Topic: Looking to buy a new recorder (minidisc)

[Industrial]

I am looking to buy a new recorder for concerts.  Recently my minidisc recorder just died and some venues it is too hard to video tape from.  So I am looking for suggestions on new audio recorders.  I do like to have the master tapes which as far as I know you only get with Cassette, Minidisc and DAT.  I want something that can show me different levels and let me adjust them for better sound.

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated :]

[digifish_music]

I am looking to buy a new recorder for concerts.  Recently my minidisc recorder just died and some venues it is too hard to video tape from.  So I am looking for suggestions on new audio recorders.  I do like to have the master tapes which as far as I know you only get with Cassette, Minidisc and DAT.  I want something that can show me different levels and let me adjust them for better sound.

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated :]

Don't

The present and medium-term future are memory-card recorders -

Some good flash-recorder options are...

Edirol R09HR
Marantz PMD620
Olympus LS-10
Sony PCM-D50
Tascam DR-1

BTW: This site has a nice comparison of features and inboard/outboard mics etc...

http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/compare-portable-recorders.html

digifish

[stantheman1976]

He wants something that will give a physical copy of the music. 

Hi-MD is still supported and will give about 94 minutes per disc in 44.1KHz/16 bit mode.

Look in the yard sale here or eBay.  The Sony MZ-RH1 is one of the best models.

[nameloc01]

There was a M100 HI-MD in the yard sale for $200.00 just a little bit ago. That's my primary recorder,illuminated display,black aluminum casing,ect.

The only real difference between it and an RH1 is the "record levels" can be accessed immediately on the RH1 and on the M100 you have to go into a few menu options, and then the RH1 has the ability to digitally transfer your old standard minidiscs.

So,if those things are important to you,the RH1 would be the way to go,if not get an M100.

Either unit will get 90+ minutes of PCM recording on a single 1gb disc.

[boojum]

I have an RH1 and it is the best I have had.  It does the jobs the big boys do and has a good front end (pre-amps).  It is reliable.  And it will upload every digital non-commercial MD you have.  SonicStage sucks.  So what?  It works alright for me.  It could be way better, yes, but it does work.

PM me if you think I can help.

Cheers

[ArchivalAudio]

I am looking to buy a new recorder for concerts.  Recently my minidisc recorder just died and some venues it is too hard to video tape from.  So I am looking for suggestions on new audio recorders.  I do like to have the master tapes which as far as I know you only get with Cassette, Minidisc and DAT.  I want something that can show me different levels and let me adjust them for better sound.

Any suggestions/help would be greatly appreciated :]

Don't

The present and medium-term future are memory-card recorders -

Some good flash-recorder options are...

Edirol R09HR
Marantz PMD620
Olympus LS-10
Sony PCM-D50
Tascam DR-1

BTW: This site has a nice comparison of features and inboard/outboard mics etc...

http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/compare-portable-recorders.html

digifish

please go with a  CF or otehr Card recorder... no moving parts
and
you'll get better copies (masters)
go for a 24bit unit

the korg 1 bit units are very nice

think 2x before you get a (nother) mini disc recorder

you'll be very glad

peace
-- Ian

[stantheman1976]

CD recorders are great.  I use a Sony D50 and iRiver H12 & 320 but having a physical copy to store is important to some old schoolers.  Every proejct I do is for video so what I record always gets stored back to MiniDV and I am able to have a long lasting copy.  The problem with hard drive and CF recorders is having to make mulitple back ups of what you record for safety.  With a Hi-MD or other physical mediums you have the assurance that your recording will likely still exist in 10 years without needing to have it backed up in 3 different places.  I'm certainly not knocking solid state users but you have to look at both sides of a situation.

[nameloc01]

"The present and medium-term future are memory-card recorders "

Yeah,for everyone except people that use MD. I went to see WSP friday in cleveland. While I was sitting in the TS chatting and looking around I noticed that 4 out of the 7 tapers there were using MD recorders,to say I was surprised would be an understatement. I was the only one running a HI-MD deck though. The two guys. Immediately next to me (they are actually from this area but are low-key tapers and I had not ever met them before) specifically said one of the reasons for their MD use was the removable media,the other reason being they preferred the sound they got compared to other types of recorders. The Sony preamps are the cats-ass. I agreed with them on both points. And all three of us said as soon as blanks are impossible to get,it will be time to retire. and since I've been stockpiling blanks for a while now, retirement is not coming anytime soon.

[jacobmyers]

 Having just transitioned from MD to a solid-state machine, my reaction is pretty much the same as digifish's: don't bother.

 I can understand the psychological "need" to have a physical representation (a "master copy") of the recording. It really did feel "wrong" to not have an object to connect with a recording. It was strange not to put "the recording" on a shelf (where, in all likelihood, it would collect dust until my heirs are forced to deal with it).

 Then I learned the mysteries of CD-R burning, FLAC, checksums, and Tyvek sleeves. 

 Seriously, though; I tried to cling to MiniDisc, too, but solid-state is the way things are headed with good reason. Take, for instance, the fact that solid-state media is actually less expensive now than MD (even if you only use it once and then shelve it). For instance; you can buy a 2GB SD card for $5 if you try hard enough. To contrast, Hi-MD media can be found for the same price (if you're buying a 10-pack) and is likely to get more expensive as supplies dwindle (as happened with MD-Data before it). Twice the capacity for roughly the same money? And it's not as if the superiority of solid-state (compared to MiniDisc) ends there.

 I use a solid-state (Songcatcher PMD660) machine which has removable media. Unlike Sony's current MD device, it can use off-the-shelf batteries if I need it to. Granted, I paid something less than twice the price of a new RH1 for my PMD660. But I'll not have to concern myself with proprietary Sony batteries or locally scarce media. And I definitely won't worry about fragile disc transports (or repair or maintenance costs for said moving parts). I can record non-stop from sunrise to sunset (with an 8GB card and external power). And the icing on the cake is that the machine has XLR inputs. I think those advantages are worth a few extra dollars. And if money is a concern, a used PMD660 (sans modifications) can be had for about the cost of a new RH1.

@ nameloc01:

 I know what you meant but it's really odd that you'd use that term to describe Sony's MD preamps. You see; MiniDisc (and particularly ATRAC) has always sounded like a certain special type of ass to me. Thanks so much for quantifying that for me. 

[prof_peabody]

These days you can use SD recorders like mini-disc.  A 2 GB SD card runs as cheap as $5 - you can use a new card for every recording and keep em all on that book shelf.  You should be able to get about 3 hours of 16/44 on that 2 GB card.

[leehookem]

These days you can use SD recorders like mini-disc.  A 2 GB SD card runs as cheap as $5 - you can use a new card for every recording and keep em all on that book shelf.  You should be able to get about 3 hours of 16/44 on that 2 GB card.

there ya go.  best of both worlds.

[sunjan]

These days you can use SD recorders like mini-disc.  A 2 GB SD card runs as cheap as $5 - you can use a new card for every recording and keep em all on that book shelf. 

I was just about to say the same thing.
Here's another vote for solid state. Trust me, I was taping with legacy minidisc for many years up til 2005, and I'm slapping myself for not switching earlier! So many messed up recordings due to MD-flips, trouble with the levels and reading the meters, TOC errors due to being pushed while recording etc...

Sure, in a best case scenario the RH1 can stand up against most of the stealth recorders and give equal results or better. But remember you're buying into a dying technology, which will no longer be developed or supported by Sony.

Get over the paranoia about having master tapes. Or buy a stack of 2GB cards and start working 

[nameloc01]

Meh.
There's several reasons which I pointed out as to why a lot of people still use MD/HI-MD...the media,the Sony preamps. Its a pretty much universal concept. Now,I'm not saying there're the best portable stealth deck,but (as far as HI-MD) if you know what you're doing there're great.

- loss of music flipping discs...
* run two decks. Second deck in "rec/standby,levels already synced to deck#1..swap the mic cable, you might lose 4 or 5 seconds.this is what I do. 3+ hours of PCM recording. Loss of 4-5 seconds of crowd noise, big deal.

- availablity of media?
* it'll be avaialable for quite some time. Look at DAT tapes. When did Sony stop making DAT decks?

-the Sony preamps. Many,many people will agree on the quality of them. And that even by people who don't themselves use them. And I'm not just saying that because that's what I happen to have, I could have bought ANY recording deck I wanted, I chose the Sony MDs for that exact reason.

So,I see where you guys are coming from, but you might as well try to convert a hardcore DAT taper.

[rastasean]

I very generally recommend getting both. Both are cheap and you will have the best of both worlds. a hi md recorder is probably $150 (or less) used and an iriver h120 is about that used as well. Of course, the h120 has a hard drive so you will have to back this up anyway.

What do I like? I like recording. :-D I am not that dedicated to a medium but when I did get my h120 (about two/three months ago) I loved it since there wasn't a long delay to start & stop recording. As soon as you press record, its recording PLUS you can even have a buffer of upto 30 seconds. That's impossible on a hi md. The pre-amps in my sony are awfully good and I don't need a pre-amp with any of the mics I have tried. Like I said, the only thing I don't like about the HI MD is the long wait times to read write and even skipping track to track can be slow sometimes.

Just get both.

[nameloc01]

lol