Topic: M-Audio MicroTracker details **PART III**

[John Kelly]

isnt that whats pictured w/the AC prings? looks like the usb cable plugs into it...would be my guess

I'd agree.  Sucks that it's optional, though...

[Nick's Picks]

CF card prices drop like aging boobs...luckily (for the former).

I think the best price i have seen on a 4gb card has been $175.  One of those will provide all the 24/44 recording time that I will ever need...mostly.
an 8gb card will do the same for 24/96..but i dont think the improvment justifies the cost at all.   I bet in 6mo, a 4gb card will be around $100 even...and keep falling from there.

i'm really excited for this.  just think how much ass these things will kick?  remember when a new M1, arguable the best "little" DAT deck..was what, $800 ? and you couldn't even plug a digital cable into it w/o spenind another buck fifty!

yikes!
I can't wait to see one of these in my gear bag.  which..will be shrunk down to the Mme case and a little hard shell for the neumann actives.  Mmmm....actives.

[jason]

Looks like this could spawn a whole new generation of 24-bit patch-rats.  Just as I thought patching was a thing of the past...its been a while since I've seen a massive daisy chain of 15-20 D8's, a string of blue lights and horde of people concerned with their levels (which I never understood!!) or if their deck was 'still going'. lol.

There were always those that showed up without a cable, or batteries or blank DATs.  I guess the wookie-patcher will be asking for a CF card kickdown?! ;o)

[shaggy]

There will be no patch rats unless someone is nice enough to provide a patchbay, which I highly doubt will be commonplace.  As soon as these are out, the bottom will fall out of the used DAT and NJB3 market...it has, in fact, already started to happen. Used D7 and 8s are now commonplace at under $200.

Stealthers should think about wearing the thing in the vest pocket with a longer coax cable to the AD or cable run to the Mic-pre, it would be easy to check levels without dropping your head.

[dmonterisi]

There will be no patch rats unless someone is nice enough to provide a patchbay, which I highly doubt will be commonplace. 

why is that?  monster coax splitters cost like $5.

[neutrino]

Are most people here considering compact flash cards over the microdrives? I've seen 4gb compact flash cards for under 200$ but I've also seen IPOD mini's with 6gb microdrives selling on ebay for 200$. Pull the drive from the IPOD mini and get yourself an IPOD and a 6gb microdrive. Is the heat/power consumption/reliability that much greater on these drives?
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[dmonterisi]

Are most people here considering compact flash cards over the microdrives? I've seen 4gb compact flash cards for under 200$ but I've also seen IPOD mini's with 6gb microdrives selling on ebay for 200$. Pull the drive from the IPOD mini and get yourself an IPOD and a 6gb microdrive. Is the heat/power consumption/reliability that much greater on these drives?
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anecdotally, microdrives fail far more frequently than flash media.  pro photogs shooting digital stay away from microdrives due to their increased failure rate.  i don't have any statistics on that though.  i would avoid them.  don't know anything about heat issues or power consumption though.

[gewwang]

I don't believe the unit has a digital out. So the only patching will be out of the external a/d if there is one.

[udovdh]

I don't believe the unit has a digital out. So the only patching will be out of the external a/d if there is one.

Just bring along a CO2/CO3 or similar device?

[OFOTD]

Are most people here considering compact flash cards over the microdrives? I've seen 4gb compact flash cards for under 200$ but I've also seen IPOD mini's with 6gb microdrives selling on ebay for 200$. Pull the drive from the IPOD mini and get yourself an IPOD and a 6gb microdrive. Is the heat/power consumption/reliability that much greater on these drives?
dB-

anecdotally, microdrives fail far more frequently than flash media.  pro photogs shooting digital stay away from microdrives due to their increased failure rate.  i don't have any statistics on that though.  i would avoid them.  don't know anything about heat issues or power consumption though.

Just to present the otherside of this question.  MicroDrives have moving parts. CF does not.  The failure rate is higher for the MicroDrive due to the moving parts.  I have used MicroDrives in both my camera (Rebel XT) as well as older cameras and as a portable digital drives and have NEVER had a problem with one.  No failure, no error, NOTHING. 

I plan on wholeheartly using a MicroDrive until CF prices are somewhat down to earth.  I would love to see some stats on failure rate as it seems all of us are guessing on this one.  Heck I've had more flash drives (USB variety) fail on me than I have any of my MicroDrives.   Most photogs don't use them for a variety of reasons but one is that they are slower devices than flash media.  But (a bit BUT here) they are fast enough to read and write 24/96.   Anyone have any stats they could find?

Don't just wholly dismiss MicroDrives as alot of folks will probably use them until CF prices drop.

On a side note, I will update page one with the new pic and info.  Does anyone have anything to add as far as vendor pricing or specs not listed?

[mmedley.]

FYI...

...audiomidi.com has these for preorder for $399.00 with no tax and free shipping...

Edit:

I just pulled the trigger. WOOHOO!

[§†∑∫åµÞ≥¥]

http://m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html

nice pics of the menu.
i think we are getting close to nirvana here

[dmonterisi]

Are most people here considering compact flash cards over the microdrives? I've seen 4gb compact flash cards for under 200$ but I've also seen IPOD mini's with 6gb microdrives selling on ebay for 200$. Pull the drive from the IPOD mini and get yourself an IPOD and a 6gb microdrive. Is the heat/power consumption/reliability that much greater on these drives?
dB-

anecdotally, microdrives fail far more frequently than flash media.  pro photogs shooting digital stay away from microdrives due to their increased failure rate.  i don't have any statistics on that though.  i would avoid them.  don't know anything about heat issues or power consumption though.

Just to present the otherside of this question.  MicroDrives have moving parts. CF does not.  The failure rate is higher for the MicroDrive due to the moving parts.  I have used MicroDrives in both my camera (Rebel XT) as well as older cameras and as a portable digital drives and have NEVER had a problem with one.  No failure, no error, NOTHING. 

I plan on wholeheartly using a MicroDrive until CF prices are somewhat down to earth.  I would love to see some stats on failure rate as it seems all of us are guessing on this one.  Heck I've had more flash drives (USB variety) fail on me than I have any of my MicroDrives.   Most photogs don't use them for a variety of reasons but one is that they are slower devices than flash media.  But (a bit BUT here) they are fast enough to read and write 24/96.   Anyone have any stats they could find?

Don't just wholly dismiss MicroDrives as alot of folks will probably use them until CF prices drop.

On a side note, I will update page one with the new pic and info.  Does anyone have anything to add as far as vendor pricing or specs not listed?

an additional concern with microdrives is that you can create a failure if the device or your pc is writing to the drive when you remove it, if you do not use the "safely eject hardware" feature in windows.  i guess also that microdrives are far more fragile so if they get dropped, jostled or kicked in the field, there is a higher likelihood of failure.  as i said, everything i have heard is anecdotal, i do not know any statistics.

[Todd R]

There will be no patch rats unless someone is nice enough to provide a patchbay, which I highly doubt will be commonplace. 

I don't know about that.  I think for most open taping situations, the microtracker will be used with an external pre/AD.  My V3 has got a coax out, an optical out, an AES out with consumer format that I've got a 110>75ohm pulse transformer and a splitter, and a Pro AES out.  I've never had a problem giving patches out of the 110>75 transformer and splitter, so there's two patches right there.  Get a optical>coax format converter (now there's a switch) and you've got one more.

I'm still wondering if we can use the Microtrack out of the pro AES output, don't know if it will accept that data stream.  But that potentially could be one more output.

[gewwang]

I'm not sure why they couldn't make the headphone out an optical digi-out like the R1 has. Maybe it will be but hasn't been listed as a feature yet.