equipment that can bite me

[solarbird]

I have this Sony minidisc recorder I bought back in... 2002? When those mattered, anyway. I've tried a couple of times to use it to do quick recordings of live shows and it's failed me each time - it's fine for a minute and a half or so, then I get garbage, then it's fine again, then garbage. I thought it was bad media, but now I'm re-testing the same media in the studio and it records fine.

When I set it up outdoors it's always in a shaded, reasonably-level position, and everything has lots of power. All the parts work fine tested in the studio, but at shows so far I have a 100% failure rate with the same symptoms across different discs each time.

Suggestions, anybody?

Also, suggestions on a pure-digital recorder? This has officially become stupid.

Comments

[mdlbear]

I really like my Zoom H2 (see userpic). Pocket sized, decent microphones, records up to 24bits x 96KHz onto SD or SDHC cards. Standard camera tripod mount, with a mic stand adapter.

[solarbird]

Mmm. That is nice. And affordable, relatively. Thanks!

[hsifyppah.livejournal.com]

Minidiscs are so cute! I can't bring myself to get rid of my recorder, although I haven't even dusted it in 5 years because it's such a pain in the ass to use.

Yeah, Zoom H2 or H4 (if you want to multitrack in the wild for some reason?) are pretty reliable, easy to use, and make nice recordings for their price & size. I have an H2, which is what I use for the dinky recordings on my website, and my father-in-law has an H4, which he's used to make very nice recordings of filk circles, the church choir, etc. The onboard mics are pretty good, or you can use an external mic if you have a nicer one, which I assume you do if you were recording to minidisc. (You should probably choose the H4 if you want to use an external mic, it has... a something something? which the H2 doesn't. As you can see, I are srs microphone expert, har.)

[solarbird]

I liked the minidisc format! And I loved how many things they crammed into such tiny machines. I mean, it's dated now, and media's kinda difficult to find, but it was SO MUCH BETTER than cassette. It's too bad Sony kind of pooched it.

From what I'm reading, I very much like the Zooms. I've seen them in the wild, I just didn't know what they were. I like the H2 (which is pretty much a drop-in replacement for what I have now, but better in several ways, and! would work directly with my all-too-spendy minidisc mic) and I like the H4n too. I think I could grow into the H4n pretty easily.

According to the published specs, the H2's external mic jack is 1/8th inch stereo (exactly like the minidisc recorder), while the H4n (which replaced the H4) has 1/4" mono jack pairs and! phantom power! XLR! which is made of hotness. I could still use my current mic (with an adaptor) but I'd have a lot of flexibility. At substantially greater cost, of course. The H2 has advantages of price, size, and! 360-degree recording with the built-in mics! which the H4n doesn't do, and is tasty by itself.

Time to be thinky!

[sksouth.livejournal.com]

I've got one that works, don't need it anymore. Want it for free?

[solarbird]

...a minidisc recorder? Thanks! What kind?

[sksouth.livejournal.com]

I'll have to dig it up... I think I know which stack it's in.

[solarbird]

Thanks! I've just managed to reproduce the problem in the studio, but it's still pretty random. (And undetectable while happening! Only detectable after. BEST KIND)