How would I use an MDM along with my Boss BR-8?

[fendertweed]

The BR-8 is an 8 track that uses Zip Disks for storage, in Roland format (free software converts to .wav to burn to CD).... I chose the BR-8 because of its COSM modeling capabilities, among other reasons, so just an MDM alone won't nec. meet my needs afaik...

I have the chance to get a used Sony MDM 4 track at a nice price... I'm brand new to the BR-8 and the manual shows the digital output from it running to an MDM:

Dumb questions: is it worth having both? What exactly would the MDM do for me running out of the BR-8? use it to store/ mix down from the smaller ZIp DIsk (6 mins. of 8 track or 50 mins. between all tracks, i.e. about 12 mins. of 4 track, vs. the larger capacity of the MD)...

Another dumb Q: will my CD player read the MD directly, so can I burn tracks in my dubbing CD deck from MD to a CD-R directly?

Thanks,
Jon

 

[72fender]

Since you have a BR-8 you don't need the MD. The picture that the BR-8 manual shows that you can 'send' your recorded songs to a MD recorder or CD burner thru the BR'8's 'opitical out'. I have a BR-8 and a Sony MZ-700PC MD portable player/recorder and after finishing a song, I record the song mix on my Sony MD.

Depending on our CD burner copying options, you can burn from your MD. By this I mean record from analog or digital input.

 

[fendertweed]

thanks, 72fender, that's the advice I also got this morning from a friend... could use the MDM to mix down and burn to CD but not really necessary, just another step.

I've been playing with the BR-8 this afternoon for the first time and am pretty impressed with the ease of use and the internal amp models, etc., I think it'll be fine for me til I'm ready to go to a HD recorder well down the line. I even managed to get my new-to-me used Alesis SR-16 synched up to it to lay the drum track down...

Thanks again,
Jon

p.s. hmmm, I just tried using the Boss BR8 .wav converter software to convert my 6-track song snippet to a .wav... and I realize now that I can only convert 2 of the 6 tracks to .wav format (which I'd then burn to CD on my office PC)...

Do you know if the .wav conversion software can convert the entire multi track song? or how I do that to .wav format?

Maybe I could use the MD as the intermediary between the BR-8 and burning the CD (i.e., without having to go through the step of converting the BR8 file to .wav format)???

as you can see, I'm just finding my way through this stuff, thanks for any advice or help you can give.
jc

 

[72fender]

The first piece of advice I want to give you is, change the 100MB ZIP to a 250MB ZIP . The info can be found here http://www.olywa.net/blame/mwn/br8-250.htm , this will give you 15mins of recording time (if using all 8 tracks) compared to 5mins for $65 and about 15mins of work.

I've never used the software conversion, I've never saw the need to use it and I don't have any computer recording software anyway. IMHO the BR-8 has all the mixdown options you need built into it. If you start with a good recording, you'll end up with a good recording. I think it's a waste of time to convert two tracks at a time, load the wav files into some software, i.e. N-tracks, tweak the wav files, while all the while listening thru a pair of dinky computer speaker and wondering why your mix sucks (no flames, just my thoughts .

You don't need to use a MD as the intermediary between the BR-8 and burning the CD, just link the 'opitical-out' from the BR-8 to your CD burner's 'opitical-in', adjust the levels and burn, baby burn.

 

[Shockwave]

The only worth having the Sony would be to expand the number of tracks you have. The Sony was surprisingly forward for it's time. Good midi sync and effect sends/returns. While 72fender is right on with his info, my Sony MDM's still have a place in my studio, or is it my heart! HD recording has won me over though.