i realise this is probably pretty naive though.

Depending on the hardware and software used, it can be really easy to get errors.  I stopped using Sleazy CD Creator when I found artifacts in it's DAE after one, yes one, generation.

I think a soundcard is the way to go from both cost and reliability perspectives.

[mirth]

Much can go wrong with DAE... you have to know & have your offsets for the source & rip drives as well as have the software set up correctly.

Best case - your rip produces an exact copy of whats on the disc.
Worst case - you've got waves with more snap, crackle, & pop than a box of rice crispies.

[DaryanLenz]

I will have a mucho cheap card that is bit perfect, allowing digital ins and outs coax and optical availible in less than two weeks!

Daryan