At 07:33 AM 6/3/2005, Not Me wrote:
>Thanks to Richard Hess and Damien Moody, and thanks for replies in two
>related threads. Sorry for the stupid e-mail address with the ficticious
>name. :)
>
>The quest comes down to a few more specific questions.
>
>Recording directly to computer
>==============================
>1. "Use a computer, spend 5 minutes dropping track marks, ... total 10
>minutes." Inserting track marks can be tedious if it involves cutting and
>pasting. (Also slow and may require a lot of memory, fast computer, and/or
>lots of disk swapping.) Is there a way to do this with software, with a
>press of a button?
>
>2. What software will do this conveniently? Do I need a whole 1 GB to
>handle this conveniently if I record a whole side on one track?

I run Samplitude v7.xx (I haven't upgraded to 8 yet) on a 1GB 3GHz
HyperThreaded XP (home) Dell 8300 machine and it screams. I bought it
refurb'd from Dell for about $1100 US including a 1280x1024 CRT refurb'd
monitor. You don't need that for two tracks. I ran earlier versions of
Samplitude (5, IIRC) on a 333Mhz 384MB machine and it worked OK under Win
98. All of the glitches that happened under Win98 disappeared with a 2.4GHz
1GB Dell 8250. It probably was fine with 512M as it came, but I had the
urge to 1GB it.

No cutting and pasting involved.

The way I do the process, is I record the complete tape (or LP, but I won't
admit to doing discs--there are so many on this list who know so much more
about discs than I) to a file--one file, generally--and then look at the
entire timeline at the end and drop the track marks. To drop track marks
well, you need to zoom.

You don't keep the whole thing in memory--it's constantly writing out to
disk. I would, however, get a second 250 or 400GB hard drive, and use that
as your record drive--leave the C: drive as the system drive. Then you can
keep your more important projects on the hard drives as well as on CD.

Yes, you record to one file for as long as you want (up to 2GB on some
systems, more on others).

Any of the wave editing/CD mastering programs will do it. I saw another
post go by for WaveLab--haven't used it, but that user is happy. I'm happy
with Samplitude. Even Magix's Audio Cleaning Lab ($40 or so) will do this,
I think. It's a great value. I haven't used it enough, but I was impressed
when I bought a sample copy a few years ago and the price is right.


>3. Among computer cards, it comes down to something like CardDeluxe or
>M-Audio 2496. A 4-fold price difference! But,... that means bringing the
>sound equipment to the computer, and it would be nice to just listen in the
>living room. Is there a good laptop solution?

Laptop solutions are generally more expensive. If you have USB 2.0 or IEEE
1394 (FireWire) on your laptop, there are options. There is a PCMCIA card
available for the RME Multiface that should work well in a competent
laptop. If I ever do field recording, I'll get that OR a Fireface 800 from RME.


>Freestanding recording equipment
>================================
>Editing during recording seems like a bad idea unless I can just press a
>button to insert a track marker *instantly*. Pressing <stop>, then
>repositioning the needle, then pressing <record> can be very time-consuming,
>since I have quite a few records with many short bands. The ideal would be
>instantanious, manual track insertion with a remote. (And I want no part of
>automatic track insertion.)
>
>1. Does the CDR-W33s (or any other, for that matter--professional or
>otherwise) allow this? (I see the CDR-W33s still offered on the Web.)

If you press record while you are recording, a track mark is dropped. I use
the IR remote and press hard and long and drop track marks on two machines
at the same time.


>2. Are there any home units that allow this? (I haven't found one yet.)

I would have thought ALL units would allow this, but what do I know. I'm
pretty sure the Marantz CDR500 I had for a while and sold enabled this. My
SV3800 DAT machines have this feature (and their auto PNO is better than
any of the CD units I've seen).


>Thanks very much for your help. It is very much appreciated.

Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
Vignettes
Media web: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/
Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX