R
robjh22
New member
Just had a long talk with technical service and learned the following about S/pidf, which everyone on the board but me probably knew. If you didn't know, here goes:
The S/pidf out on the VF 80, and presumably on the 160, gives
us the opportunity to send "pure audio, " or "real time audio information," direct to a P.C. or to a stand alone digital recorder. I use quotes on "pure audio" because what comes out of the s/pidf out is not a "file," as contrasted with the wave file that we create on the on-board CD burner. It is an audio signal, just as though it were going down the wire of a microphone, except that it is in digital form (whatever that means).
The tech said something about "less degradation," but not with much conviction. I think he meant, but did not say expressly, that we can also go out the headphone jack or left/right stereo out on the face of the VF and send the audio out that way in analog form. Everybody agree?
Back to S/pidf: As it is "pure audio," you have to have an application program on the computer running to receive AND RECORD the signal as you output it. Since it isn't a file, you're not just going to be able to "save" it to the computer. You have to create the file on the computer, with an application. Then you save it. He mentioned CoolEdit as a possibility. I asked why I would want to mixdown on the VF80 just to send it to CoolEdit. He said "some people like to do that," but did not know why. I don't either. I could have bought CoolEdit and by-passed the VF80. He also thinks, but is unsure, that Windows' Media Player can serve as the application to record the audio if it is fed via a S/pidf cable.
(Are all the Mac users laughing out loud at this point?)
Yes, we can send the song to the computer by loading a finished CD to the CD player and forget the S/pidf.
Bottom line: Fostex engineering contemplated that we either:
1. Make a CD on board, and load it on the computer as a wave file, and then convert that file to mp3 if we want to attach it to an e-mail or post it on an mp3 site; or
2. Send the program to a recording application on the computer via S/pidf cable to soundcard, and do the mixdown on the computer.
I hope this is comprehensible and useful information. I got some nerve as a newbie trying to lecture any big guns reading this, and I know it. But rehashing this stuff is forcing me to think about it, and hopefully understand it better.
Yours truly,
Rob (King of All Newbies and one royal pest chez Fostex).
The S/pidf out on the VF 80, and presumably on the 160, gives
us the opportunity to send "pure audio, " or "real time audio information," direct to a P.C. or to a stand alone digital recorder. I use quotes on "pure audio" because what comes out of the s/pidf out is not a "file," as contrasted with the wave file that we create on the on-board CD burner. It is an audio signal, just as though it were going down the wire of a microphone, except that it is in digital form (whatever that means).
The tech said something about "less degradation," but not with much conviction. I think he meant, but did not say expressly, that we can also go out the headphone jack or left/right stereo out on the face of the VF and send the audio out that way in analog form. Everybody agree?
Back to S/pidf: As it is "pure audio," you have to have an application program on the computer running to receive AND RECORD the signal as you output it. Since it isn't a file, you're not just going to be able to "save" it to the computer. You have to create the file on the computer, with an application. Then you save it. He mentioned CoolEdit as a possibility. I asked why I would want to mixdown on the VF80 just to send it to CoolEdit. He said "some people like to do that," but did not know why. I don't either. I could have bought CoolEdit and by-passed the VF80. He also thinks, but is unsure, that Windows' Media Player can serve as the application to record the audio if it is fed via a S/pidf cable.
(Are all the Mac users laughing out loud at this point?)
Yes, we can send the song to the computer by loading a finished CD to the CD player and forget the S/pidf.
Bottom line: Fostex engineering contemplated that we either:
1. Make a CD on board, and load it on the computer as a wave file, and then convert that file to mp3 if we want to attach it to an e-mail or post it on an mp3 site; or
2. Send the program to a recording application on the computer via S/pidf cable to soundcard, and do the mixdown on the computer.
I hope this is comprehensible and useful information. I got some nerve as a newbie trying to lecture any big guns reading this, and I know it. But rehashing this stuff is forcing me to think about it, and hopefully understand it better.
Yours truly,
Rob (King of All Newbies and one royal pest chez Fostex).
