Sony PCM-501es Digital Audio Processor
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Posted on May 10, 2007 08:04 pm
edsel58
Member Since: May 10, 2007
HI,
I am almost the proud (?) owner of a Sony PCM-501es Digital Audio Processor. I am in need of any info I can get, including specs, what were the popular modifications to this unit and can I make the mods myself? It looks as if I am going to be stuck with this thing, so I want to make the most of it. LOL.
BTW, I plan on using the unit in conjunction with a Toshiba Diomage S-VHS deck.
Thanks!
Warren
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Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 13, 2007 10:41 am After a rather lengthy search I did not find a lot of details on any manuals available for the unit. I can tell you it is a rather simple piece of gear and can be modded to do 24 bit processing now. Didn't find any links to that either. Although you can try google every couple of days as new stuff always pops up.
Anyway, you do know that the unit is nothing more then a digital converter that is used now for nothing more the converting an analog signal to digital for the purpose of getting it to a common VCR tape. Not something I would want here for either back up or even common storage or playback.
But yes, it will work with the Toshiba deck.
May 13, 2007 03:18 pm dig the guy's name! fit's right for the post...strange car/strange setup. no offense meant by that.
May 13, 2007 09:13 pm Hi Noize2u,
Hmmm. 24 Bit, eh? That sounds interesting. Thanks for taking the time investigating and replying!
I do not really plan on recording with the unit. I have one(1) VHS tape recorded in this format, and need to archive it to another digital format. What a pain for one tape!
Thanks again,
Warren
May 13, 2007 09:21 pm Hi whosyourdaddy00,
No offense taken. I've owned Edsels (and "normal" cars, also) since I was 15. I've got a pretty nice original '58. Not really much different then your basic Ford of the same era, since the body shell, frame, mechanicals were shared. It's that darn sheetmetal which gets in the way! LOL. As for the "set-up", see my reply to Noise2u above.
Thanks,
Warren
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 15, 2007 10:03 pm Well if your getting the unit cheap enough I guess its worth it for the archiving then. I know I've spent more money on worse things that probably only get used once and then set aside in hopes it might come in handy again.
But hey, if the music is worth salvaging then it is worth it in the end.
Good luck with it.
May 16, 2007 01:31 am can you say ADAT?.....my studio (the one i work for) rocked 3 adat machines (24 tracks) for 2 years, the plan was to archive everything to hard disk, but it hasn't happened yet...
May 16, 2007 10:16 pm Thanks! The tape I'm attempting to save is a 2 track master - not of me (thank goodness! - lol), and is definitely worth saving!
Too many formats! AARRGGGHHH!
Warren
Noize2uCzar of MidiAdministrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002
May 16, 2007 10:30 pm Amen on the too many formats thing. I still have sessions saved on old SparQ cartridges, they were knock offs of the Iomega Jaz drives. But I finally found drivers to use it on XP so I can avoid re-doing a windows 95 machine just to salvage the data. I as well have samples that I use in at least 15 different formats, some of which I don't even own hardware for anymore.
but having been doing this digital thing for since its beginning I have seen so many formats come and go it isn't even funny.
Again, good luck with the transfer.
May 29, 2007 04:19 pm Hello man. I'm Thierry Dambermont. I'm in Belgium. I owned myself three of these devices back in the eighties. I still have two of them on a top of a shelf. The third one : I don't know where it is, lost, stolen?
I have about 500 videotapes with PCM signal which I transfered onto cd about 4 years ago. The thing I can say is that the sound of this device is not extremely good, for the ears of the audiophile which I became, but at that time it offered a very very good price/quality ratio, compared to better recording devices like the DAT (which appeared 4 years later than the 501ES). One thing to know is that the sound is better when using two of these devices along : you plug the video signal from the VCR into the "video in" of the PCM #1, you push the copy buttton, you take the "copy out" signal and put it into the "video in" of the PCM #2. Then the sound is better. Still, 4 years ago I had to use, with some tracks, an equal curv (I used Nero at that time) in order to get an even better sound quality, and sometimes a barely audible reverb effect (something like 0,003 second). Another thing to know is that you shouldn't record too close to the zero db, I mean too close to the saturation level. Why? Because due to the technical concept, the more the sound is loud ont he recording, the thinner the lines are on the video signal image, that means that it is more likely to have "drop outs" when recroded loud. I hope I'm making myself understand here, as english is not my native tongue, sorry! That leads us to the other problem with these devices : dropouts! Any problem on the videotape and it's a mess during one or two seconds in the recording. That's why I always made copies of my videotapes (using the "copy out" of course, but you know that, don't you?). I used the devices with my synth's. I didn't had a multiple track analog recorder, so I programmed my 16k copmputer to play the synth, recorded it onto one PCM, then changed computer programming to play once again the synth, played back the recording while mixing it with the synth, recorded it onto the other PCM of course, and so on, 3, 4, 5 times, maybe more. In order to keep sync, I always had to play back the recording in the same VCR that recorded it, otherwise the speed changed… one VCR do not play exactly at the same speed from another ! These are the tracks that I made 20 years ago! www.electrobel.be/artist/5337#songs
Undestand me, the sound of these 501ES devices is not bad at all, but it's a little bit less good than the sound of a cd.
Nowadays I use a TASCAM DV-RA1000 DSD recorder in order to backup my vinyl collection : recordable CD is not good enough for my audiophile ears. Bye.
