bit question

[Selwyn]

can anyone tell me what the final bit of the final recorded product on a mini disc is please? I have an md 4 and an md 8, and I cannot find out this info from the yamaha page.

I have been told it is 8 bit, but can anyone tell me if it is a24, or 16 or an 8 bit?

thank you

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

Actually - it doesn't work that way... Minidiscs use a lossy data compression schemes to store the audio data, very similar to the way MP3s get stored. Some MD recorders allow you to change the inherent bitrate (LP, SLP, etc...) which basically sacrifices audio quality for length of recording time....

So there really isn't the concept of "bits" as there is with uncomrpessed digital audio.... for compressed formats, it's bitrate -- ATRAC uses a bitrate of 292kbps in normal mode - 132kbps in LP2, and 66kbps in LP4..........

 

[Selwyn]

thank you for your very technical reply - what I am trying to find out is this - is a mini disc recorder less quality than say a 16 bit or 24 bit digital recording. I was told by a sound engineer that audio tape was 98 bit, digital was 24 bit or 16 bit cd quality, and a mini disc was the equivilent of 9 bit. Do I dump recording on my MD8, and stick to recording through an audio interface 24 bit?
or in other words is a mini disc recording a poorer quality?
thank you

 

[Cazzbar]

Hi-MD minidiscs can record un-compressed 44.1Khz/16-bit audio (CD Quality)

And about 90 minutes of it on a Gigadisc.

(maybe if i just keep on repeating myself the message will get through )

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

or in other words is a mini disc recording a poorer quality?
thank you

Yes - definitely poorer quality as compared to CD.... the audio is stored using lossy compression, which means algorithms manipulate the digital data and literally throws away what is deemed to be unnecessary (frequencies being masked by other frequencies).... this results in smaller data storage requirements, but you're throwing away fidelity in favour of data size.

For this reason, minidisc is not considered a production-quality recording format - it's more of a convenience or hobbyist format than anything else. (Much like a cassette 4-tracker is not considered a viable production format for pro audio!)

 

[Cazzbar]

(i must be going through my invisible period!!)

the current Hi-MD minidisc recorders (albeit not multi-track machines) can record without compressing any audio

They can use a linear PCM setting, which is a lossless WAV format (44.1Khz/16 bit stereo, CD Quality)