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Ginuwine
New member
Can I record over a compact flash card just as I can over a regular blank tape? And if I do, would the sound be a lil distorted as I record over it again and again?
dafduc
New member
Yeah, but flash timing is funny (maybe because I'm still on USB 1.1) - I've never tried recording direct, always recorded to hard disk, copied to flash after.
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gordone
Well-known member
Flash Memory is just another form of storage on the storage hierarchy. Basically, the faster the storage is (wrt to writing more so than reading), the more expensive it is. Here's how I view the breakdown:
Hard Drives - Pretty inexpensive for large quantities. The slowest and least reliable (because of moving parts) in this hierarchy. For example, you can get a 80GB Drive for ~ $100 (last time I checked)
Flash Memory - More expensive than hard drives but faster and more reliable. In a real-world situation it is probably slower than a HDD because of the interface between the drive and the OS being the bottleneck (most likely USB) What seperates Flash memory from normal RAM (below) is that Flash memory retains it's memory while it is powered down. This is why it is just below HDD in the hierarchy. $100 gets you around 256MB of storage (depends on the kind of Flash Memory, such as CF, MemoryStick, etc...)
Normal RAM Memory - Cheaper than Flash Memory but isn't persistent like Flash Memory. Probably Faster because it interfaces directly with the MOBO, rather than having to go through a Serial/USB channel. $100 gets you around 512MB or more (these numbers might be off, but the order of magnitude is close)
CPU Cache - This is the fastest kind of memory, but the most expensive. This is usually a smallish amount of memory that the CPU accesses directly before it goes to RAM. I don't think you can upgrade this or go out and buy Cache memory. Not sure if I can provide meaningful cost data on this one
Now to answer you original ?, you should not have any problems overwriting your Flash card numerous times. What device are you recording on?
I only use my Flash memory for my digital camera. I could try recording to it but my card reader/writer is USB so that would prevent me from assessing the true speed of the Flash card.
Hard Drives - Pretty inexpensive for large quantities. The slowest and least reliable (because of moving parts) in this hierarchy. For example, you can get a 80GB Drive for ~ $100 (last time I checked)
Flash Memory - More expensive than hard drives but faster and more reliable. In a real-world situation it is probably slower than a HDD because of the interface between the drive and the OS being the bottleneck (most likely USB) What seperates Flash memory from normal RAM (below) is that Flash memory retains it's memory while it is powered down. This is why it is just below HDD in the hierarchy. $100 gets you around 256MB of storage (depends on the kind of Flash Memory, such as CF, MemoryStick, etc...)
Normal RAM Memory - Cheaper than Flash Memory but isn't persistent like Flash Memory. Probably Faster because it interfaces directly with the MOBO, rather than having to go through a Serial/USB channel. $100 gets you around 512MB or more (these numbers might be off, but the order of magnitude is close)
CPU Cache - This is the fastest kind of memory, but the most expensive. This is usually a smallish amount of memory that the CPU accesses directly before it goes to RAM. I don't think you can upgrade this or go out and buy Cache memory. Not sure if I can provide meaningful cost data on this one
Now to answer you original ?, you should not have any problems overwriting your Flash card numerous times. What device are you recording on?
I only use my Flash memory for my digital camera. I could try recording to it but my card reader/writer is USB so that would prevent me from assessing the true speed of the Flash card.
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Ginuwine
New member
gordone, I'm recording on the Fostex MR-8. Can i record over that many times without makin the sound distorted?
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gordone
Well-known member
Not familiar with that unit but you should not be getting any distortion after re-recording on the flash card. I record to my hard drive and if I get distortion after recording something on a part of the disk that previously contained something else (like a Word document), then something is wrong.
Are you getting distortion or just wondering if you would?
Are you getting distortion or just wondering if you would?
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gordone
Well-known member
Isn't waiting the hardest part? 
So you have never experienced digital recording? I started recording many years ago (1990 when I was 13!) with a Yamaha 4-track cassette recorder. The hiss was unbearable and of course it degraded with each time I played a tape (not to mention each time I recorded over a part!) My first digital experience was in 1999 with a Yamaha MD4S Minidisk recorder. Talk about a difference!!! No hiss, sounded much better! No loss over time, no problems with dirty tape heads, etc... Eventually I moved to PC recording and didn't have to deal with the compression artifacts of the minidisk, as well as no loss when mixing down for CDs.
I think the jump from cassette recording to digital (even if compressed) is perhaps the most noticable (especially to folks just starting out). I'll think you'll be happily suprised!
Cool - I just looked at the link. That's a great price for what that unit does, and it is uncompressed audio! The only problem you'll have is the recording time. I figure ~5MB per minute of mono 16-bit 44.1khz, so you'll only have 25 minutes for 1 track and 3.2 minutes for an 8 track song, but I guess that's why you were asking about reusing the flash card
What's cool is you can transfer the tracks to your PC via USB and then you can use something like N-Track (http://www.fasoft.com) to mixdown the tracks without losing any quality.
OK, I'm done!
So you have never experienced digital recording? I started recording many years ago (1990 when I was 13!) with a Yamaha 4-track cassette recorder. The hiss was unbearable and of course it degraded with each time I played a tape (not to mention each time I recorded over a part!) My first digital experience was in 1999 with a Yamaha MD4S Minidisk recorder. Talk about a difference!!! No hiss, sounded much better! No loss over time, no problems with dirty tape heads, etc... Eventually I moved to PC recording and didn't have to deal with the compression artifacts of the minidisk, as well as no loss when mixing down for CDs.
I think the jump from cassette recording to digital (even if compressed) is perhaps the most noticable (especially to folks just starting out). I'll think you'll be happily suprised!
Cool - I just looked at the link. That's a great price for what that unit does, and it is uncompressed audio! The only problem you'll have is the recording time. I figure ~5MB per minute of mono 16-bit 44.1khz, so you'll only have 25 minutes for 1 track and 3.2 minutes for an 8 track song, but I guess that's why you were asking about reusing the flash card
What's cool is you can transfer the tracks to your PC via USB and then you can use something like N-Track (http://www.fasoft.com) to mixdown the tracks without losing any quality.
OK, I'm done!
Ginuwine said:
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Ginuwine
New member
So how many minutes can I record on EACH of the track? I have a 4 min song here that I am ready to record on an 8-track recorder. Please don't tell me I won't be able to do that..
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gordone
Well-known member
You might be able to do it, but it will be close to the limit of the card. You can always buy a 256MB Flash Card which would give you ~ 6 minutes of 8-track recording, or offload the tracks to your PC and mix from there. Perhaps someone with experience with this unit can help some more.
Ginuwine said:
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DKMurphPr
New member
Ginuwine said:
It will depend on how many tracks you will use. If you use all 8 tracks, you won't be able to do a 4 minute song with a 128 MB card, you will need a 256 MB card.
But if your song requires, say 4 to 6 tracks, you should have enough room for a 4 minute song. You'll get a total of approx 25 track minutes on a 128 MB card. 6 tracks x 4 minutes is 24 track minutes, so you should be okay with up to six tracks.
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Ginuwine
New member
ya'll can give me the link to where I can purchase an affordable 256MB card?
flat-9
New member
MR-8 Card
Has anyone had any luck at all with the RIDATA 256 (20x) ? Will the MR-8 accept it if it has been formatted with a card-reader or camera?
Thanks & Peace,
flat-9
Has anyone had any luck at all with the RIDATA 256 (20x) ? Will the MR-8 accept it if it has been formatted with a card-reader or camera?
Thanks & Peace,
flat-9