VF-16: S/PDIF May Be THE Answer!

M

mic98

New member
We've explored various ways of exporting data from the VF-16 like SCSI out to Zip to
PC, SCSI out to DVD-RAM (Per Maggie Watson@ Fostex:Only the Panasonic external DVD-RAM is
compatible and that goes for more than twice the Ceative Labs one!!!!) etc.
The aforementioned Ms.Watson says that you can use the S/PDIF out right to a soundcard on your PC with an S/PDIF optical input that supports 2-track digital format. This will carry the 2-track stereo mix. Just get the mix right on the VF-16 and burn a CD master!
(Still theoretical,but I think we might be onto something this time.)
 
mic98, I love that enthusiasm of yours. I was reasonably sure that you could get audio onto a CD this way, or use the same connection to a home audio type CD recorder, but the remaining problem is needing a place to store song data when the unit's hard drive fills up. I spoke to fostex today also and asked if they had any plans for a CD burner of thier own or some other solution. The answer was, in a word, no.
 
twelvdrmz,
I'm not surprised that Fostex isn't gonna make a CD-burner. The solution now seems to
be to get a soundcard with S/PDIF (my soundblaster doesn't have one),an internal CD-burner like the Microboards professional or one of the Tascams. I just hope they come with the appropriate software to read the incoming mix & write it to CD.
As for storing data from the VF-16, the 5.1 gig hard drive it comes with will hold an hour of 16 track info. I figure once I get a song sounding how I want, I'll mix it down &
if it's not right on the CD I'll keep tweaking until it is, then burn a CD & keep it as the master recording. Then I won't worry about overwriting it on the hard drive;
it's already in the can.
I'd pay a hundred bucks right now for a "VF-16 for Dummies" book!
 
mic98, do your self a favor and stay clear of the Phillips CD burner. I had one for a week and got rid of it (I thought it was a boat anchor). It only writes on CD-RAs which cost about $4 or $5 last time I checked. Get your self a computer based CD burner, a card with S/PDIF ins and outs and something like SoundForge XP or CEP. Then you just record the stereo output of your multi track into the computer as a wave file and you can edit the two track files (mute the quiet parts, fade stuff in and out, etc...)and then burn the CDs right from the hard drive, no problem. Like I said, I had a Phillips and it was a pain in the ass.
 
Just wanted to say that I'm now abandoning the idea of S/PDIF out to soundcard on PC to
PC's CD burner and am looking at stand-alone
CD recorders like the Philips CDR775. It goes for about $450, much less than a soundcard with an optical input and a CD burner; it has dual trays for duplication. I've e-mailed Fostex re:compatibility but if anyone knows why this wouldn't work I'd be interested in hearing it.
 
how bout this...i look in the paper and see 30 gig hard drives going for as low as $139. When you fill up the VF-16's 5 meg hard drive, can you remove it, still have the song data saved on it (if you ever want to reinstall it to do a remix or something) and pop in a new 30 gig hard drive for 6 hours more recording time? And if so, wont I probably end up with a drive thats much quieter (mechanically) than the one in there now? That thing makes a racket....a hot condenser's gonna pick it up.
 
I placed my order for a VF-16 today(!) based on the following... Fostex says yes, when your hard drive fills up you can install a new one and always go back and reinstall the old one if you want to rework an old tune. The VF-16 will accept up to a 30gig hard drive. They reccommend the Quantum brand Fireball LCT series or the Fireball Plus LM series. 30 gig Quantums run $200-280 in the catalogs, hopefully a little cheaper online somewhere (any reccomendations?). They couldnt tell me if the Quantums will be any quieter but jeez, I'd like to get recording already! I'll probably end up with a harman/kardon CDR-2 consumer deck to burn CDs. I spend too much time in front of a PC already and the hk is a nicer piece of hardware than the Phillips.
 
Twelvdrmz, any good tips on where to purchase the VF16? I've contacted the usual suspects (AMS, Musicnsfrnd, Zzounds etc) and no one has it in stock.

AS for burning to a consumer CD deck, I currently have the Phillips single deck home recorder... works rather well with the digital ins and outs (with my current setup using the BR-8), and I agree that I spend too much time in front of a PC anyway to go the PC route.

Also, where as the blank CD's needed to record on the Phillips were in the $4-$5 range (a piece), I've found in my local wholesale club store (Costco) a ten pack for $10.35. That's very close to the .70 cents you can get the other blank CD's for!
 
I appreciate the information about sending a .wav file to a PC via the S/PDIF port.

But does anyone know if there is a way to get .wav files to the pc without mixing everything down to stereo? I'd like to move all the tracks to a pc and use CoolEdit or something similar for editing. With everything mixed to stereo, as I understand it, you would only have two tracks to edit on a pc. Applying reverb, for instance, would apply reverb to all the instruments on the track.
 
You can move the files as waves two at a time and then drag them into place and line them all up in CEP or Cakewalk or whatever software you're using. I've done it and while it's a pain in the ass, it's do-able.
 
Fostex confirmed on the phone today that you CAN mixdown to a stand-alone CD recorder, as long as it has an optical input with TOSlink adaptor compatibility.
All the tweaking is done on the VF-16 then a stereo mix is sent to the CD burner.
I first thought about the Philips CDR775, but
with a little checking around you hear a LOT
of bad things about Philips!!!!!!!!!
Like twelvdrms, I was also thinking about the Harman Kardon CDR2, but it seems to have only a slightly better rep than the Philips;
I have read from more than one source that you can't even monitor what you're recording!
Several users have said the sound quality is
noticeably poor, parts of its construction are "flimsy" and customer service at HK sucks!
What does this leave? Marantz? Marantz is the 'pro' division of Philips! Pioneer makes CDR's; I'll have to check further. At least I'm no longer wondering about the last link in the VF-16 recording chain.

[This message has been edited by mic98 (edited 07-25-2000).]
 
hi!
i have a soundblaster live card. anyway, they make this thing that add a s/pdif output to it. i was wondering if anyone knows if there is something similar that would add a s/pdi input? if so, i'd be quite happy cuz i already have a cd burner!
thanks!
 
twelvdrmz said: "Fostex says yes, when your
hard drive fills up you can install a new one and always go back and reinstall the old one if you
want to rework an old tune. The VF-16 will accept up to a 30gig hard drive. "

This wouldn't fall into the same category as MF having a VS whatever with a larger than normal hard drive only to find out that the machine in question could only use like 1/3 of the hard drive space anyway, would it?

Hate to be a devil's advocate, but I'm about to buy a VF 16 as well and I,like y'all want to know what all is needed to make it work...The FIRST time cause I live three hours from where I can pick anything up!

D out ITNOJ
 
Do your self a favour,

BUY YOURSELF A PANASONIC 509 STANDALONE CD BURNER.

You can then use it to master songs onto and it's great for the DAT BACKUP function.

You won't need to do any fiddling around with PCs and MACs.
When I bought the thing, I just plugged it in to the S/PDIF optical port and I was writing my own CDs within 15min.

Don't believe all the hype about good Analog to Digital converters on the more expensive stand alone CD writers, you'll be going from digital to digital so the flashy (and expensive) A-D converters won't be used anyway.

I was backing my hard drive up to CD the next day.
If I put one of the song backup CDs into the CD drive on my PC I can then listen to all the individual tracks and convert them to .WAV files or whatever format I want to.
 
This is for Track Rat, but may interest anyone wanting to move .wav files from the VF-16 to a computer for further editing:

Matt Suzuki at Fostex wrote today to tell me that you can move 8 entire tracks at once to a PC using Frontier Audio's WaveCenter PCI card. This card would greatly simply getting everything onto the PC. One source has these cards for $289. (http://www.sbfilmaudio.com/frontier.html).

Not terrible. The only drawback, as far as I can tell, is that this is an all digital card. You can't attach a normal RCA jack and record directly to your PC hard drive using it. You would instead always have to record to the VF-16 and then transfer the data.

Anyone out there who has used one of these cards? The reviews I read of this card gave it the thumbs up on bringing in digital data. However, none of them addressed the quality of the sound when you are just playing audio.
 
About LeoT's suggested Panasonic 509

Are you sure this is the correct make and model number? I couldn't find a 509 listed anywhere on Panasonic's web site.

Regardless, why do you prefer it to other burners?
 
I think the machine in question here is the Pioneer 509.FYI both it and the Phillips implement SCMS which prevents making digital copies.
 
Magicman gave some good advice - get yourself a Fostex CR300. I got one from Sweetwater for a bit over $800. It's a professional CDR, so there's no SCMS unless you tell it to program a CD w/ SCMS. It's got all kinds of inputs & outputs - anything you'd ever need. I send a direct stereo optical signal from my VF-16 and everything stays digital. It'll record on any kind of CDR or CDRW you can find. It'll do a data dump from the VF-16 and save all 16 tracks on a CD for you (2 tracks at a time, so it takes awhile). I can't think of anything it doesn't do except make my morning coffee for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top