cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:
In article , Arny Krueger
wrote:
But it must have a decent display to tell you exactly what is cued
up - nothing worse than the clips getting out of sync and no way to
recover bar playing them out until you find the right one.

Many modern digital players provide exactly that kind of display.

As does MiniDisc - one of the things which attracted me to it as a
replacement for 1/4" tape and NAB cart machines etc for SFX use. Of
course things have moved on - but if it was fine then it will still be
fine now.

Does anyone do software designed for this sort of use? Cool Edit etc are
just too complicated, IMHO, for someone who just wants something basic.

FWIW I'd take it for granted that someone *had* already produced (more than
one!) app/prog that did this and allowed the user to play sound files in an
orderly way on cue. if not, maybe I can use it as an example for 'Archive'
magazine at some point and do both RO and ROX versions. Should be trivial
on ROX I suspect, but more limited in filetypes, etc, with RO.

I was assuming something like:

Have your sfx files in a directory (folder) as the 'project'. Drag that to
the 'sfx player' and it will list them in a user-defined order. Then either
play each in turn at a given click or keypress, showing which was playing
and which was 'next' on the list. But also let you step up or down to cue a
different sfx. Using something like gstreamer I assume the files could be
an arbitrary mix of LPCM, MP3, AAC, various bitrates, etc, however the user
liked.

Surely someone has already done this with a few added bells and
whistles?... Dunno, though as I've never done anything to do with playing
sounds for something like a theater performance!

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in
message
In article
, Arny
Krueger wrote:
But it must have a decent display to tell you exactly
what is cued up - nothing worse than the clips getting
out of sync and no way to recover bar playing them out
until you find the right one.

Many modern digital players provide exactly that kind of
display.

As does MiniDisc - one of the things which attracted me
to it as a replacement for 1/4" tape and NAB cart
machines etc for SFX use.

The continued discussion of MD mystefies me.

Of course things have moved on - but if it was fine then
it will still be fine now.

By modern standards MD was never fine.

Does anyone do software designed for this sort of use?

If CEP is "too powerful", then Audacity must be about right.

Cool Edit etc are just too complicated, IMHO, for someone
who just wants something basic.

The trouble with "something basic" is that people's applications often grow
with their understanding of the problem at hand.

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

In article , David Looser
scribeth thus
"tony sayer" wrote

Well David .. Two plays I saw over the lest few months were blighted one
very badly by computer generated noises.

Both had a good dose of 'umm on as well both events used standard in the
PC soundcards.

Well Tony.. That was very unlikely to be caused by using a laptop's on-board
audio.

David..

I'm not bloody stupid thank you they were caused by computer problems as
I was asked to sort them out!.

Thanks also but I'm involved in studio and transmission maintenance on a
daily basis.

I do see quite a few sound cards both good and not so good....


I don't know how you know that these noises were "computer
generated", nor that they would not have been there if an external sound
card had been used. Interference with theatre audio is FAR more likely to be
due to pick-up from the stage lighting or other electrical equipment than
anything to due with using a computer's on-board audio.

It was nothing at -all- to do with lighting thanks..

I've dealt with a lot of RFI and EMC problems over time thanks..

An external preferably with balanced outputs.. a much better bet!...
--
Balanced outputs are better certainly, but how many external soundcards have
balanced outputs?


"'Umm" is now't to do with "computer noises" and needs to
be cured by good old-fashioned analogue audio engineering.


With respect David .. Cobblers...
David.




--
Tony Sayer

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

"tony sayer" wrote

I'm not bloody stupid thank you they were caused by computer problems as
I was asked to sort them out!.

Oh my! you really are losing your rag aren't you!

So, if you sorted these problems out, what were they?

Thanks also but I'm involved in studio and transmission maintenance on a
daily basis.

I do see quite a few sound cards both good and not so good....

Even the not so good sound cards are quite good enough for this purpose.

snip

"'Umm" is now't to do with "computer noises" and needs to
be cured by good old-fashioned analogue audio engineering.


With respect David .. Cobblers...

So are you denying that hum is an analogue domain problem?

David.

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

In article , David Looser
wrote:
"tony sayer" wrote


I do see quite a few sound cards both good and not so good....

Even the not so good sound cards are quite good enough for this purpose.

However the distinction between yourself and Tony in this specific case is
that he worked on the systems he is talking about whereas you are
theorising as a generalisation about "not so good sound cards".

snip

"'Umm" is now't to do with "computer noises" and needs to be cured by
good old-fashioned analogue audio engineering.


With respect David .. Cobblers...

So are you denying that hum is an analogue domain problem?

Unfortunately Tony's orginal wording has been snipped. That said


On 13 Mar in uk.rec.audio, tony sayer wrote:

Well David .. Two plays I saw over the lest few months were blighted one
very badly by computer generated noises.


Note the phrase "computer generated". I take that to mean the hum was
sourced from or caused by the computer system. Not a "denial" that "hum is
an analogue domain problem". Distinction between symptom and causal
mechanism.

No idea about the specific systems Tony actually worked with. However I've
certainly encountered a situation where the analogue output of a computer
generated unwanted noises on its analogue output that were due to its
internal psu or wiring - even when just listened to via headphones. So I
can't at present see any reason to doubt his practical experience simply on
the basis of a general theory.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

In article ,
David Looser wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote

Does anyone do software designed for this sort of use? Cool Edit etc
are just too complicated, IMHO, for someone who just wants something
basic.

Not sure what you mean by "this sort of use". Do you preparing SFXs, or
playing them out?

Not asking for me. I use Pro Tools.

If the former I'd say that Cool Edit is exactly the sort of thing you
need, but it's not appropriate for play out. I've found WMP to be fine
for that.

I was wondering about a simple play out/editing package for amateur
theatricals, etc.

--
*When cheese gets it's picture taken, what does it say?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

In article ,
Arny Krueger wrote:
As does MiniDisc - one of the things which attracted me
to it as a replacement for 1/4" tape and NAB cart
machines etc for SFX use.

The continued discussion of MD mystefies me.

Because it was first mentioned as being ideal for the job?

Of course things have moved on - but if it was fine then
it will still be fine now.

By modern standards MD was never fine.

You're welcome to your opinion - no matter how wrong it is.

Does anyone do software designed for this sort of use?

If CEP is "too powerful", then Audacity must be about right.

Too complicated too for what is needed.

Cool Edit etc are just too complicated, IMHO, for someone
who just wants something basic.

The trouble with "something basic" is that people's applications often
grow with their understanding of the problem at hand.

Programs are usually written to appeal to those who think they need all
the bells and whistles - even although they never use them.

--
*No radio - Already stolen.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
David Looser wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote

Does anyone do software designed for this sort of use? Cool Edit etc
are just too complicated, IMHO, for someone who just wants something
basic.

Not sure what you mean by "this sort of use". Do you preparing SFXs, or
playing them out?

Not asking for me. I use Pro Tools.

If the former I'd say that Cool Edit is exactly the sort of thing you
need, but it's not appropriate for play out. I've found WMP to be fine
for that.

I was wondering about a simple play out/editing package for amateur
theatricals, etc.

I think CEP is perfect for the whole application,
recording,editing and play back of SFX. You can
set labelled markers,. and also see the envelope
of the effect that is coming up, to make gain change
if required. The sequencer will skip from marker to
marker instantly as required. You can zoom to
event level or keep the whole sequence in view.

Perfect, and simple too.

Iain

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

Programs are usually written to appeal to those who think they need all
the bells and whistles - even although they never use them.


How True.

Even Studer fell into this trap when they lauched their
Dyaxis DAW, which tried to be all things to all people.
They had thought about audio post, music editing, recording,
radio, TV, theatre, everything. The user interface became so
complex that it was incredibly difficult to use, with many
alternative keystrokes suggested by beta testers from different
sectors of the industry, all of whom had a different idea of how
things should be done.

In hind sight, it would have been better to have made
separate, slimmer versions of the software tailored to each
application. But Studer was too late by this time, and
Pro Tools became the standard.

Iain

cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
 

"David Looser" wrote in message
...
"tony sayer" wrote

Well David .. Two plays I saw over the lest few months were blighted one
very badly by computer generated noises.

Both had a good dose of 'umm on as well both events used standard in the
PC soundcards.

Well Tony.. That was very unlikely to be caused by using a laptop's
on-board audio. I don't know how you know that these noises were "computer
generated", nor that they would not have been there if an external sound
card had been used. Interference with theatre audio is FAR more likely to
be due to pick-up from the stage lighting or other electrical equipment
than anything to due with using a computer's on-board audio.

An external preferably with balanced outputs.. a much better bet!...
--
Balanced outputs are better certainly, but how many external soundcards
have balanced outputs?

EM-U 1212M for a start.
http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp?product=9872

Iain