Topic: questions about UA-5 and laptops and tons of junk

[Ed.]

I just recently purchased a UA-5 and now i'm waiting patiently for it to come in the mail.  But now i have all these questions so if anyone can help, it'd be very much appreciated.

I'll be using it mostly for taping my friends band at local bars and junk, so for those shows i can actually just plug the thing in, but i'm sure i'll want to use it at a real concert sooner or later and was wondering if there was a site showing me how to make the power supply for it.  I saw references to it in past posts, but never saw a link...can anyone help me out, or should i just keep digging?

Since I'll be taping my friends band quite a bit with it, I'll be able to use my laptop (hopefully) so i'd like to keep the usb interface so i can record onto the laptop with it, however, i'd like to use it out in the field too, with just the nomad.  Is it possible make some sort of switch for it so i can easily flip back and forth?  I'd imagine undoing and redoing the mod over and over wouldn't be that good for it.

If you set the UA-5 so you can record 24/96 can you still record to the nomad at 16/48 at the same time?

Ok, last question....My current laptop is pretty crappy, but I was wondering if it'd be possible to pull a 24/96 recording or any recording at all.  The stats are...
696mhz celeron
64mb ram
6gb hdd
will the computer be able to process the audio from the UA-5 via the usb or will it drop audio and mess up?

i guess i'll figure out a lot of this when i get all my stuff together, but i'm getting excited and its 4 in the morning and i'm bored.

ed

[Swampy]

When in doubt, check the archive: http://www.taperssection.com/reference/html/DIY_EdirolUA5Power/

[Simp-Dawg]

Ok, last question....My current laptop is pretty crappy, but I was wondering if it'd be possible to pull a 24/96 recording or any recording at all.  The stats are...
696mhz celeron
64mb ram
6gb hdd
will the computer be able to process the audio from the UA-5 via the usb or will it drop audio and mess up?

processor speed is not going to be an issue here, you should be fine with that...ram is a little on the low side, i'd recommend upgrading to at least 128mb, and DEFINITELY you need more hard drive space.  and before you ask, i would not recommend an external hard drive to write to while recording.  at the very least i would pick up a 15gb drive and install it in the laptop, that way you'll have enough room for a few hours of 24/96 recording (or even more as you will probably want to record at 24/48 since 24/96 is a little flaky over usb!).
look in the archive section for info on setting up a laptop for recording.
oh, and good luck!!!

[Craig T]

Since I'll be taping my friends band quite a bit with it, I'll be able to use my laptop (hopefully) so i'd like to keep the usb interface so i can record onto the laptop with it, however, i'd like to use it out in the field too, with just the nomad.  Is it possible make some sort of switch for it so i can easily flip back and forth?  I'd imagine undoing and redoing the mod over and over wouldn't be that good for it.

The stock UA5 will ONLY work while connected to a computer via USB.  You'll have to either get a "digimod" UA5 from Oade Bros or but a UA5 and mod it yourself.  There on instructions on how to do the mod somewhere on ts.com, do a search and if you still can't find the info I'll try to find it for you.  With the digimod it will give digital output to the USB, coax & optical simultaneously - no need to have any kind of "switch".  The digimod will disable the UA5's ability to playback from PC>UA5 via USB.

If you set the UA-5 so you can record 24/96 can you still record to the nomad at 16/48 at the same time?

No, it will only output one digital signal.  I would record 24/48 to laptop via USB and connect the JB3 to the optical outs.  The JB3 will truncate the 24/48 to 16/48.  Great use for the JB3 as a "backup" in case something goes wrong with the laptop recording.  (and it will at some point)

Ok, last question....My current laptop is pretty crappy, but I was wondering if it'd be possible to pull a 24/96 recording or any recording at all.  The stats are...
696mhz celeron
64mb ram
6gb hdd
will the computer be able to process the audio from the UA-5 via the usb or will it drop audio and mess up?

Its worth a shot, but I doubt this computer will be able to do 24/96.  The hard drive is too small (at 24/96, it takes 2GB per hour) and it needs more RAM.  I've had far more failures than successes running a UA5 at 24/96 to laptops.  I now only record 24/48 and believe me it is still very good compared to 16bit.

[Ed.]

thanks guys +t's all around.

I'll look into more ram for my laptop for sure, however, i almost think i should just forget about it.  Its pretty old and pretty heavy and i got it for $200 three years ago from a friend who needed to pay rent.  The only thing i use it for at the moment is splitting shows with cd wave at my night job cuz i have nothing better to do.  maybe i'll just keep it for that.

thanks for the heads up on the battery pack/mod...i'll be doing that as soon as the battery and the UA-5 get here.
thanks for the heads up on the digimod too, i saw instructions for a mod somewhere else, and i could swear that it was either one or the other, but i might be mistaken, either way, i'll look for the one on TS and follow that instead.
and then to use both a laptop and a jb3 all i have to do is...
ua-5 > laptop via usb at 24/48
ua-5 > njb3 via optical, and the njb3 will turn the wav into 16/48  

awesome! i can't wait to get this!

ed

[mirth]

I tape with a 400mhz celeron toshiba. Once I maxed out the RAM to 196MB everthing has been fine. a celeron 700 will be good, but like others have said - upgrade the ram for sure. If you're going to do 24/48 you can get by on the 6GB hard drive (I do...)

[Sterling]

So you can only use the UA 5 with a laptop, i can't use it with my MD or a DAT? Thanks guys..you rock
Sterling
PS I got those Oktava 012's today whoo hoo!

[Craig T]

So you can only use the UA 5 with a laptop, i can't use it with my MD or a DAT?

not unless you modify it.  the mod looks pretty simple if you don't want to buy one modded from Oade.

[Willie T.]

I too have just bought a UA5, i found these batteries and so far they are working well. http://www.taperssection.com/yabbse/index.php?board=25;action=display;threadid=8054
there are some 4000mAh batteries on sale for $23 (10 batts) at this same site.