 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-01-31 03:56
I've been looking into getting one of these (in a very casual way), and so far I have run into nothing but dead ends. The Sony units for sale at Fry's specifically list that "This software does not work with the Macintosh." I had been told that Sharp's version would, but Sharp no longer lists them for sale. There are many other units, but there appears to be no central clearing point to find out which of them work with Mac OS X.
There is a minidisk website based in CH (Switzerland for the rest of us), but previous questions similar to this have gone unanswered on there for years. I don't anticipate much better luck with the one I posted tonight.
Does anyone have the answer to this question? If it's a non-proprietary system that's needed (i.e., not the software that comes with the player), what needs to be done?
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Author: DAVE
Date: 2005-01-31 04:46
I have used Sonys before with my mac OSX. The way I did it was to import it into the mac using editing software called "Sound Studio" available from
http://felttip.com/ The software has a free trial period so you can see if you like it.
Once the recording is in Sound Studio, you can edit it and save it in iTunes if you like.
Email me if you need more info.
Dave
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Author: studioline
Date: 2005-01-31 16:57
I think what you mean is one of those Hi MD recorders to import mp3's from your computer to the minidisc. Am I right? I can't really help you, but if this is the case, then why don't you just buy an Ipod. Unless of course you want an all in one that records relatively well too.
I also noticed, that the sony hi md machines were not compatible with Mac's.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-01-31 19:13
Nope, what I want is a mini-disk recorder that will allow microphone input and will interface with the software on the Macintosh computer. What I want to do is to record vocal numbers being played by my musical group so that the vocalists will have a karaoke version to rehearse with, so as not to tie up seventeen musicians in order to allow three vocalists to perfect their parts.
(One of my two girl singers is a wonderful vocalist, but she's over committed to family and other social stuff, and she doesn't sing from a chart. In other words, she's always missing rehearsals and can't learn a tune without doing it by rote. It generally takes twice as many pass-throughs to get her up to speed than the other singers, and all the while the musicians have already mastered their parts by the third pass.)
Now that I have an input means on the computer (in the form of the software brought up in the second post above), I know that it can be done. I'll buy the recorder and microphone, then test it with the sound software that I already have (two Bias products, Deck and Peak). If they won't work, then I'll get me a copy of Sound Studio and take that route.
I've already got both an iPod and an iPod Shuffle, for what that's worth. Both are great for playing back pre-recorded music. However, neither will permit decent recordings. And, other cheap options only record MP3 format, which is not as "massage-able" as the full sized "raw" sound data files.
We already have access to a full professional portable recording setup. But, just to make practice recordings for the singers, it's not worth the time and effort to set it up (which is a full hour job in itself, not to mention the extra haulage and all).
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Author: pguy
Date: 2005-01-31 19:33
We have a PC, not a Mac, but might be able to help. We use a Sony MD to record clarinte solo's, scales, etc. to burn audition CD's to send with summer camp/festival applications. A quirk of the MD Player/Recorder is that you can only upload digital music (files) to your hardrive IF it was previously downloaded from the hardrive. The only way you can upload recorded music (music you record on the MD with a microphone) to your hardrive is analog, via the MIC input on the back of your computer.
Rather than using the Sony software, we use Cakewalk. One of its options is to "make a CD from an LP". After recording your music, you just run a cable from the MD headhone jack to the microphone jack of your computer, and "play" it from the MD to your computer. Cakwalk creates a Wavefile on your hardrive that can be used to burn a CD. It's not professional quality, but much better than any tape recorder we've ever tried. I assume that Cakewalk, or similar "recording studio" software sould run okay on a MAC.
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Author: lindaclarinet
Date: 2005-02-07 03:48
Hi-
I have a Sony Net MD and a computer with Mac OS X. For a long time I had difficulty getting the audio onto the computer - I would connect it to our video camera and use iMovie. The main thing to check is whether you have a audio input jack in your computer. If you do, you can download a free (and very useful) audio editing program called Audible ( http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15063 ) and buy a cord from an electronics store. I personally really recommend this program, it was also recently mentioned in Macworld. If you do not have an audio input, you can buy a USB audio input separately, ( http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15063 ) they are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.
Hope this helps!
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-02-07 14:14
I have the USB audio input, and have already used same to download analog versions of the recording made this past Saturday during a rehearsal. Quality is very good, even only using the earphone out jack and the audio in jack on the iMike audio connector.
However, what I'd really like to do is to transfer the actual audio file from the Sony product to the Mac, and this seems to be an impossible task. Aside from the fact that Sony's provided software only works with the PC system (and doesn't work at all on Virtual PC), it also treats any recorded work, even with the microphone, as a protected product (just as if you had recorded it from a CD) that automatically gets copy protection.
What this does is to make it impossible to produce copies of the stuff that you have just created. One copy on the mini-disk recorder is just fine, but you cannot move that recording to a audio editing program and then crop, compress, combine tracks (to add the vocals from a separate, simultaneous recording on a second mini-disk) and otherwise clean it up for transfer to your own recorded CD or on the computer.
There are reams of comments on this on the mini-disk related bulletin boards, and no one has seemed to be able to crack the code to make the changes needed. I don't know if other mini-disk players had this problem as well (Sharp used to make them, and other manufacturers like Panasonic list a few), but the only mini-disk machinery that I've been able to find in a hands on fashion is that made by Sony.
Still, for critique recordings of performances and rehearsals, it's good enough. We are still learning how to mark the tracks and the like so as to make the final edit a bit easier, but that will come in time.
Good things about the unit are the compact size (less than one-ten thousandth the size of our "studio" recording setup, and far, far less intrusive), the considerable recording capacity on a single disk, extremely low battery use (I've been running it pretty heavy for a week now on a single AA battery, and the power indicator has yet to even drop one bar), and phantom power through to the condenser microphones. The whole unit (including cords, microphone, a small camera tripod used as a stand, and accessories) fits in a small (8" x 6" x 4") Pelican case, making it bulletproof during transportation. There's even room for the second unit for the vocals that I'll be getting down the road.
I have to gin up an extension cord for the mike (together with the right jacks and plugs for the phantom power) and a mount for the microphone (it's got a hot shoe style slide mount, like on a camera) when it gets stuck on our boom. I've got an old camera that's going to die and donate its hot shot mount for the attachment point.
Our "performance" recording "microphone stand" is a very long, shock corded Fibreglas® tent pole that is plugged into a X shaped base back in the trumpet section. The pole arches up and out until the microphone is optimally placed about 7' above the front of the group, thereby not overemphasizing the trap set (as many microphones do). It's all painted flat black and is hardly even visible in photographs, much less in the standard performance venues, and it all folds up nicely into a compact package. The stand base has a chiseled out recess for the recorder to protect it from damage during use, along with slots for enough mini-disks to last an entire performance.
Since I need a second unit to pick up the vocals from the sound system, I may try to find a Panasonic unit and see if there is the same problem with the copy protection. It sure is a nuisance, and one that I'd pay good money to overcome...
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Author: lindaclarinet
Date: 2005-02-07 23:02
I believe that just copying it is impossible - I had the same problem. The only way I managed was just playing it through to the Mac, recording and saving it. I imagine that would take a very long time if you need a lot of audio, but at least it works...
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-02-08 14:51
The Sony professional MD recorder can make MDs without SCM (Serial Copy Management). However, it's over $2,000. I guess Sony (and the RIAA) think casual copiers can't afford that.
There are various hacks to defeat SCM and also to get tunes off of an iPod (which the current software prevents), but if you want to stay legal, you'll have to go through analog.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-02-08 15:14
Ken, what about the other manufacturers? I was told that Sharp's MD recorders would do the computer transfer thing without the protection, but I let the one my son had get away without ever testing same. My friend Jim Brugman uses two Sharps to do his recording (one for the monitor feed for the vocals, the other to mike the band, but I've never asked him if he uses analog to do the transfer. As willing as he is to go to no end to accomplish things, I'd not doubt that he was going analog as well.
(And, to be fair, analog transfer (i.e., from the MD headphones jack to the computer's audio in jack) does a pretty good job. However, you lose the full depth of the recording in the process, and working with the digital recording file directly would introduce some "noise reduction" in the finished product.)
There are a number of other MD devices available, from makers like Panasonic (Matsushita) and Akai, but finding information on how they work is like pulling teeth. Then trying to actually find them to "hands on" examine is virtually impossible; you have to buy a pig in a poke through the internet to purchase one (at least from what my research here in Houston has shown me).
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