Minidisc Newbie

[Critical_Lemon]

I'm brand new to the whole recording thing and my mate has been talking up Minidisc to me. It appears to be his favourite format for a few reasons and after reading around this site and a couple of others, I figure I might give it a go.

Any tips on where to start with this format?

 

[A Reel Person]

Hi,...

Minidisc is a dead format, but it still has it's fans.

There are numerous and varied handheld portable Minidisc recorders that do a decent job of live-to-stereo recording. Most of the vintage Minidisc machines have what's called "ATRAC" data compression. It's a "lossy" compression scheme a lot like MP3. ATRAC was the bain and Achilles heel of the Minidisc format for many people. Other people, like myself, think the ATRAC encoding is pretty transparent. There are also "console" style home Minidisc decks, which also use ATRAC. The standard Minidisc media is pretty affordable.

The real shining examples of Minidisc format recording is the Tascam 564 and Yamaha MD4/MD8 multitrackers, however, they use a harder-to-find Data-Minidisc 140Mb. These are really fine multitrackers, and the media is still available, but it's more expensive than standard MD media.

The latest generation of Minidisc was a big improvement, with Hi-MD. Hi-MD can handle a number of compressed data formats, including ATRAC and MP3, but it also extends it's range to include handling standard "16/44.1" PCM data format. However, these only come in a handheld portable (Walkman) style recorder, not a console style home deck (or multitracker). The Hi-MD disc media is a bit more expensive than standard MD, but is not as expensive as Data-Minidiscs. This highly useful and progressive upgrade from standard MD to Hi-MD was not good or soon enough to save the format from inevitable obsolescence.

Still, tho' not in the US, the Minidisc format is still going a lot stronger in Japan and non-US countries abroad, (or so I've heard).

If you don't mind investing in a dead or nearly-dead obsolete format, MD is a pretty good performer. The MD8 or 564 can be had used for pennies on the dollar, and the vintage designs of these units give a lot more flexibility than most more modern CD-compatible multitrackers,... namely having the advantage of a premium analog mixing section.

The Hi-MD portable recorders seem to be a good product & is suitable for many purposes.

Either way,...

Good luck!

/DA

 

[Terfyn]

I also went on to MiniDisk when my DAT machine "died" with an MD8 and a Denon 1300. I still have the Denon and use it as a recorder.
I have now moved on to digital multitrack recording with a Fostex MR16 HD/CD and find it a more flexible medium than MD. Most of the modern recorders interface with your PC and give you a massive range of software for editing your recordings and converting to CD or mp3 or whatever your choice is. Tascam, Fostex, Boss, Zoom and Yamaha (to name but a few!!!) all have brilliant machines available over a wide!! price range.
If you are fixed on MiniDisk then, in my opinion, you will not be disappointed, but as "A Reel Person" said, it is a bit outdated now.

 

[analog_freak]

I'm not exactly a newbie to Minidisc. I do all my multitracking on Tascam cassette portastudios, and do the 2-track mixing/mastering to MD, DAT, or CD. I simply find that MD is the easiest to work with, and frankly I do not yet hear any audible differences between the three digital formats. My MD machines include a Sony consumer-type deck and a Sony Walkman recorder. I see that blanks MDs are still available (for $1.60 per 74 minutes), which seems quite reasonable. I am considering buying the last new minidisc recorder that is available, the Tascam MD-350, and a bunch of extra blank MDs. Yes, it's "outdated" (I suppose Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" is outdated?) but it's incredibly easy to use and it does enable a viable and easy-to-work-with copy in case the hardware goes bad.

I have tried many times to talk myself into going the computer or hard-disc routes, but the stories I read about glitches and steep learning curves on this and other forums, though not universal, are frequent enough to make me pause (pun intended if you like).

By the way, I want to thank "A Reel Person" for his informative postings.

Michael