Appreciate any help on this topic.

I have a few DAT tapes I want to record onto my computer. I recently
purchased an Edirol UA-1D and an optical cable. I'm borrowing a
Panasonic SV-3800 DAT player from a friend. I hooked up the optical
cable to the DAT player and the Edirol and plugged the Edirol into my
Mac (I've tried on both my iBook and my G4 desktop) using USB. I
opened system preferences, set the audio input to Edirol and see
nothing on the meter with I play a tape. I know the Panasonic works
because I can plug in headphones and hear the audio.

I have also tried a used Sony DAT player I bought on ebay and I can
see audio input in the System Preferences :: Audio panel when I use
that machine, but the deck is unreliable and skips portions of the
audio. I have tried recording using Audacity
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), but it won't work with the
Panasonic. I do not want to use the Sony anymore because I don't
trust it and the tapes I'm using are very important.

I am reasonably sure the optical cable works and the Edirol works
because I can see the Audio on the mac. I cannot, however, manage to
get the audio to play on the mac speakers, nor can I record.
Actually, I may have been able to record using the Sony and my iBook,
but I can't remember and it's not really relevant because the Sony is
essentially unusable.

So, I have questions:

1) Am I missing a setting on the Panasonic that will cause it to
output to the digital output port? Is there anything on the Panasonic
unit I am doing or not doing that will get it to work?

2) If the problem is not the Panasonic, am I missing something in the
audio settings of the Mac that is causing it not to get the digital
input through the Edirol?

3) Has anybody tried to do what I'm doing and can you offer some
assistance or suggest tools/programs/hardware/whatever? I want to try
and not spend any more money (although I will if I have to) and use
the existing equipment to transfer this audio onto my computer.

Feel free to post or respond to me personally.

Thanks!

Dave
dataudio (at) cicomputing.com

On 16 Oct 2004 11:37:29 -0700, (Dave) wrote:

Appreciate any help on this topic.

I have a few DAT tapes I want to record onto my computer. I recently
purchased an Edirol UA-1D and an optical cable. I'm borrowing a
Panasonic SV-3800 DAT player from a friend. I hooked up the optical
cable to the DAT player and the Edirol and plugged the Edirol into my
Mac (I've tried on both my iBook and my G4 desktop) using USB. I
opened system preferences, set the audio input to Edirol and see
nothing on the meter with I play a tape. I know the Panasonic works
because I can plug in headphones and hear the audio.

I don't know the SV-3800 DAT recorder, but there is some chance
that you need to activate the optical output on that machine. The
deck supports both the pro and the consumer format on transfering
digital data. Optical output is consumer format and may be the deck
needs to be told the format it has to send.

Another reason for getting no data to the Edirol is a week optical
signal. Do you see red light coming off the cable when you disconnect
it from the Edirol? How bright is it compared with the Sony. Btw, you
don't need to load a tape into the Sony to test its output, the
digital outputs of a (consumer) Sony DAT is always transmitting
data. Without loading a tape you can press the record key and the
deck should digitize the analog input (when selected) and send the
digital stream to its outputs.

Another test: connect the SV-3800 to the optical input of the Sony
DAT, set the input selector to optical in, hit record (without a tape
loaded) and watch the meters. If that works you are sure that the
SV-3800 is sending correctly. You may listen to the music with
headphone at both the Panasonic and the Sony recorder and
you shouldn't head any difference.

Norbert

Dave wrote:

Appreciate any help on this topic.

I have a few DAT tapes I want to record onto my computer. I recently
purchased an Edirol UA-1D and an optical cable. I'm borrowing a
Panasonic SV-3800 DAT player from a friend. I hooked up the optical
cable to the DAT player and the Edirol and plugged the Edirol into my
Mac (I've tried on both my iBook and my G4 desktop) using USB. I
opened system preferences, set the audio input to Edirol and see
nothing on the meter with I play a tape. I know the Panasonic works
because I can plug in headphones and hear the audio.

I have also tried a used Sony DAT player I bought on ebay and I can
see audio input in the System Preferences :: Audio panel when I use
that machine, but the deck is unreliable and skips portions of the
audio. I have tried recording using Audacity
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), but it won't work with the
Panasonic. I do not want to use the Sony anymore because I don't
trust it and the tapes I'm using are very important.

I am reasonably sure the optical cable works and the Edirol works
because I can see the Audio on the mac. I cannot, however, manage to
get the audio to play on the mac speakers, nor can I record.
Actually, I may have been able to record using the Sony and my iBook,
but I can't remember and it's not really relevant because the Sony is
essentially unusable.

So, I have questions:

1) Am I missing a setting on the Panasonic that will cause it to
output to the digital output port? Is there anything on the Panasonic
unit I am doing or not doing that will get it to work?

2) If the problem is not the Panasonic, am I missing something in the
audio settings of the Mac that is causing it not to get the digital
input through the Edirol?

3) Has anybody tried to do what I'm doing and can you offer some
assistance or suggest tools/programs/hardware/whatever? I want to try
and not spend any more money (although I will if I have to) and use
the existing equipment to transfer this audio onto my computer.

The fact that you can see audio input from Edirol with the Sony device
suggests that the Mac settings are fine. I don't know the Panasonic
device but it might be something as simple as hooking up the cable to
the wrong port.

To record, try Amadeus II. Dig into its Record panel and make sure that
it is requesting and getting 48 KHz sampling from the Edirol device; you
want the sample rate to match that of the DAT. m.

--
matt neuburg, phd = , http://www.tidbits.com/matt/
AppleScript: The Definitive Guide
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...methingsbymatt
Read TidBITS! It's free and smart. http://www.tidbits.com

IIRC, you do have to select the I/O you want active in the back, AES/EBU;
SPDIF, or optical. There's a "secret" key combination, but my 3800 is at
work right now and I'm not. It's something like hold down the counter mode
and reset buttons, then hit the pause button. The count display turns into
a menu, which you cycle through with the mode button and change the items
with the FF and REW buttons. The first menu to show is the I/O, something
like AES, IEC or OPTical might display. Change I/O with the FF or REW
buttons, exit by pressing the reset button. If you miss the right menu
item (some are very cryptic), just keep hitting the mode button until you
get back to square one. I think.


In article ,
Dave wrote:
Appreciate any help on this topic.

I have a few DAT tapes I want to record onto my computer. I recently
purchased an Edirol UA-1D and an optical cable. I'm borrowing a
Panasonic SV-3800 DAT player from a friend. I hooked up the optical
cable to the DAT player and the Edirol and plugged the Edirol into my
Mac (I've tried on both my iBook and my G4 desktop) using USB. I
opened system preferences, set the audio input to Edirol and see
nothing on the meter with I play a tape. I know the Panasonic works
because I can plug in headphones and hear the audio.

I have also tried a used Sony DAT player I bought on ebay and I can
see audio input in the System Preferences :: Audio panel when I use
that machine, but the deck is unreliable and skips portions of the
audio. I have tried recording using Audacity
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), but it won't work with the
Panasonic. I do not want to use the Sony anymore because I don't
trust it and the tapes I'm using are very important.

I am reasonably sure the optical cable works and the Edirol works
because I can see the Audio on the mac. I cannot, however, manage to
get the audio to play on the mac speakers, nor can I record.
Actually, I may have been able to record using the Sony and my iBook,
but I can't remember and it's not really relevant because the Sony is
essentially unusable.

So, I have questions:

1) Am I missing a setting on the Panasonic that will cause it to
output to the digital output port? Is there anything on the Panasonic
unit I am doing or not doing that will get it to work?

2) If the problem is not the Panasonic, am I missing something in the
audio settings of the Mac that is causing it not to get the digital
input through the Edirol?

3) Has anybody tried to do what I'm doing and can you offer some
assistance or suggest tools/programs/hardware/whatever? I want to try
and not spend any more money (although I will if I have to) and use
the existing equipment to transfer this audio onto my computer.

Feel free to post or respond to me personally.

Thanks!

Dave
dataudio (at) cicomputing.com

This was great advice, thank you! I've gotten farther, but still not
quite there yet. On the Panasonic, I pressed counter mode and reset
and pause at the same time and got the menu you spoke of. There were
three options: AES, IEC-O and IEC-C. When I use either of the IEC
modes, the mac gets the audio! I can also record - I've tried with
both Audacity and Amadeus II (thanks for the suggestion Matt). I am
just recording some people speaking at a seminar, so there is no need
for super high quality. The problem now is that the sound I record is
very digitized. It sounds like someone is talking to an X-Wing
fighter on approach to the Death Star :-)

Both Audacity and Amadeus II are set to 48 Khz, mono (even though the
recording is in stereo, the mac won't see it unless I set it to mono).
The waveforms show audio, it's just garbled. I'm still messing with
settings, but any suggestions you have would be helpful.

Thanks so much for your help to a newbie audio person.

Dave

(G. Louie) wrote in message ...
IIRC, you do have to select the I/O you want active in the back, AES/EBU;
SPDIF, or optical. There's a "secret" key combination, but my 3800 is at
work right now and I'm not. It's something like hold down the counter mode
and reset buttons, then hit the pause button. The count display turns into
a menu, which you cycle through with the mode button and change the items
with the FF and REW buttons. The first menu to show is the I/O, something
like AES, IEC or OPTical might display. Change I/O with the FF or REW
buttons, exit by pressing the reset button. If you miss the right menu
item (some are very cryptic), just keep hitting the mode button until you
get back to square one. I think.


In article ,
Dave wrote:
Appreciate any help on this topic.

I have a few DAT tapes I want to record onto my computer. I recently
purchased an Edirol UA-1D and an optical cable. I'm borrowing a
Panasonic SV-3800 DAT player from a friend. I hooked up the optical
cable to the DAT player and the Edirol and plugged the Edirol into my
Mac (I've tried on both my iBook and my G4 desktop) using USB. I
opened system preferences, set the audio input to Edirol and see
nothing on the meter with I play a tape. I know the Panasonic works
because I can plug in headphones and hear the audio.

I have also tried a used Sony DAT player I bought on ebay and I can
see audio input in the System Preferences :: Audio panel when I use
that machine, but the deck is unreliable and skips portions of the
audio. I have tried recording using Audacity
(http://audacity.sourceforge.net/), but it won't work with the
Panasonic. I do not want to use the Sony anymore because I don't
trust it and the tapes I'm using are very important.

I am reasonably sure the optical cable works and the Edirol works
because I can see the Audio on the mac. I cannot, however, manage to
get the audio to play on the mac speakers, nor can I record.
Actually, I may have been able to record using the Sony and my iBook,
but I can't remember and it's not really relevant because the Sony is
essentially unusable.

So, I have questions:

1) Am I missing a setting on the Panasonic that will cause it to
output to the digital output port? Is there anything on the Panasonic
unit I am doing or not doing that will get it to work?

2) If the problem is not the Panasonic, am I missing something in the
audio settings of the Mac that is causing it not to get the digital
input through the Edirol?

3) Has anybody tried to do what I'm doing and can you offer some
assistance or suggest tools/programs/hardware/whatever? I want to try
and not spend any more money (although I will if I have to) and use
the existing equipment to transfer this audio onto my computer.

Feel free to post or respond to me personally.

Thanks!

Dave
dataudio (at) cicomputing.com

Yes, IEC-O activates the optical I/O and IEC-C is for the SPDIF (RCA jack;
coaxial). Apparently optical works in either IEC mode. This is all from
memory, I am still not at work where the machine is.

Now look at the Panasonic display when the tape is playing - the sampling
rate will be displayed, 44.1 or 48 kHz. I don't think the Pana will do
anything else. Stereo is assumed here. You will need to set your software
to the same sampling rate, stereo. You may also have to make a setting to
clock or synch the software from the DAT player instead of from the
computer. Where that would be for you, I don't know. There may be a driver
for your card you need.

In article ,
Dave wrote:
This was great advice, thank you! I've gotten farther, but still not
quite there yet. On the Panasonic, I pressed counter mode and reset
and pause at the same time and got the menu you spoke of. There were
three options: AES, IEC-O and IEC-C. When I use either of the IEC
modes, the mac gets the audio! I can also record - I've tried with
both Audacity and Amadeus II (thanks for the suggestion Matt). I am
just recording some people speaking at a seminar, so there is no need
for super high quality. The problem now is that the sound I record is
very digitized. It sounds like someone is talking to an X-Wing
fighter on approach to the Death Star :-)

Both Audacity and Amadeus II are set to 48 Khz, mono (even though the
recording is in stereo, the mac won't see it unless I set it to mono).
The waveforms show audio, it's just garbled. I'm still messing with
settings, but any suggestions you have would be helpful.

Thanks so much for your help to a newbie audio person.

Mon, 18 Oct 2004 03:06:56 +0000 (UTC), suggested:
: Yes, IEC-O activates the optical I/O and IEC-C is for the SPDIF (RCA jack;
: coaxial). Apparently optical works in either IEC mode. This is all from
: memory, I am still not at work where the machine is.
:
: Now look at the Panasonic display when the tape is playing - the sampling
: rate will be displayed, 44.1 or 48 kHz. I don't think the Pana will do
: anything else. Stereo is assumed here. You will need to set your software
: to the same sampling rate, stereo. You may also have to make a setting to
: clock or synch the software from the DAT player instead of from the
: computer. Where that would be for you, I don't know. There may be a driver
: for your card you need.

Right, in order to get a reliable stream, you need to tell the Edirol to
use the digital input as clock source. I'm not sure how to do this, but it
should be in the preferences for the device.

--
agreenbu @ nyx . net andrew michael greenburg