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cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
Hi all I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here. I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player http://www.numark.com/cdn35 The most annoying thing I found was; 1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) 2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing. I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track. Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media? ps I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit. -- Regards p.mc |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0000, "p.mc" wrote:
Hi all I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here. I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player http://www.numark.com/cdn35 The most annoying thing I found was; 1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) 2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing. I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track. Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media? ps I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit. Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want. You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want. You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at every stage and it isn't recoverable. d |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"Don Pearce" wrote in message
... On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0000, "p.mc" wrote: Hi all I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here. I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player http://www.numark.com/cdn35 The most annoying thing I found was; 1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) 2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing. I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track. Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media? ps I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit. Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want. You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want. You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at every stage and it isn't recoverable. I agree totally. Computer based editing is so vastly superior to any other method that it's a no-brainer. If I was doing SFX for amateur dramatics these days I use a laptop, anything else is clunky and difficult by comparison. David. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article ,
p.mc wrote: Hi all I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here. I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player http://www.numark.com/cdn35 The most annoying thing I found was; 1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) 2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing. I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track. Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media? ps I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit. Personally, I'd stick with MiniDisc. Or move on to a computer based play in system. CD sucks for this sort of thing. Although there are some expensive pro versions that buffer things to give near instant response. Maybe even available now at the disco end of the market. -- *Great groups from little icons grow * Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"Don Pearce" wrote
Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want. You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want. You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at every stage and it isn't recoverable. Actually re-reading the OP's post I think maybe his *is* using a PC for editing. He talks about using "mixcraft" and burning to CD. But these apparently add 3 seconds and 2 seconds of silence respectively to the ends of the files. Clearly he is using the wrong software. I use CoolEdit to create and Nero to burn, neither necessarily adds any silence. But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop. David. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"David Looser" wrote in message ... "Don Pearce" wrote Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want. You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want. You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at every stage and it isn't recoverable. Actually re-reading the OP's post I think maybe his *is* using a PC for editing. He talks about using "mixcraft" and burning to CD. But these apparently add 3 seconds and 2 seconds of silence respectively to the ends of the files. Clearly he is using the wrong software. I use CoolEdit to create and Nero to burn, neither necessarily adds any silence. But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop. Yes. He needs a "park on a sixpence" player, with a rotary cue control if he wants to play from CD. As you say, playing out from a laptop with visual cueing would be much better. Iain |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"p.mc" wrote in message ... Hi all I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here. I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player http://www.numark.com/cdn35 The most annoying thing I found was; 1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) 2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing. I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track. Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media? ps I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit. I have two early CD players by Denon which were designed for broadcast and audio post, which do precisely what you are trying to do, and cue with extreme accuracy.to 1/3 frame (1/75 second) with material both from published libraries such as Sound Ideas, or your own CD SFX compilations. http://img.tweedehands.nl/f/normal/5...dge-player.jpg They were triggered from the console by a GP relay, but there is no reason which you could not trigger them manually, or with a wired remote, to a script or a visual cue. The sound assistant loaded the CDs and cued each machine in turn, either using headphones, or to a written time code displayed by the machine (see pic) which he/she had written in the margin of the script. By this method, we could lay fairly long sequences of music and FX without stopping. These machines also have varispeed, which was useful in matching the pitch of tuned FX (gong etc) to a music track. But surely, in your case playing out SFX from a PC with visual cueing would be much better. Iain Iain |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0000, "p.mc" wrote:
I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player That seems a step backwards for your requirements! Most things can be made to work, but using CD makes the job harder. I see why you're looking for a replacement for minidisc - this most useful format is unfortunately becoming rapidly unsupported. But I'm not sure the answer is CD. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"p.mc" wrote in message
Hi all I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here. I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player http://www.numark.com/cdn35 What you really should have done is moved into the 21st century, and started using a computer as your delivery platform for SFX. But, the CD format is not all that bad. The most annoying thing I found was; 1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) +1 to all the other people who pointed out that you need to learn how to do digital audio editing. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science or all of the hardware at Cape Canaveral. In fact all you need is: (1) Just about any modern PC, even a laptop. (2) Hardware and software that will allow you to load audio from the various delivery sources that you use. (a) The internet (b) CDs (i) EAC freeware for pulling digital audio files off of audio CDs (ii) Audacity freeware is a good servicable audio editor for your purposes (c) DVDs (i) FFMPEG and other freeware video editing software (ii) Adobe Premiere Elements (3) Hardware and software for re-encoding your finished work into a delivery format. (i) Nero 2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing. Track marks and burning software that honors them. I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track. It doesn't have to be that way. Nero CD burning software for example has an option for not inserting the 2 second silence. Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media? I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit. I did that for a number of years before I moved on. The superset of what you are doing is basically the same thing but also with video. I've been doing that for the past 3 years at church. But, I still remember the audio-only days. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"Iain Churches" wrote in message
"David Looser" wrote in message ... "Don Pearce" wrote Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want. You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want. You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at every stage and it isn't recoverable. Actually re-reading the OP's post I think maybe his *is* using a PC for editing. He talks about using "mixcraft" and burning to CD. But these apparently add 3 seconds and 2 seconds of silence respectively to the ends of the files. Clearly he is using the wrong software. I use CoolEdit to create and Nero to burn, neither necessarily adds any silence. Amen, brother! I use those very same tools for the very same purpose and obtain exactly what I want. The only thing I can add is that while I continue to do this with audio, we've upped the ante at church, and do just about everything as video. But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop. Again, Amen. A good CD player will cue and hold cue accurately, but not so with DVD players. It was scripting video that forced us into using a PC. There may be production grade DVD players that cue and hold cue, but for the same money or less you can get a PC and do so much more with it. We script our audio and video files using PowerPoint or similar software that is more tailored for the needs of churches. Yes. He needs a "park on a sixpence" player, with a rotary cue control if he wants to play from CD. One can cue well if one makes effective use of trackmarks or a collection of separate files running under an A/V scripting program like Powerpoint. As you say, playing out from a laptop with visual cueing would be much better. Exactly. It is what modern AV presenters do, whether corporate, artistic, or evangelical. In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional and liturgical churches are generally technically challenged. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"Laurence Payne" wrote in message
On Fri, 12 Mar 2010 06:38:35 -0000, "p.mc" wrote: I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player That seems a step backwards for your requirements! Most things can be made to work, but using CD makes the job harder. One can get sinmply tired of preparing burn lists, burning, and finalizing CDs. You make one mistake or need to add or change one file and you have to burn another CD. CDs are bulky and fragile by modern standards. It is a very retro thing to do in the days of inexpensive but effective digital players (examples: Sansa Fuze, Clip) and flash drives. I see why you're looking for a replacement for minidisc - this most useful format is unfortunately becoming rapidly unsupported. But I'm not sure the answer is CD. I've seen this sort of thing done with even just $49 portable music players. It can be a great way to cue and run SFX. The best over all tool is a PC. It can be very effective for both development and presentation of recorded media. The key to success is to do your homework and use a good digital audio editor (Audacity is more than enough) to prepare the media. It's far easier and faster to load a flash drive or a portable music player, than to burn a CD. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article , David Looser
wrote: "Don Pearce" wrote Probably the best thing you could do is move everything into a more conducive environment for editing. Copy your CD into a PC, then use virtually any DAW software to perform all the manipulation you want. You can then burn back to CD with any gaps (or no gaps) that you want. You may want to release the final versions as MP3, but don't let that format become a part of the production process; you lose quality at every stage and it isn't recoverable. Actually re-reading the OP's post I think maybe his *is* using a PC for editing. He talks about using "mixcraft" and burning to CD. But these apparently add 3 seconds and 2 seconds of silence respectively to the ends of the files. Clearly he is using the wrong software. I use CoolEdit to create and Nero to burn, neither necessarily adds any silence. I could not tell if he was saying either A) That the CD tracks have silences added. e.g. were perhaps created by a method like 'Track at Once' rather then 'Disc at Once'. or B) The player takes a few seconds to start playing a track (and this delay is variable). or maybe both. As others, my reaction is to use a small computer for playing (and editing). The alternative might be a solid state recorder as they can have essentially instant play. Matter of which is more convenient for him. 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
Apologies for my Subject line adding confusion, but yes I do use the pc with
software "Mixcraft 4.1" to multi track and edit my sound files, Originally, after mixing down my sfx, I would record it to minidisc, and as you know this is recorded in real time which takes up a lot of time. But also sometimes our theatre group would have 10 min short plays and the actors would bring there own cds, so that is why I got the dual cd player as I thought it would be good to have the two outputs in one unit, especially for underscoring a part whilst adding random effects over that...ie (battlefield underscore/random explosions).whereas before I'd have to take 2 minidisc players. But as you have mentioned it is a step backward, but I thought if I could crack the 2 annoyances then I'd be happy to carry on with the dual CD option, which also has the added bonus of recording the multiple sfx in far quicker time. Also every theatre will have a cd player for you to use. I was also burning my sfx using WMP, but I do have Nero so I could remove the silence but I thought that would make the cd continuos and the auto pause function wouldn't work! As we don't have a building with our theatre group I have to bring along my equiptment to some venues and I've never had someone bring me there sfx on minidisc so I thought if I could use cds, also it would save me using and carrying at least the MD player. I suppose I could use my laptop with the sfx files on, with the added bonus of a cd opt drive for the actors cds. ***Some info on auto cue software would be appreciated also***. A lot of actors use there ipods for sfx lately and you can get a unit that docks two ipods and has play,pause and autopause functions, anyway ignore that, thats for another day. Think I'll have a look at cool edit also and do some test cds. -- Regards p.mc "Arny Krueger" wrote in message ... "p.mc" wrote in message Hi all I'm new to this group and was hoping to get some sound advice from here. I've been with an amatuer theatre for the last few years providing bespoke sfx for their productions. I've been using minidisc format for most of the time untill recentley I invested in a dual cd player http://www.numark.com/cdn35 What you really should have done is moved into the 21st century, and started using a computer as your delivery platform for SFX. But, the CD format is not all that bad. The most annoying thing I found was; 1...How to remove the silence bit and still have the unit autopause. (it's annoying when you have some cues pretty close together, but it adds 2 to 5 secs before next track can play) +1 to all the other people who pointed out that you need to learn how to do digital audio editing. It doesn't take a degree in rocket science or all of the hardware at Cape Canaveral. In fact all you need is: (1) Just about any modern PC, even a laptop. (2) Hardware and software that will allow you to load audio from the various delivery sources that you use. (a) The internet (b) CDs (i) EAC freeware for pulling digital audio files off of audio CDs (ii) Audacity freeware is a good servicable audio editor for your purposes (c) DVDs (i) FFMPEG and other freeware video editing software (ii) Adobe Premiere Elements (3) Hardware and software for re-encoding your finished work into a delivery format. (i) Nero 2...How to stop some tracks playing a millisecond of the neaxt track just before autopausing. Track marks and burning software that honors them. I use mixcraft to edit and produce my sfx, which adds approx 3 sec silence to the end of the saved file, and CD burning software adds approx 2 sec silence to the beggining of a track. It doesn't have to be that way. Nero CD burning software for example has an option for not inserting the 2 second silence. Is there a workaround, or can these points be resolved with CD media? I know dual mp3 players and HDD tech would do the job, but I need to get the most using CD media with this unit. I did that for a number of years before I moved on. The superset of what you are doing is basically the same thing but also with video. I've been doing that for the past 3 years at church. But, I still remember the audio-only days. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"p.mc" wrote in message
Apologies for my Subject line adding confusion, but yes I do use the pc with software "Mixcraft 4.1" to multi track and edit my sound files, Mixcraft looks good on paper. Unless there was some compelling reason, I'd continue to use it. http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/index.htm Originally, after mixing down my sfx, I would record it to minidisc, and as you know this is recorded in real time which takes up a lot of time. I've never actually subjected myself to this kind of abuse in recent times. But also sometimes our theatre group would have 10 min short plays and the actors would bring there own cds, so that is why I got the dual cd player as I thought it would be good to have the two outputs in one unit, especially for underscoring a part whilst adding random effects over that...ie (battlefield underscore/random explosions).whereas before I'd have to take 2 minidisc players. But as you have mentioned it is a step backward, but I thought if I could crack the 2 annoyances then I'd be happy to carry on with the dual CD option, which also has the added bonus of recording the multiple sfx in far quicker time. Also every theatre will have a cd player for you to use. I was also burning my sfx using WMP, but I do have Nero so I could remove the silence but I thought that would make the cd continuos and the auto pause function wouldn't work! No, if you remove the 2 second silences, there are still track breaks. Any auto pause feature your CD player has would continue to work. As we don't have a building with our theatre group I have to bring along my equiptment to some venues and I've never had someone bring me there sfx on minidisc so I thought if I could use cds, also it would save me using and carrying at least the MD player. I suppose I could use my laptop with the sfx files on, with the added bonus of a cd opt drive for the actors cds. If you run the editing software on said laptop, then you are in a very flexible situation. ***Some info on auto cue software would be appreciated also***. I mentioned PowerPoint, which is very common and even exists in freeware "work alike" versions. A lot of actors use there ipods for sfx lately and you can get a unit that docks two ipods and has play,pause and autopause functions, anyway ignore that, thats for another day. I'd never go there if I could plug the iPods up to my PC and download the files from the iPods to the PC. Think I'll have a look at cool edit also and do some test cds. Cool Edit is a bit of a red herring as it has been off the market for about 5 years. It was bought by Adobe and is now known as Audtion. Some of us use it and adore it but we can't tell you where to buy what we have. I used Cool Edit Pro 2.1 with the CD burning beta update which has outstanding work flow. But, there's no place to buy it! If you use EAC to convert CDs to digital files, and Nero to burn digital files back onto CDs, you pretty well duplicate what we can get out of CEP 2.1 using the audio editing software that you already have. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"p.mc" wrote in message
... A lot of actors use there ipods for sfx lately and you can get a unit that docks two ipods and has play,pause and autopause functions, anyway ignore that, thats for another day. I used to do what you are doing now 30 years ago, using reel-to-reel tape, with each effect cut out and assembled in order, linked by pieces of coloured leader tape to mark the cue positions. *Anything* you use these days has to be an improvement on that! David. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article ,
p.mc wrote: But also sometimes our theatre group would have 10 min short plays and the actors would bring there own cds, so that is why I got the dual cd player as I thought it would be good to have the two outputs in one unit, especially for underscoring a part whilst adding random effects over that...ie (battlefield underscore/random explosions).whereas before I'd have to take 2 minidisc players. But as you have mentioned it is a step backward, but I thought if I could crack the 2 annoyances then I'd be happy to carry on with the dual CD option, which also has the added bonus of recording the multiple sfx in far quicker time. Also every theatre will have a cd player for you to use. Might be worth investigating CD players designed for this sort of job. Not sure if they can be bought at a reasonable price, though. I'm not so sure about using a laptop for this sort of thing. I have a 360 Systems Instant Replay which is so much nicer - having a dedicated keyboard etc makes it a joy to use. -- *Reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs. Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article , Arny
Krueger wrote: "p.mc" wrote in message ***Some info on auto cue software would be appreciated also***. I mentioned PowerPoint, which is very common and even exists in freeware "work alike" versions. I don't know anything about PowerPoint but that may be a sledgehammer to crack a nut. :-) However I'd expect it to be trivial with a Linux machine to write a simple app (program) that plays files in a user-controlled way on cue. I'd hope the same was true with a Windows box but can't say. I'd also assume someone has already done this. Have they not? An advantage of a 'PC' based system is you can easily use a variety of file types, so some sfx could be mp3, others LPCM from audio CDs, etc. Should not matter to the application playing them. 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
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
In article , Arny Krueger wrote: "p.mc" wrote in message ***Some info on auto cue software would be appreciated also***. I mentioned PowerPoint, which is very common and even exists in freeware "work alike" versions. I don't know anything about PowerPoint but that may be a sledgehammer to crack a nut. :-) PPT is a pretty big sledgehammer even in its freeware versions. PPT is also endemic in the USA. Virtually every school kid in the USA is taught how to make PPT presentations, XLS spread sheets and Word documents. An amazing percentage of them can actually do it! Again, there are freeware versions of all of these programs. So, its a free, easy-to-use sledgehammer. However I'd expect it to be trivial with a Linux machine to write a simple app (program) that plays files in a user-controlled way on cue. I'd hope the same was true with a Windows box but can't say. I'd also assume someone has already done this. Have they not? Why would I care? Go to the trouble of writing a program just to run a presentation? ??????????????? An advantage of a 'PC' based system is you can easily use a variety of file types, so some sfx could be mp3, others LPCM from audio CDs, etc. Should not matter to the application playing them. PPT handles a wide variety of A/V file types. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote
I'm not so sure about using a laptop for this sort of thing. A laptop running WMP is far more flexible and easy to use than any CD player. A quicker response too. I have a 360 Systems Instant Replay which is so much nicer - having a dedicated keyboard etc makes it a joy to use. A laptop has a dedicated keyboard! David. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article ,
David Looser wrote: "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote I'm not so sure about using a laptop for this sort of thing. A laptop running WMP is far more flexible and easy to use than any CD player. A quicker response too. I have a 360 Systems Instant Replay which is so much nicer - having a dedicated keyboard etc makes it a joy to use. A laptop has a dedicated keyboard! Dedicated to ASCI, yes. -- *Black holes are where God divided by zero * Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote
Dedicated to ASCI, yes. Eh? David. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article , Arny
Krueger wrote: "Jim Lesurf" wrote in message In article , Arny Krueger wrote: "p.mc" wrote in message ***Some info on auto cue software would be appreciated also***. I mentioned PowerPoint, which is very common and even exists in freeware "work alike" versions. I don't know anything about PowerPoint but that may be a sledgehammer to crack a nut. :-) PPT is a pretty big sledgehammer even in its freeware versions. PPT is also endemic in the USA. Virtually every school kid in the USA is taught how to make PPT presentations, XLS spread sheets and Word documents. An amazing percentage of them can actually do it! Again, there are freeware versions of all of these programs. So, its a free, easy-to-use sledgehammer. One consequence of which has become the use of PPT files on the web. (Sometimes converted crudely into PDF.) Generally meaning an excessively large file with very little info as content presented as a series of bloated bitmaps. Alas you often can't tell what the contents/bloat ratio will be until after you have fetched the file and looked at it! However I'd expect it to be trivial with a Linux machine to write a simple app (program) that plays files in a user-controlled way on cue. I'd hope the same was true with a Windows box but can't say. I'd also assume someone has already done this. Have they not? Why would I care? Go to the trouble of writing a program just to run a presentation? ??????????????? Your confusion may be because you assumed I meant writing a simple app for a *presentation*. But my point was an app just to do what the OP was interested in. To be able to play SFXs from a set of audio files in a simple and convenient manner. You also may assume the OP will choose Windows. However for a box to use just for playing/arranging/editing sfx files it might make more sense for him to use something cheaper/older and run a lighter OS that will work with lower resources, etc. 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
On 12/03/2010 12:17, Arny Krueger wrote:
In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional and liturgical churches meaningless distinction. are generally technically challenged. Amongst other things, yes, agreed - Billy Graham certainly got caught out by a bit of covert recording ;-) |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a
lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop. David. If he has a decent sound card preferably an external one to the PC... -- Tony Sayer |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
Think I'll have a look at cool edit also and do some test cds. Highly recommended Kewl edit much easier to use than Audacity IMHO of course;).. -- Tony Sayer |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"tony sayer" wrote in message
... But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop. David. If he has a decent sound card preferably an external one to the PC... -- We are talking about SFX for stage plays here, not listening to music in a quiet room. The on-board audio of a laptop will be perfectly good enough for the purpose. David. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article , tony sayer
wrote: Think I'll have a look at cool edit also and do some test cds. Highly recommended Kewl edit much easier to use than Audacity IMHO of course;).. Can't comment on what sound editor the OP may prefer. However I'd be inclined to suspect that the simplest course then would be to load the sfx as a series of mp3 files onto a conveniently small solid-state 'player' that has an output that can drive an audio system and a screen and controls that are easy to use. That way the playback system can be of minimal complexity, size, and avoid noises from mechanical hard discs, fans, etc. Simple way to carry the sfx to the venue and leave the editing system at home. Should also be easy enough to use to keep anyone who is 'computer bewildered' happy. And cheaper than a computer if stolen or damaged. Bottom line, though, is that there are a variety of ways to do this, so the 'best' will be whatever suits the OPs taste, requirements, and experience. 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
"Rob" wrote in message
om On 12/03/2010 12:17, Arny Krueger wrote: In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional and liturgical churches meaningless distinction. are generally technically challenged. Amongst other things, yes, agreed - Billy Graham certainly got caught out by a bit of covert recording ;-) Billy Graham? ????????????? I know of others that got outed by media, but not him. His son was a bit of a wild thing when he was younger... |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"Jim Lesurf" wrote in message
In article , Arny Krueger wrote: "Jim Lesurf" wrote in message In article , Arny Krueger wrote: "p.mc" wrote in message ***Some info on auto cue software would be appreciated also***. I mentioned PowerPoint, which is very common and even exists in freeware "work alike" versions. I don't know anything about PowerPoint but that may be a sledgehammer to crack a nut. :-) PPT is a pretty big sledgehammer even in its freeware versions. PPT is also endemic in the USA. Virtually every school kid in the USA is taught how to make PPT presentations, XLS spread sheets and Word documents. An amazing percentage of them can actually do it! Again, there are freeware versions of all of these programs. So, its a free, easy-to-use sledgehammer. One consequence of which has become the use of PPT files on the web. (Sometimes converted crudely into PDF.) Generally meaning an excessively large file with very little info as content presented as a series of bloated bitmaps. Alas you often can't tell what the contents/bloat ratio will be until after you have fetched the file and looked at it! That's one reason why we have high speed internet these days. However I'd expect it to be trivial with a Linux machine to write a simple app (program) that plays files in a user-controlled way on cue. I'd hope the same was true with a Windows box but can't say. I'd also assume someone has already done this. Have they not? Why would I care? Go to the trouble of writing a program just to run a presentation? ??????????????? Your confusion may be because you assumed I meant writing a simple app for a *presentation*. But my point was an app just to do what the OP was interested in. To be able to play SFXs from a set of audio files in a simple and convenient manner. From a user standpoint, PPT does that job, and well. You also may assume the OP will choose Windows. Or Mac. There is PPT on the Mac, ya know. However for a box to use just for playing/arranging/editing sfx files it might make more sense for him to use something cheaper/older and run a lighter OS that will work with lower resources, etc. Yeah sure. We're supposed to take our $399 PCs with 100's of MIPs of processing power, gigabytes of RAM and Terabytes of disk and worry ourselves to death about "lower resources"? Wake up man, lightweight OSs are even being expunged from cellphones. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:44:14 -0500, "Arny Krueger"
wrote: "Rob" wrote in message . com On 12/03/2010 12:17, Arny Krueger wrote: In the evangelical church we notice that the traditional and liturgical churches meaningless distinction. are generally technically challenged. Amongst other things, yes, agreed - Billy Graham certainly got caught out by a bit of covert recording ;-) Billy Graham? ????????????? I know of others that got outed by media, but not him. His son was a bit of a wild thing when he was younger... Have you not come across his conversations with Nixon, in which he spouted the vilest anti-semitism? Or his conversation with a Canadian evangelist, who told him of his sudden realization that what he was doing was barbaric, and Graham's reply that he agreed, but it was all business and ther was no way to back out of it. d |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article ,
Jim Lesurf wrote: Bottom line, though, is that there are a variety of ways to do this, so the 'best' will be whatever suits the OPs taste, requirements, and experience. Absolutely. The last thing you want when playing in SFX etc to a 'live' event is overcomplicated hardware or software. A MiniDisc which plays the cue then re-cues waiting for the next - so all you have to do is hit the play button at the right time - is fine. One with a play button four times the size of any other even better...;-) -- *Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie* Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article , Arny
Krueger wrote: "Jim Lesurf" wrote in message One consequence of which has become the use of PPT files on the web. (Sometimes converted crudely into PDF.) Generally meaning an excessively large file with very little info as content presented as a series of bloated bitmaps. Alas you often can't tell what the contents/bloat ratio will be until after you have fetched the file and looked at it! That's one reason why we have high speed internet these days. It may well be one of the reasons *you* have it. But it certainly isn't one of mine! I have no wish to waste my time or HD space on such daft and lazy behaviours propagated by ignorant MicroSoftHeaded users. :-) However I'd expect it to be trivial with a Linux machine to write a simple app (program) that plays files in a user-controlled way on cue. I'd hope the same was true with a Windows box but can't say. I'd also assume someone has already done this. Have they not? Why would I care? Go to the trouble of writing a program just to run a presentation? ??????????????? Your confusion may be because you assumed I meant writing a simple app for a *presentation*. But my point was an app just to do what the OP was interested in. To be able to play SFXs from a set of audio files in a simple and convenient manner. From a user standpoint, PPT does that job, and well. Yes, you can indeed use a sledgehammer to crack a nut, as we already agreed. You also may assume the OP will choose Windows. Or Mac. There is PPT on the Mac, ya know. Yes. But does it also run "well" on small mp3 players that might cost rather less than the "399 USD" you mention below?... If so, that is news to me. However for a box to use just for playing/arranging/editing sfx files it might make more sense for him to use something cheaper/older and run a lighter OS that will work with lower resources, etc. Yeah sure. We're supposed to take our $399 PCs with 100's of MIPs of processing power, gigabytes of RAM and Terabytes of disk and worry ourselves to death about "lower resources"? You can of course spend your own money as you choose and do things as suit you. I'm just pointing out that others may choose other ways which they find more convenient, cheaper, etc, even if daring to be different to yourself. The point being that they can choose to follow you or do otherwise as suits them *once* they know alternatives exist. I have no idea what would suit the OP best. But simply saying "use PPT" doesn't strike me as what I'd call an extensive menu of options. Although I guess it would suit MicroSoft nicely if people believed there were no alternatives. :-) Wake up man, lightweight OSs are even being expunged from cellphones. What a superbly chosen technical argument. :-) Particularly when a "lightweight OS" might have left them more memory space and CPU power for the actual applications they wanted to run. Isn't modern technology wonderful! :-) But for all I know you may be right and a good alternative might be for him to put the sound files on a modern 'cellphone'. Although I didn't know it was now the norm for them to run PPT. From my POV it would be particularly amusing to find ones that use ARM family CPU based hardware and bits from the RISC OS tree now do things like that. ;- 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
On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:22:00 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote: In article , Jim Lesurf wrote: Bottom line, though, is that there are a variety of ways to do this, so the 'best' will be whatever suits the OPs taste, requirements, and experience. Absolutely. The last thing you want when playing in SFX etc to a 'live' event is overcomplicated hardware or software. A MiniDisc which plays the cue then re-cues waiting for the next - so all you have to do is hit the play button at the right time - is fine. One with a play button four times the size of any other even better...;-) 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. d |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article ,
Don Pearce wrote: The last thing you want when playing in SFX etc to a 'live' event is overcomplicated hardware or software. A MiniDisc which plays the cue then re-cues waiting for the next - so all you have to do is hit the play button at the right time - is fine. One with a play button four times the size of any other even better...;-) 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. MiniDisc allows you to name a cue. And is simple to go back or forward if one or more gets missed. Brilliant for this sort of job - considering how cheap they are. My 360 cost almost 2 grand. Sometimes a stack of domestic MiniDiscs do a better job for a lot less, if you have the prep time. -- *I have my own little world - but it's OK...they know me here* Dave Plowman London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
In article , Don Pearce
wrote: On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:22:00 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote: In article , Jim Lesurf wrote: Bottom line, though, is that there are a variety of ways to do this, so the 'best' will be whatever suits the OPs taste, requirements, and experience. Absolutely. The last thing you want when playing in SFX etc to a 'live' event is overcomplicated hardware or software. A MiniDisc which plays the cue then re-cues waiting for the next - so all you have to do is hit the play button at the right time - is fine. One with a play button four times the size of any other even better...;-) Must say I've been thinking of an mp3 player with just play and skip buttons and a display large enough to see what is selected or ready. But I don't have such a player, so no idea how small or cheap a model would do this task in a suitable way, or if something else would be better. 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. Agreed. But you don't need to have something like "The latest version of Windows and PowerPoint" and a big monitor to have a useful display and controls for a task as basic as the OP wants when playing the sfx files on cue. And as Dave indicates, the more complex the system, the more ways it will have to foul you up at the critical moments. So you want a system that is just about right for the task in hand and avoids having too many other complications. FWIW I wish I had a pound for every lecture and event I've attended where the 'presentation' was held up or went wrong because "Oops, sorry, this PowerPoint presentation was OK when I tried it at home" but duly fell over when the moment came to do the actual event. How often the fault was with Windows, how often PowerPoint, I have no idea. It was the (lack of!) outcome that mattered. Indeed, in a very complex system things that are not a 'fault' can easily catch out the unwary. Like the machine deciding to make a noise because it has detected a wireless network, or decides now is the time to start taking ages to check its HD, or something else the user didn't know about and lock down... :-) Since I've spent many many hours of my life lecturing, presenting papers, etc, and going to conferences/meetings/etc I've see all kinds of PITA 'presentations' where the 'computer' and 'PowerPoint' fell over. So it may suit someone else, but I'd personally be very wary of that route if a failure or hiccup might spoil a night at the theater for all concerned. I do think that a computer and suitable software make lots of sense for preparing/editing/manipulating the sound files to be used. But I'd prefer the system used for playing on cue to be as simple as will reliably do what the user wants at that moment. As I've said, this is a matter of what suits the individual. No reason to assume everyone else would do the same as myself. 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
scribeth thus "tony sayer" wrote in message ... But I also wonder why he wants to burn to CD at all. Direct playback from a lap-top seems to me to be far and away the easiest and most satisfactory way of playing out SFX during a performance. For the price he paid for his dual CD player he could have bought a suitable laptop. David. If he has a decent sound card preferably an external one to the PC... -- We are talking about SFX for stage plays here, not listening to music in a quiet room. The on-board audio of a laptop will be perfectly good enough for the purpose. David. 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. An external preferably with balanced outputs.. a much better bet!... -- Tony Sayer |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:01:21 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote: MiniDisc allows you to name a cue. And is simple to go back or forward if one or more gets missed. Brilliant for this sort of job - considering how cheap they are. My 360 cost almost 2 grand. Sometimes a stack of domestic MiniDiscs do a better job for a lot less, if you have the prep time. PIty you can't get them any more :-( |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
"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? "'Umm" is now't to do with "computer noises" and needs to be cured by good old-fashioned analogue audio engineering. David. |
cd recordings v's minidisc recordings
On Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:34:58 +0000, Laurence Payne
wrote: On Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:01:21 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote: MiniDisc allows you to name a cue. And is simple to go back or forward if one or more gets missed. Brilliant for this sort of job - considering how cheap they are. My 360 cost almost 2 grand. Sometimes a stack of domestic MiniDiscs do a better job for a lot less, if you have the prep time. PIty you can't get them any more :-( Well, the discs themselves are still around at about a quid apiece. I\'m guessing that from here on that will be going up rather than down. I wonder how many recorders are still functional though - no idea how robust the mechanisms are. d |
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