Topic: Sony PCM-A10 (Part 2)

[2X2]

theres a bunch of small 3000-5000 mah thin batteries and also the "fuel rod" shaped ones you see at the airport vending machines

but you really shouldnt need to worry, the A10 lasts a long time, and even if you need a  battery no venue will prohibit you bringing in a battery for your phone. size isnt really an issue and 15 minutes  of charging at setbreak should give you hours of operation

[DavidPuddy]

thank you for testing it

can you folks reccomend a the slimmest most
compact usb ext battery block?

link please

Really, anything should work. The A10 does not seem to be particularly demanding.

[wordgroove]

thx u puddy and 2x2 - so many options for power packs.. lol
just gotta get one with usb-A and thin

and trust the A10 lasting .... which u folks assured

thanks again

[Twenty8]

I recently got a 4pin male TAF to locking 3.5mm for a beyerdynamic lav mic I own.  This cable worked with my M10.  The device prompted me on whether or not I wanted PIP.  I chose yes and it worked.  When I chose no, even with a battery box, this cable would not power the mic.

When I plug into the A10, no matter what I did, this cable/mic would either overload the device or simply record fuzz without really moving the meters much (brickwall?).  I have never had this issue with any of my AT853 w/4.7k mods.

Are there PIP settings on the A10 I am missing?
Has anyone else had the same issue using a lav mic on this device?

[gambra]

Is there anywhere in Europe that has the A10 regularly in stock? It seems to be permentantly sold out and the only places I can find it are US stores and Japanese sellers on ebay which would both come with additional import taxes/charges.

[jielkade]

You can look at idealo.de

[robgronotte]

I have been using my A10 for a few weeks now, maybe 15 shows, and last night I had the first problem.

I had the unit plugged into my windows laptop and was copying recorded files over when suddenly I got the error on my computer that the drive was not available.
I removed it and tried again. Inserted the USB plug, the computer beeped to show something was recognized, but it didn't pop up the file menu as usual and nothing else happened. I checked the recorder - it showed "connecting" and below that full battery. But I left it in several minutes and inothing else happened.

I tried the windows option to eject the storage unit and got an error reading "Eject IC recorder - problem ejecting".

I tried again on the same computer and then on two other windows laptops, the same thing happened every time.

The only think I can think of that I could have done to cause a problem is that I have not regularly been ejecting the unit before removing it, but I have never done that regularly with external hard drives or other recorders and it never caused any issues.

I looked for help online and couldn't find anything applicable.

Luckily I had already copied last night's recordings to different a computer, but now I'm afraid to use it again and maybe have any new recordings stuck on there.

Really appreciate any suggestions, thanks.

[morst]

Sounds like the internal memory volume is crashed from the random eject while reading or writing from it?

Flash volumes like SD cards can have their logical structures damaged if they are removed in the middle of read/write operations, that's why windows gives the option to "safely remove" and mac protests if you didn't drag it to the trash first or otherwise eject a volume.

I would try using mac Disk Utility, windows Disk Management, or linux GParted to analyze and probably reformat the internal "drive."

If it's a microSD card, I'd try a fix, but then test it or replace it.


You can always call Sony service on the phone and ask them about it?

[robgronotte]

I'll look into that. My recordings have been on the internal memory, not an SD card.

Huh, but I don't know how I will use any utilities or reformat the recorder if the computer doesn't recognize it.

[morst]

I'll look into that. My recordings have been on the internal memory, not an SD card.

Huh, but I don't know how I will use any utilities or reformat the recorder if the computer doesn't recognize it.

Computer might recognize physical volume but not the logical volume with whatever name that has?
My logical volume is called PCMRECORDER, the mac reads my PCM-A10 as SONY IC RECORDER Media.

Maybe think of it like an external hard drive.
The case has its own fixed name, and the drive inside (the memory) has a different logical name

[guitard]

I had the unit plugged into my windows laptop and was copying recorded files over when suddenly I got the error on my computer that the drive was not available.

This is how I transfer files from the A10 to my computer (although, in my case it's a PC; not a laptop). 

The big difference for me is that I have always recorded to a 64GB Sony micro-SD card (see below).  I have the A10 set to automatically switch over to the internal memory if the micro-SD card fills up; but I don't think that's ever happened (I do 4-6 shows a month, so 64GBs goes a long way).  I'm not trying to suggest that recording to the micro-SD card is the better method.  I will say anecdotally, however, that recording to the 64GB micro-SD card and retrieving files from that card (via the A10's USB plug) has worked flawlessly for me since day one (Nov 2020).

The only think I can think of that I could have done to cause a problem is that I have not regularly been ejecting the unit before removing it, but I have never done that regularly with external hard drives or other recorders and it never caused any issues.

I don't regularly use the "safely eject media" option for the A10 either.  But I definitely do for external hard drives.  That's a different discussion though.

----------------------

Just for the sake of discussion, this is the micro-SD card that I have been using since I got my A10.  B&H has it listed as "no longer available." 

[robgronotte]

If I had been using an SD card then I could always take the card out if I couldn't get the music copied any other way.

But anyway, I found instructions to reformat the recorder internal memory through its own menus.
Since I had a copy of everything already that was ok to try. After that I made a short test recording and reconnected to my computer.  It seems to be working now, crossing my fingers that it doesn't happen again. I will try to remember to use the eject function in the future, and make sure the unit stays firmly attached when transferring files in the future.

[lmgbtapes]

The other night using my A10s (I run one for stage, one for SBD) I had a bizarre issue where it seemingly unpaired from my phone, and would -not- re-pair no matter what I tried in the moment. Not sure if it was because I was surrounded by dozens of other Bluetooth devices in a rather large venue or what. Even after the show I was still unable to get it to pair without throwing errors, what *finally* worked was brute forcing it with NFC. By which I mean, I had to initiate NFC pairing at least 5 times before it finally "stuck", at which point it was perfect, again.

Ran into the issue after pairing it to my car for some listening for the first time the day prior, so, just throwing this out there as a cautionary tale, and as a possible fix if anyone else has the same thing occur. I had to Google where the NFC reader was in my phone - you put put it flush against the little NFC Icon on the back of the A10 and it then automatically tries to pair. Wasn't even aware of that feature.

[voodoostrat]

After I charged mine mid festival day the screen would light up but not start.  I scrambled as I still had one headlining set to record.  The fix was to take out the SD card and reinsert it

This issue has some similarities too something I just went through. A few weeks ago I was testing some mics at home. I finished and hit stop, I didn't shut off power.  A few days before a show I went to listen to the test recordings and empty the card, the A10 wouldn't fire up, screen was dead, no worries, just charge it. Plugged it, nothing, different power source, nothing, direct into a battery brick, nothing. I hooked it to my Mac, nothing, left it plugged overnight, same thing, nada. Oh well, broke out the new one in the box from last year and formatted the card from the dead A10. Back in business but still pissy as I did not even get 4 years outta the old one (2 pulls in 2020). Today I finished reading this entire thread looking to see if anyone had a link to battery replacement and saw this post. What the hell, maybe it was the card? I dug out the dead unit and plugged it in...it lit up. WTH? Last year I posted in this thread about getting a skip on a recording from that same memory card. I ordered two new cards today, I will update after some new tests with the new cards.

Thanks, rigpimp

[vibrioidxire]

The other night using my A10s (I run one for stage, one for SBD) I had a bizarre issue where it seemingly unpaired from my phone, and would -not- re-pair no matter what I tried in the moment. Not sure if it was because I was surrounded by dozens of other Bluetooth devices in a rather large venue or what. Even after the show I was still unable to get it to pair without throwing errors, what *finally* worked was brute forcing it with NFC. By which I mean, I had to initiate NFC pairing at least 5 times before it finally "stuck", at which point it was perfect, again.

Ran into the issue after pairing it to my car for some listening for the first time the day prior, so, just throwing this out there as a cautionary tale, and as a possible fix if anyone else has the same thing occur. I had to Google where the NFC reader was in my phone - you put put it flush against the little NFC Icon on the back of the A10 and it then automatically tries to pair. Wasn't even aware of that feature.

I've had this issue happen to me periodically, I've just assumed it's because of no activity after connected to my phone for so long for hours. Think a couple months ago it happened to me during a longer set. Every time though when I check my recorder, it's still recording.