Going digital

[Zeus]

I have a 8-track cassette based system, and want to go digital. I know there are several types of systems out there, but really like the Yamaha MD-8. What are the +'s and -'s of this system. My ultimate goal is to burn my own CD and I want a clean, no hiss CD as a final product

[Ray J]

I haven't gone to CD yet, but if you are dealing with cassettes as I was, I'm sure you will find any hiss minimal. THe way I understand it, you will have to come out of the MD8 in analog, the mixer is analog, and there are no digital outs on the Yamaha, so even if you bypass the MD8 mixer, you will still have to mixdown through the analog outs. After that if your mixdown deck has digital outs you should be able to go to CD with an exact dupe. No further hiss or sound degregation. Again I haven't gotten that far yet, but this is my understanding. I'm sure someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this, or explain it better if I am indeed correct. Getting back to hiss, my recordings are very quiet thus far. Only noise from my other equipment. I have trial mixed to a cheap cassette deck and have picked up hiss, but most of it is definately coming from the cassette deck. Mixing down to dat or MD will eliminate most of this.

As far as the t's and -'s, well the mixer is quite good, compared to other stand alone units. Most people agree on this. Its also easy to use, having an onboard mixer with real knobs really simplifies things. The recording process is very similar to using a good cassette multitrack except you have random access to any part of the song, so there is no waiting on tape to rw and ff. Also more editing capability.

Having removable media, is priceless to me, for all the obvious reasons.

As far as far the sound of the unit, you've probably heard about the data compression by now, if you're looking into buying an MD8. I've heard very good recordings made with the Yamaha, and most people will tell you, as with any other setup, that if you track well, the recording is gonna be good.

The minuses of the unit is that, although it has more editing capability than adat, it has less than hardisk. Also, no digital outs means there will be one part of the process of going to CD, not in the digital domain.

For me, this was my best option, when I considered everything. Thus far, I'm very satisfied with the sound of the unit and it has performed flawlessly. ....Ray J

[Nilbog]

When I decided to go digital, I researched EVERYTHING. I concluded after all this that the MD8 was the best bang for the buck. When you hear the MD8 and compare it to your old analog stuff, you'll be amazed.
+'s
---
Removable Media
Great Mixer
Easy to use
Editing

-'s
---
Slow processing
Compression
MD Data Disk Price (A little under $1 a minute for 8 track, if you shop around)
Analog outs

Here's a couple links to check out: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Yamaha_MD-8.html http://whiskey-creek.net/MD8.html
-Nilbog

[DALtune]

On the upside, going analog out to mix often takes away some of the "harshness" associated with total digital.

I don't even use this machine anymore!!