Mini Disc Players

[bigmow]

Hi Gents,

I use a Roland SC-88 and a Roland Sound Brush(I also have backups for both) which means I still use floppies. Everything works fine but I'm wondering if I should update my equipment. You know how these companies are....if I need repairs there might be a parts problem, ya know. If any of you think I should update, any suggestions on mini disc players? And is that the way to go?

Bigmow

[timpipmidi]

I have been using mini discs for the last few years and have never had a problem with either the discs or players. I am a little worried though as I rang the local Sony store before Christmas to be told that Sony are now producing only one rack style player and one portable player and when I asked if they were going to phase them out i was told "well not really". The biggest drawback of course is that once your backing tracks are recorded to disc you have no more control over them i.e. pitch change, tempo etc,.

[midimart]

The more and more gigs I go to.... (Love to see whats on offer), I have noticed that 50% have MD's and 50% have Lap Tops.... A few with the Lap Tops, tend to have the lyrics scrolling throughout the song and this doesn't make you look professional. At least with an MD, you can get a remote and still look at the audience when changing tracks.....

Nothing worse, than turning your back on anyone.......

I think personal preference comes into play here...

[weegeo]

Hi again bigmow this is an interesting question in the band as a 2 or 1 piece we /i use sony mini disc players the advantage of this is of course you can use (if the key suits ) the range of mp3`s that are posted on site to an amazing effect and the sound is almost perfect cd quality and so gives you the slight edge on your midi player on stage i use a standard yamaha 740 keyboard with onboard player as not only a fall back but it means that at anytime i have more than just 1or 2 songs set ready to play i would from time to time copy midi`s from my keyboard unto mini disc but i find that i lose a little of the punchy sound and i can only presume that this is down to not having a roland sound canvas in the mini disc player (not sure though i`m not that technical lol lol ) hope this hasn`t confused you any lol lol my preference is for mp3 format and the files we get here are superb quality if you can borrow a mini disc player and gig it to get a comparison cheers and good luck George

[kemo]

I use my Keyboard (PSR2000)for all of our midis we play, I tend to think the midifiles are by far more versatile on stage especially if you have alot of singers. I do use alot of style files as well which can be a saviour for those "hard to back people". We also keep a couple of the Sony MD machines as a second back-up. We try and do alot of our Country Set live as when you have alot of people dancing on the floor you can just keep the same beat goinging and finish the set when the start to tire. Nothing as bad as a 5 second delay when couples are Jiving...

[bladez]

I'm a big minidisc fan and use two on stage, I can have one playing and cue up another disc at the same time and then crossfade on the desk, great for when the place in jumping. I tried cd's but they jumped a lot. Thought about laptop but don't want to subjject it to the rigours of the road. I have about 6 different sony minidisc players all sourced from ebay, ranging from $20 - $250. Pull them apart give them a quick clean and do that once a year and so far no problems.
I am a solo guitar/singer and do mainly 80's aussie pub rock, but also a fair share of weddings and balls, so do a few slower ones as well. One thing I'm etrenally greatfull for is that you can't change the key of the minidisc !!! I get it in my key and record it at home, makes it easy to get out of "Aunty Beryl that just has to sing a song at the wedding". (Why do people pay you heaps of money to play then spend the whole night trying to get up and do it themselves?? lol)

[ironbaden]

All I know for sure is that I've used a JW-50 and an MC 50 and both use Floppies and both have let me down.......... so right now I'm dragging around a computer.... I've got a couple of towers as back ups... got them cheap.... Free actually lol.... I'm lookkng to go smaller and I can't afford a lap top right now so I'm seriously looking at MINIDISK as an option. the only drawback I can think of is not having access to all your songs at once .... just an opinion of course as I've actually never used a minidisk

[levi2]

well the minidisk comes in 74 min and 80min if you record in mono you get double the amount
I record in stereo and get about 20 to 23 tracks on so if you recorded in mono (no loss of sound quality) youll get bout 40+ tracks on. You can move them anytime you want to what order you like so if you have a song say on trak 3 and want it say to track 18 you just move it with the edit feature
or you can just turn the jog dial and get access to the track in a couple of secs also it only takes about 5 secs to load a disk ie reading the TOC

[bigmow]

Hi Everyone,
Wow, I really appreciate all the imput, but no one has come out and given me any recommendations as to whether I should covert over from floppy to mini disc. If I were to convert, what's the best "road worthy" unit to get, and how would I record from my floppy to the mini disc? To tell you all the truth, I've never had a problem with my gear yet.( I'm knocking on wood as I'm writing this) Seems like everyone that's answered me doesn't do floppy. Thanks again.

[ironbaden]

I didn't wanna recommend ....but if your asking.... retire the floppy drives and go LapTop...LOL Minidisk for me would be option # 2... but if cash is an issue...and it sure is for me.... MINIDISK sounds like the solution.

[levi2]

i use a yamaha mu50 to record midifiles to minidisk direct then just use the EQ on me mixer when playing on stage

[guilty]

I've used Mini Disc for years now. Practical, reliable and easy to use.
I love using them and won't change format until forced to. What then? I'm not sure. Laptops worry me as computers have a habit of crashing. I don't know enough about Mp3 players to comment but if you're considering a new format to run your backing I wouldn't recommend Mini Disc only because of their uncertain future. Sony can't give a definitive answer as to whether they will keep producing them and no-one else seems to know either.

[jacqui01]

I've been using Mini Disc Players for several years now, I've got one I take out with me, one attached to the PC, I just got a new one a couple of weeks ago for a spare, and my Mum just ordered one to use for herself, which I can have if I ever need it, we also have two portable walkman ones, they are all sony, one of my friends has a Denon model, which are supposed to be more robust for taking out on the road, and it's a nice compact size, about half the size of my sony player, only it does not have Auto Pause, which is something you have to watch. the newer sony ones have that feature, but the sony480 model, which you can still buy now does not feature, it can catch you out if it moves on to the next song and your not ready or don't want that track, or are away from the stage on a walkabout.
They are getting fairly difficult to purchace now, most Hi Fi and Electrical shops have stopped selling them, just before christmas, a friend of mine scoured the net trying to buy one and most places had discontinued them, that's why I decided to get a spare, even then I had to order it.
Jacqui

[levi2]

some of the features on sony like auto pause iyou can only set via the remote control
If it dont have auto pause all you do is when you have recorded a track let it carry on recording for about 10 seconds of silence,so when the tune has finished and the track is still playing it`ll only be silence giving you plent time to hit the pause button.Also the models i have for stage are the midi size bout 10 inch long and i got a plinth made for it which screws on to a mic stand. so the minidisc is just to the front and side of me so i dont have to turn my back tothe audience

[bigmow]

What's up with this discontinuing stuff! Is SONY the only ones that are not making the mini disc players anymore or are all the companies doing this? Hell, I might as well stay with the floppy drive Sound Brush by Roland that I've been using for 10 years now. I gotta tell you, I've had good luck with my gear. All you guys and scaring my about the mini disc format. Why do companies like Sony and whoever else have to discontinue stuff that seemingly works well for people? Are they not selling enough? Everybody I've read seems to love them. Don't get me wrong people, I wasn't sad to see the 8 track player go, but I don't want to invest or make a change over into something that will be obsolete and hard to get serviced.

[midimart]

As far as I know, Sony are the ONLY company to make these, that is why they are called Sony Mini-Disc.

I have contacted Sony and the reply given was. "We will not be discontinuing this line, however, we will be discontinuing the hi-fi range of mini-disc. This will include all home entertainment centres and the in-car systems."

And also to quote - "We will be continuing to support anyone who has purchased a hi-fi mini-disc player/recorder. With continued growth of the mini-disc, we aim to improve the capacity of the disc's themselves."

Well there you go folks, from the horses mouth (so to say)....

[timpipmidi]

Panasonic, AIWA and Goodmans also produced portable MD players. As for Sony statement "We will not be discontinuing this line, however, we will be discontinuing the hi-fi range of mini-disc. This will include all home entertainment centres and the in-car systems." (From MidiMart post above) this only leaves one portable MD player being produced by Sony. Even worse than I was told. We can only hope that Sony will continue to support existing MD owners as it seems to be a very popular format with musicians. Sony make fantastic products but seem to be too exclusive in production. Remember Betamax anyone?

[levi2]

well i still use the minidisc player but would like a mp3 player that looks the same
ie nice big display nice size for stage decent buttons that you can see without a microscope
i want the same as a minidisk but play mp3s

[ironbaden]

levi2 said:

i want the same as a minidisk but play mp3s

That would be Ideal cuz you could get a lot more Tunes..... If we could find one that has the scrolling features you discussed with me in the other post ..... that would be the machine!!

[jacqui01]

All the Sony Players I have you can set the Auto Pause with the Menu Set up on the Player or with the Remote, I just leave my always set to on.
I've thought about the MP3 or I pod Idea, but I'm or the same opinion, I want a player that easier to use, with an easy to read screen, can you imaging being on a dark stage, trying to find your tracks on a pocket size player!!
Jacqui