Are there simple line-powered MP3 recorders?

[Joerg]

Rich Grise wrote:

On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:31:21 -0700, Joerg wrote:
IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records onto
USB. Any ideas?

I have one of these:
http://www.usersmanualguide.com/panasonic/ic_recorder/rr-qr160
which says in "High Quality" mode it can do 2 hours, but it doesn't know
anything about MP3 - it only has an analog output. It was about $70.00
new, but I had some cash on me at the time, and a use for it; you could
use it like that cassette recorder sans cassettes, but you'd need another
box to turn the analog to an MP3.

Well, thanks, but that doesn't get us much beyond what we have today.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Joerg]

Phil Hobbs wrote:

Joerg wrote:
For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick.
As simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

Olympus LS10, under $300. Great sound, record/stop/playback buttons
that just work. It also has the screens and so on, but the pastor
doesn't have to futz with them at all--hit the red button and talk.

Thanks. Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks) but if it
has your endorsement maybe we can get a real power supply for it.

Question: It says "recording time can be extended with a SD card". It is
possible to record only onto the SD cards and not at all into the
device's memory? Someone needs to take it home and they should not have
to take the whole device because it may be needed again soon after.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Jan Panteltje]

On a sunny day (Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:21:31 -0700) it happened Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in
<SEnNk.6671$YU2.2028@nlpi066.nbdc.sbc.com>:

Joel Koltner wrote:
"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:aymNk.6108$be.3129@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com...
Not needed. After all, the bible was brought to us without DRM, passwords or
any of that ;-)

Just wait until someone who attends your church runs for public office and
your web server gets hammered trying to fulfill all the reporters' requests,
trying to dig up dirt.


It's all open. No dirt though


I think your idea of a standalone widget is better than a PC. Why don't you
like wallwarts, though? The possibility of them getting lost?


Have seen too many go up in smoke. You never know where stuff really
comes from these days or whether the engineers who designed it had a
clue. Also, the average quality of electrolytics has fallen dramatically
and I'd rather have one blow up in a metal enclosure than in a plastic
thingie on the carpet.

True, OTOH my 12V adapter from the Timex Sinclair ZX81 from the early 1980
has been on 24/7 with original parts and is still working fine.
That makes > 25 years.
It has also been shorted 100000000x, as every time you plug in that
phone plug it shorts..
Dunno about those modern switch mode things though, how long those last.

 

[Phil Hobbs]

Joerg wrote:

Phil Hobbs wrote:
Joerg wrote:
For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick.
As simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which
had mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or
Intempo which is more geared towards recording from radio channels
and would probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this
costs a few hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated
with teeny LCD screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to
call someone and say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner
on and hit the red record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree
where they need a magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

Olympus LS10, under $300. Great sound, record/stop/playback buttons
that just work. It also has the screens and so on, but the pastor
doesn't have to futz with them at all--hit the red button and talk.


Thanks. Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks) but if it
has your endorsement maybe we can get a real power supply for it.

Question: It says "recording time can be extended with a SD card". It is
possible to record only onto the SD cards and not at all into the
device's memory? Someone needs to take it home and they should not have
to take the whole device because it may be needed again soon after.

Yes, you can tell it to record straight onto SD. It also takes SDHD, in
case your pastor is really on a roll some Sunday. It doesn't have
XLR inputs, but it does have two very decent condenser mics built in.
(How much stereo you're going to get from two mics 2 inches apart is
another matter--one for singing and one for the harmonica.

It's often used by musicians, who seem to love it. I got it for my
wife's birthday--it arrived about a week ago--and she seems to like it
too. (She's trying to get into doing voiceovers and uses it for
practice.) I haven't used it significantly myself, so you might adjust
your salt grain size on that basis.

One problem with small voice recorders and wall warts is that you can
get a surprising amount of hum--I haven't tested this one, but the
effect is quite strong with IPods and powered external speakers or even
headphones. (It goes away if you touch the metal case.)

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Joel Koltner]

Joerg,

"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:XJnNk.6674$YU2.3502@nlpi066.nbdc.sbc.com...

Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks)

If you really want USB sticks, there are a couple options:

1) Use SD cards with built-in USB connectors:
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-SDSDPH-004G-A11-15MB-Ultra-Plus/dp/B000UZJ0O2
2) Just get a USB stick that accepts an SD card (an SD card reader,
effectively):
http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-MobileMate-Plus-Memory-Reader/dp/B000Q3IUV2

Approach #1 seems just about as good as a USB stick with the only drawback
being that, if it gets lost, your local Wal*Mart probably won't have another
one in stock (whereas they would have plenty of USB sticks).

---Joel

 

[Joerg]

Jan Panteltje wrote:

On a sunny day (Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:21:31 -0700) it happened Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in
SEnNk.6671$YU2.2028@nlpi066.nbdc.sbc.com>:

Joel Koltner wrote:
"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:aymNk.6108$be.3129@nlpi061.nbdc.sbc.com...
Not needed. After all, the bible was brought to us without DRM, passwords or
any of that ;-)
Just wait until someone who attends your church runs for public office and
your web server gets hammered trying to fulfill all the reporters' requests,
trying to dig up dirt.

It's all open. No dirt though


I think your idea of a standalone widget is better than a PC. Why don't you
like wallwarts, though? The possibility of them getting lost?

Have seen too many go up in smoke. You never know where stuff really
comes from these days or whether the engineers who designed it had a
clue. Also, the average quality of electrolytics has fallen dramatically
and I'd rather have one blow up in a metal enclosure than in a plastic
thingie on the carpet.

True, OTOH my 12V adapter from the Timex Sinclair ZX81 from the early 1980
has been on 24/7 with original parts and is still working fine.
That makes > 25 years.

Them's were the good old days when stuff lasted an eternity. Like the
electrolytics in the Sachsenwerk, Astor and Philips Gamma radios out
here. All around 60 years old. Ok, the Philips blew its audio plate
transformer. Once, back in the 70's. Fixed that, not one problem ever since.

It has also been shorted 100000000x, as every time you plug in that
phone plug it shorts..
Dunno about those modern switch mode things though, how long those last.

Not very long, usually. Anyhow, I don't like that in a church where
people throw the mixer cover, boxes and all kinds of other stuff on top
of it. They shouldn't but you know how that goes.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Joerg]

Phil Hobbs wrote:

Joerg wrote:
Phil Hobbs wrote:
Joerg wrote:
For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick.
As simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which
had mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or
Intempo which is more geared towards recording from radio channels
and would probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this
costs a few hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated
with teeny LCD screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to
call someone and say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner
on and hit the red record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree
where they need a magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

Olympus LS10, under $300. Great sound, record/stop/playback buttons
that just work. It also has the screens and so on, but the pastor
doesn't have to futz with them at all--hit the red button and talk.


Thanks. Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks) but if it
has your endorsement maybe we can get a real power supply for it.

Question: It says "recording time can be extended with a SD card". It
is possible to record only onto the SD cards and not at all into the
device's memory? Someone needs to take it home and they should not
have to take the whole device because it may be needed again soon after.


Yes, you can tell it to record straight onto SD. It also takes SDHD, in
case your pastor is really on a roll some Sunday. It doesn't have
XLR inputs, but it does have two very decent condenser mics built in.
(How much stereo you're going to get from two mics 2 inches apart is
another matter--one for singing and one for the harmonica.

Cool, thanks. He tries to keep his sermons to roughly 1/2hr. But we may
need longer recording times for special events such as a memorial
service. Relatives are really glad if they have a recording that
includes all the speeches and eulogies. It's usually the last thing
they've got to hang onto regarding the spouse or family member that
passed away. Other than the Pontiac GTO and stuff ...

It's often used by musicians, who seem to love it. I got it for my
wife's birthday--it arrived about a week ago--and she seems to like it
too. (She's trying to get into doing voiceovers and uses it for
practice.) I haven't used it significantly myself, so you might adjust
your salt grain size on that basis.

If it survived that week it ought to be good.

<duck and hide ...>

One problem with small voice recorders and wall warts is that you can
get a surprising amount of hum--I haven't tested this one, but the
effect is quite strong with IPods and powered external speakers or even
headphones. (It goes away if you touch the metal case.)

I figured that. Nowadays I don't expect any audio designers to truly
understand diff-mode circuitry. Luckily Radio Shack has audio baluns,
hum eliminators, ground noise reducers or whatever is the current
marketing speak du jour for those. Now that's a 20 mile drive since our
local Radio Shack became <gasp> a cell phone shop.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Joerg]

Joel Koltner wrote:

Joerg,

"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:XJnNk.6674$YU2.3502@nlpi066.nbdc.sbc.com...
Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks)

If you really want USB sticks, there are a couple options:

1) Use SD cards with built-in USB connectors:
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-SDSDPH-004G-A11-15MB-Ultra-Plus/dp/B000UZJ0O2
2) Just get a USB stick that accepts an SD card (an SD card reader,
effectively):
http://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-MobileMate-Plus-Memory-Reader/dp/B000Q3IUV2

Approach #1 seems just about as good as a USB stick with the only drawback
being that, if it gets lost, your local Wal*Mart probably won't have another
one in stock (whereas they would have plenty of USB sticks).

Yes! Thanks. Come to think of it I had seen method #2 at my sister's.
That would be the ticket here.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Frank Buss]

Joerg wrote:

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I would use a computer. Did you read my posting some weeks ago?

http://groups.google.de/group/de.sci.electronics/msg/58b7c863b5257a33

This would be most flexible, because you know: Once the client sees a first
version, they always have new ideas how it could be enhanced

And there are small and cheap PCs (e.g. thin clients, maybe you can get one
from ebay or an old laptop). Maybe you can even combine it with your
counseling service, that some parishioner can work on the software, to do
something useful, e.g. if unemployed etc.

--
Frank Buss, fb@frank-buss.de
http://www.frank-buss.de, http://www.it4-systems.de

 

[Guy Macon]

Joerg wrote:

can often not be operated without inserted batteries (which in
this scenario _will_ leak some day),

I made up some plastic "cells" the size of AAA, AA, C, D, etc.
with wires coming out of them to a power supply, plus some
that are straight through connections. Great for life-testing
toys. I have since seem AAA-to-AA / AA-to-C / etc. adapters
that would work great for that. Thinkgeek.com IIRC.

--
Guy Macon
<http://www.GuyMacon.com/>

 

[Charlie E.]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:26:29 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Charlie E. wrote:
On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:31:21 -0700, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

Jeorge,
We used a pro gear Tascam recorder for our last project, but it used
compact flash, not USB flash, and is in the $900 range. I like your
idea, though, and would like to buy it as well. Maybe it is time to
design one!


Do you remember the Tascam model? Flash isn't ideal but a lot better
than CD or having to plug the whole device into a PC. That is because a
church member does the spooling onto the web from home and would then
have to drive back to church to return the unit.

Actually, we used the Tascam SS-CDR1 that does both compact Flash and
CD-R/RW recording. ( the contract required CDR, but I added the CF
capability.) It ran me about $900. There is also the Tascam SSR1
that just does CF for about $600. Also see a Marantz PMD560 CF
recorder for around $500. But, these are all pro grade machines, and
simple operation wasn't a design requirement! It is easy to mis-set
and get CD grade audio that fills up the memory very quickly, or mess
up the level settings and get nothing... :-(

Charllie

 

[Joerg]

Charlie E. wrote:

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:26:29 -0700, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Charlie E. wrote:
On Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:31:21 -0700, Joerg
notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?
Jeorge,
We used a pro gear Tascam recorder for our last project, but it used
compact flash, not USB flash, and is in the $900 range. I like your
idea, though, and would like to buy it as well. Maybe it is time to
design one!

Do you remember the Tascam model? Flash isn't ideal but a lot better
than CD or having to plug the whole device into a PC. That is because a
church member does the spooling onto the web from home and would then
have to drive back to church to return the unit.

Actually, we used the Tascam SS-CDR1 that does both compact Flash and
CD-R/RW recording. ( the contract required CDR, but I added the CF
capability.) It ran me about $900. There is also the Tascam SSR1
that just does CF for about $600. Also see a Marantz PMD560 CF
recorder for around $500. But, these are all pro grade machines, and
simple operation wasn't a design requirement! It is easy to mis-set
and get CD grade audio that fills up the memory very quickly, or mess
up the level settings and get nothing... :-(

Then we better take a simpler device. If all else fails an old laptop
that is set to do nothing but that audio job. Bigger, but then we have
it all, line powered as well as able to record on USB sticks.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

[Joerg]

Frank Buss wrote:

Joerg wrote:

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I would use a computer. Did you read my posting some weeks ago?

http://groups.google.de/group/de.sci.electronics/msg/58b7c863b5257a33

Yes, we might just do that. Use a small laptop.

This would be most flexible, because you know: Once the client sees a first
version, they always have new ideas how it could be enhanced

Not in this area. I'd prefer to keep the sound booth as simple as
possible. Example from yesterday: The vicar turns his mike from mute to
active. Begins to speak. *WOOOOOOOOOO*.....

Humongous feedback, me dashing into the booth, none of the mixer pots
seemed to work. Vicar hastily turns his mike off. Luckily he's pretty
cool about this stuff. Turns out someone had set one of the tiny
potmeters on the side to almost full blast and forgot to set it to zero
later. The one for tape playback, and I had just started the recording.

And there are small and cheap PCs (e.g. thin clients, maybe you can get one
from ebay or an old laptop). Maybe you can even combine it with your
counseling service, that some parishioner can work on the software, to do
something useful, e.g. if unemployed etc.

Our IT guru does not want to have to maintain another PC but he said
he'd be ok with a laptop that isn't connected to anything but the mixer.
No LAN, no Internet. So yeah, the laptop idea is a good one. We might
try that out some time this week.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

"gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
Use another domain or send PM.

 

On Oct 26, 4:31 pm, Joerg <notthisjoerg...@removethispacbell.net>
wrote:

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

Unfortunately that sounds like a MD recorder. "Unfortunately" because
Sony has put a lot of effort into keeping the format as brain dead as
possible.
You could score an old Hi-MD unit (1GB disc) on eBay, one with line-in
and a good microphone. These units have line in too.
I don't know what you are recording BTW.
The units support 16 bit, 44KHz PCM recording so you bypass the whole
ATRAC->MP3 transcoding.
They usually need a single AA battery and can last a long time even
recording. They also can use external power but this is an option you
need to select.
I think you'll end up with about the recording time you need.
These newer units connect to PCs.

Other solutions include a VCR. A good stereo Hi-Fi unit can record
great audio but you need to be careful with the dbx system in them.
(That's the system that gets rid of the head switching noise)
Bulky and slow. But cheap, and won't crash.

How about a nice, honking big reel to reel unit?

 

[Glenn Gundlach]

Martin Riddle wrote:

"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:zh5Nk.3935$D32.3441@flpi146.ffdc.sbc.com...
| For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries)
MP3
| recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB
stick.
As
| simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.
|
| I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland
which had
| mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or
Intempo
| which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and
would
| probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a
few
| hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny
LCD
| screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone
and
| say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the
red
| record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
| magnifier just to see it.
|
| IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that
records
| onto USB. Any ideas?
|
| --
| Regards, Joerg
|
| http://www.analogconsultants.com/
|
| "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam.
| Use another domain or send PM.

This is neat...
http://www.ikey-audio.com/ikey.htm

Cheers

Yeah it DOES look neat but claiming a 'reset' button as a 'feature'
doesn't inspire much confidence. 10 MB / minute (uncompressed .WAV) is
beyond USB 1.0 but not any problem for 2.0. Sure wouldn't take much of
a flash-drive to capture a few hours uncompressed CD quality.

GG

 

[Charlie E.]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:47:52 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Phil Hobbs wrote:
Joerg wrote:
Phil Hobbs wrote:
Joerg wrote:
For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick.
As simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which
had mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or
Intempo which is more geared towards recording from radio channels
and would probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this
costs a few hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated
with teeny LCD screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to
call someone and say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner
on and hit the red record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree
where they need a magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

Olympus LS10, under $300. Great sound, record/stop/playback buttons
that just work. It also has the screens and so on, but the pastor
doesn't have to futz with them at all--hit the red button and talk.


Thanks. Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks) but if it
has your endorsement maybe we can get a real power supply for it.

Question: It says "recording time can be extended with a SD card". It
is possible to record only onto the SD cards and not at all into the
device's memory? Someone needs to take it home and they should not
have to take the whole device because it may be needed again soon after.


Yes, you can tell it to record straight onto SD. It also takes SDHD, in
case your pastor is really on a roll some Sunday. It doesn't have
XLR inputs, but it does have two very decent condenser mics built in.
(How much stereo you're going to get from two mics 2 inches apart is
another matter--one for singing and one for the harmonica.


Cool, thanks. He tries to keep his sermons to roughly 1/2hr. But we may
need longer recording times for special events such as a memorial
service. Relatives are really glad if they have a recording that
includes all the speeches and eulogies. It's usually the last thing
they've got to hang onto regarding the spouse or family member that
passed away. Other than the Pontiac GTO and stuff ...


It's often used by musicians, who seem to love it. I got it for my
wife's birthday--it arrived about a week ago--and she seems to like it
too. (She's trying to get into doing voiceovers and uses it for
practice.) I haven't used it significantly myself, so you might adjust
your salt grain size on that basis.


If it survived that week it ought to be good.

duck and hide ...


One problem with small voice recorders and wall warts is that you can
get a surprising amount of hum--I haven't tested this one, but the
effect is quite strong with IPods and powered external speakers or even
headphones. (It goes away if you touch the metal case.)


I figured that. Nowadays I don't expect any audio designers to truly
understand diff-mode circuitry. Luckily Radio Shack has audio baluns,
hum eliminators, ground noise reducers or whatever is the current
marketing speak du jour for those. Now that's a 20 mile drive since our
local Radio Shack became <gasp> a cell phone shop.

When you need that hum eliminator, you probably won't find it at Radio
Shack. I needed one last week, and finally found one at Circuit City,
right after I ordered a couple on line at Amazon. BTW, when you need
one, look in the auto audio section...

Charlie

 

[Charlie E.]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:30:47 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Not in this area. I'd prefer to keep the sound booth as simple as
possible. Example from yesterday: The vicar turns his mike from mute to
active. Begins to speak. *WOOOOOOOOOO*.....

Humongous feedback, me dashing into the booth, none of the mixer pots
seemed to work. Vicar hastily turns his mike off. Luckily he's pretty
cool about this stuff. Turns out someone had set one of the tiny
potmeters on the side to almost full blast and forgot to set it to zero
later. The one for tape playback, and I had just started the recording.

Yeah, I hate that! Had an argument with a guy at Tascam, because the
'tape monitor' feature is a real PITA! Sure, it is nice in some
configurations, but if you want to have a non-operator setup, and
still use the tape (or CDR) for playing as well as recording, then you
get feedback up the ying-yang! You have to set you record levels low,
and your playback levels low so that you get an overal loss of at
least 10dB in the loop. They really need to have a 'disable monitor'
option in there...

Charlie

 

[Charlie E.]

On Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:26:56 -0700, Joerg
<notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote:

Phil Hobbs wrote:
Joerg wrote:
For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick.
As simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo
which is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would
probably need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few
hundred Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD
screens and menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and
say "Turns this dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red
record button", not explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a
magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records
onto USB. Any ideas?

Olympus LS10, under $300. Great sound, record/stop/playback buttons
that just work. It also has the screens and so on, but the pastor
doesn't have to futz with them at all--hit the red button and talk.


Thanks. Still needs a wall wart and SD cards (no USB sticks) but if it
has your endorsement maybe we can get a real power supply for it.

Question: It says "recording time can be extended with a SD card". It is
possible to record only onto the SD cards and not at all into the
device's memory? Someone needs to take it home and they should not have
to take the whole device because it may be needed again soon after.

Hmmm...

Ok, you can record either to the internal memory, or to an SD card.
However, I don't see an aux in jack on it to connect to a PA system,
just uses its own mikes. Probably not!

Charlie

 

[David L. Jones]

"Joerg" <notthisjoergsch@removethispacbell.net> wrote in message
news:zh5Nk.3935$D32.3441@flpi146.ffdc.sbc.com...

For our church we are looking for mains-powered (no batteries) MP3
recorders that can record up to 1.5hrs, preferably onto a USB stick. As
simple as possible, like on/off, record, stop.

I have looked around the web and only found gear from Roland which had
mixing functions and stuff that makes it too complicated, or Intempo which
is more geared towards recording from radio channels and would probably
need some hack to connect to our mixer. If this costs a few hundred
Dollars that's ok but it cannot be complicated with teeny LCD screens and
menus. In essence I'd have to be able to call someone and say "Turns this
dark gray gizmo in the left corner on and hit the red record button", not
explain a lengthy menu tree where they need a magnifier just to see it.

IOW what we need is a cassette recorder sans cassettes, that records onto
USB. Any ideas?

What about this Philips unit:
http://www.voicex.com.au/Brochures/Philips/Philips%20LFH9750.pdf
SD card storage, but SD to USB stick converters are a dime a dozen.

Dave.

 

[Adrian C]

Jan Panteltje wrote:

True, OTOH my 12V adapter from the Timex Sinclair ZX81 from the early 1980
has been on 24/7 with original parts and is still working fine.
That makes > 25 years.

So what are you doing with a _ZX81_ running on for 25 years?

Is it trapped in an application running a nuclear power plant by any chance?

<http://ganjatron.net/retrocomputing/zx81/index.html>

--
Adrian C