andy_s Posted May 29, 2004 Posted May 29, 2004 Heads up to anyone who likes the Sony 1 rack unit CD and MD players - Sony is planning to cease production of these (MDS E10 & E12 and matching CD) within two months time. Does anyone have any thoughts about the apparently shrinking choice of professional MD machines? What are the alternatives we should be looking at? (Sony info from two reputable sources - MArquee Audio and Stage Electrics)
london sound Posted May 29, 2004 Posted May 29, 2004 Hi I use both the MDS-E12 and the CDP-D11, I find both units first class. These units are not cheap, however both offer top service.I would imagine that if Sony are to cease production then Sony would probably release units of similar standard. Ian
James Posted May 29, 2004 Posted May 29, 2004 Um, Most suitable for what? For anything I've done recently, with more than half a dozen SX cues then I use my SFX Pro Audio Show Crontrol rig. However I have used live FX for panto when appropriate, I started off doing this with cassette and graduated to 1/4" MD did me in the intrim between 1/4" and SFX. I've also done shows at the last minuite where I designed from library CD's with a bank of 6 CD players, one per cue This wasn't fun. What I'm saying is that every show I've done I've aimed to use the most suitable playback format which is about half of the ones on your list... James
marc Posted May 29, 2004 Posted May 29, 2004 I do like the Single MD unit, nice and easy to use, only problem is that on the job that use the MD and a CD the both lock out the front panel when controlled by RS232 They are on a touch screen system, and to eject the media you have to turn off the unit first, the client that we fitted the system for did not want an eject button on the touch screen, very annoying! I use stinger on my laptop playback mainly, stinger, touch screen, jobs a gooden! (with a MD back up due to the wonderful thing that windows is though! :D ) Mk
IanG Posted May 29, 2004 Posted May 29, 2004 On the subject of Minidisc/CD products being discontinued, I believe Denon are doing so with a number of their lines as a result of them forming D&M Pro with Marantz. I don't have the model numbers to hand but can dig them out on Tuesday if anyone is interested.
robloxley Posted May 30, 2004 Posted May 30, 2004 Re other MD players, have had good experiences with the Tascams and nothing but bad experiences with the Denons; YMMV.
richard_cooper Posted May 30, 2004 Posted May 30, 2004 I came across this alternative to SFX the other day Q-Manager which has a simple playback only (no fades, show control, only output to one stereo pair etc) that can be downloaded for free. It's simple to use and has been reliable while I've been playing around with it. There does not appear to be a limit to the number of effects that can be played back at once other than what the hardware can do and for what it's worth I managed 4 simultaneous effects on a very aged 333MHz Celeron which if below the minimum spec for the software.
Big Dave Posted May 30, 2004 Posted May 30, 2004 I still mostly end up with MDs of one description of another (normally Denon 1050R or Tascam 801R) just for the speed of editing and that Bill Gates has been no where near them. Have done a few things using AMS Audiofile which is primarily a multitrack editing system but you can program the function keys on the front to work as cue hot starts. Works very well.
James Posted May 31, 2004 Posted May 31, 2004 Dave, As someone who works with Audiofile a fair bit in the other job, don't you find it a bit cumbersome to cart arround? Or is this more for a fixed job? I can see how being able to timeline FX can be useful - and direct connection to automation on AMS desk might be useful if the show demanded it but isn't it a butt OTT - kind of like using protools, as in it would do the job just but more expensive, hassle than it needs to be? Just curious as to how you use it and how you find it works for you. James
James Posted May 31, 2004 Posted May 31, 2004 Oh and Andy, why isn't Charlie Richmond's Excelent audiobox not mentioned on this list? (Appreciating how good it is, isn't the same as having enough money to use it on a show though :D) I do believe Charlie is a member of this forum, although I haven't seen him on here recently... James
andy_s Posted May 31, 2004 Author Posted May 31, 2004 Oh and Andy, why isn't Charlie Richmond's Excelent audiobox not mentioned on this list? (Appreciating how good it is, isn't the same as having enough money to use it on a show though :D) I do believe Charlie is a member of this forum, although I haven't seen him on here recently... James apologies to charlie richmond - but that's why I said PC based systems (for example SFX.....) - I didn't intend to exclude anyone! I should perhaps say I'm not really a noise boy, but I have responsibility for buying kit to a certain degree. At this point I'm not particularly interested in the merits of individual systems, but more in what type of approach is going to be taken in the future, in view of the direction the manafacturers are going. I understand Sony have no plans to replace the MDS and CDP D11 with an equivalent.....
James Posted May 31, 2004 Posted May 31, 2004 I believe sony have only discontinued the 1U products in Europe, I believe you can still get them from the states. (Although the question is how this will last.....) I use the 2U Tascam CD's and MD's and have no problems with them yet. James
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