CD Recording - Audio CDs
Computer requirements
Actually, the computer hardware is not that important in terms
of performance. I've had excellent results with an old 486DX2/80 with
'only' 24MB of RAM, running Windows '95. The results depend, of course,
on the CD-Recording software that you use.
CD Recorder
Personally, I prefer recorders with a SCSI-interface. IDE still inflicts
too much of a performance-overhead. SCSI-cards are cheap, and you can
hook up all of your nice toys like scanners, recorders and tape-streamers
without worrying about the 2-device limit per IDE interface.
CD-ROM Player
Anyone seriously considering Audio CD recording, should
invest in a Plextor UltraPLEX
SCSI CD-ROM drive. Sure, it is quite expensive, but to my knowledge it
is the only drive that provides decent error correction (ECC)
when performing Digital Audio Extraction (DAE).
Together with it's precise positioning, the UltraPLEX allows me
to create perfect copies of CDs that don't have pauses between
tracks (for example, "Misplaced Childhood" by
Marillion).
Note: It seems that the Plextor PlexWRITER is also capable of
ECC on Audio, if you use a recent firmware version.
CD Recording software
GEAR Audio
I've had excellent experiences recording Audio CDs using
GEAR Audio version 1.1
and a Philips CDD-2600 recorder.
You'll need to set up GEAR Audio to your liking (in the Tools/Options
pages). For example, I've set "c:\plextor\plexcap.exe" (from
Plextor Manager 96) as my "Sampler", and "c:\coolpro\coolpro.exe"
(from CoolEdit Pro) as my "Wave editor".
This way, I can grab audio-tracks from within GEAR Audio, and edit them
if need be.
If you want to record without pauses between tracks, be sure to change
the following setting:
- - Set "Default pause before" to 0 seconds
(Tools/Options/CD project/Default pause before)
- The first track of your CD will still have a 2 second pause,
but that is mandatory according to the RedBook specification.
If you plan to perform DAE with your CDD-2600 recorder, use
the following settings:
- - Set the reading-speed to 2x
(Tools/Options/Recorder/Read strategy/Advanced)
- The CDD-2600 switches to CAV when left at 6x reading-speed.
This causes glitches in the audio (at least in 1.06 firmware).
- - Set the write-speed to 2x
(Tools/Options/Recorder/Write strategy/Highest speed)
- Audio CDs will be recorded perfectly, also at 2x speed.
I recommend against using higher speeds (e.g. 4x)
since not all audio players seem to be able to cope.
I do have some criticisms about GEAR Audio 1.1 though:
- - Many menu-items (including Tools) are not visible until you open/create a project.
- This was quite confusing: how do I set project defaults before creating my first project?
- - The "Pause before" checkbox in Tools/Options/CD project does NOT disable pauses between tracks.
- This option merely HIDES the pause-indicator from your view.
In my opinion, this option should have been in the View page.
I found out by wasting a beautiful CD-R...
Marillion just isn't the same with pauses between tracks ;)
| top | $Id: audio.m4,v 1.6 1999/04/26 12:23:36 ed Exp $ |
Sending unsolicited (commercial) email
to any address on these pages strictly prohibited!
Caught in a frame? Go to http://www.iaehv.nl/users/evoncken/index.html
Questions? Remarks? Contact Ed Voncken evoncken@iaehv.nl