This manual covers the two models of the
When a section of this manual describes a function which is included as part of the
R3.12.2Laser pickup time
This indicates how long…
There are no features which are unique to the MD- 801P model.
1.1 About the MiniDisc format
This section provides some basic information regard- ing the MiniDisc format. If more detailed informa- tion is required, the reader is referred to one of the many books on the subject. John Wilkinson, The Art of Digital Audio 2nd ed. Oxford: Focal Press, 1994 is an excellent reference source, particularly Chapter 12, which deals with the use of optical discs in audio applications.
The MiniDisc format (MD) is a convenient form of digital audio media, using optical playback, similar to CDs.
The format of the MD is substantially smaller than that of the CD, and the disc itself is housed in a car- tridge with a shutter, similar to that of a 3.5” floppy disc drive. The disc platter should never be removed from this cartridge.
Recordable MDs are also available, and the technol- ogy used for recording on a recordable MD is
There is a third kind of MD, the hybrid, which con- tains
1 - Introduction
Full explanations of the principles of
The MD format therefore provides the convenience and durability of an optical disc format with the reus- abilty characteristics of tape.
1.1.1 ATRAC compression
If a MiniDisc were to be recorded using exactly the same techniques as a CD, the playback time would be only 15 minutes of stereo playback.
However, using a technique known as ATRAC (Adaptive TRansform Acoustic Coding), 74 minutes of stereo audio at 44.1 kHz sampling frequency with a
ATRAC uses two important
The ATRAC used in the
1.1.2 Buffer memory
The ATRAC compression scheme has an additional advantage, as a RAM buffer must be provided for the compressed data, before it is decoded and sent to the D/A converters.
On the
1.1.3 Random access and U-TOC
The format of a recordable MD is much closer to that of a computer disc than of conventional audio media. The random access nature of the disc media allows a logical “track” to be composed of sections of audio data recorded at different points on the disc.
In the same way that a computer’s operating system hides the details of the way that data is stored on the
TASCAM