Ok, here is what I have:

Yamaha PSR540
Tascam Porta 02 Portastudio

I'm looking for something so I can put my music on CD instead of Cassette tapes. I really don't have a price limit, but would like to keep it as cheap as possible. Please help. Thanks in advanced.

The cheapest way is a CDR that installs in your pc. ($100-200)The stand alone recorders are about$400 and up.

Hey Uncle Dave,

I know that the stand alone are more expensive, but it'll be cheaper for me. If I get a CDR for the computer, I would have to buy a computer for myself because I'm not allowed to put all that stuff on this computer I'm using now.

Also, I'm looking for something that I could just plug right in to, if there is such a thing. For example - From my Keyboard to the CD recorder.

If I can't do that, then what mixer should I get as well?

What stand alone do you think I should get too?

Alex,
I am a fan of the Tascam CD-RW700. It's a stand alone piece that has analog and digital in's and ouits. You don't even need a mixer, really. You can plug the kb right in. If you need to mix more signals, or modify EQ settings, I recomend the Mackie 1202VLZ. If money is tight, the Beheringer 1604 is a good substitute.
The Tascam is being sold at about $400 right now, and the mackie is about $375 or so.
Stay away from the Phillips home stuff - too many repair histories.

Consider what you will be doing 6 months to 2 years down the road. The stand alone units were built for certain non computer types. If you're good with a pc, wait till you have the money needed to get a good pc, with a good sound card and sequencing software. Or feed your impulse and buy something you can use out of the box and out grow it's usefullness in no time at all. Think about it...

That is a very one sided opinion. Pc based systems are by no means the "best" for all situations, and in my case ... it would be a step backwards to have to rely on my computer to make a quick demo CD or copy and compile several trax, etc.
Buying a quality stand-alone unit makes sense on many levels.... namely:
1)Simple, straightforward operation
2)No extra things to go wrong or generate noise (pc's have fans, and loud hard drives that get in the way of MANY home recording progects)
3)A "hands on" approach to recording is still preferred by many to a menu based system.

I am a big fan of computers and what they can do to serve MY needs, but there are times that a dedicated unit makes life easier. It's anything BUT an impulse desision. It's a smart move that makes financial sense.

Uncle Dave - thanks a bunch. One question, how much is the Beheringer 1604? Spending $800 is a lot, but if needed I will.

Munsie - Nah, I don't want to go to computers. I want something so I don't have to save for a long time. $800 might take me about 2 months, but $1600 might take longer, and I don't want to wait. (Have to save up for a car so it needs to be a bit cheaper)

Thanks again.

The 1604 is a great buy at about $200 or so. If you don't need so many channels - look at the 802 or 602 - each one is cheaper than the last.

You could get a minidisk if you are looking to make copies. A PC with a CDRW is the way to go. You can get a CDRW for under $50 and a Pentium III for under $400. You will then be able to do any editing needed.

I agree with WS!
If you want to make quick recording of your stuff MiniDisk is GREAT! It's digital and cheap!
Then Buy external usb cdrw for 50-70 bucks and using musicmatch jukebox program, transfer your music from either your tascam or minidisk to Computer, then make cd , then take usb cdrw with you so you don't leave anything changed on the computer you are using!

Minidisk is 100-200 dollars ,and has multiply purposes, Notetaking, lectures, recording concerts, ect! and playing back with headphones, really portable! In addition to attaching to your prs! And it's digital! Better than cassette tape!

Gave up cassette's a while back, I have a tascam collecting dust somewhere, even music store wouldn't take anything in trade for it!

I set my minidisk on my psr9000 , and either record live with vocals, or make sequences and transfer them! And instant feedback! Then take it to computer and make mp3's ect!

[This message has been edited by rgtaa (edited 06-15-2002).]

ws - Where can you get a pentium III for $400? If I can get that, then I'm definatly for it. Also, can you name the type of mini disk that you're talking about as well and a good CDRW that is under $50?


rtgaa - Can you name some specific External USB CDRW that is only $50-$70?

rtgaa, lets see if I understood you. Lets say I bought a minidisk and an External USB CDRW and have Music Jukebox.

1.) I record my music on minidisk
2.) I transfer my music on minidisk to Music Jukebox
3.) After that, I transfer the music from the Jukebox program and make a CD using the External USBS CDRW

Let me know if I missed something. Also, can you give me a price on ALL of this stuff? Thanks.

You got the process down!

JukeBox to convert audio to MP3 or WMA format!

Then I use NERO to burn the MP3's to cd!


Pricegrabber.com

for prices!

[This message has been edited by rgtaa (edited 06-16-2002).]

You can check prices for PCs at www.pricewatch.com. With a PIII and Cakewalk you can do unlimited CD quality tracks with a good audio card...not to be confused with a multimedia card. You can also check EBAY out for PCs but make sure you know what the motherboard is...often it doesn't allow for addons.

I have no idea how well this works but this is an interface cable that allows you to convert audio from your tascam directly to digital on your PC.
http://www.edirol.com/products/info/ua1a.html


How much money do you have to spend? That would help. I don't recommend minidisk but that is one way to go digital...that is why I mentioned it. Are you a soloist or band? How many recording inputs do you actually need? As a soloist, you can put together a top of the line system for a few hundred dollars...ok...it would be top of the line 2 years ago but we all know how equipment drops in price once we drive it off the lot.

[This message has been edited by WS (edited 06-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by WS (edited 06-17-2002).]

[This message has been edited by WS (edited 06-17-2002).]

rtgaa - thanks.

ws - I'm a soloist. Well, if you don't recommend minidisk, then what would you do? I have a couple hundred to spend. It really doesn't matte to me as long as it doesn't hit into the thousands. Maybe $800 would do it. I only need 4-6 inputs. It doesn't need to be top of the line, just good. Of course, top of the line wouldn'tbe bad either.

I'm a soloist too. It is hard to recommend what to get without knowing your future plans. Right now, you can get alot of used equipment for next to nothing...they might not run on Windows XP because of driver issues. You might need an ISA slot for an older card and P4 motherboards do not offer ISA slots. The sound quality will be the same. Anything you get will be better than the cassette though. I had a Tascam 238s 8 track cassette which gave me a clean sound but I still had to bounce which degraded everything in the end. For a basic setup I would recommend a PIII (anything but faster the better)/128+megs of ram/8gig+ hardrive...you could use a PII and pick up a loaded 450mhz for under $150. Get a good Audio card (not a multimedia card). I still use my Card D+ (ISA). It was $1200 with the I/O daughtercard, used by major labels, and you can now find them for as low as $70. GINA/DARLA may not have the same quality AD/DA convertors but they are popular too. Other people will recommend good cards...just make sure it is an AUDIO CARD and not a (soundblaster type) MULTIMEDIA CARD You can get a CDRW for under $60 and the blank CDs/CDRWs are free from CircuitCity type stores (watch for rebates...I also had over 2000 megs of 133mhz ram sticks I got free from these stores)...Cakewalk Pro Audio 6.0 or higher(I've seen CPA 9.0 for $50...you might get someone to give you an older version)...Mackie 1202 (around $125-150)or (1202vlz much better)...

This will give you a min. of 16 audio tracks (up to UNLIMITED)and unlimited MIDI tracks. I had a Pentium I 150mhz that did all of the above...it just took forever to do any master editing of 24 audio tracks with Sound Forge.

If you are looking to the future than get a Pentium 4 (they didn't get many bugs out until 1.7) with 256+RDRAM (that is what the P4 is optimized for)and 60gig+ hard drive. I would do research to make sure any addons had drivers that would work with XP (or do a dual boot with XP and 98se). Make sure the motherboard supports addons. Get a great soundcard and then expand as you can. It will cost alot more in the long run, the sound won't be any better BUT there may be a piece of software that you have to have in 2 years and a PIII won't support it.

You might want to check out www.harmony-central.com classifieds. I just sold a 233mmx loaded with tons of software (CAkewalk, Sound Forge, Cubase, etc.) and a Card D+ for $200 just to give you an idea of what to look for.

If you want to check out some older reviews just type Pentium II, or Pentium III to find the difference. Again, Pentium II works great if money is an issue...just use older software...newer versions will not support it.

http://rhythm.harmony-central.com/cgi-bin/texis/webinator/search/?db=db&query=Pentium+II

I sell the Tascam CD-RW700 Uncle Dave suggests for about $450.00. It is great and easy to use when you just want to create a CD from an analog source or digital. Many of my customers just don't want to use their computers to burn audio CD's and many time, unless a good sound card is added to their computers, the sound quality isn't very good going from analog to digital inside the computer.
I also sell the Beheringer 1604 mixer for under $200.00 and you just can't beat this mixer for the price.
George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California

Hmm, I just thought of a question. What has a better sound quality? Does the Tascam CDRW700 have a sorf of BUZZ once it's recorded directly from the keyboard? Same with the computer. Do I need a good sound card in order to get the sounds from my keyboard? Also, will there be any sort of BUZZ on the CD after the recording?

There should be NO buzz at all, in ANY type of digital recording. If you have a buzz ... it's being sent INTO the recorder - better check the signal path, cables, fans, hard drives etc ........ There is NO ROOM for noise in a digital domain.

Background noise does exist, even on digital recordings, but it's coming from whatever analog sources you have.

-tek

The old adage - Garbage IN, garbage OUT.
My recordings are dead quiet.

Minor technical note, there is noise intentionally introduced in digital recording, it is called dither.

However it is not the type of noise your all talking about.

I still think the minidisk idea is a good one for the following reasons:
1) For 129 sony sells one that has usb built in.
2) With 1 AA battery ...plays 55 hours!
3) Records in digital!
4) 32 x speed if you download mp3's into it...so you can use it as mp3 player.
5) Since you only have psr540 at this point, makes sense to me, rather than 450 cdrw external!
6) you can than store your music on minidisk until someone lets you use their computer that has a cdrw in it! Then ask them to show you how to make a cd! Really simple!
7) ONce you buy pc ... most have cdrw in it... so then you are set!

I think the external professional cdrw and mixer is for Bands! Not for a solo with just a psr540! IMO
rgtaa

P.s I got a SONY home deck minidisk and a SHARP minidisk portable recorder/player... I bought them a couple of years ago ...so with new tech level ...figure the news ones are even better! Good LUCK! Just do a SEARCH on the web for Minidisk Recorders/Players ! Maybe go to BEST BUY and see what they got... I think you have 14 days to check it out ... to see if it works for you! If not Return it!

[This message has been edited by rgtaa (edited 06-21-2002).]

I have no noise too. a "buzz" sounds more like a connection problem. "Hissing" would come from a multimedia card.

[This message has been edited by WS (edited 06-21-2002).]

ok thanks everyone.

I think I'll go with rtgaa. One, because I can't find a cheap computer and because I don't want to use a computer (but I will if I need to if its better).

thanks again.

Best Buy
Samsung 32x10x40internal CDRW $29.99...110 pack CDR disks $2.99/250 MB Iomega Zip $99.99...3pac 100MB disk $31.99

COMPUSA
24x10x40 internal cd-rw Hi-VAL (I installed a HiVal for a neighbor and it was actually an AOpen in the box that retailed for $129).How much? FREE!!!! Ok...not exactly free...you have to buy a 100 pack CDR spindle for $39.99

Circuit City

50 pack CDR...FREE!

Why would anyone even consider Zip Drives?

What should you get? You mean you want to buy more equipment that has short obselesence periods?
What you should get is a contract with me.

Next available job order possible:
Wednesday, November 22, 2002

I am one of few "rights free" sound works establishments in the US.

------------------
MORPH Productions Group
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Office Located at:
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