• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Software for playing CD's?

F

Fenris

There are NO reliable CD players with XLR out on the market and I'm fed up with the crap being put out by Denon, Stanton, and most recently American Audio. We're a freeform station with a very large & diverse library and we need physical CD playback. I've decided to install a dedicated computer with 3 CD drives and a MIDI controller with the familiar buttons.

I need a recommendation for CD player software. It needs to work exactly like a trio of CD players hooked up to a broadcast console. It needs to be capable of playing one CD through the Cue output while another CD is playing through the Program output, and play individual songs with no clicks or pops at the transitions. It needs MIDI control for the transport functions.

Maybe one of the popular DJ software programs can be configured to do this.
 
Can't help you with the software, but my understanding is that, hardware-wise, virtually all CD decks are similar, whether they're in a computer or a CD player.
 
Have you talked to Paul at Pro Digital (610) 353-2400?

He usually has Denon DN-961FA decks that he refurbishes with new transports/laser pickups. These are the drawer loading ones, not the CD cart variety. Used them (and Pro Digital) when I was at WNTI, as the live shows from 6a-10p all came off of 3 decks.

The nice thing about the 961 is that the drawer is just on a spring load mechanism, so there's no motor to burn out or jam. 3 of them fit nicely side by side in a 19" rack and they took the abuse by volunteers. About every 2 years I would send one or two back for a freshen up. It wasn't too expensive, and I kept 2 spares on the shelf ready to go.

After much experimentation, that was the best route for day after day pounding playing CD's. None of the "DJ" decks had the features, lack of buttons (good thing) and the ability to lock out certain functions. None were as tough either.

Too bad they don't make 'em anymore, but I suspect with 90% of stations or more using hard drive playout systems, robust CD players aren't needed. None of my clients use them except in production.
 
Is there a real reason for wanting CD Players. Hard Drive storage is so cheap and being able to search and play things on a moments notice would seem much more important.

I can't see why anyone would want to use a CD player. They are more prone to failure than a computer.
 
See my original post. We are not a commercial station that plays the same 20 songs all day. HD storage is completely impractical for us.

The Denon DN-961FA looks like a good option. Thanks!
 
I read your post, I'm just offering an alternative. I maintain around 25,000 tracks in our library and that uses about 50% of my RAID 5 array. The quality level of CD players (new and refurbed) will never match my audio servers... They only go down when I install security updates... Doesn't take anyone off either, as they fail over to the alternate server within 500ms.
 
We have at least 50,000 CD's in our library. That's about half a million tracks. We don't have the man-hours to catalogue them all, let alone transfer them all to hard drive, even at 48x speed.

We may transfer all the CD-R's at some point. Hopefully the mass-produced CD's will be less prone to oxidation.
 
Now I see the scope of your library. If you can find the 961's, that is without doubt the best choice.

I do think you should start planning how to get this all on a hard drive at some point. Even if it's 100 tracks a week, you will eventually get there.

I, personally, am a big fan of putting your audio on a server and not a workstation. I also like a redundant, identically built server, with two sets of backup hardware (motherboard, etc...)

Thanks for clarifying how large your library is... That is huge.
 
I inherited some Tascam CD-01u Pros and Denon DN-C620 slot load players that a colleague acquired from a station that got fed up with all of them. After reconditioning all the rubber that transported the discs in the slots they seemed to work ok. The Tascams need their mechanics lubed but I haven't found the ideal lube that won't gum up the works. Personally, I think slot-load drives are the worse for an on-air environment.

I have a bunch of the 961's and even had Paul at ProDigital refurb a few as well. They stood up to abuse from live jocks and are built quite well. I think you'll be well served by them.
 
Well. I asked the older DJ's, and tell me that the 961's were iffy with CD-R's. We play quite a few CD-R's. That nixes it.

It looks like most automation software has a Cue output. I just need one that can play tracks directly from a CD drive. Any recommendations?
 
Eventually you will have to switch to an alternative... The trouble you're having now is only the start.
If you would just start with ripping the CD's that are mentioned on the playlist AND start playing that tracks from the computer you will get there in a very controlled manner.
 
10-12 years ago, I owned a company that sold and serviced this stuff. I may be a bit out of date, but I doubt much has improved. With the exception of the old Denon machine previously mentioned, the transports are all very similar. Even the lower cost Denon's used the same Sony transport as many other consumer machines. The only difference was the replacement laser reader was $18.00 from Sony and and early $100 from Denon. They were identical.

The CD transport in your computer is just as bad. They break very easily. In fact, I need to change the one on the computer I'm using at the moment. One of the biggest problems I've noted with any CD player is "talent" has a tendency to get headphone cords and articles of their clothing tangled up in the drawer mechanism. A good solid yank on the drawer, and the transport is toast. I'm not sure what your studio looks like, but be sure that all transports are mounted above waist level. I know it sounds simple, but it solves a lot of problems.

Otherwise, just keep buying cheap players like Numark, Stanton, American Audio, etc. Do like a lot of club owners do, and keep a spare one on the shelf. You know it will break. When one craps out, just put it in the dumpster and install your spare. The only cheap ones I've had more than average problems with were Gemini. They may be OK now, but at one time, I had enough land on our loading dock that were DOA to never want to bother trying them again.
 
Fenris said:
Well. I asked the older DJ's, and tell me that the 961's were iffy with CD-R's. We play quite a few CD-R's. That nixes it.
Click to expand...

I used the 961's with cd-r media with very good success. In fact, some TM Studios discs are burned rather than stamped and they read without any issues. I'm sure a competent outfit like ProDigital or wherever you wish to have your decks serviced can make sure the alignment will work with burned media.
 
richard.vanderveen said:
Eventually you will have to switch to an alternative... The trouble you're having now is only the start.
If you would just start with ripping the CD's that are mentioned on the playlist AND start playing that tracks from the computer you will get there in a very controlled manner.
Click to expand...
We don't have playlists. We're a freeform station.

Thanks for the heads up about CD drives, Chuck. Computers use a buffer and do better with damaged discs, so I'm hoping they'll be more reliable.

Yes, we can buy cheap CD players and always have a backup ... trouble is, these $#@* don't work right even when they're brand new. The Stanton makes a loud click at the end of each track in Single mode, the American Audio skips ahead randomly, and the Numark is "currently unavailable."

If the 961's are expertly refurbished, maybe they'll behave with CD-R's. But I don't think I can justify the cost for a "maybe."

I'll ask one more time ... does any radio automation software offer direct playback of audio CD's?

I'm on the verge of giving up and telling the DJ's they're just going to have to live with CD players that don't work very well. We play a few pre-recorded programs from CD-R, I'll recommend ripping them to the computer first.
 
No. There aren't, I am afraid. Buy cheap CD players. It is your only doable option, aside from ripping the tracks.

Computers are too unpredictable at playing, starting or stopping optical media in real time.

You could use winamp on three separate computers, and have two disc trays in each machine...for when one dies...but that seems clunky...and a waste.
 
We still have a trio of Technics SL1200's in service. Thankfully, they're built like professional broadcast gear and will still be repairable for decades, despite being discontinued.
 
Rip the CDs... I know it's a pain with a large library but not only will you ensure easy play out.. the quality will stay -- I know from past experience working with FMs that had CDs... Scratches become the norm with most talent causing the CDs to skip, not play right, become useless..
 
I can give the DJ's the option of ripping tracks before they play them. But it won't be SOP.

I suppose we could change our format to be more like the commercial stations ... and use the same equipment as the commercial stations ... and lose our audience and go bankrupt like the commercial stations ... LOL.
 
From what you say, I think the problem may be with your disks, not the players. I sold hundreds (maybe thousands) of players by Numark, Denon, American Audio, Stanton, TASCAM and GEM. Our return rate was very low. Yes, there were bad ones, but that was unusual. To my amazement, the American Audio versions seemed to be the most bullet proof. The Denon's (other than the Gemini's I referred to) were the least reliable.

I understand all of this may have changed in the last 10-12 years, but my experience has been different than yours. That is not to say you are having problems, but it may not be just the players. I have an 11 year old Numark in our production studio that has worked just fine and is used every day. Both of our on air studios have American Audio players which have been fine. I have a mobile trailer/studio for remotes that has a dual well Stanton. It has been fine. My church, where I do sound on Sundays, has two Stanton single well decks. Again, no problem, and I've never heard a "click" when used in the single mode.

All that is predicated on the disk being in good condition. A scratched or dirty disk won't play reliably on any of them. I've also had "home burned" CD's refuse to play on anything after a period of time. Sometimes the burn is just plain bad and they won't play on anything other than the deck they were made on. Burned disks seem to be especially susceptible to heat and sunlight. Leave one on the dash of your car in the summer and you may have big problems ever playing it again.

If scratches are a problem, there are mechanical devices on the market that can remove them. Basically,they are motorized polishers. You might look into them. They are quite popular with used CD vendors. Sometimes, just cleaning the disk works well. almost any cleaner and a microfiber cloth can do a good job. My personal favorite is Armour-All's clear glass cleaner, available at Walmart or most auto supply stores. It is a great general purpose cleaner.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom