Karaoke Forums

Hi yall,

I currently have a this karaoke system set up for home (below), however I'm looking to get into recording my own song & stuff at home. At first I want to get the minidisk recorder, then I decide not to because the disadvantage of this is that I wont be able to transfer it to my pc. After addition research from my side, I then want to get this REMOVABE DIGITAL MULTITRACKS RECORDER. Allthough I have read people review on few of the names FORTEX, Tascam... (I really have no glue on which removable multitracks recorder is good for me. My price range is up to $350 for this device. Any expert on this site has experience with them, please provide me some advice or suggestion on which path i should take. Thanks in advance guys.

QSC RMX850 Power Amplifier
Mackie DFX12 w/Effect
Digital-Audio monitor speakers (not sure about the name because Im not at home right now! )
Vocopro UHF 3800 (just got this recently)
Pioneer DVD player (mostly use dvd, vcd for Karaoke)


btw, here are the models I've read reviews on:

Tascam PS5 Pocketstudio5 4-Track Recorder ($299.95)
Fostex MR8 8-Track Digital Recorder with Built-In FX ($299.95)
Boss BR864 Digital 8-Track Recorder with Flash Card ($395.95)
Korg PXR4 4-Track Digital Recorder ($299.95)
Zoom PS04 Palmtop Studio 4-Track Recorder ($199.95)

Also interm of pricing, if you know where i can get them cheaper than this, please let me know ..Thanks once again

home_singer

Why do you want to go in the hardware direction?

I basically think that hardware is a better way for me right now. The simple reason is less hassle because my computer is no where near where I put all my equipments are.

If the only reason you didn't go with minidisc is because you can't transfer to the pc - Sony answered your wishes, well, sort of.

About 2-3 months ago Sony released a new minidisc format that will play the old discs but the new format holds 1GB of music OR data. The older style discs will hold more information if you reformat them (making them incompatible with previous players) or the same amount of data as previously if they remain in the orginal format. From what I read it will allow you to record and then transfer those songs back to the pc. It was priced about $50 more than what you are budgeting but that was 3 months ago and retail pricing. I haven't checked street prices yet, but I'm pretty sure they should fall at about your price range.

I'm a big fan of the minidisc format. Ok, I lied, I'm a HUGE fan of the minidisc format. I haven't looked into multitrack recording for myself, so I haven't done the reasearch on products so I'm afraid I won't be of much help in any other area.

Good luck in your search!

Thats exactly what I'm thinking ...I narrow down my choice to the Fostex MR-8, however i notice that most of the user (who wrote review on musicianfriend.com) used wire mic. So, my question or concern is how do I connect this to my current set up with my wireless mic (vocopro uhf3800)?

BTW, I couldnt find any Sony Minidisc recorder that has the pc transfer feature for $400 though. Please let me know the model if you can recall. Thanks

If you want more information on the new Hi-MD format check the minidisc (dot) org site that has the faq on the new format and lots of information on minidisc players/recorders in general.

As for the player/recorder...

Small portable player/recorders:
Sony MZHN-600D (about $200)
MZ-NH1 (about $400)

There are actually a number of models from Sony that support the Hi-MD format but remember that since they're designed to be connected to a pc and to play music on the go they're designed to be portable. In other words they look a lot like most of the other smaller minidisc players on the market.

As for a component style product, I don't see one on Sony's web site (other than the MDS-JE480 which doesn't support HI-MD). They may not make one very soon either unless they come up with a professional level player which will likely be well outside your stated budget.

BTW, if you think that recording in ATRAC3 (Sony's own codec/rights management) isn't that good, the new Hi-MD products support recording in Linear PCM format @ 1.4mbps (that's approx. 1 1/2 hours on a GB of space!).


As for hooking up the recorder, are you wanting to pass through the Mackie before recording or just record directly from the mics? If it's directly from the mic the Fostex has mic connections (XLR) on the front for 2 mics (based on the pictures that I saw). If the vocopro uses 1/4" jacks instead, if you look at the recorder there are also 1/4" jacks for the mics on the same channels.

I hope this helps... if not just ignore it.... I won't mind!

I'm personally really appreciated your replies on this post. You again prove that have alot of knowledge about Karaoke scene, equipments...
As for my question about how to hook my current Mackie, Vocopro setup with possibly Fostex MR8. I actually dont want the Mic input to go through Fostex, I will try to keep the same wiring methob as of now, and may be run a RCA output from MACKIE to the input on Fostex. Instead of hooking up a mic to Fostex and then to Mackie, I want sound & vocal from rca to Fostex recorder. The reason i'm asking because I dont see the RCA input on Fostex, however there is a line and XLR inputs on it. Vocopro used XRL input. How do I wire this from Mackie to Fostex for recording without using the mic input on it?

Thanks

Unfortunately, the only inputs to the MR8 are mic and guitar inputs.

I don't know much about 1/4" Hi-Z inputs (typical guitar input) to know how well it will handle unbalanced line inputs from the Mixer (likely off the tape output).

I'm also unsure of using the XLR outputs from the DFX12 to connect the MR8 mic inputs.

If Lonman shows up for this thread I'd ask him since I'm a little over my head here since I'm just coming up to speed on balanced connections and the Hi-Z stuff (most of my experience has been in basic PA and consumer electronics).

If I get a chance I'll do some checking to see if I can come up an answer to your question but it will likely be Monday or a little later before I get a chance to do the investigating.

I really appreciated if you can find out little more detail about this for me.

btw, do you know if there is a portable MP3 player (Ipod, Nomad muvo, Iriver) has this recording (line-in) feature? I purchased the minidisc mz-h800 yesterday, and tested last night. I was very please with the result after did coupe demos. It wasnt that bad at all, however the only thing I dont really like about it is that SONY uses it own codec (ATRAC3plus technology) therefore I cant convert their .ocg file into mp3 (for cd burning). No software out there able to do this yet. Thats why i'm wondering if there is mp3 player & recorder out there for alternate choice beside minidisc recorder. Thanks

I have the boss br532 which is an older model of the br864 and it works great. roland gives you the software to convert the files on the smart media to wave files for the computer, then you an manipulate them any way you want. It really is an awesome and powerful recorder/mixer. I have used it in a club recording singers, and hear absolutely no background noise.

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The new Hi-MD format players allow you to record in PCM (Raw uncompressed audio). Sony has promised a utility to allow you to transfer these to the pc after which you can compress them with LAME or other similar tools.

I don't know of any mp3 players that record off the top of my head. Depending on the situation I may or may not want to record as an mp3 anyway because of the loss of fidelity - primarily in the lower sampling rates. If I was going to record mp3's directly (compressing them on the fly) I'd probably record at least at 192kbps and more likely 256 or 320 to maintain as much of the audio information as possible. If these are only for submission here in the SS or personal use then the fidelity may not necessarily be critical so recording in ATRAC3 Plus at the highest setting (256kbs) - transfer it to the computer - playback through SonicStage and record into Audacity - convert to MP3 w/ LAME or similar tool. This would be fine for most home work but it does require the extra steps. BTW, playback over the digital TosLink cable to a recording device is another possibility - provided your player supports it.

Of course you 'could' always pitch your existing mixer and go with the new SoundCraft Onyx line that has the option of adding Firewire to send all the audio to a computer digitally. Pretty sweet all in all. I'll likely pick up the Onyx 1640 when it becomes available in a couple months for my gigs so I can record and post clips from my shows.