Topic: Microtrack 24/96 in the dark

[jmz93]

Hi folks.  As a person who is totally blind, formerly recording stuff with a Sharp MT-831 minidisc, I thought I'd mention a couple things about the Microtrack I just got.  First, I wish it had some selectable beep that could be heard through headphones. This would at least varify that a nudge of the "nav" control actually took.  It doesn't always seem to activate when you press up or down.  Also, it would be nice if the menus wouldn't wrap around, if you push up when on the first item or down when on the last. That way, I could keep track of where I am with some degree of accuracy.  Anyway, both are minor gripes since once I had sighted help setting sampling freq. and a couple other things, it's just hit record and go.

Anyway, with others operating the unit in unlit conditions such as darkened concert halls, I thought I would post my accessibility concerns to see if any sighted (light-dependent) folks felt the same or similar, or had any UI suggestions for me to pass on to M-audio if I decide to drop them an email.

OH, I have a mic question.  How much background hisssss should I expect when using powered stealth mics through the 1/8" jack? (CSB's & battery box) Unlike many here, I'm not using a separate preamp-a/d box.  I haven't made a recording of near-silence yet and then measured the level of the background hiss, but I can hear it when monitoring through headphones, quite a bit if I have L/M/H set to M and I crank the levels.  I was used to this with the MD, but expected very little such noise from the Microtrack, given the published specs.

Is some of this just me setting things too hot, after years of using an MD recorder with a noisy mic preamp?  Or am I expecting too much from a mic preamp in a small device like this?  Do I need to just stop thinking "hotter is better" and set things more conservatively, since I can now run 24 bit/48K and at least theoretically, record with much more headroom/dynamic range? available?  With the MD I usually had to run the results through something like the noise reduction plugin that comes with Sound Forge, and I was hoping not to have to do this with recordings made on the MT.  Thanks for any suggestions/comments.  Mostly, I'm happy with the unit. 

[cpatch]

+T for being able to use the MT blind...I'm fully sighted and still MT-challenged (especially with respect to the nav control).

I'm also very disappointed in the amount of noise floor/hiss...my $125 iRiver iFP-795 may actually have a better built-in preamp. I actually use the MT with an external preamp whenever possible, which obviously defeats the purpose of having a small device.

Craig

[dwissl]

I'm blind too. Let me say two things:
1: There's a great audio review of the Microtrack at www.blindcooltech.com. The reviewer also says, that the preamp of the Microtrack is not as good as the one in his MD recorder.
2: Plextor has developed a great audio recorder for blind people. It doesn't have a display and therefore speaks every information it provides. The recorder is called PTR2: www.plextalk.com.