HELP Pa900 will not record MP3 track & vocals??

Hi everyone ....on my Pa4x I can load a Mp3 backing track into the player then push record on the MP3 recorder and sing,......
the Pa4x will record Both backing and vocal simultaneously no problems then save it to usb, .....

BUT,.....a Friend tried to do this on the Pa900 and it won't record the MP3 backing track or vocal?.....
when you push record then the song player to play the song nothing happens, ....
does the Pa900 have this function ability like the Pa4x or not?
or is it a different procedure on the Pa900 vs the Pa4x?

Thanx for any help..

anyone?

I had both, but I never tried to use an MP3 backing on the 900. Wish I could help.

Thanx Don...eventually we will get an answer,... if I had both units here I can tell in one second,..... it is possible the pa900 recorder isn't as feature advanced as the pa4x...

Donny, tell them to check the amount of free space. It will not record if there is insufficient free space on the device.

Gary

Donny

It is supposed to be able to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbtYvtxU9pY

... the video shows that you can record in mp3 format, it does not mention recording over an mp3 ... the question is: "if there is an mp3 file in the 'Player' will the Pa900 allow that mp3 to play while vocals and additional instrumentals are being played", and I do not think the Pa900 has that functionality... what happens is, after loading an mp3 into the 'Player', and then pressing the right buttons to record in mp3 format, the song 'disappears' from the Player and no 'backing track' is heard ...
An mp3 format recording can be made using a midi file in the Player and playing and singing over it, but not an mp3 file.

I believe this is an additional functionality of the Pa4X ...

If someone can prove me wrong on this, I would greatly appreciate it ...

... for the price difference, I would think not...

side note: Tony & I by phone have tried to duplicate what Im doing on my Pa4x easily (with No problems whatsoever) and his Pa900,...
so far It cannot be done on his Pa900 Mp3 recorder ..

Bernie if you notice at 7:20 he mentions what the Pa900 can record, style, smf, vocal,
BUT he does NOT say it can record an internal Mp3 song within the kb? I hope Im wrong..

Lesson 101....No offense to you folks that are excited about over dubbing MP3's..

It is a dumb idea, that you won't find on any quality recording instrument..
If you were talking about wave.. okay....We have keyboards over 20 years doing this... It is called multi track recording.. usually 4 or 8 tracks like on original Fantoms..

Now for lesson 101

MP3's are compressed audio, that degrades the quality.. even at 256 rate.
Now if you overdub with another MP3 record.. the quality reduces dramatically, and this is one overdub... you don't want to even think of a second overdub... the artifacts are terrible and useless... unless you wanted that chipmunk sound..

You are better to record a midi capture of your song, then record this with your vocal track... at least it would be one generation..
Consider what I am saying..

BTW: there are reasons that most companies have instruments that record wave files.... even my lowly EA7

Don't get excited about the MP3 overdub feature... you have better solutions...

Fran if that was the case regarding wav why are you using all mp3s on your laptop on gigs?...
personally I have never had audio issues using high quality Mp3s from my laptop ...

as an example the first demo is a WAV
the sends is a Mp3...

listen to both not much difference and much less storage room...
just sayin..

WAV

https://app.box.com/s/0ye2q2lwq2yrlfnpcdbe1wwsrvxm8roa

Mp3

https://app.box.com/s/5aim6hjxsrhjvwwnnuwu4z4215ycjnkq




Now can we get back to finding the answer to the original problem question for Tonys Pa900?

After I comment

We used MP3 because they were small in size, and MP3 players are cheap..
We also didn't know better 20 years ago..
Today I only use wave live...only reduced to MP3 to send via email etc.

Memory is cheap today... we should record wave..

And there is a big difference in audio quality.. clarity , top end, and sizzle suffer in MP3 format..
Experiment .... you will learn the difference..

We are talking about over dub in this post.. This is a major problem ...it doesn't work.. Ask any experienced recording engineer.. he will set you straight

Tony you can not overdub MP3's on the PA900... Page 94 in the manual..

But you can record the best way.. use a external player into your inputs of the PA900.. It will record the keyboard and input signal as MP3..

Donny, I don't believe it can record an MP3 or any audio while an audio file is playing, same as the PSR-S950/970. In the PSR series, this also includes audio styles. In this case, the player is playing the audio style, therefore, the recording feature cannot be activated at the same time.

Gary

Im sure in a mix or a nursing home no one will hear the differences....no thanx I'll stick with Mp3s..

I havnt read it yet ..I guess thats the answer Tony was looking for, that's too bad..
...I'm glad I have a Pa4x that can do it all easily...

Im thinking, with no of knowing really, that the PA4X has two seperate mp3 player/recorders and that the PA900 probably only one.
With only one it can not play an mp3 and record simultaneously.
make sense?
Jim

Of course you are right...any venue we play won't matter much.. Most of the time the sound system makes it sound bad enough..

But what about your CD's.... You take a karaoke file (that is an MP3), and record your vocal over it... Just remember once you are degraded into an MP3, mixing down to a wave does nothing to improve the quality..
Always record as a wave...always!!!!
If you want to save space to play back from a thumb drive etc, okay, no one will care.... but to get a professional sound for your CD.... you have no choice.... Wave!!!!

Listen to commercial CD... Buble, etc... then listen to your best recorded song on a CD.... I am pretty sure you will hear the difference..
Sure our recorded results are acceptable in our world... but give them a chance to shine a bit... record as waves..

BTW: Don't listen to an uploaded song (youtube)...it is an MP3.... but the produced commercial CD, will show what I am trying to tell you..

http://www.audioanimals.co.uk/news/why-wav-is-better-than-mp3

Even if multitrack recording were attempted on an arranger...it would make more sense to record into a daw or external digital multitrack recorder. You'll have much more flexibility in the final mix.

There were a number of workstations that allowed multitrack recording...but with the advent of external computer daws and hardware recorders...that feature seems to have gone by the wayside.

Could be ...