Topic: PART V: M-Audio MicroTracker details

[Brian Skalinder]

Part IV

[bagtagsell]

what are we going to talk about when this thing works like a charm.   

[it-goes-to-eleven]

what are we going to talk about when this thing works like a charm.   

How to replace the internal battery.

[udovdh]

what are we going to talk about when this thing works like a charm.   

How to replace the internal battery.

And replace it by a more powerful (higher capacity) replacement.

[rdvdijk]

An out of production (more or less 'old') portable Sony DAT deck can run a 120 meter DDS2 tape for 4+ hours of audio and still have juice left for rewind, etc.
The Sony is a delicate mechanical device.
The M-Audio has fewer moving parts, no motors and better battery technology than two Duracell AA cells.
If it cannot record 4 hours straight (I remember 8 hour runtimes advertised?) it makes me wonder.

This is an *excellent* point, the best MT-battery related argument so far.

Where could the machine be spending all its energy on? (Is it losing power through the 30V phantom even when it's turned off,  maybe? .. wild guess)

I'm not a big expert on electronics, but how much more complicated are the MT's internals compared to a DAT deck? Are they even comparable?

Roel

[it-goes-to-eleven]

We don't know the capacity of that battery.  From the pics, it is very thin and much smaller than a jb3 bat. So it may not be an issue of drain so much as initial cap.

I do feel that the menus are sluggish. That suggests their event processing isn't ideal. They may be burning CPU needlessly and they may be able to reduce power there (somewhat).

I'm going to try and downsize a usb power back to use AAA's.  I just haven't gotten out to get the parts yet.  Also, the USB cable comes out at a right angle on mine so minimally, that needs fixin.

[Sebastian]

I'm going to try and downsize a usb power back to use AAA's.

You mean something like this?

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Exactly!  That one is 1.8x2.6x.67" for the non-metric audience. Good price too..  I'd probably add a custom cable to avoid the socket adapt.

[udovdh]

An out of production (more or less 'old') portable Sony DAT deck can run a 120 meter DDS2 tape for 4+ hours of audio and still have juice left for rewind, etc.
The Sony is a delicate mechanical device.
The M-Audio has fewer moving parts, no motors and better battery technology than two Duracell AA cells.
If it cannot record 4 hours straight (I remember 8 hour runtimes advertised?) it makes me wonder.

This is an *excellent* point, the best MT-battery related argument so far.

Thanks!
With a Sony portable as guidance I think a current device should do at least the same w.r.t. recording time, SNR, DR+N, etc.
But it doesn't (yet).
Analog electronics have improved. With lower voltage rails, still HiFi audio is possible.
Battery technology has improved, Li-Polymer wins over Li-Ion and NIMH. (not?). No more memory effect, more power per cubic whatever.
Storage capacity (CF, SD, DAT, etc) has increased. Media now carry more and more data.
Still the industry has to produce something as small, versatile, usful, etc as a Sony D100 portable DAT deck. A device of 7+ years old, fragile, mechanical, etc and outperforming most of them all on just 2 AA cells. (w.r.t. good 16-bit recordings)

Therefor: what did the M-Audio technicians look at when designing the MT?

[prof_peabody]

I'm going to try and downsize a usb power back to use AAA's.

You mean something like this?

+T

[John Kelly]

Therefor: what did the M-Audio technicians look at when designing the MT?

I have a feeling that it's not as simple as everyone here makes it out to be.

[udovdh]

Therefor: what did the M-Audio technicians look at when designing the MT?

I have a feeling that it's not as simple as everyone here makes it out to be.

I did not say it was simple. I did try to make a point that technology advances, yet an (until now) inferior product is produced.
(although there were possibilities to do even better than the state of the art...)
I am aware of price onstraints, project schedules, market goals, etc, etc
I guess this really means the market that Sony tried to fill with the D7/8, D100 and M1 is gone. The market was made by the producer. Currently the producer doesn't know what is good.
Cheap wannabe products canot take the place of `solid` gear (fragile yet OK if well maintained).
More expensive efforts fill the niche markets.

[Ed.]

lets remember that m-audio isn't sony first off.  they have no reason to follow sony's design in their production.  m-audio is their own company, they made a product the way they wanted...if you don't like the product, don't buy it.  to me that seems pretty simple. 

i wasn't a fan of hi-md, which seems to be sony's future of recording...when hi-md came out, i didn't complain about it being only 16/44...i didn't demand that it be 24bit, nor did i care really. i just chose not to buy it. 

if this piece of equipment isn't what you need, don't buy it.  it seems like the logical thing to do.  i don't see where calling it an inferior piece of gear on ts.com is making much headway.  especially when it seems like it'll work for a large number of us and do exactly what we need it to do....record 24bit from our pre/adc.  for me, this seems like the next logical piece of equipment to buy to upgrade my rig.

[BC]

Still the industry has to produce something as small, versatile, usful, etc as a Sony D100 portable DAT deck. A device of 7+ years old, fragile, mechanical, etc and outperforming most of them all on just 2 AA cells. (w.r.t. good 16-bit recordings)

Ha, funny you mention that. I just brought out my old D8 for a bunch of shows this past weekend due to my lappy crapping out. To be honest the D8 is great for stealthing, very easy to find the correct buttons in the dark without needing to look at the deck, you can feel the record mechanism engage when you press rec and the transport start up when you begin recording, which is very reassuring when rolling tape in the dark when taking a peek at your deck is not possible. I was thinking it would be great if I could just take the chassis and replace the tape transport with a hard drive.     

[udovdh]

if this piece of equipment isn't what you need, don't buy it.  it seems like the logical thing to do.  i don't see where calling it an inferior piece of gear on ts.com is making much headway. 

It's not about calling it inferior. It is about missed opportunities. e.g. Rebooting recorders are not of this time.
No line at 1/8" is a small hindrance but why did they leave it out?
Etc, etc