About HDRC
Events
Technical Overviews
Reference
Scott [[email protected]]
Fri Oct 1 21:10:46 1999
I am in the middle of testing out the V8/orb combo again, and heres a few things Ive noticed....1) Yes the orb does indeed go into some kind of "sleep" mode if left unattended (about 5-10 minutes). Unfortunately, it appears that you have to turn the V8 off and on again to get out of this freezeup. 2) Sometimes the "song" area disappears. You have to recreate the song area, and if you dont remember the exact length of every song area ( they all disappear), it can be a real drag trying to find the beginnings and ends of each song area. So you must ALWAYS write down each song Im going to recreate Carls experiments in the next few days, and run a few of my own. Should be interesting........Stay tuned......
Scott [[email protected]]
Fri Oct 1 21:13:35 1999
Woops! Thats : So you must ALWAYS write down each song LENGTH !
Ric Denker [[email protected]]
Sun Oct 3 13:58:47 1999
I recently purchased a Vestax HDR-V8 and the documentation with this unit sucks. I have not been able to record anything on it. It came with a Op manual Version 1.2 Sept 1996, but there is nothing in there about getting started recording. I've gone into the menu and set up a song, then set the time for 5 minutes and pressed play and record at the same time. I get no indication on the volume indicator that anything is happening from either the front input or the direct in. Can you give me any direction?? ric denker [email protected]
Scott [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 4 22:43:28 1999
Well, I have to say that I am really bummed on my V8/orb. In addition to the other issues, they ( I have 2) are losing tracks, recording over tracks that arent enabled, and I just recorded a straight drum machine beat into 2 tracks and they are at times out of sync! This seems to get worse on higher song numbers (this was song 8). Is it the V8? Is it the Orbs? I dont know! All I do know is that I lost some cool tracks and this is pissing me off! For some reason it seems that the V8s arent nearly as reliable as the hdr6. Anyway, theyre supposed to have 3 times faster processing than the hdr6, so that COULD explain the screwups. I hope I can get these orbs working with my hdr6 or 8s, cause it aint happenin' with the V8s!!!!!!!!!
Scott [[email protected]]
Tue Oct 5 06:12:55 1999
Has anyone out there gotten the V8/ orbs to work right? Does anyone have a V8 with a hard drive that works right? What brand and model hard drive are you using? Help! Im bailing on the V8/ orb setup! I cant deal with things that work SOMETIMES but screw up almost every time I use it! HELP!!!
Carl Harris [entergy.com]
Tue Oct 5 14:19:09 1999
Scott and all: I never got the ORB to work properly in my V8. I tried two different V8s and every possible combination of jumper on the ORB. I sent the ORB back and asked for another one because I thought that possibly the drive I received was bad. If you are also having problems my first drive was probably OK. I am waiting on a replacement ORB and will repost after I try the second drive. HARD DRIVES - I have three V8s and have had satisfactory service using Segate Medalist drives. I have stayed with the Segate 2.1 gig drive but I can't get a pair of them to work in one V8. I have 2 V8s with a 2.1 gig and a 1 gig segate in the same box. They seem to work fine with about 200 hours of recording time on each. I currently have one V8 that has a pair of 3.2 gig segate medalist drives installed and everything seems to work OK. Cutting, copying and pasting appears to work. I don't have a lot of hours on this unit so my faith is not extremely high but they both spin up and I have recorded once all the way across the two drives (~150 minutes of 8 tracks). I did discover that 27 songs is all you get so I set up 15 x 10 minute songs to use all the disk space. For whatever it's worth these are my recent trials discoveries and frustrations.
Lex mens [[email protected]]
Tue Oct 5 16:00:43 1999
Who has experience with sync possibilities of the HDR6 and logic audio on the mac. In Logic Audio 4.0, there is a special file fore the HDR6. I want to use the HDR6 syngroon with my Mac. Lex mens
Scott [[email protected]]
Wed Oct 6 04:45:37 1999
WOW! Thanks for the info Carl! I have to tell you that all the things I posted on my experiences with the V8/orb were duplicated on 2 different V8s, with 2 different Orbs. I tried swapping the media, and that made no difference. Man, what a letdown. Ive come up with a way to mount regular eide hard drives so theyre removable, but the setup wont fit the drive bay of the V8, so it must be mounted externally. Im waiting on delivery of some parts, to see if I can get this to work. In the meantime, Im searching for some big hard drives.....from a local store, so I can bring them back if need be....I guess the orbs will have to go into hdr6 or 8s ( so far way more reliable than the V8 in my book...).
Scott [[email protected]]
Wed Oct 6 05:07:47 1999
To Ric: It sounds like youre doing everything right, except: did you "arm" the tracks? To arm the tracks, push the buttons below the LEDs so the lights flash.
Scott [[email protected]]
Thu Oct 7 03:50:36 1999
I just tried hooking a Maxtor 20 gig DiamondMax Plus Hard drive to a V8. unfortunately, the V8 would not recognise the drive. Some of the parts for my project came today, and at this moment Im listening to audio from a(now removable) eide hard drive (seagate standard V8 issue). I can swap drives in about a minute! At least something is going right today!
Scott [[email protected]]
Fri Oct 8 03:03:15 1999
I think I remember someone saying that hard drives with an even # of cylinders work with the hdrs. Does this make any sense? Has anyone determined what specs matter to the successful use of hard drives?
Scott [[email protected]]
Fri Oct 8 03:10:07 1999
Hey Carl Could you look on your drives, and tell me the # of cylinders on each one? If anyone else could post the model#s and specs of hard drives that work well with their hdrs, maybe we could see a pattern and figure it out.
Carl [[email protected]]
Fri Oct 8 11:52:37 1999
The one drive that Dean always recommended was the Segate ST32122A. This is a 2.1 gig drive, I have several of these drives and they all have worked OK (but never 2 at once in a V8 ?????). Seems like I saw an add from microwarehouse advertizing these segate drives ("referbs from the factory")for 29.00 each. I have also had good luck with IBM drives I will look for the model numbers and post later. I think the IBM drives were the Vestax suggested drives. Cylinders - I am not shure but will do some looking and post later.
Scott [[email protected]]
Fri Oct 8 21:13:18 1999
Well, for what its worth , I was once again trying out my V8s. One has an orb still in it, the other has the original 1 gig seagate (which has proved to be not very reliable) mounted externally, with a fan. The orb one worked ok on a few songs, then it did some very nasty things halfway thru song 5, all the audio went out of sync,it made a horrible sound and locked up. It did this at about the 5 minute mark every time. The one with the Seagate fared even worse . Song 1 wouldnt even work, out of sync,UH!!! Man Im beginning to hate these V8s! The one with the Seagate worked fine yesterday. All I can think of is its 79 degrees in here today and yesterday it was 71. Man this is frustrating! I think Musicians "Friend" sold me a couple of lemons!!! Any ideas?
Carl [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 11 09:42:10 1999
Scott: I feel your pain. Here's some info for whatever it's worth: Segate ST332??A.... 3.2 Gig, ?? Segate ST32122A ... 2.1 Gig, 4092 Cyl, 16 heads, 63 sectors Segate ST51080A.....1.08Gig, 2100 Cyl, 16 heads, 63 sectors IBM DALA 3540 ... 0.5 Gig, 1049 Cyl,16 heads, 63 sectors IBM DEPA 31080....1.08Gig, ? IBM DEPA 30540....0.5 Gig, ? I have used all of the above drives in HDR-6s or HDR-V8s. I have used all of the Segate drives in V8s and they have worked OK. Again, I do not have much recording time on the Segate Medalist 3.2 gig drives and I have been cautioned by Dean about using drives larger than 2.1 gig. I also have established some discussion with castlewood about the ORB problems. My problems are very similar to yours. Let us know what you larn. Thanks..... Carl
Scott [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 11 15:09:07 1999
Hey Carl, any chance of finding that ad (where theyre blowing out the 2.1 gig Seagates for 29$)? The cheapest I can find is 50$ so far. I put an orb in a hdr8, and it plays the orb disc I recorded with the V8. It seems more stable than the V8, but has frozen up and such a few times. Im hoping it will work out, but my faith is not high. Even one screwup where I lose tracks or something is 1 too many. Ill keep y'all posted on this latest experiment. I have noticed that the hard drives that came with my machines all have an even # of cylinders (all that Ive checked so far), and the 20 gig one which didnt work had an odd # of cylinders.....
Carl [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 11 17:02:39 1999
Sorry I listed the $29.00 drive price. It was true but I called Saturday and they had sold out. I don't think the # of cylinders is critical but who knows? Hang in there. Carl
Tony Baca [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 11 19:10:55 1999
Scott & Carl. What I found when I tried to add a second drive in my V8, was that the power supply did not have enough power to spin both drives up. I could get my V8 to work with two drives if I removed the power from one drive, turned on the v8, waited 3 seconds, then pluged the second drive in. I found that this was not an acceptiable solution :) So, my V8 has only one drive in it. I don't remember the drive details, but it was a maxtor, 10G drive. Another V8 owner has an IBM 13G drive. We used both machines, synced together, to do a three day recording session and had no problem.
Carl [[email protected]]
Tue Oct 12 08:30:37 1999
Tony: Thanks for the information. I am beginning to suspect that the power supply may be the problem with the ORB/V8 also. If its not too much trouble could you post the maxtor & IBM hard drive model numbers, and have you seen any problems with editing when you use the large hard drives? Thanks again for the information.......... Carl
Tony [[email protected]]
Tue Oct 12 17:23:38 1999
Carl, I'll see what I can get about the drive. The IBM is in a friends V8; I'll ask him for any details. As for the power supply, I noticed that with the friends V8, it would tend to shut-down after about 30min (that was before we put the new drive in). Looking at the power supply, I noticed that the 5V regulator was very hot! But the heat sink was just hot. I took his power supply apart and found that there was NO heatsink compond! I applied some and put it back together and the machine ran fine. Installed new drive, and it has worked fine since. BTW, I have not tried an ORB; I guess I'll wait and see if you get it too work :) What version of the V8 OS are you running? Tony
Scott [[email protected]]
Wed Oct 13 08:08:10 1999
If any of you are electronics wizards,maybe you can figure out a better power supply for the V8? Worth a try!
carl [[email protected]]
Wed Oct 13 08:20:14 1999
Well, I received my replacement ORB drive and because of the thoughts concerning the V8 power supply I decided to power the ORB from a separate computer switching power supply. It didn't help. The same problems show up. Glitched audio, tracks unsyncronized and finally the V8 crashes. So for what ever it's worth I dont think it's the power supply that keeps the ORB from working and like VNO I don't think its the ORB. I will however keep trying and will post what I learn.
Scott [[email protected]]
Wed Oct 13 22:56:16 1999
The Latest From The Front: 1) I just bought a 10.00 gig Maxtor DiamondMax hard drive, put it in a V8, and VIOLA! 196 minutes of recording time! I cant vouch for its reliability yet, but it does spin up! Yeah! The Specs are: Model# 91020u3, HDA (whatever that is): 03A, PCBA ( Im clueless what this means too): 08A , "unique" (ditto) 32A, code: MA5405R0, Cylinders: 16383 (OK, I was wrong...), Heads: 16, Sectors:63, Speed 5400RPM, I paid 139$ + tax at BEST BUY. 2) Low Tech fix for my old 1.2 gig Seagate ( freezes up,scrambled sync, a nightmare!) which came with the V8: I have it mounted externally, which made this technique possible. Remember Fonzie, how he hit the pop machine? Well I hit this piece of crap hard drive it now it works great!!!! 3) I like Carls idea of using a different power supply. Only I think the 20 gig drive will benefit from this treatment. It does seem like the V8s power supply is too weak to spin up all those platters. Will let you know how this one turns out...(If its possible , I will get it working!) 4)Orb/V8: Ive got a couple songs that are working great (song 1 and 2 on the orb disc). I dont know why, but it seems to screw up as you get further along in the disc. I put a fan in, and it seems to work a little better. I think these V8s must be way more intensive than a hdr6 , as far as the processing. I just think theyre pickier. Hopefully, together we can figure out a fix!
Scott [[email protected]]
Thu Oct 14 02:03:43 1999
I just wanted to say how excited I am by this new hard drive! Ive had my V8s for a few months now, and theyve been sitting idle due to the fact that they never worked right from day1. The system boots and loads now in no time. I just reduced the playlist of a 55 minute song area, and it took only a few minutes! Ive recorded some tracks, and it goes perfectly! Today is truly a day for rejoicing! Thanks for the hot tip, Tony! A round of beers for the house!!
Carl [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 18 08:24:07 1999
Glad things are going better for you Scott. I have put hard drives back in my V8 and am thinking about some 10 gig maxtors. I think I will let the ORB sit for a while. Tony, my V8s all show OS 3.14 when they boot. Is this the most recent OS???? Thank you all for your advice and information............ Carl
Scott [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 18 15:22:54 1999
Hey Carl, what did you use for the power supply when you tested an external supply out on the orb? Was it just a regular computer power supply? Does it plug straight in using the power cable for the hard drive? The latest OS on the V8 is 3.14. I went and got a Maxtor 13.6 gig drive, and it wouldnt spin up, just like the 20 gig. So far the 10 gig is working well. However , there are 2 things Ive noticed: 1) I only get 196 minutes of recording time out of 10 gigs. It seems to me that at 23 minutes per gig (at least thats what Ive heard you should get with 8 tracks), I am getting shorted on 34 minutes of time.2) It seems that the mixer snapshot "pro" does not automatically save or load with the song. Other than this, the 10 gig works perfectly. However, I havent totally put it thru the torture test yet, and done things like record clear to the end, cut and paste, or record on all 8 tracks at once. The jury is still out on this. I will put it thru the paces more fully, soon, and report back what I have found.......
Carl [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 18 18:14:09 1999
Scott: Yeah, it was an old power supply from a 386 box. I used the power plug that you would normally run to a floppy or hard drive. The IDE cable came from the V8 to the ORB. I powered then up at the same time with a power strip switch. Note however that the ORB did exactly the same things we have seen it do without the external power supply (digital glitches, tracks not together, noise in adjacent channels where there was no audio input....... and all of this at about half way through the ORB disk). This external power supply idea came from a tech support guy at Castlewood. He said it would not hurt the ORB. Thanks for the Maxtor information. I plan on trying one. way through the ORB disk)
Scott [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 18 22:55:25 1999
I managed to get the 13.6 and 20.0 gig hard drives to work with the V8 tonight! I did this by using a power supply from an old computer to power up the drives. Unfortunately, the bad news is that you still only get 196 minutes of recording per drive. The counter turns over at 99 minutes 99 seconds and 29 frames, and then you get your minutes with a decimal point. So the counter turns over and it stops at 9.6 04 27, or approximately 196 minutes. I believe this to be the upper limit of time that can be recorded on the V8 with the current (final) operating system. Although who knows what the results would be if a different brand of drive was used. At 23 minutes per gigabyte of recording time, this would mean that anything over 8.5 gigabytes is a waste of hard drive space. I'd also like to add that the 10 gig drive sometimes wont start up right away, and it takes a few on \ offs to get it to spin up. The answer to this is probably that the power supply supplied with the V8 is too weak. Marginal to spin up the 10 gig, unable to spin up anything bigger. Such is life....
VNO [[email protected]]
Tue Oct 19 16:22:53 1999
That is how the MS enclosures operates. Off a separate power supply the ORBs can recieve dedicated power while feeding form the data cable off of the HDR the trick is to make sure the enclosure and the HDR is powered on simutaneously so the start up process in in sync. the best way to achive that is to connect them all to the same power conditioner. (The MS enclosures can also work with stationary hard drives)though, you did not hear me say that. If anybody recieved my email regarding special deals on HDs let me know, I am not sure if that email went out or not.
Carl [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 25 08:25:17 1999
FYI: heres another drive that works in the V8s. I took Scotts advice on the max hard drive size and put in a Segate ST38422A, 8.6 Gig, Ultra ATA/66, 5400rpm drive this past weekend. It seems to work fine and yes Scott, 196 minutes is all I got. I think that the V8s operating system is limited on the number of cyllinders it can address. Anyway, this drive works and you only waste a few hundred megs of drive space. I have done some cutting and pasting of recorded audio and everything has worked well so far.
Lex mens [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 25 22:02:36 1999
ANYBODY KNOWS? Who has experience with sync possibilities of the HDR6 and logic audio on the mac. In Logic Audio 4.0, there is a special file fore the HDR6. I want to use the HDR6 syngroon with my Mac. Lex mens --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lex mens [[email protected]]
Mon Oct 25 22:03:12 1999
ANYBODY KNOWS? Who has experience with sync possibilities of the HDR6 and logic audio on the mac. In Logic Audio 4.0, there is a special file fore the HDR6. I want to use the HDR6 syngroon with my Mac. Lex mens --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl [[email protected]]
Tue Oct 26 09:03:56 1999
Lex... I cant help on this one. I have successfully got an HDR-6 to sync to MIDI TC but thats about it. Surely if Logic Audio has a special file fore the HDR6 it should work ok. Carl
Carl [[email protected]]
Thu Oct 28 14:44:07 1999
FYI: I added a second Segate ST38422A to the V8 that already had one last night. Both drives spin up OK (4 out of 4 times)and the V8 recognizes a total recording time of 392 minutes (2x196) for the pair of 8.6 gig drives. I record about 90 minutes of 8 track audio onto the V8 and all went well. I did not have time to do any cutting, pasteing or editing. I post it as I learn it....... Carl
Scott [[email protected]]
Sat Oct 30 07:30:47 1999
Some new questions to ponder: 1) Will 2 8.4 gig drives work together in one V8 for a total of 392 minutes? 2)Will these same drives work with hdr6 and 8s? 3)Where can I get a more powerful power supply so I can mount a large drive internally, for portability if need be? (Im currently running the large drives from external power, the internal power supply wont spin them up). Heres a cool tip : I got these removable rack things to mount my hard drives in (made for computers). They have an inner caddy, where you put the hard drive, and it locks into an outer case. Each has a fan, a lock, and 2 lights to indicate power and drive operation. Its very slick, you can pop a new drive containing caddy in in about 10 seconds. 3 of these units fit one rack space (mounting them in a tray). Its very handy to be able to pop in a drive that holds 3 1/4 hours of recording time. Ive got 3 v8s now hooked up this way, and it rocks!