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I recently got a secondhand SONY MDS JE530 Minidisc. My idea is to transfer field recordings without loosing quality / adding noise via the OPTICAL out of the MD deck into Scope/Cubase. My portable MD only has optical IN, and only analog OUT. Also, the other way around, I can mixdown my Cubase arrangements via optical out from PULSAR I onto Minidisk, which puts less strain on my dated computer.

So, what is the quality of MD recordings like? Is the mixdown via opt. out to MD inferior to a mixdown directly from Cubase to my HD?

Neb

I don´t know this MD model but I guess it works with the Atrac compression.

Atrac uses aprox. 1/5 of the original data quantity. If I remember right you can compare newer Atrac versions with a mp3 @320 kb/s.

The analog out is not so bad to transfer your recordings to your DAW but it will take the time as long as the recording lasts, of course.

Newer MDs so called Hi-MD can store up to 1GB on their mini discs and can record 16bit-pcm wav files. Also they can work like a portable HardDrive via USB.

More about Atrac here:
http://www.minidisc.org/aes_atrac.html

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: ChrisWerner on 2006-01-15 01:59 ]</font>

Hi, the MD format is compressed. The algorithm used, called ATRAC, is similar to the mp3, but as far as I know the ratio is about 4:1 (the standard mp3 128 Kbit/s is about 11:1). So You have surely a small but real loss of quality recording your mixdown to MD instead of into your hardisk.

Said this I think the improvement of quality you have using the optical out is loss during the following compression and maybe the loss is greather than the improvement, so it's not worthy.

Anyway the loss depends from the kind of material you are going to record, because it is better noticeable on the hi frequences. So if you have recorded a drum session with a lot of crash, hi-hats and so on the loss is more audible than if you have recorded a bass track.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: lima on 2006-01-15 23:54 ]</font>

hi Chris! almost at the same time

Hi. I did both ways of recording with my JE510. You can see the difference when you use the "music sync" knob on your remote control. When you choose the analog way, the MD starts when the music begins. If you work with the digital connection and you have one or more synths connected, the MD recorder will start immediately, cos it receives the little noise floor (less than -80dB).
I prefer the digital way. In my Scope startup projects I inserted three gates into the channels where I connected the synths to.
But nowadays I use the MD rarely. It sounds a bit more flat than audio CD. It's really audible. Well, some friends of mine use MD, but for them I record only demos for rehearsals.

Cheers, Thomas