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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The Clarinet BBoard
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