Topic: New improved microtrack (MT II)

[mlind]

not 100% sure, but Rockbox does not do 24 bit recording

True. Maybe it was just a wet dream.
But if there's no Rockbox:ed device with hardware that supports 24-bit recording there is probably very little interest in getting the software to do so...

so what would it do that the Micro' currently doesn't do (assuming the m-tracker does 16 bit solidly?)

Start a new file on a buttonpress?
Start a new file on a time basis - like every 10th minute, or whatever.
Record in wavpack format (once in a while).
Safety AGC mode: Only lower rec level when recording is peaking - not raising at low levels.
And when I get time for serious programming: A wav-edit plugin, and some other useful on-the-go audio tools... :-)
Can MT record mono? :-)

[JoeKiller]

I can't believe no one has posted this wish...


I sure hope this version doesn't explode!   

[jtessier]

Mostly horsepower of the processor compounded by the developmental firmware from the chip maker that the firmware was based on.  The original firmware that M-Audio was given to work with was never intended by the chip maker to do wav files. The chip was designed with MP3 players/recorders in mind.  M-Audio expanded that on their own because they saw it had the power to do so.  But it was late in the game that the issue was discovered and going back and re-architecting the entire firmware on the 'hope' that they could make it work wasn't justifiable from a business perspective given that it was no guarantee that it could be made to be seemless.

John

This is the kind of explanation that puzzles me.  Raw WAV capture is less cycle intensive than MP3 encoding.  Seamless splits should not require any sort of work that would be considered rearchitecting.  It's simply a matter of preallocating a series of 2G cluster chains in anticipation of recording and then initializing the active wave header to indicate a 2G wave file.  Those cycles can be spent during power on media initialization so that record latency is not incurred.  When recording is stopped, the SW just clean ups the last active wave header to indicate proper length before preallocating a new chain.  The overhead of a few additional file descriptors in memory is pretty small.

The business issues I can understand.  They sold enough units with the flaw to not see a market justification for fixing it and I've debugged enough vendor code to understand that can be an expensive hassle.

Can you share what core the device uses?  Is it an ASIC or commodity processor?

Sure, since it's been published previously elsewhere. The MicroTrack uses a PortalPlayer chip.  Portalplayer maybe a year ago was purchased by Nvidia. The name portalplayer also appears in the 'about' screen of the MicroTrack. I can't recall the exact model number of the chip off the top of my head though. I think that info is public though too via one of the sites that took apart the MicroTrack to see what it was made of when it came out.

John

[austaper]

Most of the dealers that are out of stock are saying they will have more on September 10th so perhaps the version 2 is coming out then.  I just ordered the original one before reading these posts but I need something in hand for ACL festival starting September 14th.  I may use the 30 day return policy at my dealer to upgrade depending on the differences if a new model is announced.

[jtessier]

Most of the dealers that are out of stock are saying they will have more on September 10th so perhaps the version 2 is coming out then.  I just ordered the original one before reading these posts but I need something in hand for ACL festival starting September 14th.  I may use the 30 day return policy at my dealer to upgrade depending on the differences if a new model is announced.

Remember, schedules are made to be broken ;-)

J.T.

[SClassical]

Cannot find any new info online about what's different between the new and old MT. I guess they're keeping this a secret until it's out. Can't even find a dummy model image.  There's so many info on the H2 and nothing on the new MT even though both are suppose to be released more or less the same time (about 3 weeks from now).

[SClassical]

New info:
Not only they added 48V phantom power but they also gave us more recording formats WAV, BWF and MP3. Anyone know if there is any benefits for using BWF rather than WAV?

The picture below is what the new improved microtrack looks like (looks the same as MT to me)...I guess they have to make it the same in order for their new MT bag to be still usable

(BTW new stealth color BLACK! )

Hope this info helps.

[guysonic]

New info:
Not only they added 48V phantom power but they also gave us more recording formats WAV, BWF and MP3. Anyone know if there is any benefits for using BWF rather than WAV?

From what I understand, no quality benefit as it's still a .wav audio format, just more text type information about the file (time, date, source, notes, and more particulars) can get stored along with the audio.

[Judderbar]

This may be the same place scyue got the image he posted, but I found some details and images via google here:

http://ch.midifan.com/m_Hardware/Detail.aspx?id=3075

And 'translate this' gives:

MicroTrack II adds more professional features to be applied to the Film, professional audio occasions.  Greater input gain adjust range, and input limiter, which can prevent signal overload, 48V phantom power, faster file transfer rate, and more improvements.

MicroTrack II HIGHLIGHTS :
-Through a balanced line input, a built then release [?]
-The CF card or micro-mobile hard disk record WAV, BWF and MP3 audio files
-USB 2.0 USB 2.0 PC connection

[JoeKiller]

Interesting.  Chinese sites always get the scoop on tech.  One of my friends was talking to a distributer in Richmond and they claimed that it was switching to SD memory for the reason to make autosplit work.  Wasn't sure about it. 

Either way, black might look cool, but that shit gets hot in the sun.

[dactylus]

Cool - thanks for the photo and info...  +T

Hope that it DOES NOT switch to SD memory - how would that enable the seamless split?  The seamless split works just fine using CF with the sd722...   

Aren't we supposed to get the ability with the MT-II to swap out the battery that powers the unit as well?  IF NOT, I probably won't be checking into this unit.  Just paid $75 to M-audio a month ago to change out my battery...   

[bdasilva]

I believe the .bwf will solve the 2 gig limit.

[jtessier]

Interesting.  Chinese sites always get the scoop on tech.  One of my friends was talking to a distributer in Richmond and they claimed that it was switching to SD memory for the reason to make autosplit work.  Wasn't sure about it. 

Not true

J.T.

[jtessier]

I believe the .bwf will solve the 2 gig limit.

Not in and off itself, no.

Also, notice the icons where the low mid high switch are?

J.T.

[ShawnF]

I noticed the different icons--at first glance I'd guess it was to control screen brightness level?

Your comment on the .bwf format and the autosplit feature is a bit cryptic . . .  anyway to confirm seamless splits will be a feature?  Really that's the main thing I'm looking for; since I only use it as a bit bucket, the increased gain range, true 48V phantom,  and faster transfer time (I use a card reader, anyway) don't matter to me much at all.  Seamless splits, though, would likely make me pony up for this.