Can i hear your songs please?

[Animaniac]

Hi, i am desperate!! I am after a multitrack recorder and i am very interested in the md4s. My intetion is to hook it up to my keyboard, synchronise it and have the keyboard playing the midi tracks while can record audio tracks on the MD. Then mix down to computer and master my stuff.

I know already that minidisk is not as good as cd but should i worry too much?

The next step for me would be to listen to some recordings mayde on MD (especially the md4s) would you like to post links to your music?

i ll offer my constructive critisism as well,
thank you all

[gordone]

I used to love watching Animaniacs when I was in college! Now they're on while I'm at work :-(
Anyway, I've had my MD4S for about a year now and I'm very happy with it...I like having an analog mixer and being able to use outboard processing. I mixdown to my PC and then burn CDs. I do acoustic folk music. Mainly acoustic guitar/vocals/occasional piano or keyboard part.
Crappy samples can be found at http://home.earthlink.net/~egordon99/seasons.html

A better mp3 can be found at http://www.campharlam.org/mp3/forgotten.mp3

Keep in mind that alot your sound depends on your input chain - the mics you use and the preamps, (and of course the source!) So you'll need some decent mics and possibly pres since the ones on the MD4S aren't that great and don't have phantom power. I use an AT4033 for vox and a Neumann KM184 for ac. guitar, both into an Aphex 107 pre. Upgrading my mics made a HUGE difference in the sound.
But I was still very happy when I purchased it and was using a SM58 for vocals and an old TOA condenser for guitar. Good luck!

-Evan

[Charlie Mosbrook]

I have an mp3 station devoted to stuff that was recorded to MD http://stations.mp3s.com/stations/48...sc_on_mp3.html
I have just finished recording my first song using an external secrenser with the midi synch. I will let you know when I post the song.

[virtual.ray]

Just a thought;you could get a Fostex FD-4 and a syjet drive for about the same money as the MD unit.The advantage would be that you'd be recording unadulterated linear 16 bit audio,and after listening closely,the difference is apparent.Plus,remember,every time you do a track bounce on MD,the audio gets RE-compressed,meaning that even less of your original sound is still left afterwards. With linear 16 bit,there's much less degradation,EVEN when going through the FD-4's analog mixer.Cheers!

[Nilbog]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the sound is really re-compressed when going minidisc to minidisc. I mean, it is, but the WAY it's compressed wouldnt make it sound any different after you copied like that.

The way the compression works is by removing the frequencies of sound that are inaudible by the human ear. By doing this, you have a file about 1/5 the size of the original, without losing a substantial amount of quality. Of course, this is all theory, and you need to let your ears decide.

Anyway, so when you convert that onto a CD, those frequencies once again exsist, but they are inserted as silence, since there is a void of data for those frequencies. When those frequencies are once again removed, your left with the same thing you had before (except whatever audible noise was added through the process).

This is just what I've come to understand, I don't know if it's all correct, but if I'm wrong, please tell me.

-Nilbog

[Kelly Holdridge]

I went with the Yamaha over Fostex because the Yamaha could take 8 tracks SIMULATNEOUSLY. Now this concerns the 8 tracks, not the 4, but you may want to see whether the Fostex can record 4 channels at once. The Fostex 8 track would not, so I went with the MD8. Love it!

YO:

Whatever you buy, get 8 tracks. Bouncing causes nothing but trouble for beginners and even non-beginners. With 8 tracks, plus the 8 virtual tracks on each real-time track, you can track yourself across the US.

Believe me, 8 tracks of your choice box is better.

Green Hornet

[Kelly Holdridge]

Yeah, especially with drums and multiple guitars and/or backup singers. I kinda wish they made a 10 or 12 track MD (that would bring time down to....uh....carry the one...uh)

Well, a little bit shorter

six minutes for 12 track

uh

7.4 minutes for 10 track (about)

[Kelly Holdridge]

(those numbers are probably TOTALLY wrong. i have officially forgotten the specs for MD)

[virtual.ray]

Hi Nilbog,although i've got 2 Sony consumer MD decks,I've never dared copy repeatedly from one to the otherso I don't know how to prove this point except to say that when all the 4 track MDs came out about 4 yrs. ago,every major music mag did reviews on 'em and I remember they pretty much all said thatwhenyou bounced more than once,the sound got pretty funky,so I'm ASSUMING from that that the ATRAC must be repetetive with each generation.Anyway,once is enough for me...

[ranchfield]

Animaniac, I've been using a SONY MDM4 MKII for over a year and it works and sounds great! I've used it to record an CD worth of material (www.mp3.com/crowmusic) and master another CD (www.mp3.com/mememe). It's super easy to work with, has never crashed, and as for any difference in sound?... well, I know on paper there would have to be some loss of sound as the ATRAC system loses data when it writes to a minidisk. But can I hear it? Doing an A/B test with an original CD and a MD copy, yes, you can hear a small "difference". What I don't hear is a bad difference, it's just not the same CD sound. I've been extremely satisfied with the sound of my MD.
As I'm looking for more tracks to record with, I've put the SONY up on e-bay, along with 8 MD data minidisks.

[aliengroover]

I agree with everyone that these minidisc recorders sound pretty good. I use MIDI gear sync'd up to the MD4, and absolutely love the results. It's definitely a low cost way to get good results, as long as you record your vocals well.
tomekadavis.iuma.com

[Animaniac]

hello guys,

Ranchfield,

very nice music, i really enjoyed your songs, and i like that style as well, "the sea" is a beautifull track

Green,

you are right but i am using midi 16 channels so i can bounce and mix easilly there cant i?

V.ray

I am taking the computer route, hard disk recording with Logic audio.

Charlie,

i ll be waiting for your song, nice of you to come up with the station,

Gordone,

..man, why do i love your song that much "forgotten", and what guitar, man keep on it and please, send me a tab!!

Guys,

i bought a Sony minidisk walkman for live recording and sample recording. It's great.

[Charlie Mosbrook]

Sorry, I forgot to let you know about the song, Any way, it is up, "emptysky" at www.mp3.com/charliemosbrook

[jontflesh]

Well I have been outa town and just got back to the net life.
I use a Sony MDM-X4 II as some of the others. I can not push this guy enough. It is very easy to use (besides the wording in the manual) and have had 0 problems. I tie the 4 track in with the puter alot too expecially for mastering. I usually record my main stuff to the 4 track first and then via Midi Time Code dump into the evil grey box. The minidisk opens up so much more than the old analog tape ones (wich are still great :-) )IMHO.
If you don't care about vulgarity my 4 track stuff is at http://www.riffage.com/Bands/0,2939,13324,00.html

jontflesh

[Ray J]

Here's mine Animaniac, if you're still out there, I dug this thread out of the archives. The tune was recorded on an MD8, and a lot of low-budget equipment. Not a perfect recording or mix but, I'm a little inexperienced at this and I made some mistakes tracking and mixing, but overall, the MD8 performed really well........listen to hi-fi if possible.

http://mp3.com/RJohnson

[Edited by Ray J on 09-07-2000 at 11:05]