Topic: [PT 2] M-Audio MicroTrack 2496 - *actual* real-life experiences thread

[blindman]

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

[timewasajoke]

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

[Sebastian]

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.

[jhirte]

ran again last night 463 -> v3 -> MT. no issues at all....

  nice nice..   what bit/sample rate?

24/48

[timewasajoke]

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

[coloartist]

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.

[JasonSobel]

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.

[olyrc]

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.

[alienbobz]

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.

[Zaphod]

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.

[danlynch]

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.

[vince]

Make sure you get the latest firmware, that will address the discharge and the L/M/H switch issues.

[silentmark]

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 ...

[eric.B]

also using the JB to power the MT,

no way..  you uses a jukebox to power the microtracker?   

[JasonSobel]

also using the JB to power the MT,

no way..  you uses a jukebox to power the microtracker?   

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.