Techy John Posted May 29, 2010 Posted May 29, 2010 I have lived by CD and in particular MiniDisk for a long time as theatre play-back media. However, these days nearly all of my sound editing (FX and music queues) are done on a PC, and therefore in in at least PCM quality. Currently, I finish my editing, burn a CD of the tracks in order, take in to the control room, then 'burn' a MD from the CD and then add the text titles to make things easier for my normally 'newby' assistant. While not a massive issue for a once-a-production procedure, there will of course be changes to be made here and there after a couple of tech rehearsals, which means going through it again. On a quest for an alternative, I have of course found the world of Solid State, with the use of the likes of Compact Flash, SD cards etc as the recorded media. I am very happy to use these, as I live by them (as most people now do) with digital cameras etc. My question is then (at last!) is if anyone has experience in using these units (eg Marantz 560 et al.) and how they have worked as a piece of theatre kit. One thing that I have yet to find it if one can add text to a track title (as you can with MD) or if you just have track numbers to play with. There are heaps of advantages of moving over to this sort of system when it comes to moving data from PC to theatre, however will I get the same sort of functionality at the coal face as I get with a MiniDisk player?
smalljoshua Posted May 29, 2010 Posted May 29, 2010 Have you considered just keeping everything on the PC? Something running XP and multiplay with an external soundcard would seem to be a good solution. Unless there's some reason you wish to keep it in a rack style unit? Josh
Techy John Posted May 29, 2010 Author Posted May 29, 2010 We have got limited 'desk' space, so I would like to keep things rack mounted if possible. There is also the issue of fan noise of a PC... I have seen some good (some even free!) PC sound play back apps, but I work enough with computers in other jobs to not be that happy to rely on them!"Sorry that effect didn't happen... we are just re-booting."Hmmmm - no thanks!
Matthew Robinson Posted May 30, 2010 Posted May 30, 2010 Unless there's some reason you wish to keep it in a rack style unit?It would be possible to build a PC into a rack mount case, there was a thread about it a little while ago. "Sorry that effect didn't happen... we are just re-booting."If you use a dedicated computer, you can strip it down software wise to the point where it becomes very reliable. Furthermore, you can do away with anti-virus, firewall, etc by not connecting it to the internet & transferring music from audio CD to hard drive (which you'd want a very big one of). At the same time, it may be sensible to store and play them back uncompressed. However, if you're posting this in the Next Gen forum, you may not have the budget to do that.
paulears Posted May 30, 2010 Posted May 30, 2010 I tried to go solid state and gave up! I've got SD and computer kit in the rack, and when somebody turns up with a CD or MD, there often isn't the time to grab the files into the system - and like the last job, even when there was, somebody walked in at the last moment and said can we use track 2 on here rather than track 5 on the one I gave you - it's been edited with an extra bar cut out! A physical 'thing' that can be slapped in and play within just a few seconds is going to be the main source for quite a while. The mixer USB slot looked an excellent way of playing stuff, but it needs time and planning that often doesn't happen.
Stutwo Posted May 30, 2010 Posted May 30, 2010 We've run with white Macbook and a MD rackmount unit for the last year and a half now, the macbook is barebones and only runs itunes and a cueing software and has been absolutely reliable. Between the two we've easily handled everything thrown at us.
Techy John Posted May 30, 2010 Author Posted May 30, 2010 Many thanks for the answers. Budget is certainly a concern, so perhaps finding a low powered PC (ie not too many fans) may be the way to go... and probably cheaper than some of the solid state kit I have been looking at as well.
Jivemaster Posted May 30, 2010 Posted May 30, 2010 You will still need the facility to play tracks in all formats including some you hoped were obsolete. So whatever you use needs to be compatible with ANYTHING the client can throw at you from modern multitrack digital to cassette. Even the time to rip tracks to digital will be limited.
mackerr Posted May 30, 2010 Posted May 30, 2010 You will still need the facility to play tracks in all formats including some you hoped were obsolete. So whatever you use needs to be compatible with ANYTHING the client can throw at you from modern multitrack digital to cassette. Even the time to rip tracks to digital will be limited. Being able to use a multitrack, or cassette, should require preplanning. As far as using a computer and having someone show up with a CD at the last moment, why rip it? I just play the CD from the drive in my laptop. The same laptop that runs the playback software I use for most music playback. There are multiple software packages for both Windows and Mac OS that are suitable for production use. Mac
Bobbsy Posted May 31, 2010 Posted May 31, 2010 As far as using a computer and having someone show up with a CD at the last moment, why rip it? I just play the CD from the drive in my laptop. The same laptop that runs the playback software I use for most music playback. I'm sure we've all had to resort to playing a CD directly from the computer drive when somebody presents us with a truly last-minute request. However, I do try to treat this as a real last resort--the same people who hand in their CDs late also tend to have levels all over the place, unpredictable amounts of silence at the in cue, etc. etc. If I have a couple of minutes, I much prefer to rip the CD, trim the head and quickly normalise tracks before use. Obviously this isn't always possible but, even with a few minutes to play with it's my preferred method. Bob
Techy John Posted May 31, 2010 Author Posted May 31, 2010 I would certainly keep the present CD player etc. in the rack and ready to go. As you say, there are lots of times that people bring in things that just need playing. I do tend to grumble when I have to get the old cassette deck out from the cupboard though! As a rule, I tend not to like to use the CD player for productions due to the lack of auto-pause, so use the MiniDisk, with the added bonus of easy titling of tracks. This is especially the case when I have a less than experienced operator, which can be the case in school productions. I guess that those of you that use a computer to play back also use a separate sound card, as the ones integrated into laptops can sound horrible!
Bobbsy Posted May 31, 2010 Posted May 31, 2010 Yes, definitely a better sound card--separate (probably USB though Cardbus and Firewire options are available) or PCI gives lots of nice options in a desktop or rackmount PC. Don't automatically assume that a laptop is your best bet if you go the computer route. For simple playback (as opposed to recording and editing) you don't need a particularly high spec machine. You could look into putting the basics into a rack mount case and only have a monitor and keyboard on the desk--or do what I've used for several years and have a tower system down by your feet. In any case, I used to be a minidisk fan and only went to computer when my Sony decks became less than reliable. I've actually found computer to be more reliable (over about 7 years now) than MD--and even simple playback software gives even more convenience than the MD too. Bob
mackerr Posted May 31, 2010 Posted May 31, 2010 As far as using a computer and having someone show up with a CD at the last moment, why rip it? I just play the CD from the drive in my laptop. The same laptop that runs the playback software I use for most music playback.I'm sure we've all had to resort to playing a CD directly from the computer drive when somebody presents us with a truly last-minute request. However, I do try to treat this as a real last resort--the same people who hand in their CDs late also tend to have levels all over the place, unpredictable amounts of silence at the in cue, etc. etc. If I have a couple of minutes, I much prefer to rip the CD, trim the head and quickly normalise tracks before use. Obviously this isn't always possible but, even with a few minutes to play with it's my preferred method. Bob I agree, however that is not what I'd call last minute. If there is time to make those fixes I do, but if someone walks up and hands me a CD with no time to make those fixes I can play it from the same computer that I would play the ripped version from. I feel no need to have another machine eating up input channels. In addition, with that last minute CD, I would rather have the extra control that the computer gives me over where to start in the track, and how fast I can jump between tracks. Both of which are faster and easier on the computer. Mac
Bobbsy Posted June 2, 2010 Posted June 2, 2010 Agree 100%, Mac. And, beyond the advantages you cite, the one other bit of software I permit myself on my playback PC is a simple audio editor. In a theatre situation (which is the majority of my work these days) it's amazing how often there's time to do simple changes at the theatre during the tech period rather than taking a list away at the end of the day. I moved to computer for playback 8 or 9 years ago now and would never go back. Bob
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