Topic: [PT 2] M-Audio MicroTrack 2496 - *actual* real-life experiences thread

[cmoorevt]

that is pretty interesting.  it seems like your "problem" was sort of the opposite of mine, saying you had less time than you should have.  this is probably a small bug.  M-Audio should be made aware of this, and hopefully they'll address the issue in a firmware update.  I wonder if any of us can replicate something like this in a home test.  Then we'll really be able to see how the MicroTrack acts when time runs out...

Gave this another test at home tonight.  Set the mics up in front of the stereo speakers.  Turned on my MT and hit record and it showed that I had 1hr and 30mins of record time on an freshly formatted, empty 2 gig card running at 16/48. 

I let it run and when I hit 0:00 of time remaining on the card, the MT stopped recording and did not restart.  Not good.  I started a second file manually, it went fine and showed the correct time remaining about 1hr 30 min (figure just over 3 hours total for a 2 gig card at 16/48 and I had already used 1hr30mins in the first file).

Deleted the files, powered down the MT, powered back up, reformatted and tried again. Same problem.  When starting the first file the MT says I have 1hr 30mins of time on the blank card.  If I immediately stop the first file and restart a second, it gives me the correct remaining time-just over 3 hours and I assume it will record for the fulll 3 hours before stopping.

I'm not sure what this means, although I have sent an email to M-Audio.  It is definitely letting me record to the full capacity of the card, I just have to do it with two files.

I also noticed something strange with the level meters. As we all know, after about 25-30 mins they go totally haywire but the recording stays ok.  I noticed tonight that if I changed the volume coming out of my stereo and hence being picked up by the mics, the meters would temporarily unfreeze themselves for a few seconds and perform normally.  If I changed the volume again, they would refreeze.  For whatever reason, this only seemed to work if I increased the volume.  That being, if the meters were frozen, and I increased the volume from the stereo, they unfroze.  If I then lowered it again, they refroze.  Obviously in live taping situations the volume level won't be changing so drastically, but it is interesting to note that the frozen meters can be tweaked. 

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else can replicate this.

[udovdh]

It appears the MT cannot format Traxdata 4GB 'Flash Series PRO' cards.
This is the second card where the device starts, display goes blank after a while (light on).
Nothing after that. Waited 20+ minutes.

How fast is a 4GB format when using cards that work?
Anyone? 

[chitaper]

It appears the MT cannot format Traxdata 4GB 'Flash Series PRO' cards.
This is the second card where the device starts, display goes blank after a while (light on).
Nothing after that. Waited 20+ minutes.

How fast is a 4GB format when using cards that work?
Anyone? 

I didn't time it, but my Sandisk 4GB card took ~10 seconds to format. I have no issues w/ record time remaining either.

[udovdh]

It appears the MT cannot format Traxdata 4GB 'Flash Series PRO' cards.
This is the second card where the device starts, display goes blank after a while (light on).
Nothing after that. Waited 20+ minutes.

How fast is a 4GB format when using cards that work?
Anyone? 

I didn't time it, but my Sandisk 4GB card took ~10 seconds to format. I have no issues w/ record time remaining either.

OK, so it should format fast.
What format did it put on the card? FAT32, what cluster size?

Anyone knows how I can bring my card back in a same state? (4GB instead of 707)
Is there some software or trick?

[SonicSound]

Should I just toss it in the trash?  Last night at Claypool I took the MT  for it’s first spin:
-   MK41>M222/NT222>V3>AD2K
-   MT 24/48 S/PDIF (using a Hitachi 6 gb Microdrive)
After just a few minutes I notices that the levels on the MT were overloading on the display in a sporadic fashion (levels on the AD2K were fine).  I stopped recording and restarted… same thing.  Then after powering up it was ok but only for a few minutes and then it was back again.  On play back I also noticed a lot of skipping and general noise. 
Please Help – Is it the card? Is it the unit? Is it me (I am sure it’s a user error).

[jpschust]

have you gotten a solid test at 16/44 with that card?

also i know people have been having 24 bit problems with the mt so far.  its my impression that it's just not there yet for 24

[Chris K]

Should I just toss it in the trash?  Last night at Claypool I took the MT  for it’s first spin:
-   MK41>M222/NT222>V3>AD2K
-   MT 24/48 S/PDIF (using a Hitachi 6 gb Microdrive)
After just a few minutes I notices that the levels on the MT were overloading on the display in a sporadic fashion (levels on the AD2K were fine).  I stopped recording and restarted… same thing.  Then after powering up it was ok but only for a few minutes and then it was back again.  On play back I also noticed a lot of skipping and general noise. 
Please Help – Is it the card? Is it the unit? Is it me (I am sure it’s a user error).

are you shure it wasnt todd?

[it-goes-to-eleven]

That sucks.  Sounds like a common (and silly) bug. It happens with analog in too. As countless folks have observed, the levels become completely useless after a few minutes.  Only the clipping lights can be relied upon.

There are so many bugs that remain.. I suspect their code is crap.  Bugs are generally fixed quickly. Design issues take far more time.

[mmedley.]

Should I just toss it in the trash?  Last night at Claypool I took the MT  for it’s first spin:
-   MK41>M222/NT222>V3>AD2K
-   MT 24/48 S/PDIF (using a Hitachi 6 gb Microdrive)
After just a few minutes I notices that the levels on the MT were overloading on the display in a sporadic fashion (levels on the AD2K were fine).  I stopped recording and restarted… same thing.  Then after powering up it was ok but only for a few minutes and then it was back again.  On play back I also noticed a lot of skipping and general noise. 
Please Help – Is it the card? Is it the unit? Is it me (I am sure it’s a user error).

Just let it run. The levels go haywire, but the recording should be fine. I also encountered noise and skipping in my recording from Panic in Nashville at 16/48, the Truckers opening set recorded just fine. It is the unit, and according to M-Audio it is a known bug and will be addressed in the next firmware update.

[SonicSound]

Just let it run. The levels go haywire, but the recording should be fine. I also encountered noise and skipping in my recording from Panic in Nashville at 16/48, the Truckers opening set recorded just fine. It is the unit, and according to M-Audio it is a known bug and will be addressed in the next firmware update.

Thanks for the info +T

[jbraveman]

So far the red over lights have been reliable even after the meters stop working.  I would use that as a general guide.

[jcrab66]

what i noticed is the level meters seem to work pretty much fine for about 15 minutes then when theres a lull in the sound level they max out and start going haywire...

[SonicSound]

what i noticed is the level meters seem to work pretty much fine for about 15 minutes then when theres a lull in the sound level they max out and start going haywire...

Yes, this is a better explanation of what I have experience

[John R]

i'm running it for the first time this weekend at magfest.  my first go-round was to run it analog out of the v3, big mistake.  the v3 is running at no overs(like normal ) but the MT is getting slammed.  no way to lower the inputs further.  are you guys running attentuators out of the v3?

next, send it aes2 since spdif is being used by patchers.  of course, any decent rca connector will not fit into it without doing some surgery(ruining any chance of sending it back)  possibly, due to aes, the meters are going haywire.  i can see the sustained peak indicator, but the 'level' line is sometimes nowhere near it, or, spiking off the chart.  mainly happening between songs, where there is dialog, then chills when the music starts.  open up the codetalkers when i get back to camp, and i can see the music, and two HUGE blocks of solid noise on both channels at two different places in the recording.(unit was not jostled during recording)

the 1/4" jacks must have been purchased at wilbur's a/v supply shop, pretty loose.  i'm going to give it a go with spdif today, after shaving down a perfectly good end of a plastic spdif cable, and see what happens today.


on the other hand, the qcool card reader worked flawlessly during transfer from CF, although a little slow.  not too slow that i wasn't able to transfer during set breaks.  and the great part is, i gave the thing to david gans to transfer his set from it to his lappy via usb.  the thing inhales it's battery pretty quick though.  but, even dead, you can at least transfer since it's powered by usb.

more to come...

[cmoorevt]

possibly, due to aes, the meters are going haywire.  i can see the sustained peak indicator, but the 'level' line is sometimes nowhere near it, or, spiking off the chart.  mainly happening between songs, where there is dialog, then chills when the music starts.

You may be on to something.  I was able to make the meters go haywire the other night at home.  Setup the mics>preamp>MT in front of the stereo and played a dat.  The MT was recording fine until I turned down the volume on the stereo.  The meters immediately went nuts, only to slightly recover when I turned the stereo volume back up.  I was able to do this in the first few minutes of the recording.  Everytime I turned the volume down, the meters went nuts, every time I turned it back up, they recovered. 

So....I wonder if the metering issue is triggered when the input signal drops below a certain db level and not necessarily after 25minutes or recording or whatever.