Topic: Has the Microtrack "settled down" yet?

[Nick Graham]

udovdh -- on that note, it depends what you want.  If you mean an M1 that isn't used with a digital input, maybe the R09 is what you want.

Does the R09 do seamless autosplits? Does it have a nice line in? Usable level setting mechanism? Good SNR? Impedance?

If you truly want an M1 that takes CF cards for digital input, I'd strongly recommend the MT.  That is, I'm assuming by M1 you mean you want a 16bit recorder.  I haven't heard of much in the way of issues with the MT used for 16bit. 

16-bit is OK. I need a decent line-in. I need seamless autosplit. I need true 2GB (2**31) if there is no autosplit.
Maybe a limiter. (the MT has one in the ADC but it isn't used!)
I am looking at the Iriver H120. R09 is wort a try?

I'm not really sure why a 2GB autosplit when running 16 bit is necessary. That's almost 3 and a half hours of record time. No band I've ever known plays that long without some type of break.

[slf]

I found a 4 AA USB battery pack for $15 plus $5 shipping at EBay by searching "USB Battery pack"

[rowjimmy]

Two things:
I've yet to hear of an r-09 exploding in a user's hand when being switched on...

I haven't seen him but does Elvis Costello transition between every song for 3+ hours? If so, I pity his drummer. 

[udovdh]

udovdh -- on that note, it depends what you want.  If you mean an M1 that isn't used with a digital input, maybe the R09 is what you want.

Does the R09 do seamless autosplits? Does it have a nice line in? Usable level setting mechanism? Good SNR? Impedance?

If you truly want an M1 that takes CF cards for digital input, I'd strongly recommend the MT.  That is, I'm assuming by M1 you mean you want a 16bit recorder.  I haven't heard of much in the way of issues with the MT used for 16bit. 

16-bit is OK. I need a decent line-in. I need seamless autosplit. I need true 2GB (2**31) if there is no autosplit.
Maybe a limiter. (the MT has one in the ADC but it isn't used!)
I am looking at the Iriver H120. R09 is wort a try?

I'm not really sure why a 2GB autosplit when running 16 bit is necessary. That's almost 3 and a half hours of record time. No band I've ever known plays that long without some type of break.

a) 2GB on the MT is NOT 2**31 bytes but 2.000.000.000 bytes
b) I do not want to touch the unit again, except for stopping and turning it off after the show.

So I still want the autosplit on the MT.

Even with true 2GB I would want autosplit when using more than 44.1/48 Khz or being at a long show.
I hate to do splits and depending on the situation can't do them when I want.
I want to archive to DVD in one piece.
I really need 4+ hours of recording time for an ideal situation.

So an autosplitting R09 with 4GB SD would be nice.

[udovdh]

Does the R09 do seamless autosplits? Does it have a nice line in? Usable level setting mechanism? Good SNR? Impedance?

The R-09 doesn't do auto-split but it records a full 4 GB file so you don't need to split.  Line-in is decent.  Level setting is nice.  SNR is good.  Line-in impedance = 17k.

Good! Thanks very much for this interesting info.
No known bugs, issues, caveats?

BTW: a 4GB WAV? Other format?

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I haven't seen him but does Elvis Costello transition between every song for 3+ hours? If so, I pity his drummer. 

His shows usually only go 3 hours when he has a guest. And then he really gives a good dose of his material and his guest's.  There are Long stretches (7 songs) where they go immediately into the next song with no real break. His guitar tech always seems ready to hand him a fresh guitar..  I remember it vividly because I Really needed to hit the bathroom and I had stupidly wrapped the mic cord around a belt loop. Unlooping meant unplugging..  I don't think it is typically more than 3 hours. But with pre-roll time it ends up that way. The jb3 never missed a beat..  http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=46990.0

Oblig r09 content: I just might get a v3 vs. r09 comp done today..  I finally have a cable made to run balnced pre output > 1/8".

[SunWizard]

Good! Thanks very much for this interesting info.
No known bugs, issues, caveats?

BTW: a 4GB WAV? Other format?

No known issues, which is surprising since it just came out.  Its a standard WAV format.  Some WAV editors do not work with 4GB files but there are plenty that do.  One issue is that it won't format a 4GB card in the R-09, you need to do it while connected to your desktop, which is easy.  And there are not many 4GB cards available yet.  This will probably be changed in a future update when they add full 4GB support, probably to support the new SDHC cards which haven't come out yet but are supposed to replace the current SD format.

[EYES]

microtrack has been very good to me small and easy to use.as for the battery problem,  i located a usb compact battery back up pact that is 4 inches by 4 inches in size and takes 4 aa batteries. this will give you at least 3 hrs. of good back up time. compact impact sales office, new york,ny. 212-677-0500.

[rowjimmy]

I still wouldn't carry one of those devices on my person :
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=64648.0

[rodeen]

I lined my Nova 5 bag with asbestos plates.  The outside of the bag hardly even gets warm anymore when the MT explodes.

Actually I've had mine for almost 10 months and it has performed well.  I mostly use it as a bitbucket.

I still wouldn't carry one of those devices on my person :
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=64648.0

[svenkid]

well, it seems like my luck is 50/50 with this thing. right now, I have firmware 1.4.1v9 and I let it charge for a while after it was a full charge, and its frozen now. So I cant use it tonite like I wanted to. But I used it a few nites ago, and let it over charge alittle before hand, and everything went smooth.

 

[dallman]

I still wouldn't carry one of those devices on my person :
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=64648.0

Where else can you get a deck that not only records the show, but eliminates the need to "flick your bic" during the encore   
I prefer S/PDIF, but when I need to I have no problems the 1/4"TRS.
The JB3 is looking kins of old (and BIG)

[buffalofloyd]

Ok, just ordered this little nifty device for the battery issue.  I hope it works, I'm sure it will.  The only disappointing thing is that carrying in another piece of equipment is a bummer.  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16855998033   Anyone else tried this exact device.  If I can get an extra couple hrs recording time it will be totally worth it.  It was either buy this or get a 4 gig compact flash card.  I already use a 4 gig Hitachi Microdrive that has performed albsolutely flawlessly, the only problem is that it chews the shit out of the internal battery.  I figure I'd just get the power pack, if I just got the cf card I could still run the risk of running out of battery.  Now I can record at higher bit and khz depths if I choose and not have to worry about battery power... hopefully.  I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

Cheers,
Jim

[jtessier]

well, it seems like my luck is 50/50 with this thing. right now, I have firmware 1.4.1v9 and I let it charge for a while after it was a full charge, and its frozen now. So I cant use it tonite like I wanted to. But I used it a few nites ago, and let it over charge alittle before hand, and everything went smooth.

 

Did it freeze while it was charging or while you were using i t (or both)? What was on-screen at the time? And why did that prevent you from using it that night?  In case you don't know, you can force the MT to power down even when it's frozen by holding down the power button for 10-20 seconds.  I haven't had to do this for the last several firmwares but earlier ones were fairly notorious for freezing.

J.T.

[dactylus]

I am very happy with my microtrack - I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever with it that weren't my own fault.  I am running the latest firmware and it works just fine.  The microtrack has settled down!!  I would definitely recommend it.  Great stealth device!!