Domain: yamaha.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to yamaha.com.
Comments · 45
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Re:Ah, tubes
Ok, I know this is all in jest anyway, but I have to stick up for my baby, an ST-70 tube amp (I think mine is from the 60s -- got it for free a while back, just needed new filter caps).
I absolutely agree that with good designs, a SS amplifier can outperform a tube-based one -- but it really has to be a good design! My old tube amp can be competitive with modern gear (+/- 0.5dB vs. +0/-1dB over the audible for this modern guy). And the distortion (IMD, not the usual THD) is not unreasonable either (similar to the THD of this guy, although the exact test setup is unclear).
And the noise floor is good (rated at better than 90dB below rated power) -- though this is all anecdotal, when I plug in my desktop's internal audio directly to the amp, I get a very slight hum, but this completely goes away when I go through a nice DAC (which is obviously SS!). But yes, if I actually have to pay for the thing, I'll go SS every time :) -
Re:Japanese Technology Will Disrupt the Song?
My teenaged daughter mostly plays vocaloid songs on our long, long car rides. Yamaha owns the vocaloid technology
http://www.yamaha.com/about_ya...They even made a keyboard synthesizer only available in Japan that's specific to producing vocaloid music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... -
Re:Theater sound is very often subpar
Took all of 10 seconds to find this one.
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Re:Another childhood memory is now just that.
I give it 30years and things like this will start to make a come back. The technology we have now(and will have) is fine and grand and all that, but sometimes you just want to sit down and play other times you want to see that bit of mechanical technology do it on it's own.
I'm not so sure. That would be a pretty expensive item for a ride down memory lane. Besides, it's not like the concept is lost forever. It's just taken a slightly different form.
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KeyboardCo
When design is bad, and the product is irrelevant, it's possible it will never even come out in the market. Adaptive Path's own example of KeyboardCo wanting to implement a downloadable music service right on the keyboard is a good example of this.
It's not clear from the review whether "KeyboardCo" is in the business of selling digital pianos, or QWERTY computer peripherals. If the latter, then yes, K-Co's idea was patently absurd.
If the former, it sounds like it just might work.
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Re:I think this is a good thing
I don't foresee ASIMO replacing human conductors permanently, but I suspect that any performance he conducted of modern works would sound better than those by conductors trained like Bernstein or Karajan, who tried to make the music fit their own universal style instead of following the wishes of the composer.
Assuming, of course, the composer hasn't been dead for a few hundred years, isn't well known or understood, or the instruments used at the time are still available in the same form.
That said, I agree that the idea of replacing the human element has its limitations, but I guess what's most notable about the article is that the idea isn't as dismissable as it once was. I used to have a prejudiced view of anything electronic when it came to music (at least music that wasn't pop oriented). Real music had to be interpreted and played live, and each performance was, by definition, unique. That point of view mostly evaporated after I sat through a performance of a Disklavier, essentially a modern-day version of a player piano. This press release might give everyone an idea as to what I'm talking about.
Luckily, at least for me, my own tastes tend toward solo pieces performed on stringed instruments. A machine may be able to conduct, or play a piano, but a cello or guitar, for example, would be beyond a machine's abilities. At least that's what I hope is and remains the case. -
Re:Consumer this, consumer that
Not necessarily. There are noticeable differences in price between pro audio gear and "audiophile" audio gear. Pro gear is technically superior, more flexible, more powerful, and cheaper. Audiophile gear has gold connectors and blue LED's on the front and the prices are anywhere from double to quadruple that of similar pro gear.
Examples?
Power amp: McIntosh MC602 vs. Yamaha P7000S.
$8000 (Source) vs. $700 (Source)
The former is undoubtedly a nice amp. 600W x 2 channels. Fancy-looking VU's on the front, gold-plated connectors, and a recognized name make this a "must have" for the audiophile with more money than sense (and his neighbor, who now has to keep up with that Jones guy next door...). And on a more substantial note, it has balanced inputs, a feature you don't often see on gear meant for non-pros, and it's a feature that can make a meaningful difference in audio quality.
The latter is nicer. 1100W x 2 channels or 2000W x 1 channel, a pro-level class-A amp circuit, a multitude of options for configuration, and the ability to buy 11 of them for the same price as the other amp and still have $300 left for cables 'n' stuff (or pizza for all the nights you'll spend hooking 11 amps up). Things like balanced inputs are a given on this type of gear. VU's are left out, since pros generally like to have the VU's on the console and stuff the amp in a rack somewhere out of sight. There's still a "peak" indicator, just in case.
I'd be worried more about pro-gear getting the gouge-em-for-all-they-have reputation of audiophile gear. Which would suck, because as it stands, I can keep up with the Joneses (so to speak) for a fraction of what "they" spend. Hell, I can usually afford enough power to melt "the Joneses'" walls from 1000 feet away. -
Re:Spin, Spin, Spin
component (YPrPb) != composite.. There aren't any component input PCI cards except for the aformentioned SDI adapters or >$2000 professional capture boxes. If there were, there'd be MythTV boxes that could handle HD over digital cable boxes.
There's a couple Yamahas that can upconvert analog video into HDMI 480p, and the RX-V2600 can upconvert any analog video to 1080i, though the Denons have full documentation of their RS-232 control ports online... -
Re:Obvious.
For example Yamaha sells its HTR Receivers at retailers like Best Buy, and their similar RX-V Receivers through "authorized resellers".
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/receivers/RXVvs HTR.htm -
Re:Applications beyond computing
like this? it's been around for a few years. there's even a guitar version. you don't really need the complexity of OLED displays for this purpose.
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Now I can finally play all those Leo Kottke songs!
For real though, as an audio professional. They really need to learn how to attach this thing to a guitar without killing its tone, or learn how to mic a guitar with reasonable success.
Also, they now have years ahead of them working on listening and anlyzing waveforms and high speed film captures of real guitarists trying to model the subtle nuances that make a good performance. I'm not saying it can't be done, there are ways to get simply amazing piano sounds out of a computer these days. Think GigaSampler and random timing generators.
I guess its called GigaStudio now
Really though this will have real potential once they make a guitar that could be played and it's players movements translated into data used to play back another guitar. Then a sound engineer could spend all day preparing mics and trying different guitar amps with the machine playing the guitar instead of a person. This is already a somewhat common practice with Yamaha Disklavier pianos.
Yamaha Disklavier page
-Mikey P -
Try this instead
The Yamaha YSP-1 looks like a much better idea for home theater, assuming you've got the walls for it. Hell, you could build or renovate a room and put the YSP-1 in for less than you could get 14 good speakers.
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Contois background...Contois site (emusicgear.com) is a retail music storefront.
He was involved with a product called the "IBM Music Feature Card"... he worked for Yamaha and his father worked for IBM, and it was based on a Yamaha synthesizer chipset.
There's precisely one reference I could find online to a program that might be related to this patent:
Where did Vermont skiers have their most memorable breakfast in years while enjoying "live" music? Chances are it was in Stowe, VT, at the Dutch Pancake Café at Grey Fox Inn, home to the popular Yamaha Silent Disklavier® MPX100 piano.
"It was a pleasure to work with Grey Fox Inn and bring the latest music technology to their clientele," said Dave Contois of Contois Music in Essex Junction, VT. "We developed 'Piano Player,' a Windows program that allows users to import their PianoSoft(TM) or standard MIDI files and play them from the personal computer," he explained. "Grey Fox Inn runs the program on the same computer that they take reservations on-it was a perfect fit."
"From the kids' reaction of 'the ghost' playing the piano, to adults commenting on the computer technology and quality of the music and sound of the Disklavier and the mood that it has set throughout the restaurant-all have been a real asset to our business," commented Michael Diender co-ownsr of the Dutch Pancake Café and Grey Fox Inn. -- Accent Online
It's possibly that by "we" he means "Yamaha": Yamaha Piano Suite contains "Piano Player- Supervised piano practice with brilliantly effective audio/ visual feedback." -
Yamaha XP MIDI format
Yamaha Disklavier Pro
Powerful Pro MIDI Data Format Holds Expanded Performance Data
To achieve its superior recording and playback performance, the Disklavier Pro generates extra MIDI data to accommodate precision parameters. All essential data such as hammer speed, key release speed and pedaling is recorded and reproduced within the standard MIDI format, enabling full compatibility with other MIDI devices. For recording piano performances with even more subtlety and detail, you can select the expanded Yamaha XP MIDI format. This utilizes general-purpose controller numbers in the MIDI specification to record additional performance data including key speed and stroke depth, for recordings of enhanced sensitivity and precision. Multi-mode flexibility allows the Disklavier Pro to interact smoothly with existing MIDI configurations and reproduce data generated in either XP or enhanced mode, with automatic selection of the appropriate playback format. -
Yamaha makes something like this...
Check out the Yamaha CDR-HD1300. It's only got an 80gig HD, but it does store the audio data uncompressed.
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Off the shelf solution
It's not cheap, and it'd only 1st generation at the moment, but the MusicCast system from Yamaha shows a lot of promise.
You have a central server, that's got a hard drive and a CD-ROM in it. The server is designed to look like a piece of hifi equipment, so it doesn't need to be hidden in a cupboard.
You then have remote stations, can be in-wall mounted that connect via wired or wireless ethernet and stream either MP3s or lossless-compressed audio from the server. You can also plug the server itself into your existing amp, and play music from it as well.
Sure you can roll-your-own for cheaper than this costs, but for ease of installation and WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) a black box that looks like the rest of your hi-fi equipment rates a lot higher than a beige box - unless you want to use, say, a Mac Mini =) -
Off the shelf solution
It's not cheap, and it'd only 1st generation at the moment, but the MusicCast system from Yamaha shows a lot of promise.
You have a central server, that's got a hard drive and a CD-ROM in it. The server is designed to look like a piece of hifi equipment, so it doesn't need to be hidden in a cupboard.
You then have remote stations, can be in-wall mounted that connect via wired or wireless ethernet and stream either MP3s or lossless-compressed audio from the server. You can also plug the server itself into your existing amp, and play music from it as well.
Sure you can roll-your-own for cheaper than this costs, but for ease of installation and WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) a black box that looks like the rest of your hi-fi equipment rates a lot higher than a beige box - unless you want to use, say, a Mac Mini =) -
suggestions for non-geeks...
here are some:
Onkyo NetTune
Yamaha MusicCAST
The Onkyo system is easy and basic, with excellent audio quality. The Yamaha adds more flexability and is a tad more stylish. Both systems are quite fault tolerent and well-thought-out from and end user stand point. Of course there are more geeky solutions if ultimate flexibility is what you are looking for.
There's also Streamium from Philips. -
Strange port choicesI don't get the Apple port choices -- which really matters on a machine that isn't easily moddable. Where are the audio IN ports? Also, the mini-plug audio out is a mistake. There's a market for hard-disk audio recorders, and an 80GB mini running iTunes would pretty much own it IF it had real audio ports. Hey Apple: the Yamaha recorder / burner sells for $799, and what has it got that the mini doesn't, except the expected digital and analog in and out? http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/DVD_CD/CDRHD13
0 0.htmIs there a third-party sound processor that plugs into the USB?
BTW the video out doesn't bother me so much, since a converter from DVI/VGA to component video should be cheap and lossless.
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Re:Hmm...
you may have some luck experimenting with some of this stuff
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The dp sound quality can be better than acpiano!
In my experience, being a pianist and knowing several professional concert pianists, the sound quality of the latest Yamaha digital pianos (MIDI pianos) - especially the Yamaha Clavinova CLP-170 (Flash website) - is as good as many acoustic grand pianos. In practice, the sound quality is usually better because acoustic pianos need but, often do not get, regular tuning.
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Re:Not so good
It seemed to work well enough at first, but after only a few months of my listening habits, they were shot again. But as usual, YMMV.
This depends. If you get a high quality repair kit, one with good adhesive and high quality foam, you might have better results. It's tedious, difficult work, and requires a steady hand. You have to get everything just so, or else it will lose it's seal after a while and the thing will disintegrate again.
I've had to do this before. Not just wanted to, but had to. On a 2K Watt Yamaha S215IV Full range. One of the woofers had gone out, and replacements weren't exactly in my budget (I actually didn't have one).
I won't debate the performance of a Yamaha speaker in a Sound Reinforcement environment (I'm not a fan of Yamaha, especially their mixers), but these weren't too bad. However, it wasn't my choice to buy them, and if I'd had my way, I'd have just bought new ones as well.
For a professional environment, when a brand new replacement driver can be >$400 (and that's just a driver, not a full box), sometimes repairing the cone can be the way to go.
But, on the other hand, you have something to be thankful for. You think cone repair is tedious and annoying? Just be thankful you don't have to repair a voice coil. It's actually not too difficult to wrap the coil (some kits out there have pre-wrapped and even special tools for wrapping coils easily and quickly), but trying to scrape melted copper off of a heavily overdriven and not very well cooled driver will make you wonder why you ever went into technical audio. -
Have you seen a Korg Triton?They are huge with lots of gadgets. How about a Yamaha 9000 Pro perhaps? Hell, how about even a old analogoue Prophet 5?
There are TONS of huge, complecated, expensive, synthesizers out there and they do get bought and sold. This one is the same, but features teh ability of have software synthesizers and the like loaded on it. Those have become rather popular, and in fact some companies sell nothing but soft synths.
There is plenty of market for this sort of thing.
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Synth action keys?Sorry, but for $5000 at the lowest price point, synth action is not acceptable, even if it's integrated with a computer. Weighted hammer action (like a true piano) is the only way to go. The Triton they compare it to has this feature, yet of course it's not mentioned in their comparison.
Plus, the Motif ES *does* actually have 128 note polyphony, thank you. I could put together a decent DAW with an M-Audio or Terratec audiocard and Cakewalk Sonar and still come in under budget. Plus, I would have a real, easily upgradeable computer.
The nail in the coffin, however, is the almost complete lack of keyboard specifications. What is the sampling frequency? Can it record at 24-bit, or only play back at 24-bit? Number of presets, user patterns, multisamples, arpeggiator...where the hell is all that info? Is it a proprietary audio card? Et cetera.
Reminds me to much of the Phantom PC console.
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Best sample
Listen to this one. The Amazing Grace and the middle sample from the press release site are ok, but the one I linked to is rather amazing.
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Geeks like Dell?
Maybe it's just me, but it seems wrong for a geek's preferred computer vendor to be Dell (or to even consider walking into a Best Buy).
Being a geek myself, I'd never consider getting a name brand computer (unless the name is Alien Ware (shamelessly copied from a previous article).
Having said that, some of the choices for tech are cool (like the Yamaha musicast). -
Re:Never going to happenWhat about the Yamaha SW1000XG and DSP Factory system?
(from the link)
24 Bit Resolution Effect Processors
Up to 7 independent effects blocks, each with many effect programs and tons of program-dependent parameters. 12 types of Reverb, 14 Chorus, 70 Variation, 43 Insertion 1, 43 Insertion 2 effects, 5-Band Total EQ and 4 types of vocal harmony effect (when upgraded with PLG100-VH) can be used simultaneously for the wavetable synthesizer and the digiital audio.
These have been around for half a decade and are quite good at taking DSP effects load off the CPU. Who says the DSP hardware has to be proprietary? -
Optical Audio == mLAN
My speculation: The 'optical audio' that this ad touts is an implementation of Yamaha's mLAN, a joint project between Apple and Yamaha begun in 1999.
mLAN essentially allows the transfer of all audio-related signals - be they MIDI, audio, whatever - over 1 firewire cable.
yamaha press release, mlan, 2000 [opens in new window]
Now, why would Apple release a G5-based PPC with a dedicated mLAN port? I think Apple's hiring of Doug Wyatt - the guy who invented MIDI Timecode at Opcode - as well as Apple's aquisition of eMagic - in addition to their collaboration with Yamaha on the mLAN spec - would give Apple every incentive to put an 'mLAN' port on the back of their computer, even if it is only another firewire port.
Keep in mind that OSX has MIDI capability built-in - unlike any other OS. ALso, with the addition of a simple mLAN port, Apple can now state that their PPC is music-production ready right out of the box.
Doug Wyatt hired by apple
eMagic Corporate info -
Re:Is Ethernet the best choice?
Ethernet cabling has one huge advantage over these other two standards: long runs. You can run 200+feet of ethernet no problem with signal loss, while I believe firewire is limited to under 30 feet, and I'm not sure how far S/PDIF can go. When you're running audio for a gig though, sometimes you have to make very long runs from mixer boards to amps to instruments which can often be quite a distance apart in any professional gig. An interesting side note, Yamaha is already marketing a version of this with their mLAN system, which hooks up to Yamaha digital instruments and other MIDI stuff utilizing Firewire technology. Fascinating.
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Re:Heat, noise critical for non-computer applicati
If you follow discussions at other forums for ReplayTV and TiVo owners, you already know that in that situation you don't really care about performance. A 5400rpm drive can easily handle the job. However, noise is critical, and hence, some of these systems don't have fans, making heat also critical--if you upgrade with a drive that runs hotter than the original, you're likely to have random failures.
In some cases, you have to worry about heat, noise, and performance. For example, with standalone or portable digital audio recorders, such as those from Roland and Yamaha. While some of them do have fans built in, they're usually pretty small and form factor for these things means that circulation isn't very good. Noise is an issue because you don't want some drive chattering around while your singer is singing the take of her life. And performance is an issue, simply because of the throughput demands that digital audio makes on a system.
With a computer-based recording system, such as ProTools, performance is the key factor. Noise is still an issue, but it's not uncommon for the machine to be in a separate room from the microphones. Heat is less an issue because of the circulation and fans available in the typical computer case.
In any case, reviews like this are a very welcome addition for electronic musicians! -
PC Audio and Yamaha Products
From their site Yamaha says:
"Yamaha developed a wide range of products, having started from FM sound generators in the background of its musical instruments manufacturing technology, while expanding them to wavetable sound generators and multimedia CODECs supporting standard PC functions.
Conforming to the Microsoft PCX standard, and including Windows drivers, these products provide a complete and standardized PC audio environment.
Additionally they specs the chips that make this possible. -
Japanese Guitars & the FrippsterBelieve it or not, Mr. Fripp hasn't historically used the Sustainer much, it's more a combination of heavy fuzz and a bloody loud monitor pointed straight at the strings. He got into japanese knockoffs (starting with Tokai) because he figured that he'd be better off customizing one of them (with synth pickups etc.) rather than hacking up his Gibson Les Paul Customs (v. expensive).
I think Reeves Gabrels has stopped using the Vibrator since he got the Sustainer, but if he gets back into Modern Farming, anything might happen. Weird story about Reeves: he became a friend of David Bowie's since his wife worked for Bowie as a P.A., and only later said "oh, by the way, I play guitar..."
Why are people making sweeping judgements such as "all japanese guitars are knockoffs"? Would you say the same about their cars? Ibanez has already been mentioned, and Yamaha made original instruments such as the SG-series in the 70's, and my current objet-de-lust, the John Myung Signature bass. Yum...
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Yamaha's Solution
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there's also
the Yamaha CAVIT
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nice but...
i'll still take the Yamaha RP-U200 over this thing... but the yamaha is missing EAX
http://www.yamaha.com/yec/cavit/idx_products.htm -
Re:Um...it looks like....the cube.
Let's see you upgrade your iMac to a professional level soundcard (latency precludes external solutions)...
It does, does it? And you would know this how? You mean something like the MOTU 828? Or maybe the yamaha mlan? ...or a GeForce 4 when it comes out. Expandability don't matter, huh?If you want to upgrade, get a PowerMac. then you *can* upgrade to a GeForce 4. Sure expandability matters. But it isn't universally available. When did you last upgrade the graphics/audio card on you laptop?
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Re:Let me get this straight....
If Windows is so advanced and easy to us e then why in the world do these training progams even exist?
Because it's a concept that we simply can't grasp. We grew up with these things, and we are quite tech savvy. To us it's second nature. They have never gotten into it, and it'd be like you stepping in front of a 1900's printing press. Once you are used to something, you know how it works and it becomes "intuitive".
For another example, I became rather enamoured with sound when I was in highschool. Take a look at this board. To me, that's completely intuitive. I can tell you exactly what to do where to get whatever result you want. To most other people they'd just drown in it and have absolutely no idea what to do.
It's just all a matter of what you've had experience with. People who have never seen computers before who don't understand the concept of menus or webpages, well you won't be able to make anything completely "intuitive" for them, they will need to get some sort of help to figure out how to do anything. You can't expect the OS to handle everything for them, but you can expect it to make it relatively easy to take instructions to do it.
Face it, you walk into a consumer level electronics store to buy a computer you walk out with something that has Windows on it
Yup. That's the reason why they're in trouble. However you can always return the OEM windows for a partial refund, but it's a bit too much of a hassle for most people to bother with. I don't think you can blame them much either. Exclusivity deals are all over the place, that is nothing new. If you were trying to push to make sure that you maintain your "edge" in the market, saying "ok look, if you sell every computer with a copy of windows, sans exception, we'll give you a bit of a discount".
Illegal, yes, but only if you get caught. They did. You can bet that they're not the only company that's using those tactics to get an edge in the market. Coke buys exclusive spots at large major functions so that only coke and family beverages will be sold. That's just one example. So why isn't everyone yelling at coke for unfair business practices? Because they're not in the spotlight. Check out coca-karma for an interesting view on what slimy things coke does in their spare time... -
Re:die MIDI dieI hate MIDI music.
It actually sounds semi-decent if you have a good synthesizer. I know Yamaha makes a good software synth (or at least they did back in 1998 when Compaq bundled it with my Piss^H^H^Hresario (I assume it was there to make up for the motorized-eject disk drive, preinstalled AOL/MSN software, and lack of real power/reset buttons, but, of course, such atrocities are unforgivable.)), but I can't find it on their site.
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Re:Bit Rates
cute... but I disagree =)
I spent a great deal of time in highschool as the head of our Sound & Light crew... Anything in the school that needed sound, or lighting, was my department.
I spent MANY an hour in front of 24-channel massive audio mixer boards (things like this and this for big productions), and we had many concerts that were hosted through these beasts as well. In short, I became very very very sensitive to any sort of distortion in music. It was quite humerous, I would be sitting at home listening to some music and I would picture, in my head, the mixer board and say "ok, gotta adjust this knob here, this one here, and this one"... It was BAD.
So thus was born the audiophile.
At a $1400 stereo later I am ... content. It's not perfect, but it does what I need for now. I have a friend with a $50k setup... drool... We watched "The Rock" at his house a few times, that was damned sweet.
In short, no, I do listen to the music. But I listen far far too closely.
As for my MP3/OGG choice? Well, I don't care about disk space. I am fond of lame at ~192kbit/s VBR encoding (range 64-320) which does an excellent job, but even up to 320kbit/s I can usually notice some distortions on my stereo system. All formats are lossy. I played around with ogg a while back but due to lack of players I decided to stick with MP3.
If you want high quality, play it off of the CD that you own, otherwise you'll have to settle for less.
Also, it depends a lot on the type of music you're listening to. A lot of dance/trance/techno can do perfectly fine compressed without a lot of loss, however listen to anything with acoustic instruments and even the CD standard itself isn't good enough to convey it without noticable loss.
Moral: Try not to use anything better than what you currently own. Never use anything better than what you can afford, because then you will be tempted to figure out how you can afford it. -
Re:Bit Rates
cute... but I disagree =)
I spent a great deal of time in highschool as the head of our Sound & Light crew... Anything in the school that needed sound, or lighting, was my department.
I spent MANY an hour in front of 24-channel massive audio mixer boards (things like this and this for big productions), and we had many concerts that were hosted through these beasts as well. In short, I became very very very sensitive to any sort of distortion in music. It was quite humerous, I would be sitting at home listening to some music and I would picture, in my head, the mixer board and say "ok, gotta adjust this knob here, this one here, and this one"... It was BAD.
So thus was born the audiophile.
At a $1400 stereo later I am ... content. It's not perfect, but it does what I need for now. I have a friend with a $50k setup... drool... We watched "The Rock" at his house a few times, that was damned sweet.
In short, no, I do listen to the music. But I listen far far too closely.
As for my MP3/OGG choice? Well, I don't care about disk space. I am fond of lame at ~192kbit/s VBR encoding (range 64-320) which does an excellent job, but even up to 320kbit/s I can usually notice some distortions on my stereo system. All formats are lossy. I played around with ogg a while back but due to lack of players I decided to stick with MP3.
If you want high quality, play it off of the CD that you own, otherwise you'll have to settle for less.
Also, it depends a lot on the type of music you're listening to. A lot of dance/trance/techno can do perfectly fine compressed without a lot of loss, however listen to anything with acoustic instruments and even the CD standard itself isn't good enough to convey it without noticable loss.
Moral: Try not to use anything better than what you currently own. Never use anything better than what you can afford, because then you will be tempted to figure out how you can afford it. -
yamaha & paradigm
I currently own a yamaha v393 home theatre stereo along with paradigm titans, and a paradigm center channel (cc130). the whole package sounds excellent, and the price was decent. It's easily expandable to include rear speakers as well as a sub. There are no digital inputs on this (it does support full 5.1 surround but through discrete inputs).
I would suggest the RX-v596 as it has full surround capabilities with 3 digital inputs, 3 audio and 5 audio/video inputs, 2 s-video outputs, a&b speaker outputs and more ... and it's only $500 msrp.
yamaha.com
paradigm speakers are great! the best sounding speakers I have heard and at a great price. The titans are more than enough for a decent sized room and more than capable of handling the output from the rx-v596. the monitor series are even better, but you are paying a premium for them. i would look at spending around $150-200 for a pair and around the same for the centre, the sub could be around $300-400. the site has a great reference for matching all your paradigm speakers you would want (fronts, rears, centre and sub)
paradigm.ca
have fun and enjoy.
--craig -
Re:CDR over MiniDisc?
There is a difference between MD and MD-Data. MDs cost about a dollar fifty, and store music with a lossy compression scheme (ATRAC) that people may or may not hear a difference with. But that is not the issue. Discussion of MD is irrelevant.
MD-Data, the one a MD-based digital camera would use, still cost $15 if you buy them individually, or about $11.50 if you buy them in bulk.
Yes, they are rewritable. Yes they are cool. They are also expensive. (I use them in my Yamaha MD8).
So if you were only ever going to use one disc at a time, the MD-Data would be a better choice - buy one, never buy another. But if you need to carry 10 discs with you at a time (you take alot of pictures) then it starts to add up. Buying those first 10 MD-Data before your first photo shoot or vacation is a bit pricey (esp. after buying the camera) but 10 CDRs is pretty cheap.. in the long run it may cost more to use the CDRs, but you don't have to spend a bunch of money up front for your media.
wish
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Re: Soundcards for Pro AudioFirst of all, this may have already been mentioned, but there's an excellent linux audio site here.
As for soundcards, I'm not heavy into PC-based recording, but I know names like Creative and Turtle Beach are NOT the choice picks.
There's a report on PC sound cards at PC AV Tech that does some real quantitative comparisons, and includes some pro cards. The summary is here.
As for brands, start with
- Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU)
- Yamaha Although I can't seem to find the popular DSP factory in a few minutes of looking on the site.
- Echo Audio make the Gina, Darla, and Layla cards that used to be distributed by Event Electronics
- Aardvark Audio
- Digidesign
- Sek'd
- Soundscape Digital Technologies
- DSP FX makes an effects processing card
Somebody mentioned older Pro Tools hardware available cheaply, but I don't know if that's usable without the Digidesign software.
I think most pro applications and users would be covered by the brands above. I know the basement hobbiest may not go for those cards, but I think most people coming from a music/studio background will.
Are these brands supported under *nix? It's hard enough getting stable drivers for some pro cards for NT or 9x. I don't imagine that there's the audio equivalent of the gaming industry pushing manufacturers to release hardware specs so that open drivers can be written by the community.
I have to think that driver support for the pro audio cards will be a critical issue in the near term... I would even consider getting involved in this type of project over the summer once I'm finished school (12 days until I finish classes for my EE!!).
Still, I'd love for somebody to correct me.
Christopher - Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU)
-
The Macintosh Product Guide
Sounds like you need help finding the Macintosh Product Guide
...how many manufacturers make hardware for your appletosh?
Try out the Hardware section.
You want a cdburner for your mac
I already have one, thanks. A Yamaha with Adaptec Toast.
Adaptec lists over 150 Mac-compatible CD-R/RW drives in their database (select toast from bottom menu).
a floppy drive?
iFloppy
SuperDisk
Addonics
Teac
a G4 upgrade?
PowerLogix
Newertech
where do you guys come up with this stuff?
I'll send you to Microsoft's own website for more information about that little feature called meta-data.
Or read how the Microsoft Annual report was written on a Macintosh.
It's so funny when people talk about things they know nothing about. -
The Macintosh Product Guide
Sounds like you need help finding the Macintosh Product Guide
...how many manufacturers make hardware for your appletosh?
Try out the Hardware section.
You want a cdburner for your mac
I already have one, thanks. A Yamaha with Adaptec Toast.
Adaptec lists over 150 Mac-compatible CD-R/RW drives in their database (select toast from bottom menu).
a floppy drive?
iFloppy
SuperDisk
Addonics
a G4 upgrade?
PowerLogix
Newertech
where do you guys come up with this stuff?
I'll send you to Microsoft's own website for more information about that little undocumented feature called meta-data.
It's so funny when people talk about things they know nothing about.