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Post by freeway on Oct 10, 2011 11:24:06 GMT
Hi Guys  Think I've just reached the end of the road using mini disks ...got about 10 disks scattered all over the place and would prefer to have all my eggs in the one basket if I could ,recently dropped one of the disks it got damaged and wouldn't play anymore so had to sit down and re record over 40 songs back on to the disk. Very time time consuming and annoying ,reminds me of the days of floppy disks as well as that I hear the days of mini disk players and disks are coming to an end and going out of production so now is prob a good time to make the change . I'd love to have my collection of over 500 songs at my fingertips so to speak a Laptop is not an option for me esp in some of the venues I play ;D I'd appreciate any feedback from anyone using Ipods on which model they'd recommend price/ hard disk size /speed of scroll wheel/ screen display etc. Thanx Guys Barry  |
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Post by JC on Oct 10, 2011 12:15:29 GMT
Hi Barry
Just curious, why is a laptop not an option?
Cheers
John
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Post by weeo on Oct 10, 2011 12:52:31 GMT
Hi Barry
I'm in the middle of changing from minidisc to laptop.I have all my tracks on the laptop and i've tried using it a couple of times.
Sounds are exactly same but it takes a while to get used to the playlists etc you have to make up.
Being a guitar player doesn't help either. It's not as easy as the minidisc because you have to use the mouse.I suppose given time it will get easier,but at the moment i'm staying with minidisc
until i have to change.
I've heard of people using the I pod but never seen it.
When i was on holiday earlier this year all the artists were using the Ipad. Much bigger screen and no mouse either and it's all touch sensative.
That's the way i'm thinking on going but downside is they cost about £400.
hope this helps
Eddie
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Post by levi2 on Oct 10, 2011 16:06:48 GMT
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Post by freeway on Oct 10, 2011 16:21:12 GMT
Hi guys John I see a lot of guys on your side of the world are using laptops but not so many here ,especially the one man bands like myself dunno of anyone in my town anyway . Maybe we're behind the rest of the world as usual ;D But seriously on a personal level I suppose its just the fact that a lot of the venues I play the regulars can be pretty boisterous puttingh it mildly ....although no harm has ever come to me personally but had a feww incidents with my gear a few times (the owner sorted out any repairs which were usually minor) like my mini disk twice landed on the floor it played fine after that but had to replace the leads which cost me 50 bucks but I was reimbursed. So with this in mind I don't think I'd risk bringing a laptop to any of my gigs solely for that reason. A fallen mini disk player compared to a fallen laptop no thanks not prepared to gamble on that kind of expense. Having said all that I don't gig in Beirut or anything like that its just at the weekends the younger guys tend to get carried away with themselves and the bar owners try their best to keep them in check but when the music speeds up they tend to as well.... ;D A friend of mine has an Ipod and he made up a little holder that attatches to his mic stand and he says the screen is quite good and robust and he has all the songs he needs at hand . Also as Eddie says playing the guitar and using a mouse would also be nearly impossible especially with a good dancing crowd. Btw that IPad seems like the biz ok.. Anyway haven't decided as yet what to do ....but first off the screen has to be pretty big as my eyesight is not what it used to be and something that can be easily and quickly scrolled to the next song without much delay would be perfect . Thanx guys for the input and looking forward to anymore suggestions regarding the Ipod Laptop or anything else that would suit my purpose. Cheerz Barry |
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Post by freeway on Oct 10, 2011 16:29:44 GMT
Hi Levi........ Looks interesting have you used it already and how do you find the display especially in darker venues? What size sd card /usb stick do you use ? I suppose you can line up your next song easy enough as the DJ's do looks like a pretty good idea.. btw how did u get it for that price it says 159 ? thanx for that Barry |
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Post by levi2 on Oct 10, 2011 17:50:56 GMT
Hi freeway it dosnt say anything about size of card just says max num of folders 999 max num of files 999 but if you go to the link i sent you you should be able to download manual which isnt very big display is lit up back ground is a green light text is black lcd .It has 2 players each with there own line outs you can put 2 sd cards in or select both players to use 1 card you can select it to play the next track as soon as one finishes or you have the option for it to auto pause as soon as a track has finished. you can have the time counting up or down on the display also scrolls the title on the botton. I got it from amazon just put the model in the search bar sold by dfb warehouse limited. I havnt used it on stage yet im busy recording tracks from mini disk to pc then converting to to mp3 its rack mountable. To get the mp3 in a playlist order youll have to put a number in front of title ie 01 the twist 02 lets dance etc etc i havnt tried it but i suppose but if its playing one track you can search for a song on 2nd player if your hands a free
levi2
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Post by Jacqui on Oct 10, 2011 18:31:57 GMT
Hi Barry Well I use a mini disc player and also have one of those Citronic twin players, one of the guys I sing with got one about two years ago a DJ tech one but they don't do them now as far as I know, another company called American Audio do different versions of them, but I did a bit of research and opted for the Citronic one at the time as it takes 2x SD cards a USB stick, also the capacity goes up to 32 gb as opposed to only about 4 or 8gb on some of the other makes, just something to watch out for. I think you'll find it a good alternative to mini disc, smaller than a full size mini disc player, but the advantage of twin decks, so you can que a song on deck A while singing one on deck B. I created folders the same as I have my mini discs and put them on the cards, you just need to have the music in MP3 format on you PC to get them onto the SD cards or USB. I tried with an ipod and lasted one gig, just two fiddly and small to see, the lack of auto pause was a big drawback too, unless you put each track in a separate folder, just too much hassle, I've a friend uses two ipods on a twin ipod mixer /holder, but even he wants to change to something more user friendly. I've told 3 other singers I know who have now bought one of those DJ Twin Players, and dropped the mini disc, I'm still using both as I keep forget to update all the tracks I have on mini disc onto the pc to put on the cards  lol There is a better and a bit more expensive one I saw a friend using recently on a country night, it has some extra features and also plays wav files which mine doesn't , if I'd seen it before I might have gone for that one. The price looks good to me I paid £149 last year, it was around for more, but the shop I normally go to did a price match for me If you have any questions I can help with drop me email or ask here . Jacqui  |
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Post by Jacqui on Oct 10, 2011 18:38:55 GMT
Just seen one on amazon for £99 Barry, now that's cheap |
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Post by levi2 on Oct 10, 2011 19:27:35 GMT
Well Barry I dont think youll need anymore info from me
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Post by freeway on Oct 10, 2011 20:25:29 GMT
Thanx levi and Jacqui.. Some great info there and it seems like something I'd go for defo.....the display seems big enough which is very important to me . Don't think I could go down the ipod route esp in darker venues and as I already said laptops are a no no ! Just wondering if I'd need to name and categorise my songs into their appropriate folders first or can that be done aftrwards ?....prob make more sense doing it all on the pc first I reckon. I'd def hold onto my mini disk players (as backup) and maybe even have a few spare (sd cards and usb's as backup as well ) you never know eh... ;D Just spoke with a friend of mine earlier and he mentioned he used to have a full size mp3 player before a bit like the mini disk player and it had a large hard drive as well didnt need any cards or disks and it held thousand of songs but as far as Im aware theyre gone off the market now and what if the hard drive blew in the middle of a gig Thanx guys getting much closer now to deciding my next step Regards Barry |
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Post by levi2 on Oct 10, 2011 21:19:59 GMT
Barry all im doing at the moment is recording from minidisc to pc and saving at 48000hz 320 kb im just naming my track for now with its normal title ie rollercoaster walk in the room
once ive done all that i`ll put them in folders for sets with extra tracks in the folder once i decide roughly what order the songs will go in i`ll put a number in front so when i use the jog wheel on the player so i know which will come up next on my list ie 01 rollercoaster 02 walk in the room also will create folders for say ballads motown itll be a lot easier if some backings are already in mp3 format.What i might do is with any midis i get now is to load them in mixcraft and run the midi thru either edirol hyper canvas or yamaha syxg plugins for inst sounds or use both together then play it back thru PA if it sounds pro enough for stage i`ll just encode it to mp3 rather than real time recording
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Post by simmo123 on Oct 11, 2011 0:22:37 GMT
Hi Folks.re. ipod for gigging,it is a very interesting subject which i also have recently have been experimenting with,i was trying to find the simplest & also something which is very compact to play my backing through for myself in my recent foray into busking,i do own a bose docking station from which i am able to play my backing mp3s by simply putting the ipod on to the normal flip out attachment which is designed to take it.This was a big learning curve for an ole bugger like myself but having grandkids is a bonus when it comes to stuff like this.i had loaded all of my tracks onto the ipod (via itunes) in the order which suited me ie,01-100,i do get a quality sound with plenty of volume when performing out there in the malls but i had problems trying to see the songlist because the viewing window was to small,i now have invested in a portable (battery & mains) dvd player which has a decent sized screen,it has access to take a usb memory stick where i can store heaps of mp3 tracks,they are all numbered in order & i can select them quickly using either a remote which came with the player or i can use the manual controls,i made sure that it had the facility to scroll not only one song at a time but also to scroll through the tracks page (6 tracks) at a time as well,when it comes to retaining the quality of the mp3 tracks i run an audio cable (supplied with the unit) direct from the player into my bose unit (,or into any amplifier/ps system) so i still retain the good quality sounds of the mp3 backing (which i have made up from the midifiles using my sonic cell unit to capturing all of the goodie sounds.the other benefit is that i can have the dvd player in front of me instead of turning around & trying to change tracks pointing a remote at a tiny ipod screen to change tracks.all of the above i do use soley for my busking,for my oldies gigs i use my yamaha stagepas 500 pa system & also i play my mp3s using a unit called Mblaster 2 which is capable of playing midifiles or mp3s,this unit is mains only, i have been using this for about 4 years using mp3s,this is a great little unit not cheap but it has never let me down,i load my edited mp3s onto it via a usb cable from my computer,it does have the facility to change keys in mp3 format but i never use it,if you go to alter the key more than about 3 either way it loses some quality in the overall sound.in the event that you wanted to use midifiles on it it will store about 4000.I connect this unit to my pa system for my gigs & once again you can scroll through the songs 6 at a time in no time at all.Well its 8.20 am & i have a morning gig starting at 10.30 but it does take an hour to get there so i had better get my act together....best wishes ..Ole Simmo...getting back into the groove again
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Post by simmo123 on Oct 11, 2011 7:04:28 GMT
Hi again folks,forgot to mention that the Mblaster has a removable card which on a 2gig card would give you heaps of tracks when you consider that the average mp3 is only a few mb...Simmo ps the gig went well & they have booked me up until next July 2012
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Post by freeway on Oct 11, 2011 8:31:44 GMT
Hey levi....... Thanx for that thats the way Ill prob go as well I had a ver of Mixcraft 5 which I've now setup but can't get the thing to talk to my PSR S700. I know what you mean about real time recording and encoding ,most of my midis are more or less ready to go thru my yammie if I could only get them to communicate. I can see the Portatone (yamaha) driver in midi inputs but thats it ?but the files are still using the accoustica sounds I'm much more used to Cakewalk Pro Audio but that dont have a direct mp3 encoder only iin real time recording which is gonna be time cosuming any ideas ? Hi Terry great to see you back in action and nice to know your back gigging again as well. Ya I heard of those Mblasters pretty pricey though ....so if my understanding is right you still use an ipod for your busking using an external dvd screen....thats pretty clever eh!! The eyesight is something we all take for granted eh but as we age its a bugger of a nusciance esp when I go to my gigs and forget my glasses geez  I still carry pages of lyrics mostly for new songs Im learning but without the glasses I might be looking at the sundaynewspaper ....lol Anyway thanx for the input Terry and regards to Patricia from all in the "Emerald Isle " Barry |
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lol
I still carry pages of lyrics mostly for new songs Im learning but without the glasses I might be looking at the sundaynewspaper ....lol Anyway thanx for the input Terry and regards to Patricia from all in the "Emerald Isle "