Posted by: technicsplayer
Do you want a cd writer? - 01/23/02 05:36 PM
I couldn’t help noticing the gasps of admiration about a cd writer in the new Genesis, and rumours of the possibility of one in the Yamaha 10000?
Am I alone in questioning the value of such an addition?
If used in packet writing mode to replace a hard disk, it will surely be much slower, because of spin up time, let alone the time taken to read the FAT if you have thousands of small files like patterns/registrations/midis in packet writing mode. Also what happens if the cd spins at 20 or 30x for a minute after you have loaded your file, while you are trying to play your mournful pianissimo intro…?
If it cannot replace the hard disk, it has to sit next to it… costs increase to Genesis level? Also it might add 6 inches to the length of a 76 key board. These are too big already maybe?
We are then left with audio cd creation. OK, most boards have a mic channel with reverb, dsp and maybe a harmoniser. But is this enough to get a good sounding result direct to cd? Surely you’ll want to stick your wave file in Sound Forge and do your compression, limiting and equalisation (let alone pitch correction) to get a master before burning? Without a hard disk you presumably need a large amount of buffer ram, as well as any burn-proof ram, so no chance to correct a mistake in real time – start again with a fresh cd!
If you want to edit it means making a re-writable then ripping it in the pc, editing, and then making your final cd - not using the writer in the keyboard! What a waste of time compared to getting the data on your pc hard disk in the first place.
Even if you have both hard disk and cd writer like the Genesis, surely you can never have the flexibility of editing on the board that is available on your pc in a bespoke program.
I just wonder about duplicating hardware on the board that many people may already have in their laptop, let alone their pc. (even add-on external usb writers are getting quite cheap).
I would much prefer a 44.1kHz output, ideally through usb like the Edirol UA gear. Then it is easy to master on your pc with no quality loss.
And if the interface was usb2, that would be fine for multi-track digital hard disk recording and ultra fast sample and large data retrieval (even multitrack 96kHz!).
It seems to me to be maybe a feature that will be sold to the man in the street as an instant karaoke cd type of gimmick, impressive in the shop, used a few times and then forgotten? And the manufacturers will have to play ‘follow the leader’ to appear hip and up to date?
I may be wrong, but I think rather than duplicating gear we already have in this way, the money would be better spent on a fast comms system to pc, and the remainder spent on wave rom and flash memory to get the best possible sound out of the board for the money and fill it with your own setups.
I suppose it all depends on whether you already have a pc and wave editor. I would have thought that the market these sort of boards were aimed at would already have pretty sophisticated clients in that respect
.
Am I alone in questioning the value of such an addition?
If used in packet writing mode to replace a hard disk, it will surely be much slower, because of spin up time, let alone the time taken to read the FAT if you have thousands of small files like patterns/registrations/midis in packet writing mode. Also what happens if the cd spins at 20 or 30x for a minute after you have loaded your file, while you are trying to play your mournful pianissimo intro…?
If it cannot replace the hard disk, it has to sit next to it… costs increase to Genesis level? Also it might add 6 inches to the length of a 76 key board. These are too big already maybe?
We are then left with audio cd creation. OK, most boards have a mic channel with reverb, dsp and maybe a harmoniser. But is this enough to get a good sounding result direct to cd? Surely you’ll want to stick your wave file in Sound Forge and do your compression, limiting and equalisation (let alone pitch correction) to get a master before burning? Without a hard disk you presumably need a large amount of buffer ram, as well as any burn-proof ram, so no chance to correct a mistake in real time – start again with a fresh cd!
If you want to edit it means making a re-writable then ripping it in the pc, editing, and then making your final cd - not using the writer in the keyboard! What a waste of time compared to getting the data on your pc hard disk in the first place.
Even if you have both hard disk and cd writer like the Genesis, surely you can never have the flexibility of editing on the board that is available on your pc in a bespoke program.
I just wonder about duplicating hardware on the board that many people may already have in their laptop, let alone their pc. (even add-on external usb writers are getting quite cheap).
I would much prefer a 44.1kHz output, ideally through usb like the Edirol UA gear. Then it is easy to master on your pc with no quality loss.
And if the interface was usb2, that would be fine for multi-track digital hard disk recording and ultra fast sample and large data retrieval (even multitrack 96kHz!).
It seems to me to be maybe a feature that will be sold to the man in the street as an instant karaoke cd type of gimmick, impressive in the shop, used a few times and then forgotten? And the manufacturers will have to play ‘follow the leader’ to appear hip and up to date?
I may be wrong, but I think rather than duplicating gear we already have in this way, the money would be better spent on a fast comms system to pc, and the remainder spent on wave rom and flash memory to get the best possible sound out of the board for the money and fill it with your own setups.
I suppose it all depends on whether you already have a pc and wave editor. I would have thought that the market these sort of boards were aimed at would already have pretty sophisticated clients in that respect
.