Topic: PCM-M10 Glitch--and of course it was during Radiohead....

[earmonger]

I'm sure the sound of the glitch in the attached snippet is familiar to someone here: Clicks that are not just noise on top of the recording, but actually skips in the recording, so there are parts of the music that just aren't there.

It was PCM-M10, 24/96, onto the external memory, a SanDisk Class 2 8GB without previous problems. And it started pretty close to the end of the set so only the last 4 or 5 songs were glitched out.

My guess is that the Class 2 card wasn't fast enough to handle all the information being written in what was turning into a big file. I wonder if it could have been avoided by starting a new file midway through.

It was Bonnaroo though. Somehow I think someone else got a good pull.

Any thoughts, folks?

[vanark]

24/96 on a Class 2?  Not sure I would try that.

[earmonger]

Actually, it was 24/44.1 . I only record 24/96 if dogs will be listening.

[newplanet7]

Has the light gone out for you? Cause the light's gone out for me.

Write speed error IMO.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

I ALWAYS record to the internal memory first. I have found that it is much more reliable.

Rarely I go to a show long enough that it spills over to the external card...and even then I made sure I got a card that will record at 24/96 (and I usually only record at 24/48 to be on the safe side).

[F.O.Bean]

I would bet the class 2 card was/is the culprit

[adrianf74]

Class 2 is a BIG NO-NO.  Is it a quality brand name or some off-brand crap?

I would stick with a class 6, if not 10, card by Transcend, Kingston, Patriot, SanDisk, etc., otherwise you're running the risk of what happened here.

[Todd R]

It does sound to me that it was probably the card that was the culprit.  But I wouldn't say Class 2 is a big no-no.  A true Class 2 card (2 MB/s write rate) should be fine for 24/96 sampling, which is less than 1MB/s for 2ch. 

I use a Class 2 Sandisk microSD card in my M10 and it works fine.  I also have found that Sandisk cards (if you get real ones and not bunk ones on ebay) are what they say they are.  I also have found Kingston to be good.  But I've had Transcend and A-Data cards that were supposedly Class 6 or Class 10, but operated far below Class 2 standards.

I'd spend the money on a good Class 2 card before I got a shoddy A-data or Transcend Class 6 or Class 10.  ymmv of course, but that has been my experience.

[adrianf74]

It does sound to me that it was probably the card that was the culprit.  But I wouldn't say Class 2 is a big no-no.  A true Class 2 card (2 MB/s write rate) should be fine for 24/96 sampling, which is less than 1MB/s for 2ch. 

I use a Class 2 Sandisk microSD card in my M10 and it works fine.  I also have found that Sandisk cards (if you get real ones and not bunk ones on ebay) are what they say they are.  I also have found Kingston to be good.  But I've had Transcend and A-Data cards that were supposedly Class 6 or Class 10, but operated far below Class 2 standards.

I'd spend the money on a good Class 2 card before I got a shoddy A-data or Transcend Class 6 or Class 10.  ymmv of course, but that has been my experience.

One brand I would endorse is Lexar.  I've got a Lexar Class 10 32GB SDHC card in my M10 and it has *NEVER* let me down.  And it's super fast, too.

[hi and lo]

...I wouldn't say Class 2 is a big no-no.  A true Class 2 card (2 MB/s write rate) should be fine for 24/96 sampling, which is less than 1MB/s for 2ch.

I'd spend the money on a good Class 2 card before I got a shoddy A-data or Transcend Class 6 or Class 10.

Facts... I sure do hate it when they get in the way.

Brand is far more important than the class rating and I don't recommend any brand other than SanDisk. Your problem may or may not have been the memory card, but as suggested its the first place to troubleshoot.

[kleiner Rainer]

earmonger,

get this program:

http://www.heise.de/download/h2testw.html

It will tell you the sustained write rate (and read rate) of your  Micro SD card and if there are any bit errors.

I use it to test all new cards. Highly recommended! But remove all data you need from the card, it will overwrite everything on it.

I do not have any commercial connection with the publisher except for buying their mag for a quarter century 

Greetings,

Rainer

[earmonger]

Thanks, Rainer, but I always use h2testw and this card--a SanDisk Class 2 (see original post) from Amazon--tested out fine.  As noted, I was only going 24/44.1. Still, it was a long set and I think the file just got too big.

If I try this experiment again I'll break the set in half. But maybe I'll just spring for a class 4.

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

The size of the file shouldn't be an issue. Just recorded a 24/96 file that went a hair over the 2GB limit...no issues at all. Do it all the time with no problems.

[ScoobieKW]

Thanks, Reiner, but I always use h2testw and this card--a SanDisk Class 2 (see original post) from Amazon--tested out fine.  As noted, I was only going 24/44.1. Still, it was a long set and I think the file just got too big.

If I try this experiment again I'll break the set in half. But maybe I'll just spring for a class 4.

By design the M10 splits files at 2GB due to older computer file systems having a 2GB file size limit.
The file split is seamless. No samples are lost.

Cross memory recording, when turned on in the M10 menu, is also seamless.

I use Sandisk, but I need new glasses and can't read the speed.

[Sebastian]

By design the M10 splits files at 2GB due to older computer file systems having a 2GB file size limit.

This is actually a limitation of the WAVE file format, not the file system.