Superscope PSD300 - Musicians CD Recorder

Thats a very neat machine you have there. The look and feel makes me think of my old MiniDisc (And MDD) based Yamaha MD4 4 tack recorder with built in mixer. Very nice unit altough I only use it for the mixing function since I only have an MDD for it and I have a more convenient Boss BR-8 to record onto. though it's an 8 track recorder, you can only record one mono or stereo track at once unlike the MD4. I wouldn't say its as functional as the PSD300, but it certainly is neat for the MiniDisc factor!

Maybe it is just me but when I listen to the section where you demonstrate the VR function, the vocals played (pre-reduction) sound like there is this regular warble in it, like the sampling is off or an effect is applied on purpose to make it sound.. weird. It's a kind os effect I hear in some auto-tune songs and when you playback a song adjusting the tone but not the tempo. I'm curious now what it is. Anyhow, great video! though always a little bit of a bummer when you are not actualy in it. :) I love seeing what jacket/shirt combo you choose. hehe

Please don’t worry about whether the videos that you produce are appealing or not; they certainly are and not just for the subject matter. The obvious effort you put in and the informative and humorous presentation style you have makes all of your videos eminently watchable. For the same reason, the length of the videos is not really a problem due to the entertainment value. It seems that a lot of other people enjoy your material for this reason, as well as the purely informative aspect. Every couple of minutes you shave off would probably have contained something that would have made me smile! As for this latest device, just look at all the buttons and sockets; how can that not be appealing! You are without question my favourite content provider on YouTube and please continue doing what you are doing, it’s great!

Yay, my name ended up in this episode :)

Thanks for the list of previous videos really enjoying the content and doubtful I would have found these. I always look forward to the email advising of the next instalment please keep it up.

Great job! Your last Patreon post pointed me to the MB Omni BTS video that I missed and seeing the process and how you ad-lib your voiceovers gives me a lot more appreciation for your work. It's really good quality and always something new.

So.... where do we get the recording of the "singing"?

UPDATE - I’ve managed to shave a couple of minutes off the video now and I feel it flows a bit better as a result. The video above is now the new shorter one but if you prefer you can still view the slightly longer ‘Special Extended Patreon Edition Directors Cut’ version here: <a href="https://youtu.be/LL7J6-xl9zY" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/LL7J6-xl9zY</a>

Fantastic video and fantastic device. I would have loved something like this back in the day.

I love these videos. I would have loved this device. Thanks for making this!

Hey, you forgot to give us a link to a downloadable track of your performance at 11:20!

One of the reasons I like videos like this, and the Sony TC-D5 video as well, is having a view into gear that the average consumer might never know about.

That's absolutely fine, Mat. As usually happens I found you maintained my interest all the way through. My other half is a music teacher, so I'll sit her down to watch as well! :) S.

Thanks for reviewing this machine: This was Sony's more versatile follow-on to the DAT recorders they offered musicians prior to the advent of CD-R. Can't help but note that when you increased the pitch at 6:00, the sound reminded me of the original Starship Enterprise when Scotty advanced the power to maximum warp!

It's a good thing your mailing address is not (well) known like the 8-bit guy, or you'd have that remote send to you by this week. And on that note, I wonder is this one would work: <a href="https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marantz-Superscope-Remote-CDR-Operation-Only-CDR300-510-PSD300-330-PSD340/281038515588" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.ebay.com/itm/Marantz-Superscope-Remote-CDR-Operation-Only-CDR300-510-PSD300-330-PSD340/281038515588</a>

I wouldn't say it's too long. I would have trimmed the pitch/tempo variation part a little but that's it. It didn't want me to skip through it. Two questions: 1. You already mentioned that it ignores SCMS but does it also allow recording on non-Audio CD-R's? Consumer audio CD recorders only allow audio CD-R's which is one of the reasons I never had one. 2. You showed how to make changes to CD-Text information on an unfinalized CD but does it let you do things like add or delete or move track markers, for example in the recording of that vinyl record that didn't get quiet enough for the auto track marker? Thanks!

Another fascinating piece of kit well presented Mat👍 - it was never going to be ‘just’ a normal CD from you.

I have to admit, I started out thinking this was going to be really boring. I mean, like you said, "It's a CD player." But then you kept showing me all of these features I never imagined a CD player to have. And each time you finished talking about one thing I figured OK, that's it. There's no way there can be anything else to demonstrate about this. But then there was. hahah . So I watched until the end.

Perfect. I think most of us here like these more detailed reviews of unusual hardware. I found it fascinating and I agree that it is a nice piece of kit.

The features of this device I would use -- assuming I could not afford an original -- would be the ability to alter the playback pitch and tempo. Does anyone know of a software solution to this? Assume I have the mp3 file for playback, or can convert it to PCM or whatever.

Video was fine to me. I don't need one of these, but I do want one now. I call it The Techmoan Effect.

First thing I've noticed: I would have trimmed the key, tempo and VR demos a bit. They seem to be running a bit longer than necessary. I'll watch the rest of the video later, I have to get ready for work.

We used a couple of these for playback when making music videos in my HTV (now ITV Wales) days. Does it have a sample buffer? only at 9:10 that loop is playing without the disc spinning, unless it was in the CDR drive.

Were it in my power and budget, I'd help you get a Technics SL-P1200 CD player to review. That thing is a BEAST.

I echo David James' thoughts... these oddity videos are great.

That was the perfect length, I scarcely noticed the time going by. Plus it was fascinating, I remember being excited seeing it in the previous video.

To be honest your second guessing and deliberating over what to leave in and what to cut is the sign of a great creator. Seriously, look at great authors, musicians, artists, whatever, and a lot of them have quotes about how they throw out most of their stuff and worry constantly over how good it is and how well it will be recieved and are often the most critical person of their own work, and it's that dedication to high standards that leaves their resulting product so good. Like Bob Dylan says he throws out 9/10 songs he writes. John Lennon hated a ton of his songs, even some of the most beloved. I think it's a sign that you really care about the quality of your videos and it's probably why they're all such a consistently good standard. So keep it up, as this is mine and a lot of people's favourite channel

After watching the video, damn I could use one of these for when I'm making music. Does anyone know of one of these but a modern one with SD cards and that sort of thing? I know you can do a lot of these features in software these days but they don't sound as good as this thing. Great video as always

Well I’m glad that it isn’t too long for everyone. When I’m editing a video like this I start with perhaps an hour or so of raw footage. I then try to squash this down so that everything is covered, but it also keeps moving at a decent pace. I just felt with this one it could have benefitted from being a couple of minutes shorter, but to achieve this would mean leaving something out, because this machine has a lot of features to cover. It just shows that it’s almost impossible to tell when you’re making something how well it will be received.

I don't get this bit in the video explaination "I appreciate a twenty-odd minute video about a fifteen year old CD machine isn't something that will have mass appeal". Surely everyone who's a Patreon of this channel does want videos exactly like this and therefore the fact it's not for mass appeal is sort of secondary isn't it? I know I'm going to enjoy it!

I completely agree. It's a tremendous looking machine. All those buttons just feel like possibilities to me.

Definitely a worthwhile video. As a non-musician I had no idea such a device existed so in some ways it is more interesting that a video about a technology I had some knowledge of, like Laserdisc. I think this is a fascinating device.I also think the lengh was about right - definitely not too long.

Impressive stuff

You're too humble. You make everything interesting, and these oddities few have heard of are some of your best videos :)

It's only just clicked with me that the CD is playback in the top deck, with a very PC CD-ROM-ish sourced looking item at the bottom for recording. Nice unit - remember the VR function on an old Marantz I had, always good for a laugh. Top Karaoke tip - The Stone Roses 'I Wanna Be Adored' is not a very suitable track.

This was the first recorder I used. I have so many memories with that machine.

No time to watch yet, but just seeing the look of this thing I know 20 minutes will probably be too short :D

The key and tempo features are also pretty handy for music producers / DJ's (although i'd prefer a normal tempo slider, instead of a couple of buttons), not just for teaching.