Topic: MicroTrack 24/96 Beta 1.2.0

[Nick Graham]

Is it doing 24/96 line in but not digi in? I'm interested in line in 24/96 at the moment. How big a difference does anyone think between this on-board A/D and most out-board A/D's? In case I missed them, any A/D comps done yet?

I've ran 24/96 line in just fine twice. It's when running S/PDIF (digital) in that the freezing occurs. I've had no problems running 24/96 via the 1/4" input, and no problems running S/PDIF 16/48.

As far as the A/D, I've not done any direct comparisons, but it is comparable (though not quite as good to my ears) as the M1's A/D.

[MattH]

Nick, M1 doesn't do 24 bit so I guess you mean for 16 bit recordings you like the M1 A/D better. Does the MT dither down to 16 bits? If so, I would think that's an advantage over the M1.

Glad to hear the MT does 24/96 line in no prob.

[pfife]

I think Freelunch has some samples of a Beck show he taped going 4061's directly in, and to my ears, it sounded quite good at 24/96.  I think you can find them somewhere on the board.
 

[Nick Graham]

Nick, M1 doesn't do 24 bit so I guess you mean for 16 bit recordings you like the M1 A/D better. Does the MT dither down to 16 bits? If so, I would think that's an advantage over the M1.

Glad to hear the MT does 24/96 line in no prob.

Exactly. At 16 bit I *slightly* prefer the M1, but obviously having 24 bit capability gives the advantage to the Microtrack.

[ghibliss]

I recorded Stanley Clarke last night at the IMAC theater in Huntington Long Island.  I used the Core-Sound Mic 2496 with DPA 4061 microphones and the Microtrack at 24/44.1   The sound was amazing as the theater and audience was quite quiet providing significant dynamic range.  My indicated time remaining running at this rate is 2:05:58 and I am using a 4 GB card. 

The only issue which I have seen recently is that upon playback on the Microtrack the audio stops after roughly 90 seconds while the meters continue to function.  Fast forwarding with the button does not remedy the situation.  The files are perfectly intact when I transfer them from the recorder to my hard-drive so I am not overly concerned however this is something that M-Audio needs to address.  Has anyone else experienced this playback problem with their Microtrack?

[SonicSound]

The only issue which I have seen recently is that upon playback on the Microtrack the audio stops after roughly 90 seconds while the meters continue to function.  Fast forwarding with the button does not remedy the situation.  The files are perfectly intact when I transfer them from the recorder to my hard-drive so I am not overly concerned however this is something that M-Audio needs to address.  Has anyone else experienced this playback problem with their Microtrack?

Yes, I have had the same issue I thought they said they fixed it in the latest firmware - guess not

[Nick Graham]

I did some extensive testing last night, and saw where several of the "bugs" from the previous firmware/drivers have been addressed.

(1) You can now start new files without having to reboot the unit. I recorded for 30 minutes at a time last night, would start a new file, record for another 30 minutes, stop, record for another 30 minutes, and so on....and the unit never froze.

(2) Any changes made in the "Rec Settings" menu option now actually change without rebooting. As noted above I recorded several different 30 minute tests last night...and each time I'd start a new file I'd also change the settings, i.e. the first file was 16/44.1, the second was 16/48, the third was 24/48, and the fouth was 24/96. All files were verified as having the correct settings (bit depth/sample rate) in Wave Lab 5

All in all this thing is getting much more stable everyday. If they would just fix the 2GB limit, and figure out the 24/96 S/PDIF input...we'd have a clear winner.

[SonicSound]

(1) You can now start new files without having to reboot the unit. I recorded for 30 minutes at a time last night, would start a new file, record for another 30 minutes, stop, record for another 30 minutes, and so on....and the unit never froze.

After the nightmare experience I had last Wednesday with the MT, I also ran some tests and witnessed the following performance.  Yes the MT will allow you to stop and start recording w/o rebooting.  However the MT does not reset the recording count down time after you stop and restart the recorder.  Example if you begin your first recording and say it initially indicates 01:45:00 recording time and after 1 hour you have 45minutes remaining and you engage the stop button.  When you start the next recording the unit indicates that you now only have 00:45:00 recording time remaining – not a fresh 01:45:00.  The only time it resets the recording time remaining is after you let the recording go for the full duration and you get the media full screen. 

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

[Nick Graham]

(1) You can now start new files without having to reboot the unit. I recorded for 30 minutes at a time last night, would start a new file, record for another 30 minutes, stop, record for another 30 minutes, and so on....and the unit never froze.

After the nightmare experience I had last Wednesday with the MT, I also ran some tests and witnessed the following performance.  Yes the MT will allow you to stop and start recording w/o rebooting.  However the MT does not reset the recording count down time after you stop and restart the recorder.  Example if you begin your first recording and say it initially indicates 01:45:00 recording time and after 1 hour you have 45minutes remaining and you engage the stop button.  When you start the next recording the unit indicates that you now only have 00:45:00 recording time remaining – not a fresh 01:45:00.  The only time it resets the recording time remaining is after you let the recording go for the full duration and you get the media full screen. 

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

Hmmmm...my tests last night were just the opposite. I'd start a new file, record for 30 minutes (with 1:26 left on the screen), start a new file - and had the full 1:56 left before the 2GB limit.

[SonicSound]

(1) You can now start new files without having to reboot the unit. I recorded for 30 minutes at a time last night, would start a new file, record for another 30 minutes, stop, record for another 30 minutes, and so on....and the unit never froze.

After the nightmare experience I had last Wednesday with the MT, I also ran some tests and witnessed the following performance.  Yes the MT will allow you to stop and start recording w/o rebooting.  However the MT does not reset the recording count down time after you stop and restart the recorder.  Example if you begin your first recording and say it initially indicates 01:45:00 recording time and after 1 hour you have 45minutes remaining and you engage the stop button.  When you start the next recording the unit indicates that you now only have 00:45:00 recording time remaining – not a fresh 01:45:00.  The only time it resets the recording time remaining is after you let the recording go for the full duration and you get the media full screen. 

Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon?

Hmmmm...my tests last night were just the opposite. I'd start a new file, record for 30 minutes (with 1:26 left on the screen), start a new file - and had the full 1:56 left before the 2GB limit.

I was recording S/PIDF 24/48 what mode were you in?

[Nick Graham]

I was running analog 1/4" in...

It seems the unit's bugs are more commonplace when running digi-in

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Recorded Trey last night in Denver with the new Firmware. All went smoothly.

Had to start a new recording when Trey started playing acoustic. New file started in about 15 seconds, and the second file got the full 1h:55m.

I will be very happy when/if they add seemless 24/48.

It will be very nice if they have the seemless thing done by the end of Dec. I have 3 Drive By Truckers shows, and I'm sure they will go over the 2GB limit.

MIKE B

[alienbobz]

Last night was my first outing with the new firmware and ran into the same problem with the time. Ran s/pdif 24/48. First recording came up as ~1:40. 1st set ran about 1:06. Second 0:28. Unfortunately I tried to figure out why it said 36 mins left and part of the second set is cut, but I have been running my JB3 as backup (optical in) ever since I bought this so all was not lost. Anyone figured out a way to go back to the previous firmware? If this is going to be a problem for a while then I rather go back to messed up levels then having time issues .

[Nick Graham]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:    Microtrack 24/96
Date:    Fri, 25 Nov 2005 00:02:23 -0600
From:    Nick Graham <wngraham@gmail.com>
To:    techsupt@m-audio.com


I'd sent an email last week requesting info on when a future
driver/firmware update would be available. Needless to say
I was quite excited and appreciative when I saw the new
Beta driver Tuesday.

Anyway, just curious if the next update would possibly address
the 2GB file size limit? That's one of the last remaining "bugs"
that needs to be fixed. The ability to seamlessly start a new
file is crucial to any type of  portable recording.

If you can consider that in the next update, it would make
a world of difference.

Thanks in advance!

Nick Graham
wngraham@gmail.com

Here's the reply I got back:

From: techsupt@m-audio.com <techsupt@m-audio.com>
Date: Nov 28, 2005 12:53 PM
Subject: RE: Microtrack 24/96
To: Nick Graham <wngraham@gmail.com>

Thank you for the information, I will refer this to our driver developers.

Unfortunately I am unable to suggest a workaround for this problem at the
present time.


Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

JS

[F.O.Bean]

not good info at all nick