Topic: preamp-a/d for MT2496?

[jmz93]

As I mentioned in another post, I am very unhappy with the hisssss I'm getting when using the Microtrack 24/96's 1/8" input with my CSB's.  What can I do to remedy this that won't break the bank? I really don't want to sell the recorder - it's the right size for my needs and has all the features I want. But, it's too noisy, noisier in fact than my 5 year-old Sharp MD recorder.  Why go to 24-bit if you can't get more than 60db dynamic range? This is rediculous...

My other problem is, without knowing about this place or having much info to go on, I picked up a MIC2496 from Core Sound some years back, at the time, to be used with the MD, with various computer-based setups, etc.  Is anybody using the MIC2496 with the Microtrack?
Could I even expect to sell it and have enough for most of the cost of some other external box that can at least do 24bit, 48KHZ?

Or, if I'm stuck with the MIC2496, has anybody found a rechargeable 9v battery that will work with it?  I don't have the money to constantly buy alcalines, and of course it isn't always possible to plug in a wallwart for it. 

HELP!!!

I'm a relatively poor college jazz guitar student who tapes everything - clinics, lessons, ensemble rehearsals, concerts, etc. etc.. and I thought, on paper, the Microtrack was going to be the perfect MD replacement.  It is for storage capacity and ease of transfering the stuff to computer, but I can't believe the noisy mic pre.
That plus owning the MIC2496 makes me feel somewhat cheated ... there, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Note: I know OAD Brothers are planning a mod for the Microtrack ... I'm screwed there as well, since I'm in Canada, and they informed me they cannot accept Canadian orders, process non-US creditcards, etc.

Sorry for the rant - thanks for reading and I hope, feeling my pain. *LOL*

[kfrinkle]

are you running the CSBS right into the MT?  I assumed if you get a nice little battery box to go with it, things might work better? I am hoping to get a MT myself, but my buddy runs low cost CSB > SPSB-1 > MT and he has no hiss on his recordings, and i have a ton of them.

[udovdh]

Why a rechargable 9V? The 9V in my simple battery box lasts ages (a year at least) but maybe it depends on the capsules and amount of usage.

[Chris K]

cant you run the mics in to the mic2496 and send a digital signal to the mt's spdif in? i am not familiar with coresounds mic2496, but i believe it has a coax out.

[cybermansrev]

You're better off using the mic 2496 that way you'll get 24 bits (well less the mics self noise) since you already have it then spending more cash on a pre amp. How long battery life are you getting from a 9V?
I'm assuming you're using the core sound battery box and then running into the microtrack 1/8" ? Have you considered running into the 2 TRS 1/4" sockets? Some seem to say the 1/4" has less noise than the 1/8" sockets, although Doug Oade's own MT upgrade was via the 1/8" rather than the 1/4" which seems to kind of contradict this and of course you may then not have enough gain for recording quiet ectures, etc. However I'd of thought it worth trying this as it's relatively cheap to get two 1/4" mono or stereo jacks to try it out.

[Kevin Straker]

A
Note: I know OAD Brothers are planning a mod for the Microtrack ... I'm screwed there as well, since I'm in Canada, and they informed me they cannot accept Canadian orders, process non-US creditcards, etc.

Sorry for the rant - thanks for reading and I hope, feeling my pain. *LOL*

 I bet somebody on this board would send it in to the Oade's for you and then send it back to Canadia.

[udovdh]

Doug only mods gear he sells?

[RebelRebel]

Yessir.only stuff they sell.

[ShawnF]

I don't see why you just don't try the mic2496--you've got you're preamp and A/D right there, and both are likely to be significantly better than the MT internals, I'm sure.  I think you'd go through a lot of 9 volts before you'd make up the difference in price of selling the mic2496 and getting another external preamp+24 bit A/D converter.  If you just get an external pre, maybe you could fund that, I don't know.  But I would certainly at least try running the mic2496 before deciding to sell it.  For as much bashing as Len receives around here (and I can't argue he doesn't deserve it), it's mainly for his "binaural" mics and the PDAudio system, and of couse his stellar customer service.  I really haven't seen many negative comments about that unit, though, other than the way Len presents the specs is a bit non-standard.  I have yet to see a single negative report on the sound of the thing (I searched for this a while back).  Would be a pretty nice stealth rig, I think, if that's important.  Also, would there be a way to use a walmart lion with the mic2496?

[cpatch]

Based on comments Doug has made in the Oade forums, all the MT mod does is knock down the fixed gain on the 1/8 input by 12dB:

http://www.oade.com/Tapers_Section/Forum/dcboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=100&topic_id=3486&mesg_id=3582&page=

Craig

[jmz93]

I don't see why you just don't try the mic2496--you've got you're preamp and A/D right there, and both are likely to be significantly better than the MT internals, I'm sure.  I think you'd go through a lot of 9 volts before you'd make up the difference in price of selling the mic2496 and getting another external preamp+24 bit A/D

Hi and thanks guys for the replies and ideas.
I'll run some tests on the MIC2496.  I get about 5 hours on a non-rechargeable 9v since I'm not using phantom power.

other than the way Len presents the specs is a bit non-standard.  I have yet to see a single negative report on the sound of the thing (I searched for this a while back).  Would be a pretty nice stealth rig, I think, if that's important.  

Yep stealth is important ... and I'm a small guy..  Using an external pre like the MIC2496 puts me up to 3 boxes (MIC2496, battery box for CSB's, Microtrack), next will probably be something to power the MIC2496.  Four little boxes and *thinks* at least 4 cables.  I guess this part needs to move to another forum, but where on your bodies do you guys attach all this stuff? Only so much fits in your jeans pockets.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand:

Also, would there be a way to use a walmart lion with the mic2496?

I missed that one ... what Walmart lithium-ion is this, a 9v hopefully?

I typically get 5 hrs with a fresh alcaline in the MIC2496.  Len says the following about externally powering it:
"External: 7 to 14 Volts DC @ 180 mA minimum (300 mA recommended) via 5.0/2.1 mm DC power jack"

Anyway, thanks guys for the suggestions and help - I just want to make the right equipment choices here. 

About the noise using the 1/8" mic in on the Microtrack, I'm going to get some definitive DB readings on the background noise as well and post them. 

[poorlyconditioned]

As I mentioned in another post, I am very unhappy with the hisssss I'm getting when using the Microtrack 24/96's 1/8" input with my CSB's.  What can I do to remedy this that won't break the bank? I really don't want to sell the recorder - it's the right size for my needs and has all the features I want. But, it's too noisy, noisier in fact than my 5 year-old Sharp MD recorder.  Why go to 24-bit if you can't get more than 60db dynamic range? This is rediculous...

My other problem is, without knowing about this place or having much info to go on, I picked up a MIC2496 from Core Sound some years back, at the time, to be used with the MD, with various computer-based setups, etc.  Is anybody using the MIC2496 with the Microtrack?
Could I even expect to sell it and have enough for most of the cost of some other external box that can at least do 24bit, 48KHZ?

Or, if I'm stuck with the MIC2496, has anybody found a rechargeable 9v battery that will work with it?  I don't have the money to constantly buy alcalines, and of course it isn't always possible to plug in a wallwart for it. 

HELP!!!

I'm a relatively poor college jazz guitar student who tapes everything - clinics, lessons, ensemble rehearsals, concerts, etc. etc.. and I thought, on paper, the Microtrack was going to be the perfect MD replacement.  It is for storage capacity and ease of transfering the stuff to computer, but I can't believe the noisy mic pre.
That plus owning the MIC2496 makes me feel somewhat cheated ... there, I'm glad I got that off my chest. Any and all suggestions welcome.

Note: I know OAD Brothers are planning a mod for the Microtrack ... I'm screwed there as well, since I'm in Canada, and they informed me they cannot accept Canadian orders, process non-US creditcards, etc.

Sorry for the rant - thanks for reading and I hope, feeling my pain. *LOL*

I think somone else said this too: Why don't you run: CSB mics > mic2496 > MT (digital in)?  Is the MT digital in coax or optical?  I think the mic is only optical out.  You may need a format converter if the MT is coax in.

  Richard

[ShawnF]

The mic2496 is digital coaxial out, I'm pretty certain, and the MT is definitely coaxial in, so should work nicely.  I don't know all the specs for the walmart li-on battery off the top of my head, but I know they come in two voltage flavors; the smaller is 7v I'm pretty certain and the higher may be 9v.  Sounds like either might work, potentially, but we'd have to check the other specs, too.

[NJFunk]

I think somone else said this too: Why don't you run: CSB mics > mic2496 > MT (digital in)?  Is the MT digital in coax or optical?  I think the mic is only optical out.  You may need a format converter if the MT is coax in.

  Richard

This is going to sound like a stupid question, but I don't know anything about the mic2496, so bear with me.  Is the digital out 24 bit?  24 bit only?  Or switchable?  The reason I ask is that the SPDIF (coax) input on the Microtrack @24 bits is buggy.  It's a bug I believe that M-Audio has promised to address in a future firmware release, but for the time being, the unit is only stable taking a 16 bit feed digital input.

[Brian Skalinder]

This is going to sound like a stupid question, but I don't know anything about the mic2496, so bear with me.  Is the digital out 24 bit?  24 bit only?  Or switchable?  The reason I ask is that the SPDIF (coax) input on the Microtrack @24 bits is buggy.  It's a bug I believe that M-Audio has promised to address in a future firmware release, but for the time being, the unit is only stable taking a 16 bit feed digital input.

According to Core-Sound's Mic2496 specs, it outputs 24-bit only - it is not switchable between 16- and 24-bits.  FWIW, the MT2496 S/PDIF input has proven reasonably stable at 24/48 and lower sample rates for a lot of folks.  But it seems no one's experienced stable operation digi-in at 24/96.

[ShawnF]

That's also my sense--that it's the sample rate and not the bit rate that is most problematic with the MT right now (96, specifically).  I've only run 16 bit with the coaxial-in, myself, though, from a modSBM-1.  24/48 works fine for me going line in, but that's a different matter.

[ghibliss]

I have been using the DPA 4061 microphones with the CoreSound Mic 2496 and MT 24/96 since it came out last year.  I record at 24/44.1  using the coax spdif in on the Microtrack.  The sound quality that I get is simply amazing.  I have done all kinds of shows from Cream at Madison Square Garden to Stanley Clarke (Jazz Bass), Jeff Lorber (Jazz Piano), Derek Trucks Blues Band all with excellent results.  The Mic 2496 is an excellent preamp a/d convertor and can output either optical or coaxial spdif at 24 bits anywhere from 44.1 to 192 kHz.  I have a rechargable battery to connect to the Mic 2496 which is 4200 mah that will last for a really long time.  The microphones do not require phantom power so the current demand is not too high.  A 9 volt transistor radio battery always provided me with 5 hours of recording time just as Len advised it would from CoreSound.  I am using a Kingston Elite Pro 45X 4 gb CF card and have not experienced any problems recording with this set up at all.