Ok... now I have bird calls... can't quite get them into Raven Lite...

[Steelflight]

Hey-

I am just beginning to mess around with Raven Lite. Is there something special I need to do to configure it so that it reads my Minidisc player? I was reading in the User's Manual about Audio Imput and all that ... but when I go to "Select Recording Device," the minidisc isn't an option. All I can choose from are SoundMax Digital Audio, Default Windows Audio Input, and Soundmax Digital Audio. I tried going into the "volume" settings and set it so that my computer reads "cd players" (the closest thing to a minidisc player? or do I do line-in? it is hooked up via USB).

Also, is it possible to modify bird calls and then record them to my minidisc?

Thanks guys!

[Steelflight]

Ok, in the volume settings under "recording," which one should I select?

-Microphone
-CD Player
-Mono Out
-Wave Out Mix
-Phone
-Line in

Which one for my Hi-MD Minidisc?

Thanks.

[griffin]

I don't understand - are you trying to use a line out from the MD into the computer mic in or line in ?

If you have a Hi-MD surely you can download the files from the MD via Sonic Stage to your computer and then convert them to wavs which will open in Raven Lite ? That would be best for preseving quality.

Linz

[griffin]

PS Did you fix your mic problem ?

[ermine]

What's wrong with importing the audio via Sonicstage and importing the resultant WAV into Raven? You can re-record the headphone output from the HiMD by using a jack-to-jack plugged in to the line in. But hey, you paid for a HiMD so you could download a bit-perfect copy of the recording, so sweat the asset :)

Then just use File Open (Ctrl-O). Select which channel to use from the stereo fiel, and you're off. Seemed to work for me - see attached. I see that Raven is a Java program now, so it has the usual killer CPU usage associated with that.

You can modify calls using any standard audio editor (Audacity is a suitable free one - google search on the name) and use sonicstage to put them back to the MD if you like.

PS You beat me to it Linz :)

[Steelflight]

Oh so this is where I use sonicstage...

Do I need the line-in on my Hi-MD?

''You can re-record the headphone output from the HiMD by using a jack-to-jack plugged in to the line in. But hey, you paid for a HiMD so you could download a bit-perfect copy of the recording, so sweat the asset :)''

-> not quite sure what you mean by this. Once I put it into Raven, I can just download it to my minidisc?

[ermine]

You use Sonicstage to d/l the tracks you have recorded using the HiMD. Set it to convert the file to a WAV, and remember where it puts the WAVs. You don't need to mess about with line-in on either the MD or your sound card, and you transfer in less than real time with 100% bit fidelity. You paid for these features, so enjoy them... You have to read the manual as to how Sonicstage works, and this thread may help

http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=550356&postcount=2

If you are like most recordists you will have a lot to blank space in your recordings. Use something like Audacity to edit out the blank space. Possibly also use Audacity to covert the stereo file to mono, since your ME66 will record on one channel only. By the way what did you do to fix it?

Open the trimmed file with Raven.

I don't know what you want to put back from Raven - it is an analysis package as far as I can see. But then I've only used it once, maybe there are features I didn't come across.

You can put the trimmed files back to MD if you want. Or you might as well archive them as a data CD, as HiMD is a proprietary closed format and you are at Sony's whim in future. CDs are probably readable for some time yet. Change the file name to reflect the date, location and time preferably in yymmdd-hh-mm_location.wav format so they line up in order on a directory listing. Or use a database to keep track. Otherwise you will curse yourself in future for not knowing where you recorded stuff

[Steelflight]

Ok great... slowly getting there... but one more thing...

How do I convert from stereo to mono? And does it matter?

[ermine]

Ok great... slowly getting there... but one more thing...

How do I convert from stereo to mono? And does it matter?

Audacity

Project -> Import Audio (select wav)

select the track and go split stereo

delete one channel

select the one remaining track next to the name and select the mono option from the drop down list

save project (you can toss this later)

File -> export as wav

This isn't as easy as it should be in Audacity - other editors does this in fewer keystrokes.

And does it matter?

Saves you half the disk space for no loss in signal quality. Otherwise no. If you make audio CDs of your recordings it's not worth it as audio CDs only store stereo. If you make data CDs or keep the files on your hard drive the halving of disk space is worth having