Recording with MD?

[tabbu]

I had an idea about using minidisc in \"homestudio\" recording. Then I could use optical in to transfer sounds into the hard drive. Can this give better audio quality than my Sblive platinium? Also I could carry it with me and not be stuck just in one place. Have anyone tried this? What do you think?

[Sam]

No one can answer this for you IMO, only you will know which one sounds better and if either sounds unacceptable to you. I have a SBLive in one of my computers going into my mixer, and anytime I leave that channel up, I quickly think, \"what the heck is wrong in my studio?\" - the sound itself is noticably inferior to semi-pro gear, and just the background noise on the card is yucky (tho much better than earlier CreativeLabs gear). But if you have a poor monitoring environment, you might not notice or care.

I\'m not crazy about the sound of MD\'s I\'ve heard, though I haven\'t heard ones output through a good monitoring environment. MD\'s always do lossy data compression, which is probably a factor. Similarly I\'m not crazy about the sound of most mp3 encoders, though a few are fine.

The only way to answer audio questions is to listen for yourself. If you can hear a difference, you have your answer. If you can\'t, it doesn\'t really matter.

[mschiff]

I use minidisc recorders frequently for recording on site, but not in my studio. I think you would be better off recording direct with your PC in the studio.

I really like the results I get out in the field with minidisc though. I do an optical transfer to the PC when I need to edit the minidisc recordings.

-- Martin