Topic: M-Audio MicroTrack 2496 - *actual* real-life experiences thread

[shaggy]

Chucky and I went to Tomoka's microphone and recording supplies while we were shopping for windscreens and battery sleds in Akihabara.  We held and played with supposed 'grail' and were impressed and a little not so impressed.    The menus are intuitive and setting record levels was easy enough but the thing felt kind of light and cheap.  I guess I was expecting something a bit sturdier (then again, no moving parts).  They got them for 37,000yen after tax which is like $337 after the conversion.  With it being so low here, I suspect it was made in China or Mayalasia.  The salesguy claimed it couldn't take an AES digi-signal but there is the language barrier and for all I new I could have very well been asking him, 'does my breath stink?'.  I was still very tempted and thank gawd I had only 10,000yen in my pocket.  We went to the brand-new Yodabashi camera there and the salesguy was putting one on display in the recording devices department glass case, price was 39,000yen.

Anhoo, here is the coveted unit right in chucky's sweaty big palm...(sorry my keitai denwa camera sucks)

[Ed.]

i'd imagine if you're writing a 24/96 wav file, you're using more battery than if you were writing a 16/44 wav file, or even an mp3 file for that matter.  at least its like that with playback on mp3 players.  fill that puppy full of wavs and the battery will die much faster than it would playing back mp3s, i bet the same goes for recording.  just speculation, but i bet it would effect it some.  i don't believe they said anywhere that the battery would last 8 hours if you're recording at 24bit, did it?  the battery my last 8 hours if you're recording 192kbps mp3s tho.

[Ed.]

Anhoo, here is the coveted unit right in chucky's sweaty big palm...(sorry my keitai denwa camera sucks)

woot +t

[F.O.Bean]

also, when i just got my new NIMH battery setup for the v3/jb3, i had to cycle the batts at least a few times for them to give reliable runtimes

[desertsky]

i'd imagine if you're writing a 24/96 wav file, you're using more battery than if you were writing a 16/44 wav file, or even an mp3 file for that matter.  at least its like that with playback on mp3 players.  fill that puppy full of wavs and the battery will die much faster than it would playing back mp3s, i bet the same goes for recording.  just speculation, but i bet it would effect it some.  i don't believe they said anywhere that the battery would last 8 hours if you're recording at 24bit, did it?  the battery my last 8 hours if you're recording 192kbps mp3s tho.

Should it really make THAT much of a difference if you're recording 24 bits vs 16 bits?  While recording the Microtrack is constantly writing to the CF or microdrive regardless of the bitrate.  I would think recording in mp3 format would drain the battery even faster as it's having to work harder to do compression on-the-fly.  The reason higher bitrates do drain batteries faster with mp3 players is the files are much larger and the internal buffer fills up more quickly, so the player has to spend more time reading from the hard drive/flash card.  At least that's how I understand it.

If the Microtrack's battery can only do 3 hours without phantom power, I hate to think what's going to happen with phantom power turned on?  I can't imagine phantom power being of much use then if you can only get 1 to 1/2 hours of battery life.  I'm sure there's a plausible reason why WiFiJeff only got 3 hours of battery life.  Maybe he has a bad battery?  Or like another poster said, perhaps they also mistakenly reversed the phantom power switch in the firmware.  It's too bad more of these units aren't out there being tested this weekend.  Like mine!
If battery life is going to be an issue, I have to question why M-Audio decided to make it a closed-box battery like the iPod.  I would have preferred swapable Lithium Ion batteries like the ones used by P&S digital cameras.  Then you could have extra batteries on hand if needed.

[Ed.]

i really do think that recording at a high bit rate will put more stress on the battery.

and if the phantom power switch is messed up, wouldn't that be peaking his recordings beyond belief, or at least fry them.  considering he'd be running 48v of power to mics that were meant to be run on 9v.

and if the battery really concernes you, why not buy one of these http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=49161.0  that seems like it'd do the thrick, you could have two of those and i'm sure you could get thru any show even using the phantome power, i don't see how that 'd be any different than carrying a pocket full of camera batteries or a pocket full of aa's.

[chitaper]

and if the battery really concernes you, why not buy one of these http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=49161.0  that seems like it'd do the thrick, you could have two of those and i'm sure you could get thru any show even using the phantome power, i don't see how that 'd be any different than carrying a pocket full of camera batteries or a pocket full of aa's.

We don't know yet if you can actually run the MT on one of those, or merely recharge the battery. If it's the latter, you won't be able to record while the battery pack is connected.

[BayTaynt3d]

i'd imagine if you're writing a 24/96 wav file, you're using more battery than if you were writing a 16/44 wav file, or even an mp3 file for that matter.  at least its like that with playback on mp3 players.  fill that puppy full of wavs and the battery will die much faster than it would playing back mp3s, i bet the same goes for recording.  just speculation, but i bet it would effect it some.  i don't believe they said anywhere that the battery would last 8 hours if you're recording at 24bit, did it?  the battery my last 8 hours if you're recording 192kbps mp3s tho.

Should it really make THAT much of a difference if you're recording 24 bits vs 16 bits?  While recording the Microtrack is constantly writing to the CF or microdrive regardless of the bitrate.  I would think recording in mp3 format would drain the battery even faster as it's having to work harder to do compression on-the-fly.  The reason higher bitrates do drain batteries faster with mp3 players is the files are much larger and the internal buffer fills up more quickly, so the player has to spend more time reading from the hard drive/flash card.  At least that's how I understand it.

If the Microtrack's battery can only do 3 hours without phantom power, I hate to think what's going to happen with phantom power turned on?  I can't imagine phantom power being of much use then if you can only get 1 to 1/2 hours of battery life.  I'm sure there's a plausible reason why WiFiJeff only got 3 hours of battery life.  Maybe he has a bad battery?  Or like another poster said, perhaps they also mistakenly reversed the phantom power switch in the firmware.  It's too bad more of these units aren't out there being tested this weekend.  Like mine!
If battery life is going to be an issue, I have to question why M-Audio decided to make it a closed-box battery like the iPod.  I would have preferred swapable Lithium Ion batteries like the ones used by P&S digital cameras.  Then you could have extra batteries on hand if needed.

I bet if you keep being really good about charging it all the way up and draining ALL the way down (until the thing shuts off on its own), after a few cycles of that, you're record times will get better. Otherwise, we're screwed...

[jboyzh]

Hi everyone!

It exists: http://homepage.mac.com/jengo/PhotoAlbum3.html

I got that little nice thing from a small shop here in Zurich, because they had *one*.

First charge took around 6hrs, playing around then... First impression: It's pretty much the toy I've always dreamed of, yet it's a real-life product, and so it's only around 84% perfect compared to what I imagined when I read about Microtrack for all the last weeks :-)

Gear: Microtrack 24/96 firmware 1.02, Sandisk CF 512 MB Ultra II, included Stereo-Mic

Some points of interest:
- Battery time: Today I ran a test recording a MP3 file at 192kbps, and the unit recorded for 4 hours 30 minutes before it went off. (backlite off, input monitor on, headphones at low level and the included mic 1/8" plugged in)
- The L/M/H knob is the other way round as well.
- The Ph PWR Knob seems to be in the right position (checked with a V-Meter on the 1/4" plugs, so probably no power drain from here when OFF)
- Seems to have no input monitor while recording from SPDIF
- I've had one freeze so far after deleting a large file. Turning the device off and on and it was ok again.
- Boot time was 16 sec with my 512 CF Card.
- The device can be turned ON (push DEL) when it's charging :-) and then again OFF (Menu > System > Connect to PC)

Now, as I am not a sound professional in any way, please don't ask me too much about recording quality. However, so much:
Mic recordings: I did some recordings with different settings, and at least for my ears, files with MP3s with 224kbps or better and WAV 44.1khz at 16bit sounded quite alright. There is some preamp noise in all settings, but I can't comment on how much it is compared to other gear, which I don't have...
Recordings from Line and SPDIF seem to be quite good as far as I can tell.

Hope that helps and you will get yours *very* soon too... :-)
Laters, jboyz

[jhirte]

I wonder if the noise your hearing is really preamp noise, or just the mic - it (the mic)doesn't appear to be the utmost quality judging from the pics.. Either way, coming off a SPDIF will bypass the pre anyways (I'll be running from a V3).
What does concern me is the battery life (time will tell if a few cycles will help) and the lack of external power plugs and/or AA use.

I'm hoping they release a new firmware soon that'll correct the 2 gig file limitation. It'd be lame if they didn't, especially for those (like me!) that want to record 24/96 from the v3. Been waiting 2 years to run 24 bit!

Also, Cascade better get some in soon! I need something new to play with ! hahaah

[MattinSTL]

Well, so much for a thread with just experiences from people holding the unit 

It was a great idea, Brian.  But quickly went just like the other threads - 'my random whine/concern about the MT' thread, or the 'they better do xx or they won't get my money'.  Of course if they were NEW valid concerns that hadn't been posted a bunch of times before, it'd be different. But it seems like we're mostly seeing a repeat of concerns that have been expressed many times before from people who still haven't held one.

Maybe we need a "if you're holding one in your left hand while posting with your right hand...." thread...

Umm, I hope that comment wasn't directed at me since the guy who IS HOLDING one in his hands said that the battery only lasted 3 hours... and so that isn't a "random concern" but rather a comment based on what the guy JUST SAID.

Also I ALREADY PAID for my unit... and YES, I'm considering cancelling my order.

I think anybody that has totally loyalty to something based on ideas rather then realworld experiences is an idiot. I need to get what works for me and after waiting a month on one that should have been here I'd hate to find out that it's worthless to me due to crappy battery life. I'm not trying to grab some free music from a local band... I need this thing to work through a whole day of video production. If it can't do that then I don't want one.

[jboyzh]

What does the metering on the unit look like compared to a JB3?

I can't tell you about the accuracy of the meters and especially the clip indicators, and I can't compare to JB3 (don't own), but IMO the levels can pretty easily be adjusted while recording (L+R linked so you can use either level button or L/R separately). I also like that there are 3 indicators: level meters (moving all the time), peak indicator bars (moving every some seconds), and red LED clip indicators.

[Simp-Dawg]

what were you feeding in on the s/pdif?  what type of cable did you use and does the molding of the case around the spdif jack get in the way?

[cmoorevt]

- Seems to have no input monitor while recording from SPDIF

Yikes.  WiFi, can you confirm this?   Hope this isn't true, although I imagine a firmware upgrade could fix it.

[jboyzh]

I wonder if the noise your hearing is really preamp noise, or just the mic - it (the mic)doesn't appear to be the utmost quality judging from the pics.. Either way, coming off a SPDIF will bypass the pre anyways (I'll be running from a V3).
What does concern me is the battery life (time will tell if a few cycles will help) and the lack of external power plugs and/or AA use.

I'm hoping they release a new firmware soon that'll correct the 2 gig file limitation. It'd be lame if they didn't, especially for those (like me!) that want to record 24/96 from the v3. Been waiting 2 years to run 24 bit!

Also, Cascade better get some in soon! I need something new to play with ! hahaah

I'm talking about the noise I could hear with mic recordings at rather low volume levels (such as whispering), not line in and not SPDIF. I don't think the included mics are the ones to blame, but you might better test with pro gear as well to tell.
AFAIK there exists a USB battery pack you can use.