Hi everyone - I have also recently joined this forum. There are so many names I recognise from another site (which shall remain nameless) that it's like meeting old friends at a Club, I am sure I am not alone in thinking this.

The reason I am placing a posting is that I read in a very well known computer magazine that a well known keyboard manufacturer has produced a to pof the range CD recorder which enables you to record direct from your instrument and my understanding is that there is no need for a PC or software if your instrument has a PC port, it's just a matter of "plug-n-play" The wrtie up on this was such that it received 5 stars and a 'buy it' recommendation. I could give the name and model but am not sure whether this is permitted. However, if there are no objections, I would be happy to oblige. Has anyone else seen this article or has more information? If so I'd be very pleased to hear from you as I am very keen to make my own CDs but as yet, do not have the facility to do so on my PC.

Incidentally, I already record direct to Mini Disk using a midi cable direct to my KN6500 and I would imagine the 'set up' would be much the same but the question is would be be compatible with my Technics instrument?

Aud

I routinely use a little Phillips CDR765 to make CD's directly from the KN5000. I first record into the sequencer and then play the sequenced song during the recording. I just connect the audio output from the keyboard directly to the recorder to do the recording. There are several limitations but I am satisfied with the results. It is easiest if velocity levels for the songs that will be put on the CD are relatively the same and you have to be careful that you don't overdrive the recorder because there is no compression or volume limiter in the loop.

Aud ..... Great to have you aboard ... always good to see friends from the technote site ... you'll find things 'looser' here ... and I don't think there's a problem mentioning product names.... BeBop and Nigel have done a great job giving us a place to exchange ideas, helful hints, vent, etc. ....
t.

Hi Audrey

This sounds like a great device I have got to purchase an External Burner for my Laptop when I decide which one does in mention USB connection better still how much does it cost

Pete

Hi Audrey, welcome aboard! I thought you were already here. My Technics dealer is also a player, and records and sells spiritual, Christmas music, etc. He uses a direct hookup from his kn6k to a cd burner. He burns a master and sends it to Asheville, NC for the rest of the production phase. The cd burner he uses is commercial, but within a price range for the serious home recorder, somewhere between $300-$400 and is made by Panasonic or Technics, I don't remember which. If this is what you're looking for, I will give him a call and get the particulars for you. Good to see your name show up again.

Pete, if you are buying an external recorder for a laptop, and you do not have a firewire connection, get a recorder with a pcmcia interface if your card slots are 32 bit cardbus (most modern ones are).

This will be twice as fast or greater than a standard USB 1.1 interface, much better, and one advantage of laptop over pc.

Hi Technicsplayer

Thanks for the info I don't have this firewire connection however I do have a spare card slot the other being used by the Modem am assuming that the writers using this type of connection will be expensive and would the spec mention for use with PCMCIA Interface having had quick look on the net(UK) to try and see whats around/compare prices,etc but can't see words like PCMCIA

Pete

Hi Pete,

Try doing a search for Micro Solutions Backpack CD-RW at this site: www.jandr.com Think you will find what you are looking for there.

Carol

nice one Carol,

Pete, also look at http://www.acercm.com/storage/storage_8824.html

this comes with both usb and pcmcia cables, and is twice as fast re-writing on pcmcia, with usb available as a backup for pcs. It also has buffer under run technology, so failures are virtually banished.

Of course in the coming months usb2 will allow the highest possible speeds from suitably equipped products but then that is the story of evolving technology...

Hello Everyone,

Well! what a lovely welcome. I'd no idea my name was so well known but more important, it is great to know that we are allowed to give other relevant information on this site so here goes:-

The Manufacturer is Yamaha and the model is called "Yamaha CRW3200" The magazine states that Yamaha can create a 74-minute music CD in three minutes, writing at 24-speed (whatever that means) It goes on to say that Yamaha's biggest selling point is the
"Audio Master technology" which Yamaha claims improves playback by reducing 'jitter'. It is rated as simple to use, performance: offers top quality recording, features: it has everything. Good value for money, Overall: High-quality hardware from Yamaha. I have read this magazine almost from day one of its publication and I can tell you that they give a good honest opinion whether good or bad on everything they test, in good plain English, so I would say this CD writer must be really something to get their 5-star rating (the highest they give)

I have looked on the Yamaha site and on the Yamaha discussion forum on this site, but it isn't mentioned.

If any of you should find out more, please post it.

Thanks!

Aud

Hi Audrey,
don't get carried away with the hype. A friend of mine had a previous generation Yamaha writer, which was the fastest available at that time, and reverted back to his Phillips drive because it was much more reliable, even if slower.

24 speed means just that, 24 times the normal cd speed. So if an audio cd is 48 minutes of music at normal speed, it will be written in 2 minutes at 24 speed.

However speeds like this make the writer highly critical of the quality of blank cds. If you buy the cheapest blanks, you may run into trouble with reliability of the finished cds (which is what happened to my friend). Everyone has the occasional failed cd, if this becomes commonplace every few cds it is very annoying. If you have to slow down to prevent failures, you've wasted your money getting such a fast machine.

You are paying a high premium for the speed of this writer. If you do not use the high speed you have wasted your money. To use the highest speeds you may have to buy more expensive branded blank cds.

I use cheap cds because I'm constantly updating the archives, so just throw the old ones away. It's your choice.

Hi Audrey, Welcome to THE forum. I agree with Alec. I have a 24 speed Yamaha CD writer in my desktop PC and it will only write at 24 Speed, blank CDs, which are specifically manufactured for 24 speed use and marked as such. The ones I use most are 16 speed, which are generally available for around a Fiver or less, in packs of ten, including a Jewel case. The software which will probably be supplied with the recorder, should allow you to write at several speeds - usually 2, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 24 times. More important than very high speed is that the recorder has 'BURN proof' technology incorporated. This is a facility which prevents Buffer UnderRuN during the recording. If Buffer under run occurs, the recording process stops and the blank CD becomes unuseable. Most of the modern CD RW drives include this technology but it is worth checking.


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Willum

[This message has been edited by Bill Norrie (edited 04-09-2002).]

[This message has been edited by Bill Norrie (edited 04-09-2002).]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I might have known there would be 'snags' - there usually is.

Alright then, here's another question for you. In a well known catalogue the Philips CDR 775 and Pioneer PDR-W839 CD-R and CD-RWs are shown. Do you know anything about either or both of these?

I recently read somewhere that Sony are also working on a stand-alone CD-RW deck with people like us in mind, so I went to our local Sony shop but was told that they are constantly working on new ideas but at the moment there is something they are having problems with and therefore the young man didn't think it would be in the shops for quite some time.

Personally, I use Sony a great deal and if it means waiting for 'quality' then I'm willing to wait.

Be interested to know what you guys have to say though.

Aud

there are several Phillips, Marantz, and Pioneer stand alone audio cd recorders available from hi-fi shops which all give excellent results.
They are much better quality than your computer if you only have a basic soundcard, but not as flexible for editing after the recording, since you have to record to re-writable cd, rip to the pc, edit and then re-record on the pc writer, which all takes extra time. But they are all you need if just wanting to store your sequencer creations.

The Philips 775 is a double deck with record and playback decks built in. I have used a Pioneer 509 in the past, and this had a very good recording quality and was highly regarded for the price.

You should buy a copy of What Hi Fi and scour the advertisements for the best prices if you want to go down this route. The discounts vary a lot, particularly if a model has just been replaced.

But for the £250-350 you could get a pc writer and audio quality sound card, only trouble is this would be more fiddly to set up and use maybe? Also you would need an audio recording program on the pc.

Audrey, I checked with my dealer and he uses a Harmon-Kardon CDR-2 burner. While he swears by the ease of use of this unit, it only copies at a 2x-4x speed which is pretty slow. But, if speed isn't a problem, this unit plugs right into the keyboard, and will make a copy of the cd it burns. It can be found at Circuit City stores, or on the internet and will run between $400-$500. You might want to wait and see if the new kn7k comes out with a built-in cd-rw. That would solve a lot of problems.