basically I’m trying to figure out if there is point in using something like this Tascam CD-RW900SX | Professional Audio CD Recorder
This is what I had in mind more or less Tascam CD-RW900SX | Professional Audio CD Recorder or is it for duplication after you burn it with internal drive?
How many times can you ask the same question??? (Seems like 5)
What you are asking about is a CD recorder that can record off either analog or digital. It is mainly used for making CDs of live events.
What most of us use is a CD burner and software on our computers. It is not the same.
FWIW
As I understand it now. Basically a cd recording deck is a computer with its own audio-interface, A/D converter and the same kind of cd burner. It was relevant when computers weren’t as great and as multitasking as they are today. And I guess it was very convenient to play, to mix, and burn it on to cd right away.
thank you. as I understand it the workflow is obsolete nowadays, and you can burn a cd from a computer with the same (maybe better) quality
Using an external separate recorder would be an outdated method for what you have in mind and is more for situations where you don’t have a computer and / or appropriate software. Also, what do you mean by ‘better’? How would you intend to connect the Tascam CD-RW900SX to your computer and / or interface with Wavelab?
I understand it now. Thank you for thinking it through with me. I was under idiotic impression that for a professional cd burner for music there should be something beyond a burner itself that looks like a consumer burner. Now I understand that it’s different and all you need is a top reliable burner. Although if you need to replicate it in huge quantity you send it to a factory or something like this. Now at this point I just need to make sure that a burner that i buy can make music cds and it has the lowest mistake rate for my budget.
That’s about right. The problem is finding a model which is sufficiently accurate.
It was easier in the distant past with the original Plextor drives, like the Plextor Premium 2, which had a great reputation but, of course, these are no longer available. AFAIK current Plextor drives are no longer made by the same manufacturer and to the same high standards. Opinions vary between different models. The dBpoweramp list gives a reasonably good idea about which drives are likely to perform well.
thank you. I’m catching up on this list. Fascinating.
The quality of the burn results doesn’t depend solely on the burner itself; it seems to me to be a combination of the burner and the blank disc. There are also differences between the blank discs. You can check this with a Plextor and the Plex utilities if you have something like that. Every CD is likely to have errors. It’s important that these errors aren’t reflected in the final product thanks to CD error correction.
The images above show my measurements of blank CDs. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to ultimately estimate the burning quality. The statements regarding durability also vary considerably.
CDs also have considerable potential for improvement. (data volume, bit depth, sample rate, scratch resistance, better error correction.) Its successor, DVD-A, which offers better quality and is less error-prone, unfortunately didn’t catch on and is no longer offered in WaveLab 12.
And the “successor” to DVD-A… Blu-ray audio… I still don’t know how to do that with WaveLab. Perhaps it would be better to use a video tool that supports multiple audio tracks mastered with WaveLab. If I look in Nuendo 13 … still no .mkv-file support. (use .mp4)
If you need to buy new blank CDs, my advice would be: use medical-grade blank CDs.
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Definitely.
thank you very much! Lots of useful information!