Topic: convertin minidisc>cd????

[samgraham78]

OK OK, I know.  DAT is the diggety and minidisc isn't
but for the time being it's what i can afford.  I get pretty good sound thru my Shure mini-shotguns, I run it thru a level control with bass roll-off, most of my gear i got thru soundprofessionals.com.

At any rate, I've had nothing but trouble trying to convert from MD to CD, so I can disseminate all these fabulous shows I've captured.  If anyone has the secret, please fill me in.
 don't worry, I promise to warn anyone that get's shows from me that the source is minidisc.  I don't want anyone gettin up in arms cus it wasnt on DAT.

Soon I'm gonna be lookin to upgrade my rig, hopefully there will be a strong used gear forum here where I can find a nice affordable rig, and pass off my MD gear to some kid thats in my current shoes.

Peace, thanks for the forum

[Bri]

hmmmm how exactly have you tried to do the convert?


I believe minidiscs use the same wording as 44.1/16 DAT and CD, so unless you have a sync problem, you should be ok.  Is your writer standalone or cpu?

[samgraham78]

the writer is standalone, I wouldnt mind using the one on my CPU, except my audio card is onboard, and a pile of trash.   The problem I have with the writer is that it doesn't recognise track marks, so everything comes out as one long track.  The way I had been doing it was to run my minidisc>eq>receiver>philips cdr570 writer.  my rec. level seems to come out really low, so the cd is real quiet, can you recommend a program to raise the level and put in track marks, without 2 second pauses of course.  thanks for your help.  

Sam

[Bri]

your cd writer need to be sent the tracks. Find out if your minidisc has a digital out and the writer has a digi in. then connect the two. Dont think this writer does. The only reccomendation I can make is get a writer with a digital in or put the minidisc in "track remain time" mode and write em as they go by. Thats the best I can think of.

good luck

[rusty]

Dr. Schoeps is correct.  I think you should look into a peice of harware that may help you out of this situation and also help you find solutions to many other problems in the future.  It's called a LiveDrive and is made by Creative (or SoundBlaster).  It has all the in's out's and connection that will make life with Mini-D conversion a breeze.  Check out link below.

http://www.soundblaster.com/accessories/livedrive/

Priced in the mid 100's.
R

[samgraham78]

thanks

[mde420]

Ok, I am doing the exact same thing you do Sam.  I'm assuming that you are going from the mics right to the MD?  If that is the case, then you are recording in Analog.  The only way the tracks transfer to the CDR is if you are sending a digital signal.  Unless you record the show in digital, then those track marks won't carry.  Another thing is pretty much all consumer MD recorders do not have a digi out.  You'll have to buy a standalone MD with a coax/spdif (optical) out.  You'll need to purchase a Analog/Digital convertor with an spdif out.  I believe the UA-5 has one, and the many of the Apogee's do.  Going to a computer is not needed.  That is just opinion.  I use an Onkyo standalone, and man it rocks.  You'll have to manually enter the tracks your self.  I would go to Phillips and see if you can download a manual, most likely in PDF format.  On my Onkyo, it's all done on the remote.  Now on to your volume being too low.

More than likely you have a low signal coming in.  I usually like to have my levels between -10db or -7db.  Sure, the room size and acoustics in general will have an affect, but it's more than likely that the signal is too low.  You should be able to increase the db on your standalone.  Once again I would consult the manual.  I would try running the levels a little hotter next time.  See if that works for ya.

Have a Grateful day,

Mike

[Sean Gallemore]

Ack, never make track markers on an MD.
transfer it to your computer. You will have to do this via analog because most portable MDs don't have digi out, unless you have a newer deck, then yer fine.  run it to your computer, and use exactaudiocopy to put the track markers in.  EAC is free for download at www.exactaudiocopy.de

EAC will split the track based on markers you set up and actually leave you with seperate tracks that will burn properly, and it does a better job than soundforge, because soundforge track markers are placed on sector boundaries making almost transitionless cuts, but not quite.

Finally, burn using DAO.  Unless you like pauses in between your tracks, but last time I checked there aren't 2 second gaps of total silence at concerts so why put it in your recordings?

I've owned 3 portables and 2 standalones and though I've been doing this for only a short time, I've gotten to know my equipment rather well.
Any more questions just IM me or email me

[zhianosatch]

BUMP

[blu666z]

I just invested in a deck to do be able to convert my own minidiscs and would be glad to help you out with pure digital conversions if you would like.  Just drop me a message and we can talk.

blu666z@hotmail.com

My conversion line->
Conversion: MD Masters -> Sony MDS-JE510 -> Creative SB Extigy -> Soundforge 6.0 -> shntool 1.2.2 -> shortn32 3.1 -> .shn
Editing: Soundforge 6.0
Tracking: CD Wave v1.73

-Kevin

[sexymexi]

I record MD, i use Cool Edit Pro 2, the better sound card the better, but you can get pretty damn good sound from your mic input, set levels record, divide the tracks then burn, seems to work for me.

[blu666z]

My offer still stands to do pure digital conversions for any MDers who can't do them theirselves.

-Kevin

[taperkat]

where did you get your standalone w/the opti out? i want one, and have been looking for them since Sony discontinued them.

I have about 100+ shows i need to convert. :-/

[blu666z]

I got it off of Ebay.  Think I paid $150 for it.  Can I help you with some of the transfers until you can get a deck?

-Kevin

[taperkat]

not right now. I have some masters out to people who claimed they woudl convert. they've had the shows over a year, and some of them are even lost. I'm thoroughly not happy.

Ebay, hm.... thanks for the tip. I'm going to look now.

[tms]

where did you get your standalone w/the opti out? i want one, and have been looking for them since Sony discontinued them.

I have about 100+ shows i need to convert. :-/

I'm working on adding a digital 'out' to the currently available sony mds je480 deck if anyone is interested.

[willndmb]

if you are using a stand alone it will not reconize track marks
you will have to make it one large track then retrack/burn on your comp
or what i have done, simply pay attn to the conversion--and as it gets near the end, manually hit the track mark button--more of a pain, but saves you from redueing it on your comp

[tms]

where did you get your standalone w/the opti out? i want one, and have been looking for them since Sony discontinued them.

I have about 100+ shows i need to convert. :-/

I'm working on adding a digital 'out' to the currently available sony mds je480 deck if anyone is interested.

Success!  It can be done for about $2 and a little time and work.  The upside is you end up with a brand new unit, no worries about the disc loader breaking (which is fairly common on the older ones).

[zhianosatch]

where did you get your standalone w/the opti out? i want one, and have been looking for them since Sony discontinued them.

I have about 100+ shows i need to convert. :-/

I'm working on adding a digital 'out' to the currently available sony mds je480 deck if anyone is interested.

Success! It can be done for about $2 and a little time and work. The upside is you end up with a brand new unit, no worries about the disc loader breaking (which is fairly common on the older ones).

nice work! how did you do it?

[tms]

where did you get your standalone w/the opti out? i want one, and have been looking for them since Sony discontinued them.

I have about 100+ shows i need to convert. :-/

I'm working on adding a digital 'out' to the currently available sony mds je480 deck if anyone is interested.

Success! It can be done for about $2 and a little time and work. The upside is you end up with a brand new unit, no worries about the disc loader breaking (which is fairly common on the older ones).

nice work! how did you do it?

Followed directions from minidisc.org at http://www.meyer-piening.ch/robert/je330 by Robert Meyer-Piening.  As he wrote, looked for signal with an oscilliscope.  Actually a friend and I looked at the service manual schematic from a JE470 to get a better idea of where to look.

Buy transmitter from Digi-key ($1.30), drill holes 2" to left of receiver, mount transmitter on mainboard, feed it power and the signal.  The tricky parts were finding a replacement for the  Sharp GP1F32T (which is obsolete and no longer available) and finding the S/PDIF signal which is there on the board but totally unused!  If you want to do it, let me put a webpage together with all the information and photos on it and step by step instructions.  There's no super-fine soldering needed, the job is do-able for a DIYer.  I can't take credit for the soldering on mine, my electronics friend did it, but it's not beyond a normal small soldering iron.

[machinelf]

I use a Tascam MD301 MkII to fine tune my tracks (I record one big track during the show on my Aiwa AM-C80), and then I burn CDs on a Marantz CDR500. So, if you can afford two standalone units like that and connect them digitally, it works well, as the tracks on the MD transfer automatically to the resulting CD, and there's no conversion of the digital signal at all.

Also, the digital out on the MD unit can be fed into a nice sound card setup for transfers (which is something I want to do, but don't have the resources yet).

[twatts (pants are so over-rated...)]

Dr. Schoeps is correct.  I think you should look into a peice of harware that may help you out of this situation and also help you find solutions to many other problems in the future.  It's called a LiveDrive and is made by Creative (or SoundBlaster).  It has all the in's out's and connection that will make life with Mini-D conversion a breeze.  Check out link below.

http://www.soundblaster.com/accessories/livedrive/

Priced in the mid 100's.
R

Unless things have changed, I thought Soundblaster products automatically resampled your audio...

Buy a M-Audio 2496, its worth the extra money and a great SCard. 

Interesting reads:
http://www.pcmus.com/choosecard.htm
http://www.solorb.com/dat-heads/digests/V5.900/D979#Msg0
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul99/articles/pcmusician.htm

Terry

[machinelf]

Great links, Terry, thanks for sharing.

Alan

[tms]

OK OK, I know.  DAT is the diggety and minidisc isn't
but for the time being it's what i can afford.  I get pretty good sound thru my Shure mini-shotguns, I run it thru a level control with bass roll-off, most of my gear i got thru soundprofessionals.com.

Actually I really like my minidisc recorder and am thinking about conducting a test to see if I can even tell the difference.  It makes a nice bulletproof backup to my JB3.

Todd in Buffalo

[astrnmyd]

used to be in the same boat as yourself.............here is what i did (at a friend's suggestion). 

MD > analogue mini to rca > tascam da-30 (DAT Player) dig coax out > audiophile 2496 > sound forge 6.0 (not free) or cdwav (free)

using cdwav you can make your track breaks with no sector boundry errors (or clicks at track breaks).........you will need another cd editing program to normalize (or as you said raise your levels).............hope this helps

[tms]

OK OK, I know.  DAT is the diggety and minidisc isn't
but for the time being it's what i can afford.  I get pretty good sound thru my Shure mini-shotguns, I run it thru a level control with bass roll-off, most of my gear i got thru soundprofessionals.com.

At any rate, I've had nothing but trouble trying to convert from MD to CD, so I can disseminate all these fabulous shows I've captured.  If anyone has the secret, please fill me in.
 don't worry, I promise to warn anyone that get's shows from me that the source is minidisc.  I don't want anyone gettin up in arms cus it wasnt on DAT.

Soon I'm gonna be lookin to upgrade my rig, hopefully there will be a strong used gear forum here where I can find a nice affordable rig, and pass off my MD gear to some kid thats in my current shoes.

Peace, thanks for the forum

I started off with MD too.  Here's the solution I settled on for getting these onto CD with the fewest amount of $, least amount of work, and highest quality transfer.  It uses the JB3 since it's my primary recorder now.

Modded Sony JE480 (or any MD deck with digital out) > S/PDIF Optical out > JB3  to set level and record one long .wav, then

JB3 > firewire > PC and split into tracks with CDWave (free) > CD-R

If your CD-R deck has a digital in and the ability to place manual track marks as you burn it, you could skip the PC steps above and just go MD deck > digital out > CD-R deck

[nameloc01]

hi all,i have all the equip.if any one needs a conersion from md >cdr drop me a line. i'd be happy to do it( for a copy of the show of course)i dont rip anyone off any can do them quickly.
i also have about ten or so masters and 400+ shows to trade.
thanks,
-j

[tms]

used to be in the same boat as yourself.............here is what i did (at a friend's suggestion). 

MD > analogue mini to rca > tascam da-30 (DAT Player) dig coax out > audiophile 2496 > sound forge 6.0 (not free) or cdwav (free)

using cdwav you can make your track breaks with no sector boundry errors (or clicks at track breaks).........you will need another cd editing program to normalize (or as you said raise your levels).............hope this helps

Yeah, but then you're using the MD player's D/A convertor followed by the DAT player's A/D convertor to get the digital signal.  So you've got two conversions happening that each change the original recording.