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

[hyperplane]

does the MT not accept line in on the 1/8th input?  like a DAT does?

Drew

that is correct, according to two of Chris Carfagno's (soundpro) posts in this thread. if memory serves - which is rare - i think someone else in one of the Microtrack threads here said this same topic (Microtrack cannot tape loud shows via 1/8" mini-plug) was mentioned at the Oade board.

[BayTaynt3d]

does the MT not accept line in on the 1/8th input?  like a DAT does?

Drew

that is correct, according to two of Chris Carfagno's (soundpro) posts in this thread. if memory serves - which is rare - i think someone else in one of the Microtrack threads here said this same topic (Microtrack cannot tape loud shows via 1/8" mini-plug) was mentioned at the Oade board.

Seems like that is the early consensus, but can I ask a possibly stupid question? Does this just mean -- practically speaking -- that you need to get your mini-source converted into two mono 1/4" TRS plugs via a simple adapter? Then you'll just be going line-in to the TRS at that point? Or won't the MT accept unbalanced 1/4" feeds into those inputs?

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Just got back from taping Duo at the Blind Pig.  We had 9 rigs going!  I had 3 soundboard patches going out of the minime (AES, USB and coax), both 16 bit and 24.. And the Mk21's into the 722..  Also had mk41's into a sonosax/722, and some U87's, and some 140's.  And yes, I had the Microtracker running with my 4061's at 24/44.1.

Unfortunately, my L, M, H selector does nothing.  I tried both the 1/4 inputs and the 1/8". I believe the show clipped quite badly.  I need an attenuator until this gets sorted out (show on thursday). Ideally, I'd like to solder something up but need some schematics.

I'm transferring the show off now, copying via the USB port from my 4 GB card.  The transfer rate is about 1.78 MB/sec on Linux with USB 2.0.  I expect a CF card reader would be much faster.

Board member afife brought his 4061's and we rigged them right next to one another spread about 36".  He runs modsbm>jb3.  Unfortunately, his jb3 was unhappy and I'm not sure if he has the show.  I expect I'll get some useful audio off my MT but I'm expecting lotsa clipping.

After watching the clipping for quite a while going into the 1/4", I moved the mics to the 1/8, tried running wtihout my sound pro bbox and going directly into the 1/8 and I tried restarting the unit. None of it really helped.  The dpa's definitely work on the mic input without a bbox. The levels seemed higher without the bbox.

I'm gonna give it a quick listen and crash...

[shaggy]

So you are saying that you could plug the 406Xs into the mini plug and use the plug in power from the MT?  Listen to that part carefully and see if there is more pronouced clipping and or distortion.  What about running the 406Xs line-in?  +T for the update.  I was not too happy with the construction when I held it in my hands last week.

[rdvdijk]

jboyzh sent me some WAV samples to analyse the MicroTrack's noise-floor. Here's a page with results, more to come (probably).

http://home.rustradio.org/~rdvdijk/microtrack/

Note: we need to double check the 1/8" M/H levels, because they are the same at the moment.

some initial notes:

• all 1/4" TRS samples have a peak at 6681 Hz and 200040 Hz
• all 1/4" TRS samples have a weird 'wavering' noise floor on the left channel..
• the backlight does not seem to have any influence on the noise floor

edit: 24bit, 96KHz analysis added!

• peaks at 6694 Hz, 20074 Hz, 33457 Hz and 46837 Hz on 96KHz recording
• left channel wavering not present on 24/96 "L" setting

Roel

[fuzn]

I just dropped Chris a pm to confirm whether a Sound Pro bat box can be plugged into the 1/8" input with the mics we commonly use (whether cmc4 or 4061, etc)..   It should work okay but it would be nice to know if that application will require 1/4 adapts..

If you are going to record loud sounds, you need to plug the battery modules into the line input. You will need an adapter:

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-PHON-MINI-1

Chris

This is EXACTLY what I am trying to figure out. So if I used that cable would I go, SP-CMC-4>SP-SPSB-1>Dual 1/4 Male Plugs to 1/8 Stereo Cable>Line-In? I'm definitely going to be recording loud shows, just not sure about the battery thing. Would phantom power even work? Would I have to turn phantom power off to use the battery box? Or can I use them both at the same time? Sorta confused since you said you need to plug the battery module in. I'm also ordering all over this stuff right now, at soundpros. (Hopefully I get it by next wed!) Thank you so much for the help.

[WiFiJeff]

The battery thing may be my bad.  Although I left it charge well over 6 hours, the techs say that you need to go overnight-plus the first time.  And then you'll get 6 hours on a charge, NOT 8 hours.  But that's better than the 3 hours I'm getting.  Anyone getting near 6 hours yet?

Jeff

[jboyzh]

get around 4:30, not 6 

also don't understand when the "charging completed" should appear, it did not appear here...

[Colin Liston]

also don't understand when the "charging completed" should appear, it did not appear here...

Mine has been charging for 23 hours and I still don't get a charging completed" display.
I suppose it's charged.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

I did not get charging completed.

After about 2 hours it said "no media present".  That concerned me a bit.. So I plugged in a cf card. It said 'booting' again and went back to the charging screen.  I never unplugged it.  After about 5 hours, I noticed that the battery icon was solid (instead of pulsing).

Has anyone ever seen 'charging completed'

[udovdh]

also don't understand when the "charging completed" should appear, it did not appear here...

Mine has been charging for 23 hours and I still don't get a charging completed" display.
I suppose it's charged.

Hmm.
Aren't modern batteries 'intelligent' and say they are full by themselves?
Who has a spec on the battery used in the MT so we can see some figures?
Type number would be a start?

[Craig T]

from r.a.p.:

Len Moskowitz wrote:
> We received our first shipment of M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 flash memory
> recorders this past Monday. I've been posting my impressions to the
> PenComputingAudio group on Yahoo, and thought that this groups might
> appreciate them too. -- LM]
>
> As I work my way through what the MicroTrack 24/96 can do, I've found
> some more interesting and unexpected things:
>
> First, as I noted before, its phantom power voltage is 30 Volts and not
> the usual 48. I haven't measured how many milliAmps per channel it can
> supply.
>
> When recording an S/PDIF data stream, MicroTrack 24/96 is currently
> limited to making 16-bit recordings. That really clinches my initial
> impression that it's really a 16-bit recorder. Its Mic and Line inputs
> are limited to roughly 16-bit dynamic range (despite the option to
> record that to file in a 24-bit format), and the digital input is also
> 16-bit only. Perhaps the next firmware release will extend it to
> 24-bit?
>
> Also, while the level meters operate when recording from the S/PDIF
> input, the headphone output (and presumably the Line outputs too, since
> they are probably driven from the same analog signal source) does not.
> So you can't monitor on headphones while recording from a S/PDIF source.
> (You can monitor on 'phones when recording from the TRS and 1/8-inch
> analog inputs.)
>
> Another surprise is that MicroTrack 24/96 is currently a stereo-only
> recorder. It can not record in mono, though there are indications that
> it will be added in a future release of the firmware.
>
> There are a fair number of bugs, most of which do not "sink the ship",
> but are pretty weird and annoying. Like what? Like imagine you
> recorded three files from the S/PDIF input. You simply can't get it to
> play back the first file in the file system. If you try to play back
> the first file, it simply won't play. If that weren't enough, it also
> causes a condition that you then can't play *any* of the files. But if
> you first play back the second or third file, it works fine unless you
> then try to play the first: that breaks it and you have to cycle power
> to get it back.
>
> The workaround (not surprisingly) is to record a few short files and
> then delete the first file -- then you'll always be able to play the
> rest of the files.
>
> Weird.
>
> There are others like that. And then there are the ones that can sink
> the ship. Like the one that I haven't quite figured out yet. It makes
> the file system act like the CF card has no more space for recording.
> If you check the time remaining for recording, it's a negative number.
> But when you check the directory to list the files that are there, there
> aren't any files! If you've made a recording, it's gone and in some
> cases unsalvageable. The only way I've found to get back into business
> is to reformat the card in a PDA or a PC and start over.
>
> I'm keeping M-Audio informed of what I find.
>
> I'll post more as I dig deeper.
>
>Len

[eric.B]

cool.. thanks craig..

[udovdh]

jboyzh sent me some WAV samples to analyse the MicroTrack's noise-floor. Here's a page with results, more to come (probably).

http://home.rustradio.org/~rdvdijk/microtrack/

Thanks!
How to read the titles (D10+25 etc?) and how were the measurements done?

[Colin Liston]

Has anyone ever seen 'charging completed'

Maybe I was mistaken.  I had thought someone said, when the unit is completely charged, the display read, "charging complete"
Maybe it doesn't.  The battery indicator on mine looks as if it is definetly finished charging.