4.5V charger for 6V MiniDisk Recorder/Player?

skiphunt

After watching the most recent Hainbach ambient video where he's cutting up recordings and random playback etc... I dug up my old Sony MZ-R30 minidisk recorder/player to have a play myself.

Trouble is, it's been in a box for probably 10 years or so... so I don't know if it's Lithium battery is shot or not. The charger that's with it is a Sony and looks like it came with it, but it says it's a 4.5V Sony charger, and the Sony MD says it takes 6V.

It's powering it so far, but the blinking battery indicating charging isn't happening. It could be that it needs to get some charge before it starts showing. But, I'm wondering if I just have to get a new 6V wall charger and replacement battery? Will a 4.5V wall charger charge a 6V device? The plug fits, but I don't want to fry it.

It looks like the one it came with, but I'm concerned that the charger has 4.5V printed on it, while the MD says it takes 6V.

Korakios

Unfortunately it’s a long time since I had MDs . (Great units , stupid company)
Normally there should not be any issue since the charger is bellow 6V , but the polarity MUST be the same .

skiphunt

@Korakios said:
Unfortunately it’s a long time since I had MDs . (Great units , stupid company)
Normally there should not be any issue since the charger is bellow 6V , but the polarity MUST be the same .

It's working/playing with the 4.5v charger plugged in, but the charging indicator isn’t flashing. So, I don’t know if it’s because the battery is shot, or that it needs a 6v to charge.

The lithium battery says it’s 3.6v, so I’m guessing if the supply is working and the battery is still good, it should work.

The battery is likely shot. 10 years is a long time for a battery to sit dormant, even for lithium.

stemshade

haha, the new crazy fad. i dug up my own md (actually the mz-r50) a couple of weeks ago, trying to figure out what i could use it for and didn't see a point other than as a portable playback machine to combine with other stuff for ambient music. so i put it aside and then i started seeing them pop up all over youtube and instagram. this one dude shows how he uses it, creating markers and shuffling the audio. tried it and got it to work somewhat, but it's so unpredictable and difficult to cut up correctly for anything rhythmic that i put it away again. can't see any real reason to actually use it, as the only thing it does sonically might be a tiny compression.

skiphunt

@vpich said:
haha, the new crazy fad. i dug up my own md (actually the mz-r50) a couple of weeks ago, trying to figure out what i could use it for and didn't see a point other than as a portable playback machine to combine with other stuff for ambient music. so i put it aside and then i started seeing them pop up all over youtube and instagram. this one dude shows how he uses it, creating markers and shuffling the audio. tried it and got it to work somewhat, but it's so unpredictable and difficult to cut up correctly for anything rhythmic that i put it away again. can't see any real reason to actually use it, as the only thing it does sonically might be a tiny compression.

I think this Hainbach dude is just really talented and can compose all kinds of quirky stuff that always sounds interesting to me.

Remembered I had an old MD and thought I’d screw around with it, but I’m not interested enough to buy extra stuff to put something legacy back into use.

Mine isn’t getting hot, nor does it smell like it’s burning so maybe I’ll see if there’s any new use left if the battery ends up charging.

I bet it’ll run off one of my external battery packs though, if I have the right power adapter.

stemshade

@skiphunt said:

@vpich said:
haha, the new crazy fad. i dug up my own md (actually the mz-r50) a couple of weeks ago, trying to figure out what i could use it for and didn't see a point other than as a portable playback machine to combine with other stuff for ambient music. so i put it aside and then i started seeing them pop up all over youtube and instagram. this one dude shows how he uses it, creating markers and shuffling the audio. tried it and got it to work somewhat, but it's so unpredictable and difficult to cut up correctly for anything rhythmic that i put it away again. can't see any real reason to actually use it, as the only thing it does sonically might be a tiny compression.

I think this Hainbach dude is just really talented and can compose all kinds of quirky stuff that always sounds interesting to me.

Remembered I had an old MD and thought I’d screw around with it, but I’m not interested enough to buy extra stuff to put something legacy back into use.

Mine isn’t getting hot, nor does it smell like it’s burning so maybe I’ll see if there’s any new use left if the battery ends up charging.

I bet it’ll run off one of my external battery packs though, if I have the right power adapter.

Yeah that’s him. But really don’t see the use apart from non-linearity. But that can be accomplished so much easier and better on the Ipad. The tape machines yeah, warbly and dirty and pitchy. Been really enjoying testing out stuff with that. I’ll probably try something with the md again though, being as it works and is lying around. Maybe if i import cut up samples, all with the same length.

skiphunt

@vpich said:

@skiphunt said:

@vpich said:
haha, the new crazy fad. i dug up my own md (actually the mz-r50) a couple of weeks ago, trying to figure out what i could use it for and didn't see a point other than as a portable playback machine to combine with other stuff for ambient music. so i put it aside and then i started seeing them pop up all over youtube and instagram. this one dude shows how he uses it, creating markers and shuffling the audio. tried it and got it to work somewhat, but it's so unpredictable and difficult to cut up correctly for anything rhythmic that i put it away again. can't see any real reason to actually use it, as the only thing it does sonically might be a tiny compression.

I think this Hainbach dude is just really talented and can compose all kinds of quirky stuff that always sounds interesting to me.

Remembered I had an old MD and thought I’d screw around with it, but I’m not interested enough to buy extra stuff to put something legacy back into use.

Mine isn’t getting hot, nor does it smell like it’s burning so maybe I’ll see if there’s any new use left if the battery ends up charging.

I bet it’ll run off one of my external battery packs though, if I have the right power adapter.

Yeah that’s him. But really don’t see the use apart from non-linearity. But that can be accomplished so much easier and better on the Ipad. The tape machines yeah, warbly and dirty and pitchy. Been really enjoying testing out stuff with that. I’ll probably try something with the md again though, being as it works and is lying around. Maybe if i import cut up samples, all with the same length.

Since mine has a mic input, I thought I just do little micro recordings then shuffle play back, but yeah... nothing that can’t be done on the ipad. Just fun nerdery 🤓 I reckon.

I bought cassette recorder/player with speed control at a second hand shop. Then tore up some old cassettes making tape loops. Fun stuff, but was a lot more tricky and tedious than they made it look on YouTube.

I think I just like the idea of repurposing old stuff I already have. Not so much out of necessity, per se.

Actually, I’m pretty sure I can do all this and a lot more stuff with my little Tascam DR22WL if I dig into the manual a bit.

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skiphunt

@Max23 said:
try if it works
careful here
Mini disk need time to write a TOC (table of content) to disk after you stoped recording
if this gets messed up you end up with nothing written to disc ...(record for an hour and get a blank disc )
I can't remember if edits are directly written to disc was to long ago ...
and there was some crap with not being able to do 1 to 1 digital copies, had to use analog out ...

(on a side note I think Oval used the minidisc random thing in the 90s)

I think the battery is shot. And yeah, I remember the TOC thing.

However, I’m starting to agree @vpich that this is kind of pointless. You can do the same sort of thing with blocs wave, sector, or several other iOS approaches.

I know you’ve experimented a good deal in the past and have an appreciation of glitchy, analog, digital weirdness, etc. can you think of any legitimate reason to pursue experimenting with minidisk? Before I waste time and $ buying a replacement battery?

pauly

You could always buy one of these

https://id.aliexpress.com/item/-/32671423529.html

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