Topic: PD Audio CF question???

[Lengthwise]

so a friend is about to give me a Dell Axiom X50V, I am thinking of using the PD Audio CF with Live 24/96, just looking for people opinions on this one. what kind of luck have you had with it? would love to take the 24/96 off my apogee into it.

anybody got a used one they are looking to unload?

[philb]

I have one that I do not use. I ended up purchasing a Fostex fr-2. If you want one for cheap, send me a pm.

[RDunn]

I used a PDAudio rig for 2 years and made many nice 16 bit recordings.  I sold it a few months back though and picked up a Marantz PMD-671 flash recorder.  Even though I'm a "techie" and a "gear-head", the PDAudio rigs were a little too finicky for me.  I know a couple other people who bought PDAudio rigs and one of them did have success with 24/48 recordings (although he has since sold it and bought a Sound Devices 744), while the other person could never get his to work correctly and finally gave up on his completely.

If you're running a rig and have a nice preamp & A>D converter, you should be able to get good recordings with a PDAudio setup.  I would suggest staying away from the PCMCIA hard drives though as they have reliability issues if you're trying to record at 24 bit.  If you're a patcher..... avoid the PDAudio entirely. 

My personal opinion is that with the compact flash recorders now being sold by Sound Devices, Marantz, M-Audio, Edirol & now Tascam, you aren't going to find too many people getting into PDAudio at this point.  Of course I think you'll find a lot of people moving away from laptops as well since the new generation of recorders are much easier to use..... 

I've now used the PMD-671 at 6 different show and each time it's worked flawlessly at 24 bit..... and is a dream to use (compared to my Ipaq).  I originally started recording shows in the early 80's using a Sony D6, then picked up a Sony TCD5M.  From there it was a Tascam DAP1 and then the PDAudio rig.  When I went to the Ipaq PDAudio setup, I was very happy to NOT have to transfer DAT tapes anymore...... but I missed the ease of use associated with the analog & DAT gear.... plus it was a pain to use if you're a patcher.  With the Marantz unit, I've got the ease of use I wanted (just hit record and go)... plus the reliability of flash recorders (no moving transports).

There are many fine options available today for live recording....  Ask around on TapersSection (as you've done).... and call some of the taper friendly vendors to get their opinions.  Feel free to PM me if you have questions.

YMMV..... RD

[Craig T]

my ancient (3 generations old) iPaq 3835 works flawlessly at 24/96 to an external drive (about the size of the iPaq, connects via pcmcia card).  Gordon Gidluck (Live2496 recording software) worked out most of the bugs in the system about a year ago.  The year+ before that I had nothing but headaches.

subscribe to the pencomputingaudio yahoo group and ask about stability on that Dell Axiom.  Gordon and Len have tried to test the system on many of the available PDA's.

[IowaClint]

Yeah when I first started recording with my Ipaq 5555 I had nothing but trouble.  Gordon and company have done an amazing job with live24/96 since it's maiden voyage. I would recomend it.
~Clint

[sickrick43]

I've got a new (never used successfully in my Windows Laptop) card that I'll dump also...

Rick

[macdaddy]

any of these pdaudio cards still available..?

[flintstone]

Gordon Gidluck, maker of the Live2496 software for PDAs, just announced that he is working on software that will support the new Maycom N>Trans audio card.   The N>Trans combines mic input, preamp, A/D, mic phantom power, and PDA interface into a single card that fits in the PDA's Compactflash slot.   Read about the N>Trans here:  http://www.maycom.nl/NT.html

The N>Trans card will be significantly smaller and, at about $350,  less expensive than the PDAudio gear.  I like the way the N>Trans is powered from the PDA (no extra batteries required).  And there's no cable connection between PDA and external preamp to worry about.

The N>Trans noise spec for the mic input is not as good as the number that Core-Audio publishes.  But the spec is better than the number published for the PMD671, and Tascam HD-P2.  It's about the same as the number published for the FR-2.  Time will tell if this translates into nice, quiet recordings.

Look for the first version of Live2496 in about 3 months.

Another interesting feature recently added to the Gidluck Live2496 software is the ability to encode in FLAC format.  FLAC is lossless compression, which allows a Compactflash card to hold about twice as many minutes of recording than would be possible if recording in WAV format.  And think aobut this -- Gidluck's software lets you change to a new flash memory card while you're recording!

There are many new flash memory recorders available today, so a PDA-based recorder is not the best choice for most people.  If you already have the PDA, and you are looking for a very small rig with unique features, then check out the Gidluck Live2496 software and N>Trans hardware.

Flintstone

[macdaddy]

pdaudio card is $200

and, i am sure you meant to say it, but live2496 is already a working program; the first version that will work with this new card is due in several months...

+t for the info.

[flintstone]

Right, the Core-Sound PDAudio-CF digital interface for the PDA costs $200.

You still need to buy something to provide an interface for the mics,
a mic preamp, digital to analog conversion, and phantom power for
the mics.  Core-Sound's Mic 2496 provides these functions for $550.
Add $25 for the cable to connect the Mic 2496 to the PDAudio-CF.
That's a total of $775.

The N>Trans does all the above, and costs about $350. 

Of course, if you already have an external preamp that provides digital
output and works as input for the PDAudio-CF, then you won't want
the N>Trans.

There's a bit of a problem acquiring the N>Trans right now.  The
USA distributor for Maycom, Bradley Broadcasting, really isn't interested
in selling Maycom's less expensive products.  You can buy direct from
Maycom in the Netherlands instead, but you have to send them email to
set up the transaction.  And it takes a couple of weeks for the
product to arrive.

Maybe Gordon Gidluck will start selling the N>Trans hardware with
his Live2496 software.  It will take a few months to straighten
this out.

Flintstone

[Lengthwise]

thanks for all the insight here guys.

I own 4/kc5/6>psp3>minime>vaio already, I just got the PDA for basically nothing, so I was thinking of pimping it out. a board member has offered me a good price on the pd audio and the live 24/96 software, but since I'll have to go out and buy two pretty large SD cards to record on, I am thinking of just getting a microtrack and some compact flash cards which tend to be cheaper than the sd's

I am also just thinking of getting the pd aduio setup for fun, just to see how it pans out, comments, suggestions?  PDA or microtrack, thats the question!

[mschiff]

I have had very good luck with a PD-Audio CF card and an HP2215 IPAQ. I use the Mic2496 from Core Sound with their HEB mics.

I have not lost a recording yet with that setup at 24/44.1 out of about 5. I  have only tried 24/96 for a short test, but will be trying it soon.

My current setup is to feed both the IPAQ and a Microtrack from the Mic2496, and to use an Edirol R1 with its internal mics as a backup. I have a comparison of the three  recording a high school jazz band that I will post soon.

-- Martin

[macdaddy]

+t and welcome to the board...


let us know how your 24/96 tries work out...

i use the h2215/pdaudio/live2496, too...

but i only go 16/48 (limited by the modSBM-1)

[sickrick43]

any of these pdaudio cards still available..?

PM me - I'd gladly let my never-used one with cable go for less than brandy-new...

Rick

[live2496]

Another interesting feature recently added to the Gidluck Live2496 software is the ability to encode in FLAC format.  FLAC is lossless compression, which allows a Compactflash card to hold about twice as many minutes of recording than would be possible if recording in WAV format.  And think aobut this -- Gidluck's software lets you change to a new flash memory card while you're recording!

One clarification here. Live2496 records to FLAC, but it does not do the media swap yet while recording to FLAC. It works with .wav file recording only at this time.

This would require two encoder processes running concurrently. Not tested yet, but maybe possible.

Gordon