Topic: Microtrack II - Part 2

[taperwheeler]

I haven't taken that chance, so far. When the red lights come on it's supposedly overloading - so says the manual. Whenever that happens, I lower the levels a bit until they stay off completely. That may be overcautious on my part but I'd rather boost levels in post than have a clipped recording that I can't do anything with. On the other hand, I haven't used any other mics with the MT2 - could it be that cmc-8's are just particularly sensitive?

I recently read another post re: the sensitivity of the omnis found:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,111438.0.html

I've noticed the red light coming on on some of my recordings.  You definately don't want it coming on often or for more than a brief second. 

I record with an older pair of sp-cmc-8 mics (the 933) and have the card caps.  After quite a few recordings that I was just not too happy with the overall sound, had the low sensitivity mod performmed.  I'm much happier now.  You may want to look into it as an option.

[nathan_g]

I haven't taken that chance, so far. When the red lights come on it's supposedly overloading - so says the manual. Whenever that happens, I lower the levels a bit until they stay off completely. That may be overcautious on my part but I'd rather boost levels in post than have a clipped recording that I can't do anything with. On the other hand, I haven't used any other mics with the MT2 - could it be that cmc-8's are just particularly sensitive?

I recently read another post re: the sensitivity of the omnis found:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,111438.0.html

I've noticed the red light coming on on some of my recordings.  You definately don't want it coming on often or for more than a brief second. 

I record with an older pair of sp-cmc-8 mics (the 933) and have the card caps.  After quite a few recordings that I was just not too happy with the overall sound, had the low sensitivity mod performmed.  I'm much happier now.  You may want to look into it as an option.

May have to look into that - the low sens mod. Is there any way to tell which model of the cmc-8 you have? More specifically, can one visually differentiate between the at933 and the at943? I got mine second hand and all I know is that they were originally purchased from Soundprofessionals sometime in 2005.

[taperwheeler]

2005, you likely have the 943.  From talking with someone at Sound Pro's there really isn't any big diff's between them.

To get back to the discussion on using a pre and line-in...I sent an incident report to M-Audio to inquire about spl handling and using line-in to the device.  Here's their reply:

"The 1/8" stereo mic input jack is only for mono or stereo microphone input signal.

To feed line lever signal into the device you will have to go thru the 1/4" TRS inputs.


Regards"

This is a very big bummer especially considering the shortcomings of the TRS inputs. 

[nathan_g]

2005, you likely have the 943.  From talking with someone at Sound Pro's there really isn't any big diff's between them.

To get back to the discussion on using a pre and line-in...I sent an incident report to M-Audio to inquire about spl handling and using line-in to the device.  Here's their reply:

"The 1/8" stereo mic input jack is only for mono or stereo microphone input signal.

To feed line lever signal into the device you will have to go thru the 1/4" TRS inputs.


Regards"

This is a very big bummer especially considering the shortcomings of the TRS inputs. 

Bummer indeed. I suppose you could use an inline attenuator...sometimes referred to as 'headphone volume control' or the like. I know that Soundpros makes this available as an option on some of their battery boxes; costs about $20 or so to add it. I imagine that one could send a battbox back to them and have it modded...or maybe someone with some electronics skills on the boards could do it.

[taperwheeler]

It's gonna take some experimenting.  Once I get my 9100 in, gonna try running thru the 1/4 trs inputs.  I believe the 9100 has a female 1/8" port for it's output connection.  Will pick up a 1/8" male to dual trs cable and see how it sounds.  My understanding is that some people avoided the "sprinkler sound" by doing all the gain with their pre and keeping the mt2 gain all the way down.  Will really suck if I'm not going to be able to run the 9100 with the mt2.  Really wanted one recorder for both my open and low pro setups.

[taperwheeler]

So to further my frustration with this device, came across this info on M-Audio's site regarding use of the trs:

"To record with the MicroTrack II's 1/4” inputs, you must record from a balanced source with TRS balanced cables.  If you are recording from an unbalanced line level source or a microphone with an unbalanced (TS) cable, use the 1/8” input instead; connecting unbalanced cables to the 1/4" TRS inputs yields an audible clicking sound that is recorded.  You can change your input source from the MicroTrack II’s Main Menu>Record Settings>Input Source.

Guess I'll be doing a lot of testing once my preamp arrives.

[guysonic]

Most times MT2 TRS line level input driven from low (unbalanced type) output of preamplifier avoids the noise issue. 

Also, wiring unbalanced as pseudo balanced also avoids noise issues. 

This is using special unbalanced to balanced adapter that takes unbalanced preamp common ground wired to TRS (-minus) ring connections, sending EACH channel's +hot signal to TRS tips, and leaves the common TRS sleeve cable ground shield connections UNCONNECTED, preferably near the preamplifier output jacks.

While discouraged by MT2 issues to do a technical review (sent this back for refund), suggest going to top of my tips page finding MT2 thread link to very large TS topic with many pages, and many of my posts discussing technical MT2 details now being asked in this thread.

Suggest trying a search for my posts within this topic saving much reading?

Link at: www.sonicstudios.com/tips.htm

[taperwheeler]

Any idea how this Hosa "stereo breakout 3.5 mm TRS to dual 1/4 in TS" cable would interplay between a CA-9100 > MT2?

 http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CMP153

I'm concerned from reading M-Audio's site that using a TS cable could in some way damage my recorder or preamp.

[DSatz]

Grrr. Thing froze again during a recording last night. Not good.

[nathan_g]

Grrr. Thing froze again during a recording last night. Not good.

Sorry to hear about your recording - you may already be aware of this:

1.0.7 Firmware available as of 10-23-2008.

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers&f=957

I have no idea if this will help or not but I suppose it's worth a shot if you haven't upgraded.

[DSatz]

Mr. _g, thank you very much--I hadn't known about that firmware upgrade. Also from the notes on the page you referenced, there seems to be a "DMA" setting (that I hadn't known anything about) that can affect lockups. I wonder if that would have prevented last night's mess-up.

Nonetheless, for the rest of this series of opera recordings, I've switched to a TCD-D8. I can't take further chances--how could I explain to the client if there are two failures in the same piece of equipment?

The unit may have other problems as well--when I tried to measure its "48 Volt" phantom power supply, for example, I saw nothing resembling 48 Volts (or even 8 Volts). Perhaps I just got a lemon, which nearly every product has some of.

--best regards

[manitouman]

Mr. _g, thank you very much--I hadn't known about that firmware upgrade. Also from the notes on the page you referenced, there seems to be a "DMA" setting (that I hadn't known anything about) that can affect lockups. I wonder if that would have prevented last night's mess-up.

Nonetheless, for the rest of this series of opera recordings, I've switched to a TCD-D8. I can't take further chances--how could I explain to the client if there are two failures in the same piece of equipment?

The unit may have other problems as well--when I tried to measure its "48 Volt" phantom power supply, for example, I saw nothing resembling 48 Volts (or even 8 Volts). Perhaps I just got a lemon, which nearly every product has some of.

--best regards

I'm not sure about that DMA setting or what it means but I have been having some lock ups in past experiences and I just upgraded the firmware to the version listed above. The problem I was having happened when I would apply an external battery source. Within minutes it would lock the device up. Tried for the first time last night as a secondary rig and no lock up. Ran Church Audio ST-11 mics>Church Audio 9100 preamp>TRS inputs>MTII.

No problems with recording, but have yet to look at results in Cool Edit.

Good luck!

[nathan_g]

The unit may have other problems as well--when I tried to measure its "48 Volt" phantom power supply, for example, I saw nothing resembling 48 Volts (or even 8 Volts). Perhaps I just got a lemon, which nearly every product has some of.

--best regards

Hope it helps...were you using the TRS inputs when yours locked up? I noticed that manitouman was. I've exclusively used the mic in and have never had any trouble with lock-ups - used an external battery as well with no problems. I'm running v1.0.4 firmware which was factory installed. I noticed somewhere around the later pages (pp. 23-24 or so) on the previous Microtrack 2 thread, here:

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,88437.0.html

that there was speculation M-Audio was trying to work out many of the kinks that early MT2 users were reporting before fully releasing the MT2. Does anyone know whether this is in fact true? I picked mine up sometime around the beginning of September and it's operated without flaw so far.

[batchain]

I just updated to the new 1.0.7 firmware and now everything is wacky. I can not get it to power on without being plugged in to an external power source. When I turn it own on it's own battery it shows the initial screen then goes blank. If I plug it into external power it'll power on and it will continue to work fine on it's internal battery if I disconnect the external power. When I do this it shows the MT battery has a full charge. I tried reverting back to 1.0.4 but that didn't help. Any ideas out there?

[taperwheeler]

Make sure that you still have the recorder plugged in via usb while you are running the update.
As the directions say, download the firmware.  Mount the MT2 to your computer.  Paste the new firware files onto the cf card in the MT2.  Unmount the recorder but keep it connected.  Then run the update.

If all else fails, maybe remove the cf card, reformat it completely.

Keep us posted.  Will try my MT2 tonight to see if I had any problems.  I ran the firmware update but haven't run any tests.

Good luck...

I just updated to the new 1.0.7 firmware and now everything is wacky. I can not get it to power on without being plugged in to an external power source. When I turn it own on it's own battery it shows the initial screen then goes blank. If I plug it into external power it'll power on and it will continue to work fine on it's internal battery if I disconnect the external power. When I do this it shows the MT battery has a full charge. I tried reverting back to 1.0.4 but that didn't help. Any ideas out there?