Digital Faders

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ray J
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Ray J

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I am now considering mixing down to Mini Disc and am looking at a used Sony MDS JE510. It has a digital out, but no digital fader. I will be going from a Yamaha MD8 to this deck, then to CD via the digital out. Is having no digital fader going to be a problem? I read where the level is 'fixed'....Thanks, Ray J
 
Digital is digital more or less. If you exceed digital zero, the highest level that the A/D/A converters can handle, you will get distortion. You don't NEED a volume fader going to the next stage when transfering in digital, just adjust the output level of the first device to keep it in check.

Be aware that ANY volume change in digital produces extended word bit length. On 16 bit converters, this is hell because it has no way of "averaging" the added word depth. So, putting another device in line to turn the volume down would destroy the integrity of the bit length at the output of the one device. Just remember that with digital mixers, software, etc..., the less processing you do helps keep the fidelity much higher. The more processing you do in digital devices, the more "derived" from the original word bit length you get, which means edgy sound, and more grainyness on lower passages.

Ed
 
Thanks Sonusman, this is good news JE510's are all over the place since Sony came out with the next line, I think I can pick one up cheap.
 
Also, just to make sure you are aware of this, MiniDisc uses lossy compression (ATRAC). This is not dynamic compression, mind you, but compression used to store more information in less space on the disc. ATRAC uses perceptual encoding techniques similar to MP3. You can find out more by searching for ATRAC in your search engine of choice.

I don't own a MiniDisc nor have I had the chance to perform any listening tests on my own equipment, so I can't comment on the quality. But I doubt it's as good as CD.

Just a heads up.
 
Sonusman: Thanks again for the detailed response.

pglewis: Yeah, I'm aware of ATRAC, the particular unit I'm looking at uses the 4th generation ATRAC which is supposed to be pretty good. The unfortunate thing about my setup is that I will have 2 bouts with compression because I'm also multitracking on mini disc. I've never been on the mixdown end of recording, other than trial mixing to cassette, but I'm going to use the digital out of the sony MD deck and go straight to CD, at the local studio. This should at least give me an exact dupe of my mixdown disc, won't it? Or should I expect more sound degregation during this process?
 
I have a Sony JE-510 which I've been using for mixes.although I'm going to get a CD burning system(either PC or standalone) soon.The Sony sounds pretty good,but IMO you really lose after 1 generation.Think about it:ATRAC v4 removes about 80% of the original signal after only 1 generation! How much of your original signal can there still be after 2 or 3 passes?
 
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