Taperssection.com
Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: Brian Skalinder on October 01, 2005, 04:27:01 PM
-
For reference, part I: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=50364.0
-
I have the play file problem. After recording a file, if you go to the file menu you can not play the file unless you power down first
is this a common bug?
-
Real life experiences... Stopped by Sam Ash this morning and J came right up and told me the unt I had been talking about for so long was IN... They had one. It had a 399. price tag on it and I started to shake. Then he said he'd put it down as a "special promotion" and give me 75. off of that. I had to do it. 351.50 out the door. It's sitting and charging and I reading all I can about it. I'm thinking about that tapping the 1/8 for +5vdc power and running the signal thru the TRS inputs to run the AT853's.
lets hope the Version 1.5 comes out soon and they sell enough to keep paying those programmers to continue to upgrade our units.
-
Real life experiences... Stopped by Sam Ash this morning and J came right up and told me the unt I had been talking about for so long was IN... They had one. It had a 399. price tag on it and I started to shake. Then he said he'd put it down as a "special promotion" and give me 75. off of that. I had to do it. 361.50 out the door. It's sitting and charging and I reading all I can about it. I'm thinking about that tapping the 1/8 for +5vdc power and running the signal thru the TRS inputs to run the AT853's.
lets hope the Version 1.5 comes out soon and they sell enough to keep paying those programmers to continue to upgrade our units.
This is probably a stupid question, but why wouldn't you just run the AT853 on phantom out of the 1/4"?
-
I wonder what will sound better?
m20 > ecms-23 > psp-2 > microtrack (24 bit)
or
m20 > ecms-23 > psp-2 > todd mod sbm1 > microtrack (16 bit)
What is the preliminary opinion of the adc in the unit?
Tim --
If you want to know how the MT sounds compared to a ToddR modSBM1, check out the MT comparison running now over at COtapers.org.
I ran CD deck> line in to: (1) MT line-in, (2) V3> MT, and (3) ToddR-modSBM1> MT
-
nice comp todd +
-
Thanks John. Interestingly, I tried Mule and moe first, but couldn't get the MT to accept those and not go way over/clip. Couldn't get the levels low enough with what I assume are -10dbV consumer RCA outs, so I had to find something more acoustic in nature. I'm not sure what that says for PA taping. Might be that the MT will not pair well line-in with fixed output preamps like the m148, MV100, and NBox. I don't know that for sure by any means, but CD RCA outputs aren't really that hot of a signal.
-
i really couldn't hear a difference in those comps, so that's good...but the input level thing todd mentions is less than inspiring. What would be great, since the a/d isn't bad, would be to run v3 > analog out > MT at 24bit while running ANSR on > JB3 at 16bit...hmmm
-
Real life experiences... Stopped by Sam Ash this morning and J came right up and told me the unt I had been talking about for so long was IN... They had one. It had a 399. price tag on it and I started to shake. Then he said he'd put it down as a "special promotion" and give me 75. off of that. I had to do it. 351.50 out the door. It's sitting and charging and I reading all I can about it. I'm thinking about that tapping the 1/8 for +5vdc power and running the signal thru the TRS inputs to run the AT853's.
lets hope the Version 1.5 comes out soon and they sell enough to keep paying those programmers to continue to upgrade our units.
This is probably a stupid question, but why wouldn't you just run the AT853 on phantom out of the 1/4"?
From what I can see the phantom adapters lower the voltage in (48v) to less than 6vdc thats used to power the mcs... as they pass the signal... I could make the TRS to XLR adapters (which I need for open taping anyway ) and then plug in the phantom adapters and then the mics... Or come up with some clever way to power the mics straight out of the unit. I'm sure there is going to be lots of clever accessories once we have had the Trackers and we love them...;
-
Thanks. +T
-
Thanks John. Interestingly, I tried Mule and moe first, but couldn't get the MT to accept those and not go way over/clip. Couldn't get the levels low enough with what I assume are -10dbV consumer RCA outs, so I had to find something more acoustic in nature. I'm not sure what that says for PA taping. Might be that the MT will not pair well line-in with fixed output preamps like the m148, MV100, and NBox. I don't know that for sure by any means, but CD RCA outputs aren't really that hot of a signal.
Todd-
I assume your going "line-in" thorugh the 1/8" jacks where you were finding you couldn't get the level low enough without going over?
dB-
-
No, I was going into the 1/4" inputs. (RCA>RCA cables) > (RCA>1/4" mono TS adapters) > 1/4" inputs on the MT. Gain set to Line (well, gain set to "H", but right now that is Line, not High).
-
That's bizzare. Although I haven't tried it myself, I can't imagine overloading the 1/4" inputs with a fixed line level. I know the 1/8" inputs set to "line in" will overload but not the 1/4". One oddity I found with the l/m/h switch is that it didn't seem to take the right setting until I booted the unit up with the selector switch in the setting I wanted to use. You might try that.
dB-
-
My experience calibrating the line-in on the MT was that I had to set my MMA6000 preamp 2.5 dB higher for the MT than for the Edirol R1 to get the same recorded waveform from a fixed source. I had the input volume levels maxed out for both (line-in), though the MT little arrows don't go quite to the top (and I've never gotten a reply from M-Audio on whether that is unitary gain or what). I am using hot mics (DPA 4060s), so the gain I use even for most acoustic music is small (5 dB to 15 dB on orchestral and chamber music unless I am far back in the hall). Anyway, this did not strike me as al that unusual, pretty much allows me to use all my expected settings on the MMA6000.
Don't you have to power-off the MT to get any (internal) level changes to take effect?
Jeff
-
Well here are some of my findings. First I do want to state that I do not stealth and could care less about the analog inputs at all and the shows I taped were all with the digi in.
Time remaining: I also had a strange time come up with a 4 gig card. It display 4:30 remaining, when it should have been around 6:30 for 16/44.1, settings were on auto through the digi in. It didn't stop at all so no problem there. Yesterday I set the input to be the 1/8" jack, set it to 16/44.1 wav and the time remaining display showed 6:36 remaining. I switched back to the digi in and I got the same time remaining, 6:36.
I used AC power both nights so I have no real battery life reports, BUT I did learn that you should power down after each set when using AC power or even an external battery pack (which is my next test I hope to do). If you leave the miniusb in when powering up, it goes into charge mode, no biggie, just plug the usb jack in after powering up. What I did find was after the first night's first set recording I left the unit plugged in and powered up. Second set starts, I hit record and the unit froze. Powered down, unplugged the miniusb, hit record, froze again, powered down again, then up, hit record, good to go, re-plugged the AC power in. After that second set I powered the unit down, third set getting ready to start, power up, hit record, plug the AC jack in again, no problems. I did this process the second night of recording as well with no freeze ups.
I did notice the red clip lights on the MT seem a bit over zealous as my sbm1 wasn't even lighting up while the MT was like a Xmas tree at times, so just keep that in mind. Being so used to the o so wonderful meters of the D7/8 ;), these took alittle getting used to, still don't like them that much, really need some dB numbers on there. I am sure over time I will get a bead on them ;)
As it has been said, the digi in and the usb port are REAL tight, I need to shave some of the plastic off the usb jack for a smoother fit.
Using a seperate usb2.0 card reader is faster then the unit itself, 1.6 gig 45 minutes with the MT, 2 gigs 35 minutes with a reader, times are approx.
At this point, even with the limited usage, I give a thumbs up :coolguy:
-
From my testing, I've found the clip indicators on the MT to be very accurate, and the clip indicators on the SBM1 to be not so accuarate, depending on how you look at it. I tested the MT against my V3 and my home Sony A6 DAT deck, both of which I've found to be very accurate. I then looked at the waveforms in CoolEdit. Each time the MT indicated an over, so did my V3 and A6, and the waveform view showed that to be the case.
I guess you could say the SBM1 indicators were accurate, but from all my testing, the clip indicators come on exactly at clipping, not at -2db as advertised. So from my testing of at least my SBM1, the clip indicators of the SBM1 came on at 0dbFS, not -2db, and they seemed to be a little sluggish at that. Bottom line, I trust the clip meters of the MT more than the SBM1, and they seem right on par with the V3.
-
Interesting. When my sbm1 would light up for a micro second, I never really got any clipping so I am used to that. Now if they light up for a couple seconds then some clipping would happen. While watching my rig I watched this intently 8) and saw that the MT would lite up at times, but not the sbm1. The sbm1 would lite up briefly and the MT was flashing clips. I suppose it just needs to be investigated some more. Thanks for the input Todd !
-
Using a seperate usb2.0 card reader is faster then the unit itself, 1.6 gig 45 minutes with the MT, 2 gigs 35 minutes with a reader, times are approx.
Thanks for the report. Please excuse the "newbie to CF cards question", but I assume these above times are transfer times? Wow, after my own experiences of iPods and firewire drives that's longggggg. Guess I'll have to get used to that. What speed card is it? (I will be getting a card beyond the stock one that came with the unit later this week - so I'm currently stuck with mp3s.)
-
Uh oh, I hope this doesn't happen again (I'll keep you posted)....
Several days ago, last time I looked my MT was about half full on battery. It's been switched off since then. Today I decided to charge it cos I wanted to record my regular solo gig (just using the external stereo mic) and nothing happened when I plugged it in so I unplugged and tried switching it on - I would hope that I just didn't hold the button down long enough, but I'm suspecting that the battery drained while in OFF mode. So I plugged it back in again and after way longer than I would have expected the light finally came on and it charged up.
I'm now around half full again. I won't need to use it for a few days (unless the firmware update comes out before then, LOL) so I'm going to leave it turned off and see if the same thing happens.
Anyone else been able to keep their hands off the unit for long enough to see if the battery drains while turned OFF? That would be horrible if it does that. Ah well, I guess iPods and maybe even PDAs will do that too, but not so quickly! Sure, after a week I could understand it, but a couple of days? :o
-
Uh oh, I hope this doesn't happen again (I'll keep you posted)....
Several days ago, last time I looked my MT was about half full on battery. It's been switched off since then. Today I decided to charge it cos I wanted to record my regular solo gig (just using the external stereo mic) and nothing happened when I plugged it in so I unplugged and tried switching it on - I would hope that I just didn't hold the button down long enough, but I'm suspecting that the battery drained while in OFF mode. So I plugged it back in again and after way longer than I would have expected the light finally came on and it charged up.
The MT that I had briefly did essentially the same thing. Out of the box it would not enter charge mode until it had been plugged in for 3-5 minutes.
From my model airplane experience with LiPoly cells, here is the skinny.... take it for what it is worth.....
1. All LiPoly cells that I am familiar with leave the manufacturer at pretty close to 50% charged. This is to optimise the shelf life.
2. LiPoly cells should never be discharged below 2.5V or they will be permanently damaged. All LiPoly powered equipment that I am familiar with uses 3V as a safety margin and automatically shuts off when the voltage reaches that level to protect the cell(s).
Therefore, if you leave your MT at 50% charged and come back to it only to find it dead, it would seem possible that the MT slowly discharges the internal battery when off.
If it IS discharging while off, that is indeed VERY serious because it is therefore possible to discharge the cell(s) below 2.5V per cell and damage them.
Paul
-
16/48 from SBM-1 to spdif on MT. 4gb microdrive. Stops exactly at 57:53, 651,189kb each time (3times in a row). Files confirmed to be 16/48 in goldwave. Very bizzare.
-
Well here are some of my findings. First I do want to state that I do not stealth and could care less about the analog inputs at all and the shows I taped were all with the digi in.
Time remaining: I also had a strange time come up with a 4 gig card. It display 4:30 remaining, when it should have been around 6:30 for 16/44.1, settings were on auto through the digi in. It didn't stop at all so no problem there. Yesterday I set the input to be the 1/8" jack, set it to 16/44.1 wav and the time remaining display showed 6:36 remaining. I switched back to the digi in and I got the same time remaining, 6:36.
I used AC power both nights so I have no real battery life reports, BUT I did learn that you should power down after each set when using AC power or even an external battery pack (which is my next test I hope to do). If you leave the miniusb in when powering up, it goes into charge mode, no biggie, just plug the usb jack in after powering up. What I did find was after the first night's first set recording I left the unit plugged in and powered up. Second set starts, I hit record and the unit froze. Powered down, unplugged the miniusb, hit record, froze again, powered down again, then up, hit record, good to go, re-plugged the AC power in. After that second set I powered the unit down, third set getting ready to start, power up, hit record, plug the AC jack in again, no problems. I did this process the second night of recording as well with no freeze ups.
I did notice the red clip lights on the MT seem a bit over zealous as my sbm1 wasn't even lighting up while the MT was like a Xmas tree at times, so just keep that in mind. Being so used to the o so wonderful meters of the D7/8 ;), these took alittle getting used to, still don't like them that much, really need some dB numbers on there. I am sure over time I will get a bead on them ;)
As it has been said, the digi in and the usb port are REAL tight, I need to shave some of the plastic off the usb jack for a smoother fit.
Using a seperate usb2.0 card reader is faster then the unit itself, 1.6 gig 45 minutes with the MT, 2 gigs 35 minutes with a reader, times are approx.
At this point, even with the limited usage, I give a thumbs up :coolguy:
damn, it takes THAT long to transfer from usb 2.0 card reader>HD ??? that sucks, clearing a 4GB would take 70 mins :'(
i was hoping 4-5mins for a transfer like that :(
-
Here is a post from Chel Van Gennip on rec.audio.pro
<<
Today I made, as promissed, some real recordings with the Microtrack.
Two microphones AKG C480B with CK62ULS capsules (comparable with Schoeps
CMS 6 + MK 2, but better ;-) + Microtrack 2496. Recorded at 48/24, peak
level -7dB
Normalised and converted to 48/16
Hall was not very quiet, some noise from airconditioners and outside.
Piano bench needs fixing. Piano (Sauter) and acoustics were not perfect.
http://www.serg.vangennip.com/piano2.wav (size 34M)
>>
Phantom power was furnished via the Microtrack to AKG C480B's which are spec'd for 48V ± 4V....sounds fine to me (other than the damn squeaky piano bench!) ;D
Jonny Durango
-
16/48 from SBM-1 to spdif on MT. 4gb microdrive. Stops exactly at 57:53, 651,189kb each time (3times in a row). Files confirmed to be 16/48 in goldwave. Very bizzare.
that sucks. big time. if the Microtrack 2496 would just register as a member here, i'd -T him for your experience alone!
-
damn, it takes THAT long to transfer from usb 2.0 card reader>HD ??? that sucks, clearing a 4GB would take 70 mins :'(
i was hoping 4-5mins for a transfer like that :(
I have been transferring from CF for my R1 since January. 3-4 GB would take that long via a CF-to-PCMCIA adapter, but a firewire CF card reader does it in 10-15 minutes.
Jeff
-
damn, it takes THAT long to transfer from usb 2.0 card reader>HD ??? that sucks, clearing a 4GB would take 70 mins :'(
i was hoping 4-5mins for a transfer like that :(
I have been transferring from CF for my R1 since January. 3-4 GB would take that long via a CF-to-PCMCIA adapter, but a firewire CF card reader does it in 10-15 minutes.
Jeff
usb 2.0 is fatser than firewire tho, unless its firewire 800
usb 2.0 card reader>usb 2.0 PC should take even quicker!
-
[usb 2.0 is fatser than firewire tho, unless its firewire 800
usb 2.0 card reader>usb 2.0 PC should take even quicker!
My understanding (probably from someone on this forum) was that for bursts USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire, but that for sustained transfers, Firewire maintains a higher rate.
-
[usb 2.0 is fatser than firewire tho, unless its firewire 800
usb 2.0 card reader>usb 2.0 PC should take even quicker!
My understanding (probably from someone on this forum) was that for bursts USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire, but that for sustained transfers, Firewire maintains a higher rate.
that's what i've read as well. this isn't a "fact" of any kind, but note how many analog-to-DV converters use Firewire/IEEE1394 as the transferring route, as opposed to USB (2.0). my point being, to "create" (a.k.a. write) approximately 13 GB of data for each hour of footage captured, the transfer route must be able to sustain a constant (high) speed. the *majority* of video capture devices i've seen that utilize USB (2.0) are MPEG-2, which would be a maximum of approximately 4.3 GB per hour of footage captured. in other words, about one-third of the amount of data as a DV capture device. hence, it would make sense from this information alone that USB 2.0 cannot sustain as high of a speed while transferring as normal Firewire/1394 connections.
-
Taped NIN last night with the microtracker. Came out so bad that it was amazing, mostly because I was so close there were no stacks around me. I ended up just being happy being 10 feet away and just had a great time. Anyways. First problem I had was the autolux set. I got it going, did it, came back, and the microtracker is OFF and the power button is stuck in. I had the hold button still on, so I have no idea how any of this happened. I had so much junk in my pocket that anything could have happened. Then I did QOTSA and NIN. Both came out with clipping galore. I set it for M and moved both sliders at about 1/3 the way and started the file and put it on hold. I tried to play the file back after qotsa to see if it clipped, and the stupid thing wouldn't even play the file. It would play some older files, but not the ones I needed. I'd just keep pushing the nav button in over and over and nothing happened. I am very sure I wasn't writing to any files either. It of course did play it 4 hours after the show, how nice.
Anyways, NIN was the same. I'll attach a pic here and a clip. Oh yeah, the setup was SP-CMC-4>SP-SPSB-1>MT via Line-In with Phantom off. After the show I noticed the L/M/H was moved from M to H. No idea when that happened, but i'm not suprirsed with all the stuff in my pocket. In total I had a MT, SP-SPSB-1, and a USB battery pack all hooked up.
I'll try the setup again when I get a pair of mics modded with phantom power all set.
PS, if you're an NIN fan you can figure out which songs didn't clip!
Here is a clip that should sound terrible http://www.fuzn.net/mtclip.wav (http://www.fuzn.net/mtclip.wav)
I can't believe it was clipping, but oh well. Trent threw his bottle right on my hat and I guess I lost my hat! I was drenched in water as well. I have no idea where the bottle bounced off to. I was NOT expecting that to happen.
-
[usb 2.0 is fatser than firewire tho, unless its firewire 800
usb 2.0 card reader>usb 2.0 PC should take even quicker!
My understanding (probably from someone on this forum) was that for bursts USB 2.0 is faster than Firewire, but that for sustained transfers, Firewire maintains a higher rate.
you are correct sir!
-
Taped NIN last night with the microtracker. Came out so bad that it was amazing, mostly because I was so close there were no stacks around me. I ended up just being happy being 10 feet away and just had a great time. Anyways. First problem I had was the autolux set. I got it going, did it, came back, and the microtracker is OFF and the power button is stuck in. I had the hold button still on, so I have no idea how any of this happened. I had so much junk in my pocket that anything could have happened. Then I did QOTSA and NIN. Both came out with clipping galore. I set it for M and moved both sliders at about 1/3 the way and started the file and put it on hold. I tried to play the file back after qotsa to see if it clipped, and the stupid thing wouldn't even play the file. It would play some older files, but not the ones I needed. I'd just keep pushing the nav button in over and over and nothing happened. I am very sure I wasn't writing to any files either. It of course did play it 4 hours after the show, how nice.
Anyways, NIN was the same. I'll attach a pic here and a clip. Oh yeah, the setup was SP-CMC-4>SP-SPSB-1>MT via Line-In with Phantom off. After the show I noticed the L/M/H was moved from M to H. No idea when that happened, but i'm not suprirsed with all the stuff in my pocket. In total I had a MT, SP-SPSB-1, and a USB battery pack all hooked up.
I'll try the setup again when I get a pair of mics modded with phantom power all set.
PS, if you're an NIN fan you can figure out which songs didn't clip!
Here is a clip that should sound terrible http://www.fuzn.net/mtclip.wav (http://www.fuzn.net/mtclip.wav)
I can't believe it was clipping, but oh well. Trent threw his bottle right on my hat and I guess I lost my hat! I was drenched in water as well. I have no idea where the bottle bounced off to. I was NOT expecting that to happen.
A couple of questions...
Were you recording through the 1/8" inputs or the 1/4" inputs?
Why would you set the l/m/h switch to "m" if you were using a battery box?
I would suggest trying your setup through the 1/4" inputs with the l/m/h switch set to "H" which is really "L" for line-in, that is until you load the new, yet to be released firmware.
dB-
-
Taped NIN last night with the microtracker. Came out so bad that it was amazing, mostly because I was so close there were no stacks around me. I ended up just being happy being 10 feet away and just had a great time. Anyways. First problem I had was the autolux set. I got it going, did it, came back, and the microtracker is OFF and the power button is stuck in. I had the hold button still on, so I have no idea how any of this happened. I had so much junk in my pocket that anything could have happened. Then I did QOTSA and NIN. Both came out with clipping galore. I set it for M and moved both sliders at about 1/3 the way and started the file and put it on hold. I tried to play the file back after qotsa to see if it clipped, and the stupid thing wouldn't even play the file. It would play some older files, but not the ones I needed. I'd just keep pushing the nav button in over and over and nothing happened. I am very sure I wasn't writing to any files either. It of course did play it 4 hours after the show, how nice.
Anyways, NIN was the same. I'll attach a pic here and a clip. Oh yeah, the setup was SP-CMC-4>SP-SPSB-1>MT via Line-In with Phantom off. After the show I noticed the L/M/H was moved from M to H. No idea when that happened, but i'm not suprirsed with all the stuff in my pocket. In total I had a MT, SP-SPSB-1, and a USB battery pack all hooked up.
I'll try the setup again when I get a pair of mics modded with phantom power all set.
PS, if you're an NIN fan you can figure out which songs didn't clip!
Here is a clip that should sound terrible http://www.fuzn.net/mtclip.wav (http://www.fuzn.net/mtclip.wav)
I can't believe it was clipping, but oh well. Trent threw his bottle right on my hat and I guess I lost my hat! I was drenched in water as well. I have no idea where the bottle bounced off to. I was NOT expecting that to happen.
A couple of questions...
Were you recording through the 1/8" inputs or the 1/4" inputs?
Why would you set the l/m/h switch to "m" if you were using a battery box?
I would suggest trying your setup through the 1/4" inputs with the l/m/h switch set to "H" which is really "L" for line-in, that is until you load the new, yet to be released firmware.
dB-
I was using the 1/4 inputs via some 1/8 to 1/4 converters. I set it to M because I just got the thing the day before, so I didn't read up on anything. I don't really get how the L/M/H switch works. I probably did use H for some time since I saw the switch had moved to H after the show, no idea when it decided to move there. Every set I taped clipped though, I have no idea if that even mattered. Hold was on through when I put it at M, so would it even know that it was moved to H? I wasn't sure on that one.
-
woot! got mine today! charging right now...
-
Anyone else having their power button getting stuck in easily? I just push it in and a little down, and it'll just stay there. I am positive that's how my autolux set didn't come out. Ugh.
-
I know I need practice, that's for sure. However, my Sacramento NIN show from last week is easily one of the best sounding tapes of this tour, without a doubt. I used the hold feature, it didn't make a difference for autolux as it turned off anyways. I never showed I was taping at all, everything was in my pocket and it was never opened. My first tape ever was a stealth job at the fillmore and it sounds very great. The tape thing over the switches, I thought about it, but didn't do it, I know better now. I used Line-In, via 1/8" to 1/4" TRS connectors. I couldn't watch my levels as security was so close that they were seriously less than 2 inches from me just about the whole show, since the guy was in the crowd almost leaning on me. I just had no idea where to set my levels, since this unit was new to me, I figured setting the levels to just 1/4 the way would be too quiet, guess I was wrong. I have never had any problems whatsoever with my jb3 except for a faulty harddrive that I fixed easily. My NIN show (and openers) from sacramento should be coming out tonight on Dime if you're wondering. (EDIT: Is up now.)
I would have checked after one of the sets if it clipped by playing it back, but this thing has a mind of it's own and wouldn't let me play the file. It does now, but didn't when it actually mattered.
I'm as bummed out as everyone else is. I didn't want to go through all that work to just get a ton of clipping.
-
i'm not a big fan of the nav button, doesn't have good clean response...operating system is clumsy and slow.
you can still turn it off with the hold button on. :(
can't say i'm terribly impressed with it yet!
-
i'm not a big fan of the nav button, doesn't have good clean response...operating system is clumsy and slow.
you can still turn it off with the hold button on. :(
can't say i'm terribly impressed with it yet!
Same here man, I know exactly what you're talking about. I've been thinking that I should just get a dat and wait until this thing is worked out. It turning off while hold is on is a HUGE problem for me, since my power button gets stuck easily.
-
2 words: Edirol R1 :P
For real though, what a let down for something so stealthy!
-
I did notice the red clip lights on the MT seem a bit over zealous as my sbm1 wasn't even lighting up while the MT was like a Xmas tree at times, so just keep that in mind.
Christmas tree? You haven't seen a christmas tree until you've see the 722 or Deva in a dark room. Together the units could compete for the job of house lights. ;D
Wayne
-
you can still turn it off with the hold button on. :(
Very strange, you can't turn mine off when the hold switch is engaged. All buttons are locked out with hold engaged, including power.
My firmware is 1.0.2. Is this what everyone else has?
-
you can still turn it off with the hold button on. :(
Very strange, you can't turn mine off when the hold switch is engaged. All buttons are locked out with hold engaged, including power.
My firmware is 1.0.2. Is this what everyone else has?
I asked this on another thread. Everybody who answered had 1.0.2
Jeff
-
Thanks Jeff!
-
so from those of you who have actually bought & used the microtrack: is the general feeling a thumbs up or a thumbs down? i've read thru all of these posts so i know of the quirks. i've been pleased with m-audio in the past & feel that most of these things can be corrected with the proper firmware update. i'm not as concerned with mic pre-amp as i am the balance line signal, so no worries there for me (with phantom power, etc.). the other solid-state recorders like this don't handle a balanced line-level signal which is what really draws me to this recorder. and the thought of never buying dat tapes again thrills me.
i've got a good deal on one but have to purchase it by thursday. so i guess what i'm trying to find out before i make the plunge is - overall, would you buy it now that you have used it if you did not own it?
thanks!
-
... overall, would you buy it now that you have used it if you did not own it?
thanks!
In the words of the all-wise Magic Eight Ball, "Ask again later"
Jeff
-
so far with minimal use i can't imagine why people are complaining. My battery was mostly charged right out of the box so only 2 hours to get it fully charged.
For those who want to use this as a digital in recorder this thing rules IMO. Its SUPER lightweight, but not real cheap feeling. The menu is easy to navigate, no problems testing with USB1.1 (i dont have 2.0). I plan to get full use of it on friday
I even tested out the T-mic in 24/44.1. It's a little tinny/hollow sounding on ambient noises & voices, but the background noise is pretty minimal. It's actually quite sensitive. HOWEVER, i did notice some of that weird digital-noise that you get when holding up a cell phone to an ipod. Those click/beep noises. I am hoping that is only on the a/d stage or that it is my flash card.
I plan to get more SPDIF testing to see if the diginoise was a random event.
But, i have huge hopes for this especially once the firmware upgrades fix it all :)
-
I just posted some new dell coupons for flash memory in the retail section. 4gig kingston card for $187.
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=48851.msg632627#msg632627
-
tried SPDIF, no weird digi noises...
-
you can still turn it off with the hold button on. :(
Very strange, you can't turn mine off when the hold switch is engaged. All buttons are locked out with hold engaged, including power.
My firmware is 1.0.2. Is this what everyone else has?
I asked this on another thread. Everybody who answered had 1.0.2
Jeff
i have 1.0.0 ???
-
Mine boots up, saying firmware 1.00. But if you go to System>Version, it says 1.0.2.
-
Does some protection exist to avoid interference from cell phones? Expensive?
MoFo2
-
Does some protection exist to avoid interference from cell phones? Expensive?
Careful design?
Shielding?
-
Mine boots up, saying firmware 1.00. But if you go to System>Version, it says 1.0.2.
ok, yup mine does too...whew!
-
Does some protection exist to avoid interference from cell phones? Expensive?
Careful design?
Shielding?
I was thinking about some pouch of some sort or something you put on the outside of the MT..?
MoFo2
-
Does some protection exist to avoid interference from cell phones? Expensive?
Careful design?
Shielding?
I was thinking about some pouch of some sort or something you put on the outside of the MT..?
MoFo2
perhaps just turn your cellphone off, seems to be a very easy option.
-
Does some protection exist to avoid interference from cell phones? Expensive?
Careful design?
Shielding?
I was thinking about some pouch of some sort or something you put on the outside of the MT..?
MoFo2
perhaps just turn your cellphone off, seems to be a very easy option.
Tell that to X thousands others where everybody has a cell phone either to take pictures or call to friends to let them hear parts of songs etc. I'm thinking of GA where I'm crammed between others. I, of course, turn my phone of.
MoFo2
-
i think cell phone noise would be rather rare. i've open taped and stealthed on many many occasions and not once have i ever had cell phone noise in a recording...not even when the phone was on and in my pocket just inches from the recorder.
also, the first time i saw the mt in stealthing action there was a girl who was holding up her cell half the night so her friends could hear and i don't here any cell phone noise on the recording anywhere.
-
Does some protection exist to avoid interference from cell phones? Expensive?
Careful design?
Shielding?
I was thinking about some pouch of some sort or something you put on the outside of the MT..?
MoFo2
perhaps just turn your cellphone off, seems to be a very easy option.
Tell that to X thousands others where everybody has a cell phone either to take pictures or call to friends to let them hear parts of songs etc. I'm thinking of GA where I'm crammed between others. I, of course, turn my phone of.
MoFo2
have you experienced RF noise on your recordings?
-
I just picked up my MicroTrack here in Germany. The German version also reads "Ph PWR", despite what the pictures on the German M-Audio web site show.
Now charging...
-
I just posted some new dell coupons for flash memory in the retail section. 4gig kingston card for $187.
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=48851.msg632627#msg632627
i can't find out but how long can you record on a 4 gb at 24/96? 24/48?
-
I just posted some new dell coupons for flash memory in the retail section. 4gig kingston card for $187.
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=48851.msg632627#msg632627
i can't find out but how long can you record on a 4 gb at 24/96? 24/48?
http://24bit.turtleside.com/pcm.wav.file.sizes.pdf
-
have you experienced RF noise on your recordings?
Yes, but I guess the chance is bigger in GA vs seated tickets. Just curious if there's some pouch I could perhaps have the MT (or any recorder for that matter) in to reduce/remove interference from cell phones. Isn't there something available for cell phones to reduce radiation or something like that?
MoFo2
-
have you experienced RF noise on your recordings?
Yes, but I guess the chance is bigger in GA vs seated tickets. Just curious if there's some pouch I could perhaps have the MT (or any recorder for that matter) in to reduce/remove interference from cell phones. Isn't there something available for cell phones to reduce radiation or something like that?
MoFo2
i've heard lining your purse/bag with duct tape will get you pass sensors and alarms in departmant stores if you're trying to steal stuff - but i've never tried it, nor do i really plan on it. perhaps you could just line a small pouch with mass quanties of duct tape and hope for the best. *shrug*
again, i've never experienced the problem ever in all my taping experiences so i've never really gave it much thought.
-
Wrap it in tin foil, like moke does to his dome. ;D
-
Wrap it in tin foil, like moke does to his dome. ;D
Moke was telling us the other day how the US government has replaced tin foil in supermarkets with some super dense malleable plastic in order to prevent people from building RF shields to protect them from mind probes. :laugh:
-
no need to worry about mind probes, its the other probing you should be worried about. ;D i keed i keed
-
Has anyone tried sending a line signal from a pre to this thing? How much will it take? I guess what I'm getting at is: Would I be better off going MP2mini>Microtrack (6db) or MP2XLR>Microtrack(16db)
I want to to a comp Saturday at Les Claypool. M300>MP2>MSBM1
M300>MP2>MT 24bit.
-
Has anyone determined the amount of gain for the TRS inputs in line/low mode?
I'm also wondering what each meter bar represents in terms of gain (and whether each step adds the same for L, M, H). So I know what to set for, say, 35dB of gain.
I'm also curious which sounds better: Line mode with gain turned up, or the middle setting with the gain turned down. Etc.
Hoover, ToddR seeded some line-in comps, v3, modsbm and MT.
-
At the top of one of the MT threads, specs on the MT were posted, I think coming from Doug Oade. Max gain on the TRS inputs was 55db, but I believe this included the +27db of "digital" boost. Some folks over on Oade are saying this is some kind of analog gain, but since the manual speaks of "digitally boosting" the signal, I'm afraid it is just digital scaling that I'd stay away from. We need to find out more about this +27db boost feature, but if we want to avoid it, it seems the MT may only have 28db of gain available 55db - 27db of digital boost).
Hoover -- I've got a bittorrent up at COtapers.org comparing line in on the MT to the V3 and modSBM1.
-
.
-
Has anyone determined the amount of gain for the TRS inputs in line/low mode?
I'm also wondering what each meter bar represents in terms of gain (and whether each step adds the same for L, M, H). So I know what to set for, say, 35dB of gain.
Well, jboyzh sent me some samples of his MT, check this out. Maybe this answers your question?
http://home.rustradio.org/~rdvdijk/microtrack/
Roel
-
At the top of one of the MT threads, specs on the MT were posted, I think coming from Doug Oade. Max gain on the TRS inputs was 55db, but I believe this included the +27db of "digital" boost.
The ADC has 12 dB of gain, so there is an OpAmp present as well?
-
i think cell phone noise would be rather rare.
Place your cell phone near your MicroTrack and call it. You will hear some very clear cell phone interference on your recording. At least I do...
-
i think cell phone noise would be rather rare.
Place your cell phone near your MicroTrack and call it. You will hear some very clear cell phone interference on your recording. At least I do...
and then try from across the room please ??? if you can also hear noise from across the room, then this thing is looking worse and worse
but maybe that noise is just the mt when not recording music or anything loud ??? that would mean it has a poor preamp/a>d path
-
i think cell phone noise would be rather rare.
Place your cell phone near your MicroTrack and call it. You will hear some very clear cell phone interference on your recording. At least I do...
and then try from across the room please ??? if you can also hear noise from across the room, then this thing is looking worse and worse
but maybe that noise is just the mt when not recording music or anything loud ??? that would mean it has a poor preamp/a>d path
Wow.... thats pretty craptacular!
-
i think cell phone noise would be rather rare.
Place your cell phone near your MicroTrack and call it. You will hear some very clear cell phone interference on your recording. At least I do...
and then try from across the room please ??? if you can also hear noise from across the room, then this thing is looking worse and worse
but maybe that noise is just the mt when not recording music or anything loud ??? that would mean it has a poor preamp/a>d path
Then do the same thing with your cell phone on top of your speakers.
Also, check that when it's receiving a digital signal.
-
i think cell phone noise would be rather rare.
Place your cell phone near your MicroTrack and call it. You will hear some very clear cell phone interference on your recording. At least I do...
and then try from across the room please ??? if you can also hear noise from across the room, then this thing is looking worse and worse
but maybe that noise is just the mt when not recording music or anything loud ??? that would mean it has a poor preamp/a>d path
Then do the same thing with your cell phone on top of your speakers.
Also, check that when it's receiving a digital signal.
yeah, id imagine the noise would only be in the analog section, but who knows
-
i think cell phone noise would be rather rare.
Place your cell phone near your MicroTrack and call it. You will hear some very clear cell phone interference on your recording. At least I do...
and then try from across the room please ??? if you can also hear noise from across the room, then this thing is looking worse and worse
but maybe that noise is just the mt when not recording music or anything loud ??? that would mean it has a poor preamp/a>d path
Then do the same thing with your cell phone on top of your speakers.
Also, check that when it's receiving a digital signal.
yeah, id imagine the noise would only be in the analog section, but who knows
That's a steak through the heart for me.... I was looking for some opinions on the A/D in this item, but if its subject to cellphones when using analog in, its a no go for me right off the bat.
I'm very interested in what you guys find with this....
-
Cell phone interference is no reason to dump the MicroTrack. My M1 and SBM1 had it occasionally, and recently I've even seen a show where there was cell phone interference over the PA. So I guess most audio gear is somehow subject to this problem and there's simply nothing we can do about it. I'll do some more thorough tests later.
-
So I got my Microtrack yesterday and started charging it at work. Since I've already read about the 'several charge cycle' thing, I powered it down, and recharged it several times yesterday afternoon. When I got home that evening, I went through the menus a little bit and before I went to bed started another charge cycle. This morning when I woke up, the battery indicator was still in the animation state like it was charging...which is weird because at that point it was 8 hours later. So I come home from work all excited to start making some test recordings and the Microtrack was turned off. Hmmm...
I power it on and almost immediately get a "battery is low message" and then the thing shuts off. WTF? I tried it again and bam, same thing ???
After fiddling with it for a couple minutes, I got it to start charging again and it is still going now. Anyone have any idea what happened? Could it have completed charging and then stayed on all day until the battery drained down to empty? It was connected to the wall wart/USB cable all day.
So when does that Sonosax MINI2 recorder come out?
Later,
pjdavep
-
OK, just did some testing. The MT seemed to be more more likely to get interference when the cell phone was placed left
or under it. I got very little interference when placing the cell phone on top of the MT and some interference when placing it right of the MT.
All in all, the safe distance from which not to expect audible interference seems to be about one meter to the left and half a meter (50 cm) to the right of the MT (I don't know how much that is in inches for you ignorant non-metric folks *G*).
-
im not totally sure what RF noise is...Radio Freq?
i only found "RF" noise when i had analog stage used. SPDIF got nothing
-
yep, radio freqiencies
-
talk about "user error"
I just got the MT too ;D
I went to power it up, let it go for about 30-45 minutes.
then started fiddling with it.
put the disc in, and started trying the recording button.
then deleted the few tracks I tried out.
then it froze on the delete file message.
so then I read that you have to format the disc. I go to menu, and start to format the disc.
about 40 minutes later, its still formatting. The light on the screen stays on and it still says formatting even though I took the disc out an hour or so ago.
now I have it on the wall charger, and it still says formatting.
I think I brokle it already
:'(
on a good note, I taped a jmp show today outdoors at humboldt state university
mbho hypercards > V3 > m1
transfering it right now
-
bump cause Im wondering now if I let the battery run down, will it unfreeze?
can the battert run down if its frozen?
hard questions. and I don't want to bug cascademedia
-
bump cause Im wondering now if I let the battery run down, will it unfreeze?
can the battert run down if its frozen?
hard questions. and I don't want to bug cascademedia
Have you tried pressing and holding the power button for 20 seconds?
-
Last night while I was charging the battery with the usb wall plug, the charge indicator started to flicker after about 2 hours of charging.When I started the MT it had a half full battery. I then started to charge it again. Same thing: after about an hour or 2 of charging it freaks out and goes into non-stop flicker mode. Not sure what's going on with that. Kinda ghetto.
On the bright side, the battery pack that Nick's Picks posted here: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=49161.0 I'm getting at least 6 hours of charge through the 1/8", probably more. I forgot to about it and the media filled up before while I was at work. It had 2500mah batteries in it
-
For mine which was frozen in the morning still, I let it power down and it was fixed!
-
Last night while I was charging the battery with the usb wall plug, the charge indicator started to flicker after about 2 hours of charging.When I started the MT it had a half full battery. I then started to charge it again. Same thing: after about an hour or 2 of charging it freaks out and goes into non-stop flicker mode. Not sure what's going on with that. Kinda ghetto.
The same thing happened to me. It was like it was in an endless loop. I'm not sure if it was still charging or actually draining the battery at that point. I had some other issues charging the thing too (see my post about that about 8 posts prior), but ran through my first test recording cycle and got very satisfactory results, so hopefully whatever happened was just an anomaly. I'll post my record time results in the appropriate thread.
Later,
pjdave
-
If you leave the miniusb in when powering up, it goes into charge mode, no biggie, just plug the usb jack in after powering up.
DEL makes it boot in 'normal' mode.
-
I've seen that battery light flickering too. I think if you leave it it eventually winds up with the full charge battery icon. Maybe the flicker means it's in the final stages of charging?
-
so has anybody who has done some testing with the microtrack used a +4db line-in input thru the 1/4" trs jacks? i'm very interested in this recorder for the ability to take a +4db line-level balanced signal (xlr to trs) from a sound board. it was said on the oade boards that there is overloading at just over +2db but m-audio claims that it will take a +4db signal when the trs inputs are set to line-in. i guess i'm just looking for conformation on this before i make the plunge.
-
I've got a bittorrent up at COtapers.org comparing line in on the MT to the V3 and modSBM1.
Thanks for the comp! Just a quick note to those listening: the V3 coax > MT source seems to have swapped L/R channels relative to the other two sources. ???
-
coming out of my v3, I have a spidf cable to my dat, on the spidf out I put a spiter on it to feed my new hosa szpidf cable to the mt
things seemed to work, and I can run both the mt and the dat at the same time >:D
-
Are any stealthers having static problems using the dual 1/4" TRS inputs? (where stealth is very stealth; mics, battery box, MT)
A friend forwarded me sample of static trouble. The static only happened when he moved (which was only before the start, statue for all of show). His rig: SP AT mics > SP batt box > high quality 1/8" to dual 1/4" TRS cable > microtrack
I'm looking for other real life stealth experiences.
Here's the clip (http://torch.cs.dal.ca/~newton/tmp/clip.mp3); the static is near the start.
-
Are any stealthers having static problems using the dual 1/4" TRS inputs? (where stealth is very stealth; mics, battery box, MT)
A friend forwarded me sample of static trouble. The static only happened when he moved (which was only before the start, statue for all of show). His rig: SP AT mics > SP batt box > high quality 1/8" to dual 1/4" TRS cable > microtrack
I'm looking for other real life stealth experiences.
Here's the clip (http://torch.cs.dal.ca/~newton/tmp/clip.mp3); the static is near the start.
I am using the 1/4" for line input, yesterday taped a recital at 24/44.1 with the whole rig in jacket pockets (MMA6000 to MT 1/4" inputs), old firmware. No static at all, came out fine. About the same results as the MMA6000 into an Edirol at 24 bits, I'd say. Now let them get the 2 GB limit fixed so I can stealth 24/96!
-
Silent Mark updated his firmware on the MT2496 today, after running it on the shipped firmware a few times for gigs at 16/44.1(v3>MT and modsbm1>MT). His MT (at 16/44) ran just fine on a Kingston 4gig CF for all the shows. Loaded fine to the HD blah blah blah
.. allthough our opinion of the level meters is marginal (slow, not accurate), the unit appears to be a DAT replacement (so far).. which is good!
__concerns at 16 bit via spdf with this unit__
Allthough our opinion of the level meters is marginal (slow, not accurate), the unit appears to be a DAT replacement (so far).. which is good!
Im also not sure what the red clip lights mean on the MT.. They will flash even though the v3 has not clipped..
One last issue we had was the need to reboot the unit upon every recording session. Run a set, stop/save file, hit record button for second set and freeze.. So it goes.. Run a set, stop/save file, shutdown, power up, start recording.. not that big of a deal..
thats pretty much all the issues that weve seen with the MT(mind you, just running spdf)
__updated firmware__
Smark and I are sitting here right now running a 24/48 (v3>spdf> MT2496) of just ambient sound.. its at about the 30 minute mark and it still says its recording data. The level meters, however, are not functioning correctly. It appears that the right channel peak meters sort of work (verry slow), but the overall bar shoots to peak with every ambient spike(handclap). The left channel, on the other hand, has the same peak meter slowness ( ),however the bar is full on (clipping, but with no red light) and only dissapears when there is enough ambient sound to make the right channel spike. Basically it appears that the bar meter on the left channel is reverse of the right channel(so right now, right channel nothing, left channel full). Like I said, the little peak meters operate on both channels(albiet with a very slow response time).
as of right now.. neither of us like the meters one diddlydang bit on this unit..
btw .. the recording is now at the 56 minutes in, and appears to still be recording.. same level issues..
-
Run a set, stop/save file, shutdown, power up, start recording.. not that big of a deal..
thats pretty much all the issues that weve seen with the MT(mind you, just running spdf)
__updated firmware__[\quote]
what does this mean, turn it off, and recharge the sucka???(6 hours)
or just stop it, turn it off and then turn it back on?
-
what does this mean, turn it off, and recharge the sucka???(6 hours)
or just stop it, turn it off and then turn it back on?
No.. just power down and reboot the unit
-
thanks! I bought one ofthese MTs
I thought it had been out for awhile.....
go team cascade!
-
so has anybody who has done some testing with the microtrack used a +4db line-in input thru the 1/4" trs jacks? i'm very interested in this recorder for the ability to take a +4db line-level balanced signal (xlr to trs) from a sound board. it was said on the oade boards that there is overloading at just over +2db but m-audio claims that it will take a +4db signal when the trs inputs are set to line-in. i guess i'm just looking for conformation on this before i make the plunge.
Maybe someone with the right tools could do a test to see if the extra 14 dB causes problems for this.
If so, we could put in a detailed bug report?
-
Are any stealthers having static problems using the dual 1/4" TRS inputs? (where stealth is very stealth; mics, battery box, MT)
A friend forwarded me sample of static trouble. The static only happened when he moved (which was only before the start, statue for all of show). His rig: SP AT mics > SP batt box > high quality 1/8" to dual 1/4" TRS cable > microtrack
I'm looking for other real life stealth experiences.
Here's the clip (http://torch.cs.dal.ca/~newton/tmp/clip.mp3); the static is near the start.
I am using the 1/4" for line input, yesterday taped a recital at 24/44.1 with the whole rig in jacket pockets (MMA6000 to MT 1/4" inputs), old firmware. No static at all, came out fine. About the same results as the MMA6000 into an Edirol at 24 bits, I'd say. Now let them get the 2 GB limit fixed so I can stealth 24/96!
which adapter do you use ? (mma6000 to 1/4" inputs)
regards
-
DPA 4061's > HEB bb > MT 1\4 line in
My unit last night lost the meters at about the 50 min. point of the recording when they went into some kind of maxxed out look with the left chanel a little dimmer and flickering, but the recording turned out fine, if fine.(real nice in fact). I do agree even when working properly the meters are hard to read the peeks are way out in front of the base (solid line) of the levels but all in all it has worked very nice for 2 shows.
Brad
-
btw which program are we using to track the 24 bit files? CDWave can only handle 8 or 16bit.
Brad
-
btw which program are we using to track the 24 bit files? CDWave can only handle 8 or 16bit.
Brad
download the latest version of CDWave. It will handle 24/96 files just fine :)
-
Taped 24/48 last night from my V3. I am running the latest firmware onit...
my thoughts/experiences:
The levels suck BIG FLOPPY DONKEY DICK. So, I h ave the V3 dialed in, the horizontal bars appear as if they dont refresh correctly, they moved realllllly slowly, and wouldnt show where t he current level was - I went off the verticle black bar that shows peaks.. t hat worked ok. After it was going a while, the horizontal bar would flash all the way to the top, sometimes staying there... this was on the left channel... t he right would do its "normal" thing... peak bar (verticle ones) were fine.....
WAV appears to be ok....
I was slamming the V3 on the opening band to see what the MT did as far as handling clipping... V3 peak lights would light up, the red lights on the MT would flash, but the WAV isn't clipping at all on really loud parts. Its weird!.
I didn't have ANY problems with it locking up, or stopping.
The record time left indicator showed I only had 1.5 hours left after recording only 1 hour. I am using a Kingston 4 gig CF card. I checked the file sizes when I got home, I only used 1.8gigs for 2 hours (approx).
Very strange.
The levels need to be reworked BADLY. They kept driving me crazy. I would reallly like to see a margin on it... like on the DAP1... that would be rad. And also some actual markers with db indicators on them.
If this could be fixed, as well as the available record time, and get t he inputs to actually BE line level, I'd be a happy camper.
-
I should also add, 24/96 functionality through digi in, and 2gig limit removal would be nice to have too! :)
-
Taped 24/48 last night from my V3. I am running the latest firmware onit...
Did you run V3 digi-out to the MT2496, or analog-out?
-
My unit last night lost the meters at about the 50 min. point of the recording when they went into some kind of maxxed out look with the left chanel a little dimmer and flickering, but the recording turned out fine, if fine.(real nice in fact). I do agree even when working properly the meters are hard to read the peeks are way out in front of the base (solid line) of the levels but all in all it has worked very nice for 2 shows.
Brad
Yes the meters are definately buggy. I didn't have this happen until after I updated the firmware. It appears as if the meters "work" fine until they turn into what I can best describe as an inverse appearance, full bars until you get a sound source, flickering with the peak bars moving. So far I think the meters suck ...
-
Taped 24/48 last night from my V3. I am running the latest firmware onit...
Did you run V3 digi-out to the MT2496, or analog-out?
digi out of course.
-
The levels suck BIG FLOPPY DONKEY DICK. So, I h ave the V3 dialed in, the horizontal bars appear as if they dont refresh correctly, they moved realllllly slowly, and wouldnt show where t he current level was - I went off the verticle black bar that shows peaks.. t hat worked ok. After it was going a while, the horizontal bar would flash all the way to the top, sometimes staying there... this was on the left channel... t he right would do its "normal" thing... peak bar (verticle ones) were fine.....
When Eric & I were running some tests last night, the meters worked fine, then went to crap at about 30 minutes in. We even noticed that the MT would show clipping, but NO peak lights on the V3. There were times though it appeared correct on the MT and the V3 clip lights.
I'll say it again the meters suck ...
-
digi out of course.
That's what I thought. In which case at least the MT2496 meters' sucking doesn't really matter (unless you also plan to use the MT analog-in).
I was slamming the V3 on the opening band to see what the MT did as far as handling clipping... V3 peak lights would light up, the red lights on the MT would flash, but the WAV isn't clipping at all on really loud parts. Its weird!.
If you're running digi-out from V3 > MT2496, then the MT2496 isn't really "handling" the clipping - the V3 is. And the V3 clips very gracefully under our recording circumstances (less so under others - but I don't think that's unique to the V3). The only way to test how the MT2496 handles clipping is to feed it an analog signal. 'Course, with flaky meters, it'd be a tough test to run at the moment.
-
So about the digi-in....is there a sort of threshold (don't know what else to call it) that allows the digital signal to be attenuated or bumped up? Or is it just dependent on the levels the pre/ADC is sending out? i.e. the levels are automatic and there isn't any way to adjust the incoming digital signal on the MT?
-
digi out of course.
That's what I thought. In which case at least the MT2496 meters' sucking doesn't really matter (unless you also plan to use the MT analog-in).
IF you are using a V3, sure the meters don't really matter, but what if you aren't using a V3 and still use the digi in ? Imo the meters do matter ... well until I get a V3 that is ;D
-
So about the digi-in....is there a sort of threshold (don't know what else to call it) that allows the digital signal to be attenuated or bumped up? Or is it just dependent on the levels the pre/ADC is sending out? i.e. it the levels are automatic and there isn't any way to adjusted the incoming digital signal on the MT?
if the spdif signal is bit transparent there is no way to adjust the gain digital in on the MT.
i used to own a creative soundblaster sound card(a known non-bit transparent card) and could adjust the gain digi in with the creative software because that card sends the signal through a DA>analog stage(where you can add the gain)>back into the AD(whre it resamples).
if you can adjust the volume of the spdif signal on the MT, i'd have to believe that it is not bit transparant and sends the signal through an analog stage first.....which would suck!
-
I was using the trim on the v3 to fine tune the output to MT... atleast I was for the second band... first I left trim flat and jacked the gain... seems ok to my fried ears (from the show - thanks heavy metal music! hehe).
I can post a flac or something when I get home....
-
So about the digi-in....is there a sort of threshold (don't know what else to call it) that allows the digital signal to be attenuated or bumped up? Or is it just dependent on the levels the pre/ADC is sending out? i.e. it the levels are automatic and there isn't any way to adjusted the incoming digital signal on the MT?
if the spdif signal is bit transparent there is no way to adjust the gain digital in on the MT.
i used to own a creative soundblaster sound card(a known non-bit transparent card) and could adjust the gain digi in with the creative software because that card sends the signal through a DA>analog stage(where you can add the gain)>back into the AD(whre it resamples).
if you can adjust the volume of the spdif signal on the MT, i'd have to believe that it is not bit transparant and sends the signal through an analog stage first.....which would suck!
Did not know that, thanks for the info.
I'm looonggg overdue for an upgrade....soon very soon, just been waiting for something small and reliable to hit the shelves.
-
IF you are using a V3, sure the meters don't really matter, but what if you aren't using a V3 and still use the digi in ? Imo the meters do matter ... well until I get a V3 that is ;D
True. For example, if I run T+ UA5 > MT, I definitely want the meters to function properly!
-
digi out of course.
That's what I thought. In which case at least the MT2496 meters' sucking doesn't really matter (unless you also plan to use the MT analog-in).
I was slamming the V3 on the opening band to see what the MT did as far as handling clipping... V3 peak lights would light up, the red lights on the MT would flash, but the WAV isn't clipping at all on really loud parts. Its weird!.
If you're running digi-out from V3 > MT2496, then the MT2496 isn't really "handling" the clipping - the V3 is. And the V3 clips very gracefully under our recording circumstances (less so under others - but I don't think that's unique to the V3). The only way to test how the MT2496 handles clipping is to feed it an analog signal. 'Course, with flaky meters, it'd be a tough test to run at the moment.
I'm meaning when adjusting trim to fine tune the output to the MT - I was curious what it would do if it got to hot a signal...
-
for some reason i dont think the red lights on the MT2496 are actual clipping
I think it just means it has reached a certain dB level. Kind of like when the V3 goes from green to red
-
I'm meaning when adjusting trim to fine tune the output to the MT - I was curious what it would do if it got to hot a signal...
That's just it - nothing you do on the V3 will send "too hot a signal" to the MT2496 when running V3 digi-out > MT. All the "hotness" is handled by the V3's ADC. When running digi-in, the MT simply receives and stores the 0s and 1s, nothing more. If the waveform that those 0s and 1s represent is clipped during the analog to digital conversion within the V3, the MT doesn't care - all it's doing is writing the digital stream to media. To see how the MT sounds when pushed with too hot a signal requires running analog-in to the MT.
-
I'm meaning when adjusting trim to fine tune the output to the MT - I was curious what it would do if it got to hot a signal...
That's just it - nothing you do on the V3 will send "too hot a signal" to the MT2496 when running V3 digi-out > MT. All the "hotness" is handled by the V3's ADC. When running digi-in, the MT simply receives and stores the 0s and 1s, nothing more. If the waveform that those 0s and 1s represent is clipped during the analog to digital conversion within the V3, the MT doesn't care - all it's doing is writing the digital stream to media. To see how the MT sounds when pushed with too hot a signal requires running analog-in to the MT.
I'm not explaining myself right..
-
I'm not explaining myself right..
Or maybe I'm just not "getting" it. Willing to try again? What exactly about the MT2496 were you trying to test by adjusting the gain on the V3? (Or is the question itself incorrect given what you were trying to accomplish?)
-
I'm not explaining myself right..
Or maybe I'm just not "getting" it. Willing to try again? What exactly about the MT2496 were you trying to test by adjusting the gain on the V3? (Or is the question itself incorrect given what you were trying to accomplish?)
ack. I dont think I can explain what I mean..
like if was slamming 0db on V3, if that would show up as 0db on the wav as recorded by the MT... vs being someting under, say like -1 for instance...this make sense? I still dont think I am explaining exactly right.. am wayyyyy tired from last night...
-
also- was trying to see if the meters/levels on the MT are representing whats coming in correctly - like I said in the previous post - they were all over the place at times...
-
I'm not explaining myself right..
Or maybe I'm just not "getting" it. Willing to try again? What exactly about the MT2496 were you trying to test by adjusting the gain on the V3? (Or is the question itself incorrect given what you were trying to accomplish?)
ack. I dont think I can explain what I mean..
like if was slamming 0db on V3, if that would show up as 0db on the wav as recorded by the MT... vs being someting under, say like -1 for instance...this make sense? I still dont think I am explaining exactly right.. am wayyyyy tired from last night...
this really brings up the whole "digital over" debate. there is no standard to what a "0" means in the digital realm. If I'm not mistaken you must have at least 3 samples over 0 for it to be considered a "clip" or "over" It's very gear dependent when exactly those samples go over. i remember when i was running v3>m1, my m1 would go over but the V3's red peak light was not on.
-
I'm not explaining myself right..
Or maybe I'm just not "getting" it. Willing to try again? What exactly about the MT2496 were you trying to test by adjusting the gain on the V3? (Or is the question itself incorrect given what you were trying to accomplish?)
ack. I dont think I can explain what I mean..
like if was slamming 0db on V3, if that would show up as 0db on the wav as recorded by the MT... vs being someting under, say like -1 for instance...this make sense? I still dont think I am explaining exactly right.. am wayyyyy tired from last night...
this really brings up the whole "digital over" debate. there is no standard to what a "0" means in the digital realm. If I'm not mistaken you must have at least 3 samples over 0 for it to be considered a "clip" or "over" It's very gear dependent when exactly those samples go over. i remember when i was running v3>m1, my m1 would go over but the V3's red peak light was not on.
This is where I was going... I could peak out on the v3, but my P1 wouldn't show it was over ... was curious if this was the same as on the MT.
sorry couldn't explain this. I must be retarded from lack of sleep. ;)
-
this really brings up the whole "digital over" debate. there is no standard to what a "0" means in the digital realm. If I'm not mistaken you must have at least 3 samples over 0 for it to be considered a "clip" or "over" It's very gear dependent when exactly those samples go over. i remember when i was running v3>m1, my m1 would go over but the V3's red peak light was not on.
I think the situation about which you write, and encountered with your V3 and M1, is really two issues: lack of a standard for when to trigger the "0" indicator on meters, and variable precision / margin of error across different machines. Defining when to trigger the "0" indicator depends on the implementation of the meter - did the manufacturer design it to light at one sample, 3 consecutive samples, or something else entirely. However, precision comes into play even if all manufacturers agreed to display the "0" indicator upon a single 0 dBFS sample. There are different ways to implement metering (e.g. analog or digital realm) and even the same implementation may produce different results across different machines due to variability in the components selected to do the job.
-
this really brings up the whole "digital over" debate. there is no standard to what a "0" means in the digital realm. If I'm not mistaken you must have at least 3 samples over 0 for it to be considered a "clip" or "over" It's very gear dependent when exactly those samples go over. i remember when i was running v3>m1, my m1 would go over but the V3's red peak light was not on.
I think the situation about which you write, and encountered with your V3 and M1, is really two issues: lack of a standard for when to trigger the "0" indicator on meters, and variable precision / margin of error across different machines. Defining when to trigger the "0" indicator depends on the implementation of the meter - did the manufacturer design it to light at one sample, 3 consecutive samples, or something else entirely. However, precision comes into play even if all manufacturers agreed to display the "0" indicator upon a single 0 dBFS sample. There are different ways to implement metering (e.g. analog or digital realm) and even the same implementation may produce different results across different machines due to variability in the components selected to do the job.
yep. pretty much what i said, just with all the details :)
-
In my testing, the MT 'clip' light comes on at -1 dB. Given the *tremendous* flakiness we've seen from the MT meters, I'd be looking mostly at that. Also, it wasn't variable intensity. Just on or off.
A device like the MT should be able to keep a total count of overs. That'd be really handy.
-
Here's a quick comp of the microtrack from last night:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=51789.0
-
ok. i have one more question then i'm letting this go (can't seem to get any answers & my cheap price offer is about to expire for the microtrack). core-sound says that this device does not record a true 24 bit recording thru analog inputs. i will be using this for sound board taping thru the 1/4" trs inputs set to line-input (no mic preamp - don't care about the mic preamps - i won't use them). has anybody confirmed whether or not the microtracker records a true 24 bit recording?
-
it records 24bit via analog in and digital in. len is full of shit.
-
ok. i have one more question then i'm letting this go (can't seem to get any answers & my cheap price offer is about to expire for the microtrack). core-sound says that this device does not record a true 24 bit recording thru analog inputs. i will be using this for sound board taping thru the 1/4" trs inputs set to line-input (no mic preamp - don't care about the mic preamps - i won't use them). has anybody confirmed whether or not the microtracker records a true 24 bit recording?
have you read this thread and the other MT2496 threads on this forum?
-
ok. i have one more question then i'm letting this go (can't seem to get any answers & my cheap price offer is about to expire for the microtrack). core-sound says that this device does not record a true 24 bit recording thru analog inputs.
What is 'true 24 bit' anyways?
BTW: Now that are current audio ADC's are '24 bit'someone has to explain me why in a low SNR environment like a 'rock' concert it is still useful to record 24 bits. The difference between an optimum quality ADC (120 dB SNR?) and a 'normal' one (100 dB?) is way down in the noise of the mic, let alone the environment?
I may be missing a few details, please point them out.
-
There is an enormous amount of info on the advantages of 24 bit in the archives here and on the web. That poor horse just doesn't need to be beat again, at least not in this thread.
http://24bitfaq.org
Thanks! +T
-
From DAT Heads, courtesy of everyone's favorite online retail salesman:
From: "Len Moskowitz" <moskowit@core-sound.com>
Subject: Re: M-Audio's MicroTrack 24/96
Reply-To: "Len Moskowitz" <moskowit@core-sound.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Oct 2005 22:22:25 -0400 (EDT)
Guy Clark wrote:
> It's possible that the MT2496 had a similar limitation on its phantom
> power output that the CoreSound MIC2496 does... if you measure the
> voltage open circuit, I expect that it will probably be 48 to 50VDC.
> Load it down with a couple of microphones, and the voltage will drop
> to some other voltage.
>
> In my case, with the MIC2496, my TOA-KY mics pull the voltage down to
> less than 9VDC, and drain the battery in minutes, rather than hours.
> The TOAs pull too much current for the DC/DC converter in the MIC2496.
> Mics that draw less current will have a higher voltage seen on the
> lines.
Mic2496 is designed to provide up to 4 milliamps total of 48 Volt
phantom power. That's more than enough for the large majority of
microphones. Its voltage will not drop below a nominal 48 Volts as long
it is not asked to provide more than its specified current. If you see
the voltage drop, it means that your mics require more current than it
can supply -- you should not use those mics with Mic2496 unless you
power them from an external Phantom Power supply like our new 2Phant.
In contrast, MicroTrack 24/96 was designed to provide only 30 Volts with
no load, a rather odd voltage for phantom power -- no other manufacturer
that I know uses that voltage. And when loaded even lightly, its
voltage drops rather dramatically.
-
"my product doesn't work right? - must be your non coresound binaural microphones, try my new product..."
seriously, i've had no dealings with the guy, but his constant advertising is a bit much. kinda reminds me of the used car salesmen that always advertise repeatedly when the local news is on.
-
What I don't understand is the crazy price he's charging for his new phantom box.
-
I brought it up before, but haven't seen any replies, but has anyone tried running AT853Rx's with the phantom on? The mics aren't listed on m-audio's site (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=7fb377f3ef962038a26bc5c2291bafc1).
-
I brought it up before, but haven't seen any replies, but has anyone tried running AT853Rx's with the phantom on? The mics aren't listed on m-audio's site (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=7fb377f3ef962038a26bc5c2291bafc1).
AT853Rx are spec'd 9-52V @ 2mA, so they certainly should be okay.
http://external.fullcompass.com/ImageFromDB.aspx?imgid=2224&srctbl=doc
-
The Microtrack 2496 will not power my MBHO 603's and they are designed to run on 16V to 48V.
I tested my Microtrack with my buddies 184's to determine if possibly there might have been a problem
with the phantom on my MT and it powered them up fine.
Any buddy else out there have a chance to test their MBHO's with a Microtrack?
-
Aren't MBHOs some of the most power hungry mics out there?
-
Aren't MBHOs some of the most power hungry mics out there?
Good point. I have also heard that these microphones are power hungry and was wondering if there is more to the phantom issue than just the 30V
that the MT is supposed to support. I have never run into any problems with my UA-5 or Sonosax with these microphones.
-
Aren't MBHOs some of the most power hungry mics out there?
Yup: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=1904.0
-
Not really..
MBHO 603 15-48 4.5
MBHO 648 48 1.9
MBHO 440 + 410 22-48 1.8/2.5
Earthworks 48 10
The Earthworks mics are Really power hungry. Sound Devices came out with a free mod for any 722 just for Earthworks. All the new 722s have it. Somehow, I don't think we'll see that from M-A ;)
I think the gotcha here is CURRENT. A mic that draws 4 mA at 48 volts is expected to draw 8 mA at 24. Do we even have a current spec from M-A?
-
I am running Microtech Gefell 210 > MT right now. I am actually getting levels...this might actually be working...
EDIT:
This thing seems to actually work with and power the Gefell's nicely. The Gefell's seem a lot hotter than most mics, so I think this will work well.
EDIT:
Tested both DPA 4023's and Gefell 210's, new firmware, with phantom power on, and gain on "H", all through the 1/4" TRS inputs.
Both seem to work just fine, the levels are a little shaking and have to figure out fine tune them, but overall I am happy.
I'llhave to see what happens at a show.
-
I am running Microtech Gefell 210 > MT right now. I am actually getting levels...this might actually be working...
Good news!! Hopefully it works out well. Thanks for testing the MG's.
-
Not really..
Not relative to the Earthworks, no. But relative to most other mics, they're about double the current draw. Good point about the higher current at lower voltages - sounds like the likely problem.
-
I brought it up before, but haven't seen any replies, but has anyone tried running AT853Rx's with the phantom on? The mics aren't listed on m-audio's site (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=7fb377f3ef962038a26bc5c2291bafc1).
AT853Rx are spec'd 9-52V @ 2mA, so they certainly should be okay.
http://external.fullcompass.com/ImageFromDB.aspx?imgid=2224&srctbl=doc
Thanks for that reply, but I'm really looking for someone that has tried it with success before I drop $300 I don't have on this guy. Really wanted to use it with just the mics for stealth situations.
-
I brought it up before, but haven't seen any replies, but has anyone tried running AT853Rx's with the phantom on? The mics aren't listed on m-audio's site (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=7fb377f3ef962038a26bc5c2291bafc1).
AT853Rx are spec'd 9-52V @ 2mA, so they certainly should be okay.
http://external.fullcompass.com/ImageFromDB.aspx?imgid=2224&srctbl=doc
Thanks for that reply, but I'm really looking for someone that has tried it with success before I drop $300 I don't have on this guy. Really wanted to use it with just the mics for stealth situations.
The large diaphragm ones they do list (AT3031, AT3032, AT3035) are all 11-52V @ 3mA.
But yeah, I can see your point of wanting someone to actually have done the test.
-
16/48 from SBM-1 to spdif on MT. 4gb microdrive. Stops exactly at 57:53, 651,189kb each time (3times in a row). Files confirmed to be 16/48 in goldwave. Very bizzare.
What kind of flash card were you using??
I had the same thing happen to me
-
16/48 from SBM-1 to spdif on MT. 4gb microdrive. Stops exactly at 57:53, 651,189kb each time (3times in a row). Files confirmed to be 16/48 in goldwave. Very bizzare.
What kind of flash card were you using??
I had the same thing happen to me
hitachi 4gb microdrive.
-
Soundboard sample from the MT:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=52150.0
-
ok, finally had a chance to actually use this thing in a real situation and unfortunatly i let someone use my JB3 who promptly messed it up by injecting 48v into the line in so i had no backup. Heres what happened:
10/12 - recorded 3 bands, all at 24/48 analog in (C4's > UA5 > MT). The first thing i noticed is the meters seemed to act normally for the first 10 minutes or so of each set but then started acting real buggy so as has been mentioned they are pretty worthless, i just set the input to where the red lights would flash( i did get varying intensities) every once in a while which put all three recordings at around -3db when i looked at them with CEP. The biggest problem is all 3 have some rather annoying noise that is especially noticable during quiet times, almost like some hardrive noise even though there is nothing mechanical going on there. Its not overbearing but its definitly there.
10/13 - same room, mics in exact same place (never took them down from night before), got there early enough for soundcheck because i wanted to try some different 1/4" adapters and rca cable, i also wanted to try recording at 16/44.1 and 24/48 to see if there was a noise problem as there was the night before. I recorded part of the soundcheck at both settings and when listening afterwards there was no noise present so i chocked up the night before to a bad adapter or something. When the show started i decided to record at 24/96, nothing including level adjustments were changed from soundcheck earlier. The thing recorded fine, level meters did the same as the night before. I got bitten by the 2 GB bug but fortunately it was right after the "thank you, good night" so i just started another file to get the encores. The big problem was after i transfered it later. This thing is unlistenable, sounds like they are playing underwater and its all broken up and distorted. I am thinking that maybe this Dane-Elec 4GB CF card cant keep up with the write speed required for 24/96, thats the only thing i can think of unless there is an actual flaw recording analog in at that sample rate. I have to do some testing of this now with a diff card to see if thats the problem, anyone else have this happen yet?
-
ok, finally had a chance to actually use this thing in a real situation and unfortunatly i let someone use my JB3 who promptly messed it up by injecting 48v into the line in so i had no backup. Heres what happened:
10/12 - recorded 3 bands, all at 24/48 analog in (C4's > UA5 > MT). The first thing i noticed is the meters seemed to act normally for the first 10 minutes or so of each set but then started acting real buggy so as has been mentioned they are pretty worthless, i just set the input to where the red lights would flash( i did get varying intensities) every once in a while which put all three recordings at around -3db when i looked at them with CEP. The biggest problem is all 3 have some rather annoying noise that is especially noticable during quiet times, almost like some hardrive noise even though there is nothing mechanical going on there. Its not overbearing but its definitly there.
10/13 - same room, mics in exact same place (never took them down from night before), got there early enough for soundcheck because i wanted to try some different 1/4" adapters and rca cable, i also wanted to try recording at 16/44.1 and 24/48 to see if there was a noise problem as there was the night before. I recorded part of the soundcheck at both settings and when listening afterwards there was no noise present so i chocked up the night before to a bad adapter or something. When the show started i decided to record at 24/96, nothing including level adjustments were changed from soundcheck earlier. The thing recorded fine, level meters did the same as the night before. I got bitten by the 2 GB bug but fortunately it was right after the "thank you, good night" so i just started another file to get the encores. The big problem was after i transfered it later. This thing is unlistenable, sounds like they are playing underwater and its all broken up and distorted. I am thinking that maybe this Dane-Elec 4GB CF card cant keep up with the write speed required for 24/96, thats the only thing i can think of unless there is an actual flaw recording analog in at that sample rate. I have to do some testing of this now with a diff card to see if thats the problem, anyone else have this happen yet?
I'm curious to know why you didn't run S/PDIF from the ua-5 into the MicroTrack? With the digital input, you wouldn't have had to worry about the noisy analog stage of the MicroTrack. You would have been able to run 24/48 (although not 24/96 yet). and also, from what I understand of the UA-5, the analog outputs are not pass-thru. that is, the signal goes through the a/d converter, and then through the d/a converter to output the analog signal.
-
I'm curious to know why you didn't run S/PDIF from the ua-5 into the MicroTrack?
that would be because i have a known bad coax, i never worried much about replacing it because i had been using opti out with the JB3, I tried to go buy one before the shows but the only option on this Island is rat shack and the only cables they have are monsters which have those big flared connectors which wont fit into the MT. I have never used the UA5 to do any 24 bit stuff though. I wonder if it will automatically record at whatever bit depth is selected on the recorder at whatever sample rate is selected on the UA5, guess another experiment is in order, need a new coax though....
-
I wonder if it will automatically record at whatever bit depth is selected on the recorder at whatever sample rate is selected on the UA5, guess another experiment is in order, need a new coax though....
Not sure what you're getting at with the above, but if you're running UA5 digital out > MT, you should set the bit-depth (via the rear ADV switch, off = 16b, on = 24b) and sample rate (via the front knob) on the UA5.
-
I'm curious to know why you didn't run S/PDIF from the ua-5 into the MicroTrack?
that would be because i have a known bad coax, i never worried much about replacing it because i had been using opti out with the JB3, I tried to go buy one before the shows but the only option on this Island is rat shack and the only cables they have are monsters which have those big flared connectors which wont fit into the MT. I have never used the UA5 to do any 24 bit stuff though. I wonder if it will automatically record at whatever bit depth is selected on the recorder at whatever sample rate is selected on the UA5, guess another experiment is in order, need a new coax though....
I picked up a coax cable from rat shack (not monster) that fits the MT perfectly.
-
Not sure what you're getting at with the above, but if you're running UA5 digital out > MT, you should set the bit-depth (via the rear ADV switch, off = 16b, on = 24b) and sample rate (via the front knob) on the UA5.
ahh, thks, guess i should of read the book on that switch
-
I picked up a coax cable from rat shack (not monster) that fits the MT perfectly.
unfortunately for me then that i dont live close to the rat shack that your talking about because the one near here carries nothing but monster coax with huge flared connectors, think i'm just gonna order a new one from ebay or something....
-
I picked up a coax cable from rat shack (not monster) that fits the MT perfectly.
unfortunately for me then that i dont live close to the rat shack that your talking about because the one near here carries nothing but monster coax with huge flared connectors, think i'm just gonna order a new one from ebay or something....
I dunno why Radio Shack wouldn't carry their own brand of cables...
-
I picked up a coax cable from rat shack (not monster) that fits the MT perfectly.
unfortunately for me then that i dont live close to the rat shack that your talking about because the one near here carries nothing but monster coax with huge flared connectors, think i'm just gonna order a new one from ebay or something....
Most radio shacks also carry right angle rca connectors. Connect your existing coax cable to the female end and connect the male end to the MT. I had the same problem with a Canare coax cable and the right angle connector solved it.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=274-915
-
Hey. So i'm in the finishing touches of a new rig, and i'd really appreciate some help so I can make sure I get the right parts. I have the microtracker, and need to figure out if the phantom power adapters are required for phantom power on the microtracker with cmc-8 mics.
I actually don't even know if SP-CMC-8 mics will work with phantom power with this thing, but I sure as heck hope so. I'm going to be running these mics direclty into the Microtracker.
This is the rig I have picked out so far...
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-CMC-8 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-CMC-8) Cardoid SP-CMC-8 Mics
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PHANTOM (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PHANTOM) Phantom Power/Plug-In Power Mod
This is where i'm confused, do I need the power modules for Phantom Power for the Microtracker, or could I just use the wire below and skip the phantom power adapters all together?
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-MICROTRACK-XLRF-TRS (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-MICROTRACK-XLRF-TRS) In other words, do I need this wire, 'DUAL XLRF TO 1/4 TRS ADAPTER FOR USE WITH XLR BALANCED MICS AND MICROTRACK"
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ISI-SPA-PM4 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ISI-SPA-PM4) Or would I have to have them mod my phantom power adapters to be like this? "ISI-SPA-PM4 STEREO PHANTOM ADAPTER FOR BALANCED ELECTRET CONDENSER MICROPHONES FOR PMD660, PMD670, PMD671, M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96"
Hopefully someone that has used the phantom power on this thing can help me out. I've searched for a long time, and I haven't seen any definite answers. I'd much rather not use the phantom adapters as they're just about as big as the microtracker itself, and i'm trying to keep it as small as possible, but if it's needed, then I guess i'll have to deal. Any help is appreciated, thanks a lot!
-
Aren't MBHOs some of the most power hungry mics out there?
No doubt! Schoeps and MBHOs draw a lot of power.
-
This is (probably) a extremely newbie question but if you use one of those usb battery boxes to extend the MT's battery life, would you still need phantom power (like fuzn linked to) for the mics if you turn phantom power to ON on the MT? Again sorry if this is a stupid question... :-[
MoFo2
-
Hey. So i'm in the finishing touches of a new rig, and i'd really appreciate some help so I can make sure I get the right parts. I have the microtracker, and need to figure out if the phantom power adapters are required for phantom power on the microtracker with cmc-8 mics.
I actually don't even know if SP-CMC-8 mics will work with phantom power with this thing, but I sure as heck hope so. I'm going to be running these mics direclty into the Microtracker.
This is the rig I have picked out so far...
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-CMC-8 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-CMC-8) Cardoid SP-CMC-8 Mics
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PHANTOM (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PHANTOM) Phantom Power/Plug-In Power Mod
This is where i'm confused, do I need the power modules for Phantom Power for the Microtracker, or could I just use the wire below and skip the phantom power adapters all together?
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-MICROTRACK-XLRF-TRS (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-MICROTRACK-XLRF-TRS) In other words, do I need this wire, 'DUAL XLRF TO 1/4 TRS ADAPTER FOR USE WITH XLR BALANCED MICS AND MICROTRACK"
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ISI-SPA-PM4 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ISI-SPA-PM4) Or would I have to have them mod my phantom power adapters to be like this? "ISI-SPA-PM4 STEREO PHANTOM ADAPTER FOR BALANCED ELECTRET CONDENSER MICROPHONES FOR PMD660, PMD670, PMD671, M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96"
Hopefully someone that has used the phantom power on this thing can help me out. I've searched for a long time, and I haven't seen any definite answers. I'd much rather not use the phantom adapters as they're just about as big as the microtracker itself, and i'm trying to keep it as small as possible, but if it's needed, then I guess i'll have to deal. Any help is appreciated, thanks a lot!
You can't run the mics directly into the microtracker; the two phantom power adapters (Samson PM-4) are required. Call SP and talk to them, they will walk you through the steps you need to make your rig.
-
charged the new mt over night and never got a "charge complete" reading on the lcd. disconnected the power supply so as to not kill the battery. this normal?
my plan is to run d8 > mt so im not risking losing a recording my first couple of times off the bat.
-
charged the new mt over night and never got a "charge complete" reading on the lcd. disconnected the power supply so as to not kill the battery. this normal?
Just unplug and replug until you charge 6 hours?
-
charged the new mt over night and never got a "charge complete" reading on the lcd. disconnected the power supply so as to not kill the battery. this normal?
Just unplug and replug until you charge 6 hours?
i need to recharge this f'n thing for more time? it got like 10 hrs of charge time last night
-
Hey,
I did it several times at first. If then I don't have to bring an extra battery with me for normal 3 1/2 hour shows great.
-
charged the new mt over night and never got a "charge complete" reading on the lcd. disconnected the power supply so as to not kill the battery. this normal?
my plan is to run d8 > mt so im not risking losing a recording my first couple of times off the bat.
Yeah, I think I'm gonna drag the d-7 along just for some reliable levels. Hopefully they get that issue fixed soon.
-
Hey. So i'm in the finishing touches of a new rig, and i'd really appreciate some help so I can make sure I get the right parts. I have the microtracker, and need to figure out if the phantom power adapters are required for phantom power on the microtracker with cmc-8 mics.
I actually don't even know if SP-CMC-8 mics will work with phantom power with this thing, but I sure as heck hope so. I'm going to be running these mics direclty into the Microtracker.
This is the rig I have picked out so far...
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-CMC-8 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=SP-CMC-8) Cardoid SP-CMC-8 Mics
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PHANTOM (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PHANTOM) Phantom Power/Plug-In Power Mod
This is where i'm confused, do I need the power modules for Phantom Power for the Microtracker, or could I just use the wire below and skip the phantom power adapters all together?
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-MICROTRACK-XLRF-TRS (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-MICROTRACK-XLRF-TRS) In other words, do I need this wire, 'DUAL XLRF TO 1/4 TRS ADAPTER FOR USE WITH XLR BALANCED MICS AND MICROTRACK"
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ISI-SPA-PM4 (http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/ISI-SPA-PM4) Or would I have to have them mod my phantom power adapters to be like this? "ISI-SPA-PM4 STEREO PHANTOM ADAPTER FOR BALANCED ELECTRET CONDENSER MICROPHONES FOR PMD660, PMD670, PMD671, M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96"
Hopefully someone that has used the phantom power on this thing can help me out. I've searched for a long time, and I haven't seen any definite answers. I'd much rather not use the phantom adapters as they're just about as big as the microtracker itself, and i'm trying to keep it as small as possible, but if it's needed, then I guess i'll have to deal. Any help is appreciated, thanks a lot!
You can't run the mics directly into the microtracker; the two phantom power adapters (Samson PM-4) are required. Call SP and talk to them, they will walk you through the steps you need to make your rig.
Thanks for the help man, you're awesome. +T!
-
This is (probably) a extremely newbie question but if you use one of those usb battery boxes to extend the MT's battery life, would you still need phantom power (like fuzn linked to) for the mics if you turn phantom power to ON on the MT? Again sorry if this is a stupid question... :-[
MoFo2
All the USB battery box does is help the MT itself with it's battery power. It pretty much takes it as if you were just plugging it into the wall. So in other words, it doesn't affect anything else including phantom power. But if you're going to use phantom power, that USB battery box is VERY useful as it drains the battery much faster in comparison to not using phantom power.
-
So when the s/pdif 24/96 issue is resolved to full working order and reliability who here is going to leave their recording laptop at home and rely on this unit alone?
-
Last night, I ran the MicroTrack at 24bit (via the S/PDIF input) for Yonder Mountain String Band. it was the first real show where I was running 24 bit out of the V3. I've done several tests of the MicroTrack at home, but hadn't yet had the chance to run it at a show. here are some things that I observed:
battery power -
as per usual for me, I think I went way overboard with battery power. I am using ToddR's "juice box" to supply a regulated 5V to the microtrack. I'm using a 9V, 5AH, NiMH battery. this battery should power it for a LONG time, which is good. I certainly didn't have any problems at Yonder Mountain last night
channels -
during the first set, the channels recorded normally. During the second set, the channels recorded in reverse. This is easily fixed in post (just swap channels), but still an issue. I did not power down between sets.
"remaining time"
as we all know, when you start recording a file, there is also a count down with the remaining time. in all my tests, this counts down from the 2gig file size limit, not the total time left on the card (I'm using a 4GB CF card - Sandisk Ultra II). So, as usual, I start the first set recording and the count done is from ~2 hours. Then, between the 2nd set and encore, I noticed something funny. The second set had recorded for about an hour and half, but the count time thing still said that I had another hour and a half to go (approx.) So for the second set, it had started counting down from 3 hours instead of two. At this point, I'm thinking one of two things "shit, for some reason, it's only recording at 16 bit (48kHz) instead of 24 bit. 16/48 would give me about 3 hours per 2 gigs. shit." or "this is strange, the first set was an hour long. so maybe it is recording at 24 bit, but is counting down from the total time remaining on the card (4 hours total at 24/48 minus 1 hour for the first set). well, I got home, and verified that it did indeed record both sets at 24/48. I verified this by looking at the file size, and playing both sets in WaveLab and using the bit meter.
So this begs the question, why did it tell me that I have three hours of record time at 24/48? what would have happened when it reached the 2 gigs? probably just stopped, like it did before. but I thought that this was strange behavior.
Obviously, I haven't listened to the whole recording through yet, but I'm assuming that there were no pops/skips/blips or any errors like that. If I do find some problem with the recording, I'll let you all know.
and, finally, a few other minor observations:
as this was the first time for me running 24 bit out of the V3 S/PDIF, it was also the first time that I needed to break out the XLR > mini cable to run my D8 analog out of the V3 as a back-up. I learned that the standard right-angle neutrik XLR connectors are too wide for the V3, and they can't fit next to my right-angle mic input XLR's. they pushed against each too much for me to be comfortable. Because of this, I ran my D8 backup from the AES1 output of the V3, and recorded a truncated signal. As a back-up, this wasn't a big deal to me. as it turns out, it looks like I won't have to transfer that DAT anyway. However, this method of DAT back-up wouldn't have worked if I was running at 24 bit, 96kHz. on the other hand, there are still two things precluding me from recording 24/96 on the MicroTrack anyway (the S/PDIF input on the MicroTrack doesn't yet record at 24/96, and 8GB CF cards are still too expensive anyway). Once these items are taken care of, I'll probably trust the MicroTrack enough to not run a back-up anyway. I'm almost at the point of leaving my D8 at home already.
The levels are still not accurate after a while. I consider this a minor issue, because it doesn't impact the recording at all, and I have nice level meters on the V3. speaking of levels, I had this show DIALED in. man, it was sweet, peaks consistently around -1dB or so, with only one clip (during applause between songs).
and as far as the sound, well, the Avalon is one of the better sounding venues in Boston, and there weren't too many screaming, drunken idiots (although there were a few). actually, at one point, some passer-by spilled a beer right by our gear. luckily, only a bit splattered onto my D8, which was easily wiped off. a bit more got on the laptop that was running an on-the-fly matrix. I think because of this, they missed bit of the recording, and will have to splice it in from another source. and speaking of multiple sources, it was nice that there were 5 tapers there. Last year when the played Boston, I was pretty much the only taper. it was good to see more folks come out to tape.
All in all, it's nice to finally record at 24 bit, the MicroTrack is doing just what I want it to, and I almost trust it enough to leave the D8 at home. just a few minor issues to be resolved with firmware:
(1) 24 bit, 96 kHz recording via the S/PDIF input
(2) auto-save at 2 gig limit and seamlessly start a new file
(3) fix the intermittent channel swapping
(4) make it more stable (although it seems pretty stable to me now, much more so than the original firmware) In all my tests and last night, it has only frozen on me once with the latest firmware installed. not perfect yet, but much better.
-
"remaining time"
as we all know, when you start recording a file, there is also a count down with the remaining time. in all my tests, this counts down from the 2gig file size limit, not the total time left on the card (I'm using a 4GB CF card - Sandisk Ultra II). So, as usual, I start the first set recording and the count done is from ~2 hours. Then, between the 2nd set and encore, I noticed something funny. The second set had recorded for about an hour and half, but the count time thing still said that I had another hour and a half to go (approx.) So for the second set, it had started counting down from 3 hours instead of two. At this point, I'm thinking one of two things "shit, for some reason, it's only recording at 16 bit (48kHz) instead of 24 bit. 16/48 would give me about 3 hours per 2 gigs. shit." or "this is strange, the first set was an hour long. so maybe it is recording at 24 bit, but is counting down from the total time remaining on the card (4 hours total at 24/48 minus 1 hour for the first set). well, I got home, and verified that it did indeed record both sets at 24/48. I verified this by looking at the file size, and playing both sets in WaveLab and using the bit meter.
Interesting that you mention this. I used mine last week. When I got to the venue and powered everything up to check for levels I had +/- 3hours and 13min of recording time on my blank card (2gb card, recording at 16/48). In order to check levels I recorded a brief 10 second file or so. Everything was running properly so I powered down. When I powered back up and started the recording for real, the display was telling me I only had 1hr 25 mins of record time left on the card. I immediately thought I must have somehow changed the settings to 24/48 or something else. I let the recording go for almost an hour until I started a new file because I was worried I would run out of time. After starting the new file (without powering down) the display showed the correct time left on the card-about 2 hours and 13mins(my initial time minus the hour or so I had recorded) and I got the rest of the set with no problems.
When I got home I verified everything had recorded in 16/48 and the file size were what they should have been for 16/48. Weird issue and I'm not sure what would have happened had I let the first recording trickle down to 0:00 time remaining on the card.
-
thanks for the info Jason - let us know how it sounds, or any other points worth noting on the sound
if you run XLR -> miniplug -> dat out of the V3, would this not be a truncated signal? still not sure i understand how that works
-
analog signals aren't truncated, dithered or anything else. they're just analog.
-
thanks for the info Jason - let us know how it sounds, or any other points worth noting on the sound
sure thing. of course, though, running digital in, the MicroTrack imparts no sound of it's own. only records the V3 at 24 bit :)
if you run XLR -> miniplug -> dat out of the V3, would this not be a truncated signal? still not sure i understand how that works
analog signals aren't truncated, dithered or anything else. they're just analog.
exactly, if I ran analog out of the V3 > DAT, than it's just an analog signal going to the deck, and the deck does the A/D conversion. it's just completely bypassing the V3's A/D converter, and it's just like running line-in on any deck.
"remaining time"
as we all know, when you start recording a file, there is also a count down with the remaining time. in all my tests, this counts down from the 2gig file size limit, not the total time left on the card (I'm using a 4GB CF card - Sandisk Ultra II). So, as usual, I start the first set recording and the count done is from ~2 hours. Then, between the 2nd set and encore, I noticed something funny. The second set had recorded for about an hour and half, but the count time thing still said that I had another hour and a half to go (approx.) So for the second set, it had started counting down from 3 hours instead of two. At this point, I'm thinking one of two things "shit, for some reason, it's only recording at 16 bit (48kHz) instead of 24 bit. 16/48 would give me about 3 hours per 2 gigs. shit." or "this is strange, the first set was an hour long. so maybe it is recording at 24 bit, but is counting down from the total time remaining on the card (4 hours total at 24/48 minus 1 hour for the first set). well, I got home, and verified that it did indeed record both sets at 24/48. I verified this by looking at the file size, and playing both sets in WaveLab and using the bit meter.
Interesting that you mention this. I used mine last week. When I got to the venue and powered everything up to check for levels I had +/- 3hours and 13min of recording time on my blank card (2gb card, recording at 16/48). In order to check levels I recorded a brief 10 second file or so. Everything was running properly so I powered down. When I powered back up and started the recording for real, the display was telling me I only had 1hr 25 mins of record time left on the card. I immediately thought I must have somehow changed the settings to 24/48 or something else. I let the recording go for almost an hour until I started a new file because I was worried I would run out of time. After starting the new file (without powering down) the display showed the correct time left on the card-about 2 hours and 13mins(my initial time minus the hour or so I had recorded) and I got the rest of the set with no problems.
When I got home I verified everything had recorded in 16/48 and the file size were what they should have been for 16/48. Weird issue and I'm not sure what would have happened had I let the first recording trickle down to 0:00 time remaining on the card.
that is pretty interesting. it seems like your "problem" was sort of the opposite of mine, saying you had less time than you should have. this is probably a small bug. M-Audio should be made aware of this, and hopefully they'll address the issue in a firmware update. I wonder if any of us can replicate something like this in a home test. Then we'll really be able to see how the MicroTrack acts when time runs out...
-
analog signals aren't truncated, dithered or anything else. they're just analog.
that makes sense. thanks for the info! +t
-
that is pretty interesting. it seems like your "problem" was sort of the opposite of mine, saying you had less time than you should have. this is probably a small bug. M-Audio should be made aware of this, and hopefully they'll address the issue in a firmware update. I wonder if any of us can replicate something like this in a home test. Then we'll really be able to see how the MicroTrack acts when time runs out...
Gave this another test at home tonight. Set the mics up in front of the stereo speakers. Turned on my MT and hit record and it showed that I had 1hr and 30mins of record time on an freshly formatted, empty 2 gig card running at 16/48.
I let it run and when I hit 0:00 of time remaining on the card, the MT stopped recording and did not restart. Not good. I started a second file manually, it went fine and showed the correct time remaining about 1hr 30 min (figure just over 3 hours total for a 2 gig card at 16/48 and I had already used 1hr30mins in the first file).
Deleted the files, powered down the MT, powered back up, reformatted and tried again. Same problem. When starting the first file the MT says I have 1hr 30mins of time on the blank card. If I immediately stop the first file and restart a second, it gives me the correct remaining time-just over 3 hours and I assume it will record for the fulll 3 hours before stopping.
I'm not sure what this means, although I have sent an email to M-Audio. It is definitely letting me record to the full capacity of the card, I just have to do it with two files.
I also noticed something strange with the level meters. As we all know, after about 25-30 mins they go totally haywire but the recording stays ok. I noticed tonight that if I changed the volume coming out of my stereo and hence being picked up by the mics, the meters would temporarily unfreeze themselves for a few seconds and perform normally. If I changed the volume again, they would refreeze. For whatever reason, this only seemed to work if I increased the volume. That being, if the meters were frozen, and I increased the volume from the stereo, they unfroze. If I then lowered it again, they refroze. Obviously in live taping situations the volume level won't be changing so drastically, but it is interesting to note that the frozen meters can be tweaked.
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else can replicate this.
-
It appears the MT cannot format Traxdata 4GB 'Flash Series PRO' cards.
This is the second card where the device starts, display goes blank after a while (light on).
Nothing after that. Waited 20+ minutes.
How fast is a 4GB format when using cards that work?
Anyone? ???
-
It appears the MT cannot format Traxdata 4GB 'Flash Series PRO' cards.
This is the second card where the device starts, display goes blank after a while (light on).
Nothing after that. Waited 20+ minutes.
How fast is a 4GB format when using cards that work?
Anyone? ???
I didn't time it, but my Sandisk 4GB card took ~10 seconds to format. I have no issues w/ record time remaining either.
-
It appears the MT cannot format Traxdata 4GB 'Flash Series PRO' cards.
This is the second card where the device starts, display goes blank after a while (light on).
Nothing after that. Waited 20+ minutes.
How fast is a 4GB format when using cards that work?
Anyone? ???
I didn't time it, but my Sandisk 4GB card took ~10 seconds to format. I have no issues w/ record time remaining either.
OK, so it should format fast.
What format did it put on the card? FAT32, what cluster size?
Anyone knows how I can bring my card back in a same state? (4GB instead of 707)
Is there some software or trick?
-
Should I just toss it in the trash? Last night at Claypool I took the MT for it’s first spin:
- MK41>M222/NT222>V3>AD2K
- MT 24/48 S/PDIF (using a Hitachi 6 gb Microdrive)
After just a few minutes I notices that the levels on the MT were overloading on the display in a sporadic fashion (levels on the AD2K were fine). I stopped recording and restarted… same thing. Then after powering up it was ok but only for a few minutes and then it was back again. On play back I also noticed a lot of skipping and general noise.
Please Help – Is it the card? Is it the unit? Is it me (I am sure it’s a user error).
-
have you gotten a solid test at 16/44 with that card?
also i know people have been having 24 bit problems with the mt so far. its my impression that it's just not there yet for 24
-
Should I just toss it in the trash? Last night at Claypool I took the MT for it’s first spin:
- MK41>M222/NT222>V3>AD2K
- MT 24/48 S/PDIF (using a Hitachi 6 gb Microdrive)
After just a few minutes I notices that the levels on the MT were overloading on the display in a sporadic fashion (levels on the AD2K were fine). I stopped recording and restarted… same thing. Then after powering up it was ok but only for a few minutes and then it was back again. On play back I also noticed a lot of skipping and general noise.
Please Help – Is it the card? Is it the unit? Is it me (I am sure it’s a user error).
are you shure it wasnt todd?
-
That sucks. Sounds like a common (and silly) bug. It happens with analog in too. As countless folks have observed, the levels become completely useless after a few minutes. Only the clipping lights can be relied upon.
There are so many bugs that remain.. I suspect their code is crap. Bugs are generally fixed quickly. Design issues take far more time.
-
Should I just toss it in the trash? Last night at Claypool I took the MT for it’s first spin:
- MK41>M222/NT222>V3>AD2K
- MT 24/48 S/PDIF (using a Hitachi 6 gb Microdrive)
After just a few minutes I notices that the levels on the MT were overloading on the display in a sporadic fashion (levels on the AD2K were fine). I stopped recording and restarted… same thing. Then after powering up it was ok but only for a few minutes and then it was back again. On play back I also noticed a lot of skipping and general noise.
Please Help – Is it the card? Is it the unit? Is it me (I am sure it’s a user error).
Just let it run. The levels go haywire, but the recording should be fine. I also encountered noise and skipping in my recording from Panic in Nashville at 16/48, the Truckers opening set recorded just fine. It is the unit, and according to M-Audio it is a known bug and will be addressed in the next firmware update.
-
Just let it run. The levels go haywire, but the recording should be fine. I also encountered noise and skipping in my recording from Panic in Nashville at 16/48, the Truckers opening set recorded just fine. It is the unit, and according to M-Audio it is a known bug and will be addressed in the next firmware update.
Thanks for the info +T
-
So far the red over lights have been reliable even after the meters stop working. I would use that as a general guide.
-
what i noticed is the level meters seem to work pretty much fine for about 15 minutes then when theres a lull in the sound level they max out and start going haywire...
-
what i noticed is the level meters seem to work pretty much fine for about 15 minutes then when theres a lull in the sound level they max out and start going haywire...
Yes, this is a better explanation of what I have experience
-
i'm running it for the first time this weekend at magfest. my first go-round was to run it analog out of the v3, big mistake. the v3 is running at no overs(like normal ::)) but the MT is getting slammed. no way to lower the inputs further. are you guys running attentuators out of the v3?
next, send it aes2 since spdif is being used by patchers. of course, any decent rca connector will not fit into it without doing some surgery(ruining any chance of sending it back) possibly, due to aes, the meters are going haywire. i can see the sustained peak indicator, but the 'level' line is sometimes nowhere near it, or, spiking off the chart. mainly happening between songs, where there is dialog, then chills when the music starts. open up the codetalkers when i get back to camp, and i can see the music, and two HUGE blocks of solid noise on both channels at two different places in the recording.(unit was not jostled during recording)
the 1/4" jacks must have been purchased at wilbur's a/v supply shop, pretty loose. i'm going to give it a go with spdif today, after shaving down a perfectly good end of a plastic spdif cable, and see what happens today.
on the other hand, the qcool card reader worked flawlessly during transfer from CF, although a little slow. not too slow that i wasn't able to transfer during set breaks. and the great part is, i gave the thing to david gans to transfer his set from it to his lappy via usb. the thing inhales it's battery pretty quick though. but, even dead, you can at least transfer since it's powered by usb.
more to come...
-
possibly, due to aes, the meters are going haywire. i can see the sustained peak indicator, but the 'level' line is sometimes nowhere near it, or, spiking off the chart. mainly happening between songs, where there is dialog, then chills when the music starts.
You may be on to something. I was able to make the meters go haywire the other night at home. Setup the mics>preamp>MT in front of the stereo and played a dat. The MT was recording fine until I turned down the volume on the stereo. The meters immediately went nuts, only to slightly recover when I turned the stereo volume back up. I was able to do this in the first few minutes of the recording. Everytime I turned the volume down, the meters went nuts, every time I turned it back up, they recovered.
So....I wonder if the metering issue is triggered when the input signal drops below a certain db level and not necessarily after 25minutes or recording or whatever.
-
Have a stupid question perhaps. But for anyone that is using a UA-5 with coax into the Microtracker....I've never done 24 bit with my UA-5 before and was wondering does the adv switch need to be on or off?
I tried it with both on and off and the Microtracker apparently made both 24 bits when I transferred the recording to the computer both came up as 24 bit. I am thinking something funky has happened though. Do you set the bit-rate in the recorder, because I thought it was automatically detected?
-
Have a stupid question perhaps. But for anyone that is using a UA-5 with coax into the Microtracker....I've never done 24 bit with my UA-5 before and was wondering does the adv switch need to be on or off?
I tried it with both on and off and the Microtracker apparently made both 24 bits when I transferred the recording to the computer both came up as 24 bit. I am thinking something funky has happened though. Do you set the bit-rate in the recorder, because I thought it was automatically detected?
on the MicroTrack, under "recording settings" after you choose S/PDIF input, you can choose 24 bit or 16 bit. the sample rate is detected automatically. you probably have the setting on 24 bit, so even when you sent it a 16 bit signal, it still recorded it as a 24 bit file (with 8 zeroes attached to the end of each sample).
on the UA-5, to send a 24 bit signal, the Adv switch has to be "on", I believe.
-
A couple questions for anyone using their MT with DPA 4061's and MA6000 pre-amp.... I have an MA6000 on order from Cascade Media and should have it by late next week. By then I should also have back the used pair of 4061's I bought off ebay, on their way to DPA right now to be refitted with microdot connectors. My first question is regarding the proper setting of levels when using the 4061/MA6000 combo with the MT. With the MA6000 having it's own L + R gain knobs, do I set the recording levels of the MT at their lowest settings, and only use the MA6000's gain knobs to adjust the levels up until I dont set off the MT clipping indicators? And in what situations would I want to use the MA6000's low-pass filter? Most of the shows I'll be recording will be rock with possibly heavy bass levels. Thanks in advance. I'm hoping I'll be able to try out my new stealth rig next weekend.
-
With the MA6000 having it's own L + R gain knobs, do I set the recording levels of the MT at their lowest settings, and only use the MA6000's gain knobs to adjust the levels up until I dont set off the MT clipping indicators?
Yes.
And in what situations would I want to use the MA6000's low-pass filter? Most of the shows I'll be recording will be rock with possibly heavy bass levels. Thanks in advance. I'm hoping I'll be able to try out my new stealth rig next weekend.
Hopefully never :) The bass cut is pretty extreme, so unless your head is in a bass cabinet, I'd say leave it alone. Try to get in the sweet spot of the venue where there will be less bass would be a better option IMO.
Good luck and have fun with the new gear!
Later,
pjdavep
-
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon, i hope this thing becomes more stable
-
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon, i hope this thing becomes more stable
bean, i feel like ive said it before when the 722 came out and you were such a hater, but..... STFU!
the MT IS "stable" in my use. i did 4 full shows in the last week with it without problem[/color]
People you don't get it!!!!!!! Bean does and I do .........Why would a company release a product that isn't stable, thats the bottom line. That doesn't make Bean or myself a hater, I, we look at the reality of it. Our hobby isn't cheap, we all dump a lot of money into it and I expect something to work out of the box. the dam thing doesn't record 24/96 on the digi input yet.........come on, the meters appear unreliable. ect ect. I hope like hell they work it all out because I will buy one, but not until the thing does as advertised.
Now if your Mt is stable thats great...but there certainly appears to be a lot of people who have unstable units, glitches, whatever you want to call it. People can justify it anyway they want. I just hope it doesn't take as long as the SD devices took to get stable.
Later OOK
-
Not stable is the DAP1 when it first came out, or more recently the minime or the JB1. Those devices wouldn't even produce clean recordings. Not stable would have me either a.) returning to dat or b.) sending this thing back to M-Audio. Neither of those have happened.
The MT is stable and for the first generation of a product is performing quite well. Despite some of the glitches and inconveniences, I have used it several times in the field and it has made a nice recording every time. Perfect? Not yet. Stable? Absolutely.
-
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon, i hope this thing becomes more stable
bean, i feel like ive said it before when the 722 came out and you were such a hater, but..... STFU!
the MT IS "stable" in my use. i did 4 full shows in the last week with it without problem
IMO, the ONLY "issue" at this point is continuous recording which is really a "nice to have" feature more than anything and nothing that prevents the unit from being used to record live shows....keep in mind this continuous recording feature is not something that many audio devices/programs also have...in fact your beloved wavelab ONLY recently fixed their 2GB continous recording issues with release 5.0
sure it would be great to have even *longer* runtime, and it would be great if the MT could do P48 so it would be compatible with more gear, but as it is this thing works and i say hats off to m-audio for getting this thing out
as with any early hardware product there will be defective units (some people here have been unlucky enough to get some), and there will be hiccups (esp with "fringe" hardware that is not common in the market place: e.g. grey market cheaper CF cards)
i'm sure some more firmware will be forthcoming and make the MicroTrack even better, but as it stands its a supercool little box. There is NOTHING else in the price range or form factor (at any price) with comparable features on the market
boogie
oh, trust me, im not hating, just reading the MANY fuck-ups thats these have caused, i would love to get one, but until some bugs are fixed, these are un-useable for me FWIW
YMMV
chill out, nobody's hating on your new toy ;)
-
i'm gonna go out on a limb here, but i'm guessing you and bean have ZERO experience with the creation/design/testing of "technology" driven products (either hardware or software)...if you did, you would understand EXACTLY why m-audio shipped the product when they did...i certainly hope you werent one of the people a short month ago complaining about how LONG it had taken m-audio to ship the microtrack in the first place :)...i havent checked yet, but i'm betting that bean (the resident grinch complainer on this site) was probably on that bandwagon as well
obviously neither one of you are people who seem suited to being early adopters as imperfect behavior/conditions are part of it
=====
if you want "stability" and a full "tested" feature set, sit your ass down and wait
if you want to participate on this thread and help move this product forward, go get yourself a unit and start using it
======
the release notes for this product/and firmware clearly indicate the known issues, and there is additional information on the vendor support site
as far as SD taking a LONG time to get their product stable, that type of comment just demonstrates the complete lack of comprehension of people about the complexity of these products, the demands of the development/testing cycle, and the difficulty in keeping fickle fuckers like yourself happy
M-Audio and SD, as companies, are examples to me of companies that CARE and have made extreme efforts to fix problems...they are both extremely responsive and engaged with the customer....frankly i'm proud to be customers of each
go back to your cave troll
boogie
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon, i hope this thing becomes more stable
bean, i feel like ive said it before when the 722 came out and you were such a hater, but..... STFU!
the MT IS "stable" in my use. i did 4 full shows in the last week with it without problem[/color]
People you don't get it!!!!!!! Bean does and I do .........Why would a company release a product that isn't stable, thats the bottom line. That doesn't make Bean or myself a hater, I, we look at the reality of it. Our hobby isn't cheap, we all dump a lot of money into it and I expect something to work out of the box. the dam thing doesn't record 24/96 on the digi input yet.........come on, the meters appear unreliable. ect ect. I hope like hell they work it all out because I will buy one, but not until the thing does as advertised.
Now if your Mt is stable thats great...but there certainly appears to be a lot of people who have unstable units, glitches, whatever you want to call it. People can justify it anyway they want. I just hope it doesn't take as long as the SD devices took to get stable.
Later OOK
I like to buy things that work, sorry for being so silly :P
until i find what fits my needs, i'll keep searching, this unit however, doesnt fit my needs right now, i just simply said i wish the bugs were fixed, calm down danielson ;)
tell me, do you like being basically a guinea pig for these huge companies ??? I would hate it, plain and simple
-
OK, so it should format fast.
What format did it put on the card? FAT32, what cluster size?
Anyone knows how I can bring my card back in a same state? (4GB instead of 707)
Is there some software or trick?
I can add to myself that I did use StorageTools 1.9 on the iPAQ. On the PC I have no special tools yet.
Anyone can help me fix this CF problem? I need to turn a '707'GB card into it's own 4GB format.... ???
-
tell me, do you like being basically a guinea pig for these huge companies ??? I would hate it, plain and simple
Being a tester (official or not) is rewarding because you actually have some say in how the product could ultimately work. People wanted to lock out all buttons on the 722/744t, which wasn't in the initial firmware release. SD introduced this feature. There are other examples of things that weren't in the original implementation, but have or will be added thanks to user feedback. The boxes are now pretty stable, so they're actually taking time to consider non-essential feature requests (like more metering resolution in the uppermost bits, linking all stereo controls when in linked mode and maybe adding a clip hold/reset feature).
I am happier with my purchase because I feel like I am getting a box that does closer and closer to exactly what I want. The "cost" has been low, too - out of some 15 or so shows I've done with it, I've only had one problem that caused me to lose about two minutes of audio (box froze when I started it for the 2nd set). That was attributed to bad firmware and subsequently fixed pretty quickly.
I've been a "tester" for another product whose implementation wasn't as smooth (Metric Halo MIO and ULN-2). They took forever to get the clocking bugs out of their digital input and I also had issues with recording to my laptop sometimes. The key for both of these companies is that they put their developers directly in touch with the end users. It really goes outside of the corporate mold and is a very positive experience.
Metric Halo's lead guy still answers questions at all hours - he posted an answer to the mailing list around midnight tonight, in fact.
-
great points, matt +T
-
OOK and Bean - glad to hear you're in tune enough with your own wishes to know this isn't the device for you. Let those of us for whom it does the trick enjoy the gear without the constant slagging of its problems from those who've never even used one. Even with all its problems, it obviously works well enough for a good number of people, and that number will continue to rise.
i'm gonna go out on a limb here....
[snip]
frankly i'm proud to be customers of each
The voice of reason - well stated, Boogie. Some people just like to bitch. And as you so aptly pointed out, some people are not well suited for early adoption of new technology. I suspect we'll have the same discussion any time a new piece of gear hits the market that's applicable to our purposes. I didn't jump on the MT2496 right away, but I have now. As far as I'm concerned, it's my JB3 of the CF recorder market - consumerish, but works very well for my purposes: storing 0s and 1s in 24-bit. Is it perfect? No. Is it suitable for my purposes? You bet. Some want the Perfect device when Good Enough will do. I'll take Good Enough over a non-existent Perfect device any day.
Here's a hearty thanks to ALL the early adopters who have provided invaluable feedback so far.
And...gotta say...MattD makes some great comments about the ability, as an early adopter, to help shape the product as it matures.
but until some bugs are fixed, these are un-useable for me FWIW
I'm curious...you have an external ADC. So ultimately, you need a recorder to store 0s and 1s. No need for accurate meters. No need for phantom power. So far, the MT2496 has proven pretty stable at 24-bit digi-in. What makes the MT2496 usable for you?
chill out, nobody's hating on your new toy ;)
Perhaps hate is the wrong word, but to continually bash a product with no first-hand experience, becuase it doesn't work for you - while at the same time it works well for many others - doesn't provide a lot of value, and is not endearing to those for whom the device works. Surprise! I could go on and on about (just an example!) how I think your beloved AKG 480s simply suck, but that wouldn't serve much useful purpose, would it? But they obviously do the trick for you, and that's what counts. The MT2496 does the trick for many at the moment, and as noted above those numbers will grow. Don't jump into the thread and piss in the proverbial sandbox and expect others to sit idly by. I doubt you'd sit idly by if you were on the other side.
Why would a company release a product that isn't stable, thats the bottom line.
To beat the competition to the marketplace, for starters. And to provide a Good Enough solution for a large number of people, at an affordable cost, knowing that they may utilize early adopters to help improve the product.
That doesn't make Bean or myself a hater, I, we look at the reality of it.
On the contrary, I think you look at what your ideal world should look like, and then grow disappointed when the real world doesn't match it.
I admire your idealism, OOK, around the desire for companies to release Perfect products. But we live in the real world. Boogie's right: no first generation, highly complex, new technological device is *ever* Perfect. Shoot, even 2nd, 3rd, 4th gen devices aren't ever perfect. That's a fact, a reality.
And sometimes the best way to identify what's broken, determine prioritization for known issues, finalize the maturation path for a product, etc., is to engage the marketplace. Internal testing groups and even beta programs will only take a company so far.
-
I usually dont get involved in these debates (to busy soaking up all the great info here) but...we are all 'testers' for products in one way or another. Win XP being a great example. Its taken years for MS to tweak it, patch, fix, add, etc. It is still not perfect but its still the most stable OS ive used. I certainly would rather have a more polished product right out of the box but the reality is this rarely happens. We could all wait for patches before buying but as boogie pointed out, how can they fix it if they dont know its broke. To me, its all a risk vs reward type thing, and i love gamblin'. ;D
-
oh, trust me, im not hating, just reading the MANY fuck-ups thats these have caused, i would love to get one, but until some bugs are fixed, these are un-useable for me FWIW
YMMV
chill out, nobody's hating on your new toy ;)
I also rarely get involved in arguments over this kind of stuff. but...
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon, i hope this thing becomes more stable
you know, people from M-Audio have posted on this board. They obviously want to improve their product and they are actually soliciting our opinions. That is a great thing. calling them bastards isn't going to help anything.
ok, now lets get back to the topic at hand. The MicroTrack. Bean - you say it's un-usable for you. why? what do you need? we are both just looking for a recorder to take a 24 bit signal from the V3, right? or are you expecting more from a recorder?
here are my thoughts -
(1) I would like to have 24 bit, 96 kHz recording via the S/PDIF input. This is something that can easily be added with firmware. In all honesty, until the price of 8GB CF cards come down, I wasn't going to be running 24/96 anyway. on a 4GB CF card, I can get 4 hours of 24/48. that's enough time for just about every show I do.
(2) a work-around for the 2 gig limit. This is my biggest concern right now, but M-Audio says that they'll add an auto-save and auto-start of a new file, all seamless. at 24/48, 2 gigs is about 2 hours. most sets that I record are under 2 hours anyway. Club d'Elf (whom I regularly record), however, routinely plays sets longer than 2 hours. This is currently an issue for me, but it'll be an even bigger issue when I'm running at 24/96.
(3) meters. Yes, it would be "nice" to have better meters on the unit, and it seems like M-Audio is planning to improve them. but frankly, I don't care about meters on the unit, because the level meters on the V3 are excellent. the file continues to record properly, even though the level display is inconsistent.
(4) general stability. with the new firmware (v1.1.5-BETA), I have not had this freeze on me. seems quite stable now, much better than the original firmware.
(5) phantom power. a lot of people are complaining about this, mostly people who want to stealth with it. I don't care at all about the analog inputs, nor do I care about phantom power from the unit. For my needs, it works great.
so, to summarize, and I sort of feel like I'm beating a dead horse here...
is the unit perfect? no. can it be improved upon? yes. and M-Audio seems intent on improving the product. However, in the meantime, it's working great for me, and after another show or two with it, I'll likely leave the D8 at home.
I'm curious, please explain why the unit won't work for what you need?
-
I usually dont get involved in these debates (to busy soaking up all the great info here) but...we are all 'testers' for products in one way or another. Win XP being a great example. Its taken years for MS to tweak it, patch, fix, add, etc. It is still not perfect but its still the most stable OS ive used. I certainly would rather have a more polished product right out of the box but the reality is this rarely happens. We could all wait for patches before buying but as boogie pointed out, how can they fix it if they dont know its broke. To me, its all a risk vs reward type thing, and i love gamblin'. ;D
It's the most stable OS you've used because you haven't used Mac OS X. ;)
-
i'm guessing you and bean have ZERO experience with the creation/design/testing of "technology" driven products (either hardware or software)...if you did, you would understand EXACTLY why m-audio shipped the product when they did...
I have that experience.. But I disagree. The number of bugs here is absurd. They aren't subtle or obscure. They're obvious within seconds of using each feature. I could see m-audio having thousands of units already in boxes, with no cost effective way to update them. It would have been fine to ship'em once a firmware version that fixed most bugs was available. But most bugs aren't fixed yet.
How many bugs did the R-1 have when released? Not so many, from what I understand. Does it serve any useful purpose to dwell on it? Nah.
I agree that the repeated posts with content-free bitching (esp by people who don't even own one!) are useless, especially in a real-life-exp thread. Posting stuff like "I'm not buying one until they get these issues fixed!".. Well, yeah.. Yep. uh-huh.. We kinda figured that - some people will wait and some people will jump on... Obviously, only people who have kicked down the cash should get to bitch and vent about the microtack ;)
I've used AT853 mics extensively. While I've heard some really nice tapes from them, I hope to never use them again. Yet, I don't jump into people's threads and say that because it serves no purpose. No good can come of it (especially if I tear out a 4061 cable and need to borrow a pair..)
Owning both devices, I think putting SD/722/744 in the same sentence as 'microtrack/m-audio' is absurd on so many levels. The devices aren't comparable and never will be. The support isn't comparable. The attention to detail isn't comparable.
we are all 'testers' for products in one way or another. Win XP being a great example. .... It is still not perfect but its still the most stable OS ive used.
What is this 'we' stuff? XP is just a turd with frosting. No matter how much frosting (and it is very bad frosting), it will always be a turd. Bringing XP into a discussion like this is a lot like making a comparison to Nazi's. Oh wait.. shit.
Getting back to the 'real life' nature of this thread.. What we need at this point is a decent ts.com MT FAQ, even if it is very limited. A lot of folks are still getting these things and there's just no way they can dive into these clogged threads to learn what they need to know. I hate to read about people stopping a recording at a show only because they're freaked out by the meters (a well known problem), etc..
-
i'm guessing you and bean have ZERO experience with the creation/design/testing of "technology" driven products (either hardware or software)...if you did, you would understand EXACTLY why m-audio shipped the product when they did...
we are all 'testers' for products in one way or another. Win XP being a great example. .... It is still not perfect but its still the most stable OS ive used.
What is this 'we' stuff? XP is just a turd with frosting. No matter how much frosting (and it is very bad frosting), it will always be a turd. Bringing XP into a discussion like this is a lot like making a comparison to Nazi's. Oh wait.. shit.
Getting back to the 'real life' nature of this thread.. What we need at this point is a decent ts.com MT FAQ, even if it is very limited. A lot of folks are still getting these things and there's just no way they can dive into these clogged threads to learn what they need to know. I hate to read about people stopping a recording at a show only because they're freaked out by the meters (a well known problem), etc..
(http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b4db35b3127ccebe2b727d625a0000001610)
Lighten up francis! :D It was just an example. Im sure the mac os is great. The statement was not made to start a flame war over OS's.
-
Getting back to the 'real life' nature of this thread.. What we need at this point is a decent ts.com MT FAQ, even if it is very limited. A lot of folks are still getting these things and there's just no way they can dive into these clogged threads to learn what they need to know. I hate to read about people stopping a recording at a show only because they're freaked out by the meters (a well known problem), etc..
FAQ would be great...how about a MT2496 baby board in Recording Gear?
+T for the Francis 'Psycho' Sawyer...
-
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon, i hope this thing becomes more stable
bean, i feel like ive said it before when the 722 came out and you were such a hater, but..... STFU!
the MT IS "stable" in my use. i did 4 full shows in the last week with it without problem
IMO, the ONLY "issue" at this point is continuous recording which is really a "nice to have" feature more than anything and nothing that prevents the unit from being used to record live shows....keep in mind this continuous recording feature is not something that many audio devices/programs also have...in fact your beloved wavelab ONLY recently fixed their 2GB continous recording issues with release 5.0
sure it would be great to have even *longer* runtime, and it would be great if the MT could do P48 so it would be compatible with more gear, but as it is this thing works and i say hats off to m-audio for getting this thing out
as with any early hardware product there will be defective units (some people here have been unlucky enough to get some), and there will be hiccups (esp with "fringe" hardware that is not common in the market place: e.g. grey market cheaper CF cards)
i'm sure some more firmware will be forthcoming and make the MicroTrack even better, but as it stands its a supercool little box. There is NOTHING else in the price range or form factor (at any price) with comparable features on the market
boogie
Bean just likes to pad his posting stats cause he needs to get to 20,000 before the end of the year 8)
Honestly some of these comments are pointless, I think I have read multiple times that you are waiting for the bugs to be worked out, great, so follow the threads and well, just wait ...
+T boogie ...
-
i stopped reading all the mt threads last week because theres like 20 of them and its just people talking nonsense. i see upon returning that it hasn't changed much.
-
OOK and Bean - glad to hear you're in tune enough with your own wishes to know this isn't the device for you. Let those of us for whom it does the trick enjoy the gear without the constant slagging of its problems from those who've never even used one. Even with all its problems, it obviously works well enough for a good number of people, and that number will continue to rise.
i'm gonna go out on a limb here....
[snip]
frankly i'm proud to be customers of each
The voice of reason - well stated, Boogie. Some people just like to bitch. And as you so aptly pointed out, some people are not well suited for early adoption of new technology. I suspect we'll have the same discussion any time a new piece of gear hits the market that's applicable to our purposes. I didn't jump on the MT2496 right away, but I have now. As far as I'm concerned, it's my JB3 of the CF recorder market - consumerish, but works very well for my purposes: storing 0s and 1s in 24-bit. Is it perfect? No. Is it suitable for my purposes? You bet. Some want the Perfect device when Good Enough will do. I'll take Good Enough over a non-existent Perfect device any day.
Here's a hearty thanks to ALL the early adopters who have provided invaluable feedback so far.
And...gotta say...MattD makes some great comments about the ability, as an early adopter, to help shape the product as it matures.
but until some bugs are fixed, these are un-useable for me FWIW
I'm curious...you have an external ADC. So ultimately, you need a recorder to store 0s and 1s. No need for accurate meters. No need for phantom power. So far, the MT2496 has proven pretty stable at 24-bit digi-in. What makes the MT2496 usable for you?
chill out, nobody's hating on your new toy ;)
Perhaps hate is the wrong word, but to continually bash a product with no first-hand experience, becuase it doesn't work for you - while at the same time it works well for many others - doesn't provide a lot of value, and is not endearing to those for whom the device works. Surprise! I could go on and on about (just an example!) how I think your beloved AKG 480s simply suck, but that wouldn't serve much useful purpose, would it? But they obviously do the trick for you, and that's what counts. The MT2496 does the trick for many at the moment, and as noted above those numbers will grow. Don't jump into the thread and piss in the proverbial sandbox and expect others to sit idly by. I doubt you'd sit idly by if you were on the other side.
Why would a company release a product that isn't stable, thats the bottom line.
To beat the competition to the marketplace, for starters. And to provide a Good Enough solution for a large number of people, at an affordable cost, knowing that they may utilize early adopters to help improve the product.
That doesn't make Bean or myself a hater, I, we look at the reality of it.
On the contrary, I think you look at what your ideal world should look like, and then grow disappointed when the real world doesn't match it.
I admire your idealism, OOK, around the desire for companies to release Perfect products. But we live in the real world. Boogie's right: no first generation, highly complex, new technological device is *ever* Perfect. Shoot, even 2nd, 3rd, 4th gen devices aren't ever perfect. That's a fact, a reality.
And sometimes the best way to identify what's broken, determine prioritization for known issues, finalize the maturation path for a product, etc., is to engage the marketplace. Internal testing groups and even beta programs will only take a company so far.
goddamn, ya'll need to chill the fu&* out :P I forgot this is ts.com where opinions arent aloo0wed, sorry for making an OPINION mr skailnder, Errr, I mean ts.com police :P
sorry, im not allowed to talk about the MT's downsides on an MT thread :P
i think the MT is/Gona be VERY useful for 99% of us, damn, make 2 sentences and get RIPPED APART by thew ts.com police
After reading ALL OF THE mt threads, many folks have stated they are mostly stable, some say they arent stable at all, just making observations of what ive read
I'd MUCH rather spend the 350+200+100 for the MT+4GBCF+CF REader rather than 900+200+100 for the pmd-671
I simply stated I wish the newer Firmware would come along so I could go buy a damn MT
-
oh, trust me, im not hating, just reading the MANY fuck-ups thats these have caused, i would love to get one, but until some bugs are fixed, these are un-useable for me FWIW
YMMV
chill out, nobody's hating on your new toy ;)
I also rarely get involved in arguments over this kind of stuff. but...
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon, i hope this thing becomes more stable
you know, people from M-Audio have posted on this board. They obviously want to improve their product and they are actually soliciting our opinions. That is a great thing. calling them bastards isn't going to help anything.
ok, now lets get back to the topic at hand. The MicroTrack. Bean - you say it's un-usable for you. why? what do you need? we are both just looking for a recorder to take a 24 bit signal from the V3, right? or are you expecting more from a recorder?
here are my thoughts -
(1) I would like to have 24 bit, 96 kHz recording via the S/PDIF input. This is something that can easily be added with firmware. In all honesty, until the price of 8GB CF cards come down, I wasn't going to be running 24/96 anyway. on a 4GB CF card, I can get 4 hours of 24/48. that's enough time for just about every show I do.
(2) a work-around for the 2 gig limit. This is my biggest concern right now, but M-Audio says that they'll add an auto-save and auto-start of a new file, all seamless. at 24/48, 2 gigs is about 2 hours. most sets that I record are under 2 hours anyway. Club d'Elf (whom I regularly record), however, routinely plays sets longer than 2 hours. This is currently an issue for me, but it'll be an even bigger issue when I'm running at 24/96.
(3) meters. Yes, it would be "nice" to have better meters on the unit, and it seems like M-Audio is planning to improve them. but frankly, I don't care about meters on the unit, because the level meters on the V3 are excellent. the file continues to record properly, even though the level display is inconsistent.
(4) general stability. with the new firmware (v1.1.5-BETA), I have not had this freeze on me. seems quite stable now, much better than the original firmware.
(5) phantom power. a lot of people are complaining about this, mostly people who want to stealth with it. I don't care at all about the analog inputs, nor do I care about phantom power from the unit. For my needs, it works great.
so, to summarize, and I sort of feel like I'm beating a dead horse here...
is the unit perfect? no. can it be improved upon? yes. and M-Audio seems intent on improving the product. However, in the meantime, it's working great for me, and after another show or two with it, I'll likely leave the D8 at home.
I'm curious, please explain why the unit won't work for what you need?
I think you all look WAY too into what someone posts online, maybe i should have put a smilie at the end of the bastards sentence :P I simply wish a new firmware would come out w/ the seamless split, thats all I could care less abouit 24/96, just a waste of space IMO anyway ;)
I am all for m-audio making this work, just getting impatient to get into 24-bit :)
i'm guessing you and bean have ZERO experience with the creation/design/testing of "technology" driven products (either hardware or software)...if you did, you would understand EXACTLY why m-audio shipped the product when they did...
I have that experience.. But I disagree. The number of bugs here is absurd. They aren't subtle or obscure. They're obvious within seconds of using each feature. I could see m-audio having thousands of units already in boxes, with no cost effective way to update them. It would have been fine to ship'em once a firmware version that fixed most bugs was available. But most bugs aren't fixed yet.
How many bugs did the R-1 have when released? Not so many, from what I understand. Does it serve any useful purpose to dwell on it? Nah.
I agree that the repeated posts with content-free bitching (esp by people who don't even own one!) are useless, especially in a real-life-exp thread. Posting stuff like "I'm not buying one until they get these issues fixed!".. Well, yeah.. Yep. uh-huh.. We kinda figured that - some people will wait and some people will jump on... Obviously, only people who have kicked down the cash should get to bitch and vent about the microtack ;)
I've used AT853 mics extensively. While I've heard some really nice tapes from them, I hope to never use them again. Yet, I don't jump into people's threads and say that because it serves no purpose. No good can come of it (especially if I tear out a 4061 cable and need to borrow a pair..)
Owning both devices, I think putting SD/722/744 in the same sentence as 'microtrack/m-audio' is absurd on so many levels. The devices aren't comparable and never will be. The support isn't comparable. The attention to detail isn't comparable.
we are all 'testers' for products in one way or another. Win XP being a great example. .... It is still not perfect but its still the most stable OS ive used.
What is this 'we' stuff? XP is just a turd with frosting. No matter how much frosting (and it is very bad frosting), it will always be a turd. Bringing XP into a discussion like this is a lot like making a comparison to Nazi's. Oh wait.. shit.
Getting back to the 'real life' nature of this thread.. What we need at this point is a decent ts.com MT FAQ, even if it is very limited. A lot of folks are still getting these things and there's just no way they can dive into these clogged threads to learn what they need to know. I hate to read about people stopping a recording at a show only because they're freaked out by the meters (a well known problem), etc..
you are not aloowed to voice your opinions for this device in a thread about it, 5 yard penalty, 3rd down :P 8)
-
goddamn, ya'll need to chill the fu&* out :P
I'm very "chill". You're the one dropping F-bombs.
I forgot this is ts.com where opinions arent aloo0wed, sorry for making an OPINION mr skailnder, Errr, I mean ts.com police :P
I never suggested you shouldn't make your opinions known. Of course they're allowed.
sorry, im not allowed to talk about the MT's downsides on an MT thread :P
It isn't so much your opinions that grate, in this case, as much as the style of communication.
damn, make 2 sentences and get RIPPED APART by thew ts.com police
Ripped apart? Surely, you jest. Apparently, it's alright for you to spout your opinion, but if I state mine I'm all of a sudden the "TS cop", or I'm "ripping you apart". How convenient for you, but ultimately how hypocritical - you're free to state your opinion, but if anyone disagrees with it, or calls you out on the way in which you communicate it, or takes issue with it in any way, then they're the bad guy. ::)
After reading ALL OF THE mt threads, many folks have stated they are mostly stable, some say they arent stable at all, just making observations of what ive read
Again, it's the way in which you make the observation. Those interested in the MT2496 are following the thread - your saying things like ...
I hope those bastards release another firmware soon
...contribute nothing valuable to the discussion, and frankly it comes across as bitching and moaning. And bitching and moaning sure gets tiresome - fast! - hence several people calling you out on what comes across as bitching and moaning (whether you intended it that way, or not).
-
bean, no ripping here, but i must agree with the observations of the others. it seems, to me, that when bugs or features that don't work properly are listed, you have jumped in with an "i can't wait..." or, "why would m-audio...?" type of statement. we all know the shortcomings of the thing, (some more of which i'll post below, if i can figure out a screenshot ::)), it's just tiring sometimes to read between the lean and the fat. my .02
so, not wanting to report the erronious data(ie. aes in via spdif), i changed to spdif in from the v3. i did not have to shave down the rca plug. the meters continued to flash solid black through the peak indicator, and this is what every recording i've opened looks like. anyone else have something like this?
-
so, not wanting to report the erronious data(ie. aes in via spdif), i changed to spdif in from the v3. i did not have to shave down the rca plug. the meters continued to flash solid black through the peak indicator, and this is what every recording i've opened looks like. anyone else have something like this?
I've experienced similar (not with the MT) due to a neg/ground short with my coax cable. I'd triple-check the cable connections and the following home tests:
- swap with a known-good cable
- try a different coax S/PDIF source to rule out the V3 as the cause
- try a different recorder with the same V3/coax cable to rule out the MT
-
so, not wanting to report the erronious data(ie. aes in via spdif), i changed to spdif in from the v3. i did not have to shave down the rca plug. the meters continued to flash solid black through the peak indicator, and this is what every recording i've opened looks like. anyone else have something like this?
I've experienced similar (not with the MT) due to a neg/ground short with my coax cable. I'd triple-check the cable connections and the following home tests:
- swap with a known-good cable
- try a different coax S/PDIF source to rule out the V3 as the cause
- try a different recorder with the same V3/coax cable to rule out the MT
good idea brian, i'll give it a go.
-
john,
that output looks troublingly regular....15s good, 30s bad, 15s good, ... on first glance looks like some sort of clock sync issue...i'm assuming you werent making any changes to anything during the record time
e.g...turning the light on, moving the unit, etc.
see if you can recreate it at home and maybe you can isolate the root cause...try different sample rates, bit depths, etc and see if its chronic to all conditions or just a few
its always possible that its a hardware/cable issue...esp if it occurs under all conditions
boogie
bean, no ripping here, but i must agree with the observations of the others. it seems, to me, that when bugs or features that don't work properly are listed, you have jumped in with an "i can't wait..." or, "why would m-audio...?" type of statement. we all know the shortcomings of the thing, (some more of which i'll post below, if i can figure out a screenshot ::)), it's just tiring sometimes to read between the lean and the fat. my .02
so, not wanting to report the erronious data(ie. aes in via spdif), i changed to spdif in from the v3. i did not have to shave down the rca plug. the meters continued to flash solid black through the peak indicator, and this is what every recording i've opened looks like. anyone else have something like this?
yeah i need to rule everything out to have a case(for what i don't know, replacement?) btw, that's around a 75 minute file
-
so, not wanting to report the erronious data(ie. aes in via spdif), i changed to spdif in from the v3. i did not have to shave down the rca plug. the meters continued to flash solid black through the peak indicator, and this is what every recording i've opened looks like. anyone else have something like this?
Yeah, mine didn't look that drastic though (lengthwise). Is it the loudest most annoying white noise ever? ;D
It happeded to me and I also submitted an official bug reporting it.
-
i stopped reading all the mt threads last week because theres like 20 of them and its just people talking nonsense. i see upon returning that it hasn't changed much.
QFT. My experience exactly.
-
sorry, im not allowed to talk about the MT's downsides on an MT thread :P
Bean, the problem is that this isn't just a MT thread, it's a real-life experiences thread. I've got no problem at all if you'd just start a "Microtracks suck" thread, then I'll just ignore it. But I've got a MT and I'd like to keep up on issues related to running it, and to do it I've got to waste alot of time reading through posts like yours and the ensuing fallout just to find out about real-life experiences about the MT. So ultimately, I have no problem with you voicing your opinion, I just wish you'd do it in an appropriate thread.
Oh yeah, I know, trying to keep ts.com threads on track... ::) :P
-
john,
that output looks troublingly regular....15s good, 30s bad, 15s good, ... on first glance looks like some sort of clock sync issue...i'm assuming you werent making any changes to anything during the record time
Does anyone know if the MT slaves its clock to the spdif source?
-
After fussing around with the MT I've finally taken it out for some trial runs. I taped a violin recital a few weeks ago at 24/44.1 in a hall where I taped previously with DAT and an Edirol R1, same seat (but different violinists). My impression is that to first order they are pretty comparable, at least going line-in with a DPA MMA6000 up front and 4060 mics. Last week I did half of another recital there at 24/96 (also line-in), then rendered to CD, and was a bit disappointed that there was no great difference between 24/44.1 and 24/96 when burning a CD. But last night I burned a DVD-A (using DiscWelder Steel) with the 24/96 part, and I'm a happy man. Listening on headphones through a DAC1 D/A, it does sound better. YMMV, of course.
Jeff
-
okay so, before totally hosing a recording tonight, I think I need some clarification (the manual is not very clear to me?)
I have: SS DSM-6/L w/battery box PA6-LC2 usually plugging into the line in of the D8, and occasionally using an attenuation cable in loud shows because of the nasty brickwalling of the D8.
I don't have any adapters or a preamp or anything like that, so i -can- plug into the 1/8" jack with the mics -> battery box, and this will not (#1) fry the mics somehow and (#2) will give me decent signal levels right?
it's cool that everyone else is using a lot of gear between the mics and the MT, but I don't have all that handy yet and I'm not entirely sure of the necessity of any of it anyway and would love it if someone would explain to me why (and how!) I'd need to do anything differently if that's possible.
-
does anyone possibly know when the next firmware is coming w/ the seamless autosave/start file thing ???
has anyone talked to m-audio?
and where the hell has tim been?
-
does anyone possibly know when the next firmware is coming w/ the seamless autosave/start file thing ???
has anyone talked to m-audio?
and where the hell has tim been?
I asked about the next update when I submitted bugs and no word on a release date. I can't imagine it being too much longer though.
-
thanks martin, +T
-
does anyone possibly know when the next firmware is coming w/ the seamless autosave/start file thing ???
I had to 'break' an MT soundboard recording last night in order to start a new file (Project Object) :D
-
open up the codetalkers when i get back to camp, and i can see the music, and two HUGE blocks of solid noise on both channels at two different places in the recording.(unit was not jostled during recording)
I got a 3 sec block of noise in my recording last weekend, taking SPDIF from a V3 at 24/44.1. Dane-elec CF card, new firmware.
Scared the crap out of me when I was listening to it!! :crazy:
-
open up the codetalkers when i get back to camp, and i can see the music, and two HUGE blocks of solid noise on both channels at two different places in the recording.(unit was not jostled during recording)
I got a 3 sec block of noise in my recording last weekend, taking SPDIF from a V3 at 24/44.1. Dane-elec CF card, new firmware.
Scared the crap out of me when I was listening to it!! :crazy:
was this awful noise only at the beg of each set/recording or at random places ???
-
open up the codetalkers when i get back to camp, and i can see the music, and two HUGE blocks of solid noise on both channels at two different places in the recording.(unit was not jostled during recording)
I got a 3 sec block of noise in my recording last weekend, taking SPDIF from a V3 at 24/44.1. Dane-elec CF card, new firmware.
Scared the crap out of me when I was listening to it!! :crazy:
was this awful noise only at the beg of each set/recording or at random places ???
just one spot, 30 min into the 1st set.
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=52791.0
-
its b/c of your Dane-Elec card. Maudio informed the 40x Dane-Elec's will not properly work. 45x or great is needed.
I resold my DaneElec b/c of this
-
its b/c of your Dane-Elec card. Maudio informed the 40x Dane-Elec's will not properly work. 45x or great is needed.
I resold my DaneElec b/c of this
I had it on mine as well. Not exclusive to the Dane Elec cards. It's a bug for sure.
-
its b/c of your Dane-Elec card. Maudio informed the 40x Dane-Elec's will not properly work. 45x or great is needed.
I resold my DaneElec b/c of this
Sucks the card is no good, but good to hear the solution. :)
Thanks for the heads-up, +t.
-
its b/c of your Dane-Elec card. Maudio informed the 40x Dane-Elec's will not properly work. 45x or great is needed.
I resold my DaneElec b/c of this
I had it on mine as well. Not exclusive to the Dane Elec cards. It's a bug for sure.
What kind of card do you have? I have not experienced this bug on my tapes...
[edit] Nevermind, just read the other thread and it appears to not matter on the kind of card you use. [/edit]
-
its b/c of your Dane-Elec card. Maudio informed the 40x Dane-Elec's will not properly work. 45x or great is needed.
I resold my DaneElec b/c of this
I had it on mine as well. Not exclusive to the Dane Elec cards. It's a bug for sure.
What kind of card do you have? I have not experienced this bug on my tapes...
Sorry. 6GB microdrive. I'll see if I can dig up the mp3 sample I sent, if not already delted.
-
its b/c of your Dane-Elec card. Maudio informed the 40x Dane-Elec's will not properly work. 45x or great is needed.
I resold my DaneElec b/c of this
I had it on mine as well. Not exclusive to the Dane Elec cards. It's a bug for sure.
Depends on amount of buffer RAM, sampling speed and wordlength, CPU speed available, etc.
Also interrupt time is a factor.
I.o.w. Maybe it can be fixed, maybe it cannot.
-
its b/c of your Dane-Elec card. Maudio informed the 40x Dane-Elec's will not properly work. 45x or great is needed.
I resold my DaneElec b/c of this
I had it on mine as well. Not exclusive to the Dane Elec cards. It's a bug for sure.
Depends on amount of buffer RAM, sampling speed and wordlength, CPU speed available, etc.
Also interrupt time is a factor.
I.o.w. Maybe it can be fixed, maybe it cannot.
Yep! I have changed my MT allocation size to 64K to see if that makes a difference. I have yet to try it with this, but will report my experiences ASAP. +t
-
This is my first post here. And I admit I haven't read this entire thread so bear with me if I'm just repeating what others have reported.
First some good news -
(1) I know of at least 4 people (including myself) who have purchased the Microtrack from Guitar Center for just $299. Just go to your local Guitar Center and tell them to check previous sales at other stores and they will match the price. Tell them to check their Tempe, AZ store and their Sherman Oaks, CA store for sales at $299.99.
(2) Check Ebay for brand new 6GB Hitachi Microdrives selling for just $98 (plus shipping) and 4GB Microdrives selling for $68 (plus shipping = $77 total.) These are supposedly Apple overstock from discontinued Mini Ipods (Apple only makes Nano's now). I have tested the 4GB card and it works swell. It's got a little more heft than a CF card, but those of you who have complained about the lack of heft to the Microtrack will appreciate this!
Ok now for my complaints about the Microtrack( current IBeta Firmware update 1.1.5)
(1) No onboard marking or splitting of lengthy files. On a Minidisc you can set index points and split files into smaller files and then delete your un-needed files to free up space. But the Microtrack requires you to upload a file which may be hours long to your computer and then use 3rd party software just to separate out the part of the file you want to keep. I consider this to be a MAJOR FLAW in the software and I hope they fix it in the next firmware update (which M-Audio says should arrive "sometime in November".
(2) The file-naming is ridiculous! The first file you record will be named 001. Delete it immediately and the next file you record will still be named 002. Turn off your Microtrack, turn it back on. Delete 002 and the next file you record will still be named 003. Format your disk and the next file you record will still be named 004. SWITCH DISKS to a brand new disk and the next file you record will still be named 005! Get the picture? Is that bizarre or what? I hope they fix this soon!
(3) Looped playback is erratic. Oftentimes it doesn't work at all. When it does work it inserts random bits of stray sound from outside the loop into the loop. This is an improvement over the original 1.0 firmware which had loud bump noises in every loop, but it's still pretty much useless.
(4) They claim to have fixed the reversed L/M/H switch but to tell you the truth, I can't hear the switch doing anything at all.
(5) I've found my battery life has improved a little bit after numerous charge/discharge cycles, but its still less than 4 hours using Plug-In power. I haven't tested it with Phantom Power. I note that M-Audio has downgraded its battery life claims on its website accordingly.
Even with all those complaints I'm still fairly happy with the device. I have no complaints regarding its sound quality, although the included T-Mic seems awfully boomy. I switched to Panasonic binaurals from Squid Audio and they sound great.
-
(2) The file-naming is ridiculous! The first file you record will be named 001. Delete it immediately and the next file you record will still be named 002. Turn off your Microtrack, turn it back on. Delete 002 and the next file you record will still be named 003. Format your disk and the next file you record will still be named 004. SWITCH DISKS to a brand new disk and the next file you record will still be named 005! Get the picture? Is that bizarre or what? I hope they fix this soon!
This issue was discussed previously.. I dont see it being "fixed" as it is not broken.. If I remember correctly, many professional cameras are set up this way to avoid overwriting/deleting/mixing up photos on a large CF card..
-
yeah, the file thing is fine. nothing wrong with sequential numbers. imagine coming home from a festival with 20 file0001's
-
Ok, I see your point . . . to a point. But shouldn't there be SOME way to reset the numbering back to 000? Formatting a disk won't do it. Changing disks won't do it either!
-
There's probably some kind of hard reset that will do it, but you'd have to ask M-Audio about it.
Honestly, though, what does it matter? File0024.wav and File0001.wav aren't descriptive enough to differentiate between shows anyway.
-
Ok, I see your point . . . to a point. But shouldn't there be SOME way to reset the numbering back to 000? Formatting a disk won't do it. Changing disks won't do it either!
It's easy. Go to menu>system>factory defaults. That does it. Then remember to reset your other parameters!
Jeff
-
i think its cool, it would at least count how many sets youve taped, id restart it every year ;D and see how many sets/shows i taped that year 8)
-
Thanks Jeff!
Now what do you think about my gripe about no way to split files onboard like you can with a Minidisc? I guess that's not such a big deal for those who only tape fairly long shows. But for musicians taping practice sessions or jams, it sure would be nice to be able to just save the "good" parts and delete the garbage without hooking up to a computer.
-
That's not an issue for me, I'm basically trying to get as long a 24/96 session as possible without tending it (hence my main want list item is lossless auto start of a new file before the 2 GB limit), I do the teensifying splitting in Wavelab.
Jeff
-
ran again last night 463 -> v3 -> MT. no issues at all....
-
ran again last night 463 -> v3 -> MT. no issues at all....
nice nice.. what bit/sample rate?
-
Ok, finally after reading through the 48 pages of this thread, i have not seen the issue raised yet with the MT that i had on my first run last weekend. I'm starting to think it has nothing to do with the unit but the media i am using, but because i have learned so much from this thread and you guys, i figured i might get a more definite answer .
I recorded 1.39 GB or 1:34 min of music at a Blue October show in Ft.Worth last Saturday with the unit set to record at 24/44.1 onto a 2gig pq1 hi-speed 40 card.
On playback at the 23min mark of the recording, the recording abruptly stopped and the MT unit was still running and counting down the file time. I first thought i might not have captured all the data because of mic failure or that the file may have some how been corrupted while the MT was writing and saving the file.
After i transfered the file to my ibook and opening up the file using Audacity all the music it there.
The music sounds better while playing it on the computer using Audacity with the same headphones too. This is not a big problem for me but i kinda like to listen to the shows i capture on my usual long drive home from the city after the gigs.
anyone have a answer?
dave
-
Ok, finally after reading through the 48 pages of this thread, i have not seen the issue raised yet with the MT that i had on my first run last weekend. I'm starting to think it has nothing to do with the unit but the media i am using, but because i have learned so much from this thread and you guys, i figured i might get a more definite answer .
I recorded 1.39 GB or 1:34 min of music at a Blue October show in Ft.Worth last Saturday with the unit set to record at 24/44.1 onto a 2gig pq1 hi-speed 40 card.
On playback at the 23min mark of the recording, the recording abruptly stopped and the MT unit was still running and counting down the file time. I first thought i might not have captured all the data because of mic failure or that the file may have some how been corrupted while the MT was writing and saving the file.
After i transfered the file to my ibook and opening up the file using Audacity all the music it there.
The music sounds better while playing it on the computer using Audacity with the same headphones too. This is not a big problem for me but i kinda like to listen to the shows i capture on my usual long drive home from the city after the gigs.
anyone have a answer?
dave
I had that happen to me. I had been in touch with M-Audio on other issues and they had promptly responded. I responded about this issue and did not hear back. So, I filled out a Beta Feedback on it and have heard nothing about it. Hopefully it will be something fixed in the next Firmware. I was recording at 16/44.1 WAV onto a 1GB 40X Lexar.
Did you try the Fast Forward? I had the "Scrub" feature on, and I could hear the recording during the fast forward, so I knew the sound was there... but as soon as I stopped to listen... there was nothing... only silence. I tried all sorts of resets, removals etc... it always went silent at the exact same point for me... about 4 minutes in.
I hope this atleast makes you feel better that you are not alone.
I would suggest you still fill out a Beta Feedback form at the M-Audio site.
later,
Michael
-
Ok, finally after reading through the 48 pages of this thread, i have not seen the issue raised yet with the MT that i had on my first run last weekend. I'm starting to think it has nothing to do with the unit but the media i am using, but because i have learned so much from this thread and you guys, i figured i might get a more definite answer .
I recorded 1.39 GB or 1:34 min of music at a Blue October show in Ft.Worth last Saturday with the unit set to record at 24/44.1 onto a 2gig pq1 hi-speed 40 card.
On playback at the 23min mark of the recording, the recording abruptly stopped and the MT unit was still running and counting down the file time. I first thought i might not have captured all the data because of mic failure or that the file may have some how been corrupted while the MT was writing and saving the file.
After i transfered the file to my ibook and opening up the file using Audacity all the music it there.
The music sounds better while playing it on the computer using Audacity with the same headphones too. This is not a big problem for me but i kinda like to listen to the shows i capture on my usual long drive home from the city after the gigs.
anyone have a answer?
dave
I had that happen to me. I had been in touch with M-Audio on other issues and they had promptly responded. I responded about this issue and did not hear back. So, I filled out a Beta Feedback on it and have heard nothing about it. Hopefully it will be something fixed in the next Firmware. I was recording at 16/44.1 WAV onto a 1GB 40X Lexar.
Did you try the Fast Forward? I had the "Scrub" feature on, and I could hear the recording during the fast forward, so I knew the sound was there... but as soon as I stopped to listen... there was nothing... only silence. I tried all sorts of resets, removals etc... it always went silent at the exact same point for me... about 4 minutes in.
I hope this atleast makes you feel better that you are not alone.
I would suggest you still fill out a Beta Feedback form at the M-Audio site.
later,
Michael
Thanks for the reply Micheal. i did try the FF and still got no sound at all. The rest of the hour + of the file appeared blank. Also, when i would FF with the headphones (i tried several times to find sound) sometimes i would get "bumped" to the only other file on the card. The other file was just a about a min of test i ran earlier but did not delete.
I went to bed that night thinking i only got 23 min of a pretty good show. The next morning i got happy! The show was complete and sounding better than i remembered it sounding at the show.
A similar thing happened a few years ago with a MD and i got the data back with a series of buttons pressed on my home deck and taking the TOC off a blank disc. I figure this issue has something to do with the file being closed on the MT as well. But thats just a guess. I'll let m-audio figure it out. I did report the problem early monday morning and like you have not heard back form them.
dave
-
I finally had my first real-life experience with the MT last Wednesday. Recorded the British band Oceansize in a tiny club. The recording came out good, considering that the sound at the venue was absolutely horrible.
The recording is available at the Kickdown Central (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=52949.0).
-
ran again last night 463 -> v3 -> MT. no issues at all....
nice nice.. what bit/sample rate?
24/48
-
Did you try the Fast Forward? I had the "Scrub" feature on, and I could hear the recording during the fast forward, so I knew the sound was there... but as soon as I stopped to listen... there was nothing... only silence. I tried all sorts of resets, removals etc... it always went silent at the exact same point for me... about 4 minutes in.
[/quote]
In my earlier post i didn't realize that when i did FF the other night i did not have the Scrub feature of the unit set. Today i found it and tried the BO file again and it does play just as you said.
I just thought i would clarify that the errors and consistency of our files are the same.
Thanks again for the input Mike.
on another note it seems levels are hard to control peaking while using the 1/8 jack with the MT set to the "M" position. I have not tested this with loud sounds yet but if you use the 1/8 jack and set the switch to the "L" position is it easier to control the input volume, or is it better to use adapters for the mic/line 1/4 inputs down to 1/8. my radio shack can get me down to the 1/8 from the 1/4 for around 20 bucks which is not much, but if anyone has tested this i would take your advise and like to save the $20 if there is no difference.
also I'm looking at getting some Audix M1245. Anyone have any critique or praise for these? i have been using CSB for about 6 years and was looking to upgrade.
dave
-
Microtrack made it through 1 out of 3 Panic shows this week at 24/48.
First show (NM)first set was fine, second set it seemed to record it, but I seemed to lose the last encore. I had the hold button on, and when I tried to save it with the hold button on, it seemed to start a new track. I took the hold button off,hit record again, and it said writing file. I don't know where the last song and a half went.
Second show (Tucson), all went well.
Third Show (Phx) First set went well, Second set, MT went 1:45 minutes, froze up, and gave me a corrupt file for the entire second set.
Was running a JB3 backup, of truncated 16bit. It sounds really good actually, so I didn't really lose anything, but I really did,
Was running v3>spdif>24/48>External Power. Had plenty of juice left. I should be able to get a 2 hour file at 24/48.
-
I've recorded 2 shows in the past couple of days, and the MicroTrack had no issues.
both shows recorded from the V3's S/PDIF, both at 24 bit / 48 kHz. for both, I used a 5AH, 9.6v battery with ToddR's "juice box" to power it. this battery, I'm sure, is way overkill, and as a result, I did not have to worry about battery power at all.
Club d'Elf on Thurs. 10/27, 2 sets. 75 min set 1, and 90 min set 2. no issues. Scott and I ran a V3 A/D vs. ad2k comp at this night. I did not run a D8 backup.
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon Friday 10/28, one set. 90 min. recorded from 2nd row and sound fantastic :) was a psuedo stealth job, so again, no D8 backup.
at this point, while I'm looking forward to a new firmware update, I'm ready to leave my D8 behind. there are a few shows coming up which may run more than 2 hours per set. in those cases, I'll probably bring the D8, but only use it to patch the gaps afterwards (i.e. don't record the whole show with it, but start the D8 recording before I have to stop/save/start a new file on the MicroTrack. and then, 10 - 15 seconds later, when the MicroTrack is going again, stop the D8. then I'll just use the D8 audio to patch the gaps in the MicroTrack recording. unless, of course, M-Audio releases a new firmware with a work-around for the 2 gig issue soon.
-
Ran for the Decemberists last night without (many) issues.
DPA 4061 > DPA mma6000 > MT @ 24/48. 1:46 file on a Kingston 4gb CF card. Internal battery had plenty of juice at the end of the show (according to the battery meter anyway).
Ran for a couple minutes of the opener, but they played the same set for the second night in a row and I wanted to save battery, so I canned their set after two songs.
Biggest issue I had that I was massively paranoid about were the level meters/signal indicators. Holy crap do they suck. I ended up just pushing the levels until they clipped and then backed them off one click on the mma6000.
Listening to the tape, I'm pretty happy with the results. It will take a few more shows before I totally trust it, but I'm liking this thing so far.
-
Ran mine for the first time yesterday for Flowmotion. Ran S/PDIF, 16/44.1, 6GB Microdrive Hitachi. MT died about 60 minutes into 2nd set. Worked for about 3 hours (150 for recording, about 30 during set break). So far I really like it. Bought this mainly to replace the JB3 and do the 24 bit recordings. The tape sounds as great as the JB3 recording. I am hoping to get a successful Stephen Kellogg instore show tomorrow in 24/48.
-
Has anyone had success running AT853s(phantom)>MT?
Just wondering if the MT power is enough for the ATs and I'm looking for any opinions on how it sounds.
-
Hi, first post on this site. After 6 years of no taping (lots of kids, life change and all that), I finally decided to get my M-1 DAT repaired for some taping. The DAT being unrepairable, ProDigital recommended that I look into the MT 24/96. I bought one from a Missouri distributor on ebay ($376 ya!), and used it for the first time last weekend for a test run.
I have a pair of core sound cardiods for stealthing, but used the mic that came in the package just to test it. Nice sound, but unfortunately, there was really heavy peak level distortion for the louder numbers. I attempted to switch to line-in (I didn't know about the mislabeled switch at that point) but the distortion remained. I imagine the CSC's will handle the peaks better, but I'm concerned about level problems reported here by people with high-end mics.
Battery power was not a problem. Recorded for over 2 hours, and the battery meter was still above half.
Used 16bit 44.1, with a 2GB compact flash.
The unit was recognized immediately by my Dell, the wav file dragged and dropped without a problem, and a few quick soundforge edits, CD Wave track splits and I was done. Nice recording (for the non-distorted songs). I fully charged the unit (last weekend), and it was dead when I opened it up this morning. Its charging again.
I will be using it for a 3+ hour multi-act show at Carnegie Hall next Sunday. Report to follow.
-
Make sure you get the latest firmware, that will address the discharge and the L/M/H switch issues.
-
I've recorded 2 shows in the past couple of days, and the MicroTrack had no issues.
both shows recorded from the V3's S/PDIF, both at 24 bit / 48 kHz. for both, I used a 5AH, 9.6v battery with ToddR's "juice box" to power it. this battery, I'm sure, is way overkill, and as a result, I did not have to worry about battery power at all.
Club d'Elf on Thurs. 10/27, 2 sets. 75 min set 1, and 90 min set 2. no issues. Scott and I ran a V3 A/D vs. ad2k comp at this night. I did not run a D8 backup.
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon Friday 10/28, one set. 90 min. recorded from 2nd row and sound fantastic :) was a psuedo stealth job, so again, no D8 backup.
at this point, while I'm looking forward to a new firmware update, I'm ready to leave my D8 behind. there are a few shows coming up which may run more than 2 hours per set. in those cases, I'll probably bring the D8, but only use it to patch the gaps afterwards (i.e. don't record the whole show with it, but start the D8 recording before I have to stop/save/start a new file on the MicroTrack. and then, 10 - 15 seconds later, when the MicroTrack is going again, stop the D8. then I'll just use the D8 audio to patch the gaps in the MicroTrack recording. unless, of course, M-Audio releases a new firmware with a work-around for the 2 gig issue soon.
Nice. I also went without my DAT backup this weekend (heh I only had one tape and had a freaking misload), taped Pangea (who were great) & Railroad Earth on Saturday, 60 min opener, 65-70 minute first set, then 80-90 minute second set, also using the JB to power the MT, no problems either. 16 bit feed of course ;) and the meters went bonkers after about 20 minutes, BUT as long as there is a sound source above a certain dB they 'appear' to work ... I might be done with DAT ...
-
also using the JB to power the MT,
no way.. you uses a jukebox to power the microtracker? :P
-
also using the JB to power the MT,
no way.. you uses a jukebox to power the microtracker? :P
he's talking about ToddR's "juice box", a 5v regulated power supply. not a jukebox. at least, that's what I think he's talking about.
-
also using the JB to power the MT,
no way.. you uses a jukebox to power the microtracker? :P
he's talking about ToddR's "juice box", a 5v regulated power supply. not a jukebox. at least, that's what I think he's talking about.
Yeah eric knows I am talking about the juicebox, he is just a wisenarsen 8)
-
I was using the Juicebox also. Power was definately not my problem.
Freezing up at 1:45 at 24/48 was my problem, and getting a corrupted file.
It only did this one out of two times.
The other problem was related to the hold button, I believe.
-
Hey crazy felas :D
New person.
Anyone tested the MT with a Sony ECM-DS70P ?
Opinions???
Sometimes i want to record situations in which i dont want people (or..things) to notice (no ,i'm not a spy-but again who knows ::) )
i want the best i can get in sound (to where my pocket ends that is) from nature,urban land scapes and live bands (Christ ,how unique of me :P) ,sooo......
.....any other recommendations for condensers or dynamics (just in case i change my mind i guess).
And whats your opinions about the MT's preamps? I was thinkng to buy a Marantz PMD660 but the comments i read in forums about its preamps where discouraging...
Thats all, i hope i wasnt a big prick.
Take care y'all
Dennis
-
I have a pair of core sound cardiods for stealthing, but used the mic that came in the package just to test it. Nice sound, but unfortunately, there was really heavy peak level distortion for the louder numbers. I attempted to switch to line-in (I didn't know about the mislabeled switch at that point) but the distortion remained. I imagine the CSC's will handle the peaks better, but I'm concerned about level problems reported here by people with high-end mics.
i purchased adapters from Radio Shack that allow me to use my CSB into the 1/4 inputs and set the line in to "L" . The levels worked out much better on my second run. I was able to control the levels and peaks just as easy as i can with my D8.
IMO the 1/8 jacks are useless for anything other that speech no matter the quality of mic. It appears there is a flaw in the level control while using this input.
-
Taped Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers at the Sonic Boom Records in Ballard and The Crocodile Cafe. Did both 24/48. Listening to the Sonic Boom instore and I really love this recording. Two mics on stage just for ambience. About 5 from stage. So far no errors (knocking on wood). Kinda off topic, but I was able to run both my jb3 and mt digitally. The JB3 was able to get 16/48 via the optical in. And I did have the advance on. Guess I have had it on since I bought the WMod. Anyone else been able to do this? Seems weird that I can do this, but Soundforge does say that the MT recording is 24/48. Let me know.
-
Taped Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers at the Sonic Boom Records in Ballard and The Crocodile Cafe. Did both 24/48. Listening to the Sonic Boom instore and I really love this recording. Two mics on stage just for ambience. About 5 from stage. So far no errors (knocking on wood). Kinda off topic, but I was able to run both my jb3 and mt digitally. The JB3 was able to get 16/48 via the optical in. And I did have the advance on. Guess I have had it on since I bought the WMod. Anyone else been able to do this? Seems weird that I can do this, but Soundforge does say that the MT recording is 24/48. Let me know.
both the JB3 and DAT decks will lock onto a 24 bit, 48kHz signal, although they will truncate each sample and only record the 16 most significant bits per sample. So your recording JB3 recording is still 16/48. truncating a 24 bit signal is not as good as dithering down to 16, but it's fine for a back-up.
-
I thought I read somewhere when the JB3 recieves a 24bit file that it tries to truncate it but it turns into "crap". Maybe this is 24/96? Have to look around.
Edit: Just read the JB3 FAQ. The JB3 recording does sound fine, though I will be throwing both the mt up there (both 24/48 & 16/44.1).
-
I have a pair of core sound cardiods for stealthing, but used the mic that came in the package just to test it. Nice sound, but unfortunately, there was really heavy peak level distortion for the louder numbers. I attempted to switch to line-in (I didn't know about the mislabeled switch at that point) but the distortion remained. I imagine the CSC's will handle the peaks better, but I'm concerned about level problems reported here by people with high-end mics.
i purchased adapters from Radio Shack that allow me to use my CSB into the 1/4 inputs and set the line in to "L" . The levels worked out much better on my second run. I was able to control the levels and peaks just as easy as i can with my D8.
IMO the 1/8 jacks are useless for anything other that speech no matter the quality of mic. It appears there is a flaw in the level control while using this input.
Ah, thanks for this report, its quite helpful. I was digging through my box of adaptors thinking of this very possibility, but I don't seem to have this exact combination. Now I know that my trip to the audio supply store will not be in vain.
-
well, with all the problem you have, i ask myself to know if the microtrack is a good recorder :-\
do anyone has tried to tape in stealthy conditions with this combo ?
sp-cmc 8>sp spsb6>mt
is that work fine ?
-
Had my first bad luck with the MT tonight. This is my 4th show with it (2x Mule + 1 stealth job). The first 2 turned out great, the stealth job had the overloading problem (CSB mics).
Tonight I got NADA. Recording started out fine, but about an hour in I checked my levels and the meters were pinned and acting wierd. When I stopped the recording the unit froze. I restarted it, and my file was there. Now that I'm home I checked the file size and it's 0.
Luckily I ran the JB3 as a backup (analog in). It sounds pretty good. I've never ran the JB3 line in before.
Kinda bummed. It was a pretty good show (My Morning Jacket).
Hopefully the problems with the MT get cleared up soon. It's a bit frustrating having a recorder that I don't trust.
Tomorrow night is McCartney. I think I'll bring the JB3.
MIKE B
-
Had my first bad luck with the MT tonight. This is my 4th show with it (2x Mule + 1 stealth job). The first 2 turned out great, the stealth job had the overloading problem (CSB mics).
Tonight I got NADA. Recording started out fine, but about an hour in I checked my levels and the meters were pinned and acting wierd. When I stopped the recording the unit froze. I restarted it, and my file was there. Now that I'm home I checked the file size and it's 0.
Luckily I ran the JB3 as a backup (analog in). It sounds pretty good. I've never ran the JB3 line in before.
Kinda bummed. It was a pretty good show (My Morning Jacket).
Hopefully the problems with the MT get cleared up soon. It's a bit frustrating having a recorder that I don't trust.
Tomorrow night is McCartney. I think I'll bring the JB3.
MIKE B
This is exactly what happened to me:
Third Show (Phx) First set went well, Second set, MT went 1:45 minutes, froze up, and gave me a corrupt file for the entire second set.
-
after being with vegooose this weekend w/ reesey and his mt, i can say this is a pos toy that should'nt be allowed in the field til they fix the firmware issues. the 2 gig file limit is bs and it freezes up on 24/48 coax in. maybe the next firmware patch will fix this.
-
after being with vegooose this weekend w/ reesey and his mt, i can say this is a pos toy that should'nt be allowed in the field til they fix the firmware issues. the 2 gig file limit is bs and it freezes up on 24/48 coax in. maybe the next firmware patch will fix this.
what 24/48 S/PDIF signal were you sending it? I have not had any trouble recording a 24/48 S/PDIF signal from my V3.
-
after being with vegooose this weekend w/ reesey and his mt, i can say this is a pos toy that should'nt be allowed in the field til they fix the firmware issues. the 2 gig file limit is bs and it freezes up on 24/48 coax in. maybe the next firmware patch will fix this.
I had problems this past weekend as well. I'm going to chalk it up to operator error though. (I hadn't reformatted the card yet) I do believe now that it is very important to do this before each and every recording session. I know Brian Skalinder hasn't had a problem yet, and I'd imagine he follows this procedure.
-
he was sending 24/48 out of the minime. not sure if he formated the cf card after each recording. it did seem to work fine after he took the mini me out of the chain and ran just the shepz>sax into the 14/ inch @24/48. but when it did work it sounded superb i must say.
-
I was running mine, V3>spdif>MT 24/48. I format my card after each show.I rip the shows to my laptop after each show, so my CF had been formatted about 8 times. Definately no Operator error on my end. It was running until the last encore, and it was froze up then. It said 1:45, and it was frozen up. I had to power it down for anything to work. I had the Juicebox running it off a Walmart battery, which I estimate had 10 hours left on it. The day before The show was longer, and everything went great.
-
Bummer!! It's weird how some people have had these problems and others haven't. I sure hope that next firmware update is soon.
-
if they fix the spdif and write some code to auto start a new file automatically(ala jb3 or 722) in the new firmware then this option might be worth my money. as it is now it's to unstable now for my uses.
-
It's been working flawlessly for me for a while now. I've done about 10 shows at 24/48 with my V3, and now I'm doing some lecture recordings with the included microphone. Loving this thing so far...
-
i ran this unit succesfully for the whole vegoose weekend. Only @ 16/44.1 so i wont blow up my computer working a 24bit file.
But i ran for close to 2 hour straight on a late nite set, and multiple 1-1.5 hour sets and havent noticed any probs :)
-
i ran this unit succesfully for the whole vegoose weekend. Only @ 16/44.1 so i wont blow up my computer working a 24bit file.
But i ran for close to 2 hour straight on a late nite set, and multiple 1-1.5 hour sets and havent noticed any probs :)
I ran for a little over 4 hours (16/48) this past weekend with no issues. I had to hit record twice during the encore break to start a new file, almost hit 2 gigs on the first file, little over 3 hours, with no issues via 1/4" with phantom.
-
Mine was DOA at Wilco last night. I believe that I forgot to turn it off when I disconnected it after charging the day before and the battery got drained. It was still dead when I plugged it in at home, but it was alive in the morning. I think I'm going to need to have usb power in my bag and ready to go when needed.
-
Mine was DOA at Wilco last night. I believe that I forgot to turn it off when I disconnected it after charging the day before and the battery got drained. It was still dead when I plugged it in at home, but it was alive in the morning. I think I'm going to need to have usb power in my bag and ready to go when needed.
I saw your stand come down at Wilco last night at I thought some piece of equipment must have failed... Sorry to hear that. I ran SchoepsMK41>Lemosax>MT2496 at 24/48 into the 1/4" analog inputs with no problems.
dB-
-
well thanks for reassuring me about the reliabillity of the MTout in the field. must have been user error that caused all the problems this past weekend @ vegoose. looks like i will be getting one of theses next week or should i wait tosee what mods oade comes up with for it?
-
well thanks for reassuring me about the reliabillity of the MTout in the field. must have been user error that caused all the problems this past weekend @ vegoose. looks like i will be getting one of theses next week or should i wait tosee what mods oade comes up with for it?
The MT is more stable than previously, but I wouldn't say it's completely stable, yet. As for getting one now or waiting for Oade Bros mods, I'd say...depends. If you're dying to get one now, go for it, and sell it once (if!) mods become available. If you're going to use it as many do, as strictly a storage device, then the Oade mods don't matter and you might consider picking one up now.
-
PS- I have renamed my MT on all my recordings. It is now a MT24/48 until further notice. ::)
4 more tests at the Fillmore over the next 4 days.
-
Took my mt out on halloween. 1st real test, living room and radio shows don't count.
Local band at The Eldo. Running 24/48 spdif v-3 > mt w/ Hitachi 6 gig microdrive using Todd's Juicebox & jb3 truncated backup.
1st set 1:19 ran flawlessly
2nd set 1:52 ran flawlessly.
Truncated jb3 sounds better than 24/48 > 16/44. I doubt any of us would here the difference between ANSR and truncated backup.
My observations are that the meters are worthless, luckily the 2 green signal indicators are good enough to know if there is signal.
Luckily again I'm using the mt strictly for a place to put 1's & 0's. so I don't need to worry about phantom, 1/4" and 1/8" issuses.
I do like being able to to 24/48 just miner listening on headphones sounds way better than 16/48.
In my living room and radio station tests i have gotten 2:40 with the internal battery, but never run it all the way down. Seems like the Juicebox or other external powering is going to be necassary.
Once m-audio gets the seemless 2gig file closing & opening thing taken care I will be very happy.
All things considered I think the mt will work well for our needs as live music archivists.
Thanks to everyone who has been in the field for a month and reporting back here to the rest of us.
Keep up the good work kids
Thanks
Ed
-
Took my mt out on halloween. 1st real test, living room and radio shows don't count.
Local band at The Eldo. Running 24/48 spdif v-3 > mt w/ Hitachi 6 gig microdrive using Todd's Juicebox & jb3 truncated backup.
1st set 1:19 ran flawlessly
2nd set 1:52 ran flawlessly.
i have been trying to figure out how to use the s/pdif in and a usb for power on the mt. the cables on mine dont seem to fit as the inputs for each are too close. i thought about shaving down the rubber on the mini usb cable. can you, or someone else, shed some light on this?
-
i thought about shaving down the rubber on the mini usb cable.
That's what I plan on doing. The coax S/PDIF and USB power cables Todd R made me mostly fit, but a little too snugly for my very persnickety tastes. So I'm gonna shave down the USB connector's rubber housing a bit. Won't take much, and I'm sure will work just fine. Just haven't gotten around to it yet, since the internal batt gets me through most evenings.
-
10/26/05 - V3 SDPIF 16/48 > MT on internal battery w/ 4gb Kingston 45x CF card - formatted before show - recorded and saved 2 sets of YMSB. Level meters stopped working after 25 minutes or so. Powered off between sets. Had a 1gb PNY CF card in for the opener - 45 minutes @ 16/48 - MT froze when I tried to save the file, I had to power the unit off and back on. Had a zero byte file showing when I powered it back up.
11/02/05 - V3 SPDIF 24/48 > MT on external power w/ 4gb Kingston 45x CF card - formatted before show - recorded 80+ minute first set of Ratdog and saved the file flawlessly. Left on between sets. Recorded and saved a 2 minute test file between sets. Recorded 90 minute second set - unit froze when I pressed the record button to save the file. Slid the hold button to on and tossed it in the bag. Still frozen 1/2 hr later when I got home(wishful thinking). Turned it off and on again - the first set file and the test file were still there, the second set file was a zero byte file.
-
Took my mt out on halloween. 1st real test, living room and radio shows don't count.
Local band at The Eldo. Running 24/48 spdif v-3 > mt w/ Hitachi 6 gig microdrive using Todd's Juicebox & jb3 truncated backup.
1st set 1:19 ran flawlessly
2nd set 1:52 ran flawlessly.
i have been trying to figure out how to use the s/pdif in and a usb for power on the mt. the cables on mine dont seem to fit as the inputs for each are too close. i thought about shaving down the rubber on the mini usb cable. can you, or someone else, shed some light on this?
Just shave some of the plastic housing off, I have done it for two usb cables already and they fit like a glove now with a spdif ccable in place ...
-
Just shave some of the plastic housing off, I have done it for two usb cables already and they fit like a glove now with a spdif ccable in place ...
yup, I did the same thing with a couple of USB cables. you don't have to take off much from the mini-USB connecter, and you can easily get it so that they two connectors (mini-USB and S/PDIF) don't touch at all...
-
just shave the usb cable right...not the coax
-
just shave the usb cable right...not the coax
exactly. I think it would be pretty tough to shave an RCA connector anyway. the mini-USB has a lot of extra plastic on the connector, very easy to shave off with a swiss army knife or something similar.
-
thanks
regarding the 0 bit files for the "failed" recordings. has anyone tried to transfer and see if there is any data (physical file size), perhaps the header is incorrect. i recall this happening on a different device...possibly the 722/744
-
Used my MT for the first time in the field last night. It pretty much worked well. I was using it as a bitbucket with a signal coming out of my M1, 16/44.1.. I used a 2GB Kingston CF card with no problems. Plenty of battery left after about a 2h40m show.
I experienced the flakey meters that others have reported when using SPDIF. After about 20 mins they meters were completely useless and stayed pegged for the rest of the show. The other questionable thing that happened that I haven't seen reported is that CDWave reported that the file size reported in the .way header differed from the actual file size. Easy enough to fix but I'm not sure what that was all about.
All-in-all a pretty successful first run but I'm not ready to dump my DAT or JB3 just yet.
Looking forward to future firmware updates.
-
I thought the WAV header discussion deserved its own thread, so I split it out. Here's the new thread:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=53348.0
-
Took my mt out on halloween. 1st real test, living room and radio shows don't count.
Local band at The Eldo. Running 24/48 spdif v-3 > mt w/ Hitachi 6 gig microdrive using Todd's Juicebox & jb3 truncated backup.
1st set 1:19 ran flawlessly
2nd set 1:52 ran flawlessly.
i have been trying to figure out how to use the s/pdif in and a usb for power on the mt. the cables on mine dont seem to fit as the inputs for each are too close. i thought about shaving down the rubber on the mini usb cable. can you, or someone else, shed some light on this?
You can also get the right-angle mono-to-mono gold plated plug from radioshack. Didn't have to shave anything, though I may. Seems on way it to have it pointed up or down.
-
got this in my mailbox today. if only it were the real thing. i appreciate everyones comments, opinions, both good and bad. i am looking to purchase a rig, on a tight budget, to upgrade from a minidisc. all of this discussion has been incredibly helpful. keep up the good work. maybe santa will bring me one for christmas...
-
All went well tonight. 2 sets 24/48. ;D
-
I run my V3 into the MT and have done 4 shows with no problem. I have run 24/48 coax with a Kingston 45x card. I have not had to use an external battery yet but, I do have one in my bag just in case. I use the V3 for my levels so I don't use the display levels on the MT. I have gotten use the the overs on the MT. They seem to hit right at 0 as the V3s levels don't hold an over when the MTs reds lights up. I am learning how to use the two together now to set my levels as high as I can with out going over. If they solve the 2GB problem the machine will do all I need it too.
-
As reported in the levels thread, the clip light on the MT comes on at -1 dB.
-
I am using a right angle spdif cable that i make.
it fits real nice and doesn't put too much pressure on the Todd R usb power cable. I will probably use the dremel to cut away a little bit of the usb connector just to be safe.
-
something to keep in mind is that with 24bit recording you are not gaining anything by running your levels so hot and you risk damaging overloads which can be hard/impossible to fix/cleanly...that being said i love the OVR lights on the MT, but if you see them hitting at all its time to turn things down...its not something you want to be "slightly" engaging
with current 24bit devices, anything in the -12dB -- 0dB range is gonna be equally detailed
you can always kick up the levels in post
the ability to run more conservative levels and capture a wider dynamic range with much less risk are some of my favorite aspects of 24bit recording
I've heard and seen plenty of other tapers advocate running levels very conservatively in 24-bit, i.e. not seeking to approach as closely as possible 0 dBFS, and I just don't get it. It does not matter whether we're in 16- or 24-bit, the goal is the same: maximize resolution. Therefore, we should always seek to run our levels as hot as possible so that we approach - but do not hit - 0 dBFS. Perhaps this is what you're advocating and I'm reading you wrong?
-
To sorta keep on topic here, where do you guys think I should set my levels using DPA 4061s straight into the microtrack with the dongle? I'm thinking the switch to L and just push the levels button one notch up from the lowest setting. Anyone have experience using 4061s on this thing? I'm just looking to not clip so I can go from there. I'll probably check the clipping indicator, but i'd rather not. I'd like to just set it and forget it, and just add gain in post. I have two stealth situations for this weeked in sf. Any help is appreciated, thanks!
-
t does not matter whether we're in 16- or 24-bit, the goal is the same: maximize resolution.
I would agree. I think that for stealth purposes running conservaitve can be a benefit of 24 bit, but it shouldn't be the main benefit. I think for open taping slamming the levels is great. But I love slamming the levels anyway. Lights mezmorize me. >:D
-
. Lights mezmorize me. >:D
sell that minime and get yourself a V3 if that is the case... or a 744.
-
something to keep in mind is that with 24bit recording you are not gaining anything by running your levels so hot and you risk damaging overloads which can be hard/impossible to fix/cleanly...that being said i love the OVR lights on the MT, but if you see them hitting at all its time to turn things down...its not something you want to be "slightly" engaging
with current 24bit devices, anything in the -12dB -- 0dB range is gonna be equally detailed
you can always kick up the levels in post
the ability to run more conservative levels and capture a wider dynamic range with much less risk are some of my favorite aspects of 24bit recording
I've heard and seen plenty of other tapers advocate running levels very conservatively in 24-bit, i.e. not seeking to approach as closely as possible 0 dBFS, and I just don't get it. It does not matter whether we're in 16- or 24-bit, the goal is the same: maximize resolution. Therefore, we should always seek to run our levels as hot as possible so that we approach - but do not hit - 0 dBFS. Perhaps this is what you're advocating and I'm reading you wrong?
the difference is that with the current batch of 24bit gear, none of it is ACCURATE enough internally to give you any improvement beyond a point....its barely better than the maximum capable resolution of 16bit, and no where near the maximum capable resolution afforded by the 24bit format....it mattered alot more with the 16bit devices to run them relatively "hot" if you wanted maximum resolution because it was generally still under the limits of the hardware itself, but in 24bit land its a wash (if i remember this break even occurs at roughly -24dB for most 24bit gear)
i.e.... you get the same resolution at -12dB as you get at -2dB when using 24bit gear
when the internals of the devices get better this situation may change, but it has a LONG way to go...running a hotter signal on the recording is just giving you a louder master at the risk of getting unnecessary overload blowouts
boogie
Where are you getting this from? What part of the 24 bit gear isn't accurate enough? And which devices in particular?
-
While I'm curious about specifically which components have an impact on the recorders' inability to take full advantage of the dynamic range offered by 24-bit, it'd probably go over my head, anyway. Thanks, Boogie, for the helpful response. It makes much more sense now - I don't recall anyone explaining it quite that way. +T
-
good discussion
-
+T for the lesson Boogie. Too bad I just woke up, and you're making my head hurt...more. :laugh:
Must...reread...later.
Gracias
-
GrR! Had some weirdness last night. FYI: this is more of a rant than anything..
taped openers - after writing the file for one of the openers, it rebooted and all of a sudden it wasn't getting a signal from the digi on my V3.. ? so I check the settings, its on 1/8" now. Also all other settings appear to have been reset. The file names at thispoint start over... I don't know what happened here... very odd!
So I'm rolling for Melvins/Jello Biafra now.. everything is going OK, levels are totally f'd up (normal) but its still recording... 1hr 50m... show stops I try to stop recording and the damn thing locked up.. levels stuck, time not moving no menu. I let it sit while I tear down.. check it.. still locked up. So I powered it off - hoping the file may be there when I got home.. OH NO... file gone... well - let me elaborate.. the file was there... 5megs of it! and it was all silence... wtf???
I did run my P1 and D8 as backup from the analog outs on the V3, so I did walk away with a tape, but still!! and just when I was starting to really like this thing it took a shit on me... :(
-
first time using the MT tonite.
Had to rush my set up and tape rolling. got the dat started, then went to the MT.
Put the card in, set the settings, and let it record (16 bit, spdif in) kingston 4g card
It said auto for the 44/48 option (whatevs..)
ran it out of the splitter from my digi 7 pin cable.
only thing I can think of that was weird was that at one point, I had to power down the M1 (b/w songs to rearange set up (in rush)
when the M1 was off, the signal blackened on the MT, but when I got the M1 back up and running, the MT was rolling fine.
set was 1:50 so no issues with 2 hour stop thing >:(
Im transfering file right now.
-
set was 1:50 so no issues with 2 hour stop thing >:(
just fyi, it's a 2 gig thing, not a 2 hour thing. at 16/44.1 or 16/48, you won't hit 2 GB file size limit until about 3 hours.
-
I tried out the DPA 4061 > MT setup using the SP dongle that takes power from the Mic-In. Everything worked out fine. I was VERY surprised how low my levels were. I figured it would by somewhere high as I read it has steep gain settings. I set it to the lowest setting on L, and I had to amplify about +14db. That's a pretty hefty number, but it sounds fine. I'm going to another show today and i'll up the levels by a decent amount. Not sure how much though... we'll see how it goes. This really isn't a number to go by though, as the PA was pretty quiet for most of the show. I know the 4061s can take a lot before clipping, so i'll go somewhere around 1/4 and see if the clipping light comes on. Very happy with my new super stealthy setup. Learning experiences are awesome.
Oh yeah, and the SP Dongle that does not have the mic built-in does not do anything but convert from 1/8 to 1/4. I had to get the mics built-in version... just so you know!
-
lol, so the file transfered, and in the audacity, I can see the wav forms, songs etc., but I cant get it to play on the computer. the wav files that I transfered all come up blank :'(
lol, its probably cause Im running Windows ME >:D
-
lol, so the file transfered, and in the audacity, I can see the wav forms, songs etc., but I cant get it to play on the computer. the wav files that I transfered all come up blank :'(
lol, its probably cause Im running Windows ME >:D
Maybe the file is OK but the header is wrong?
If you see waveforms there IS audio!
If the header is wrong, try some other editing software or try the Gidluck utility (where is that URL?) to fix it.
-
GrR! Had some weirdness last night. FYI: this is more of a rant than anything..
taped openers - after writing the file for one of the openers, it rebooted and all of a sudden it wasn't getting a signal from the digi on my V3.. ? so I check the settings, its on 1/8" now. Also all other settings appear to have been reset. The file names at thispoint start over... I don't know what happened here... very odd!
So I'm rolling for Melvins/Jello Biafra now.. everything is going OK, levels are totally f'd up (normal) but its still recording... 1hr 50m... show stops I try to stop recording and the damn thing locked up.. levels stuck, time not moving no menu. I let it sit while I tear down.. check it.. still locked up. So I powered it off - hoping the file may be there when I got home.. OH NO... file gone... well - let me elaborate.. the file was there... 5megs of it! and it was all silence... wtf???
I did run my P1 and D8 as backup from the analog outs on the V3, so I did walk away with a tape, but still!! and just when I was starting to really like this thing it took a shit on me... :(
I too had a set 'lock' up on me last night, recorded away, went to stop the recording at the end of the set and BANG, MT froze, file there but ZERO time, totaly corrupt with no DAT backup, oh well ...
-
lol, so the file transfered, and in the audacity, I can see the wav forms, songs etc., but I cant get it to play on the computer. the wav files that I transfered all come up blank :'(
lol, its probably cause Im running Windows ME >:D
Maybe the file is OK but the header is wrong?
If you see waveforms there IS audio!
If the header is wrong, try some other editing software or try the Gidluck utility (where is that URL?) to fix it.
Header? Im not sure what that is? Other editing software? to upload the file to instead of audacity, or to use with audacity?
-
Alright, I'm locking this thread - it's turning into a free-for-all. So...if you have a specific issue with your MT, please create a dedicated post.