Taperssection.com
Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: cascademedia on September 23, 2005, 06:37:32 PM
-
Hey Guys,
I have the attention of some folks at M/Audio right now so I would appreciate a complete report posted from those who have experienced bugs during this 1st week. I know some have been listed in the other threads but in the interest of time I thought I would simply start this thread that way I can fwd all info to them so we can proceed with getting the 1st firmware update....
I wish I could do extensive tests myself but all our units ended up in your hands...so lets hear specific reports on any buggy things with this unit.
thanks,
Frank
-
at this point in time, the Microtrack cannot record a 24 bit S/PDIF data stream. that's the biggest one for me.
that and just general instability. The unit shouldn't freeze up for no reason.
and Frank, thanks for being in touch with M-Audio, hopefully they'll get some new firmware ready soon.
Edit to go into more detail:
last night, I had the Microtrack setup to record at 16/48, via the S/PDIF input. I had access to AC power, and the microtrack was plugged in. pre-show, everything was fine. then the band came on stage, I hit record, and the unit froze. after holding the power button for 20 or 30 seconds, it turned off. I then turned it back on, hit record, and all went well. I ended up starting the Microtrack approx. 2 minutes after my DAT. at this point, I don't think it's stable enough to completely replace my D8.
-
Huge +T Frank. We need for an M-Audio rep to join our site. (since this is such a perfect place for the feedback they need)
-
No MT yet but I'd like some dB indications in the level meter (at least in the manual) so you know how much headroom is left. Now there's just some lines...
-
Shouldn't someone summarize some of the most obvious ones? I don't even have one, but I'll add a few...
- M/L/H switch is reversed
- 30v max on Phantom
- Battery life seems to be falling well short of advertised life
- Some sort of problem with the "first file" (didn't the SP or Oade guys mention that one?)
-
I saw slow menu's, slow startup and slow start of recording being mentioned?
Can we get a preroll buffer?
Also: clearer mention in the manual that the 1/8" does not take line level signals etc. (if that is true, see the L/M/H paragraph where it suggests the 1/8" does take line level)
The 2GB thing is also a (known) bug: who releases a 24/96 device that stops after 2GB?!
Info about impedance and actual gain ranges (analog digital) with the impact on SNR (although the datasheet has part of that info).
Power down after inserting CF card is not of this time. Looks like a weird workaround to me.
-
d to a conversion during digital in recording (headphones, rca outs)
phantom on line position , good it would stay on line but it have to be threw the menu selection , other wise it can fire some mixers
ability to disconnect charging sequence when you work externally ( for these who intend to use low capacity aaa packs and forgot to recharge the internal battery )
fast reset -maybe threw some baton holding sequence
low rate mp-3 sampling for ftp use
dbfs meter indication
-
d to a conversion during digital in recording (headphones, rca outs)
Good idea but make it optional please since it could impact battery life.
Also I saw the ADC has a limiter.....
-
- want audio input monitor on S/PDIF recording
- why not kill that ugly noise right after booting
- more detailed and accurate info on battery life
- there seems to be no handling of folders at all
-
The 2GB thing is also a (known) bug
yup, forgot to mention that. auto-save when the file hit's 2 gigs, and auto-start a new file, without missing a sample. that's important.
-
The 2GB thing is also a (known) bug
yup, forgot to mention that. auto-save when the file hit's 2 gigs, and auto-start a new file, without missing a sample. that's important.
You're right, that was I implying. We need that seamless auto-open of a new 2GB file after filling up 2GB in the previous file.
-
660 mb partition would be nice 2 for these who burn CD later
-
660 mb partition would be nice 2 for these who burn CD later
You mean a selectable limit for each file, not just 2GB?
If they implement auto-open of new file, a selectable limit will be not too hard to add?
-
Wow, "bug report" turned into "wish list" really damn fast. ;D
-
Wow, "bug report" turned into "wish list" really damn fast. ;D
I was quite dissappointed when the MT 24/96 that Freelunch had didn't drive itself over to my house and do my laundry and fix my plumbing. Any chance that can be addressed in future firmware updates? ;D 8)
-
My bug report:
SPDIF only works at 16/48. That's a *huge* issue.
Recording stops at 2gigs
Already mentioned, I know, but I feel it needs repeating amongst the feature requests in this thread. ;)
-
1. Only able to monitor the recording level when actually recording (analog in of course). Rec/Pause mode and Stop mode loses all level monitoring and audio monitoring. I'm not finding any kind of Rec Standby mode at all. This means I wind up with a recording level test file that I don't want/need and will have to delete later, plus it means there will always be a delay between setting up monitoring and enabling recording.
2. Annoying glitch/pop in headphones when saving recordings, and sometimes also when beginning recordings. I heard this problem on another unit besides mine. Called tech support, they seem to be aware of the issue.
-
1. Only able to monitor the recording level when actually recording (analog in of course). Rec/Pause mode and Stop mode loses all level monitoring and audio monitoring. I'm not finding any kind of Rec Standby mode at all. This means I wind up with a recording level test file that I don't want/need and will have to delete later, plus it means there will always be a delay between setting up monitoring and enabling recording.
2. Annoying glitch/pop in headphones when saving recordings, and sometimes also when beginning recordings. I heard this problem on another unit besides mine. Called tech support, they seem to be aware of the issue.
Regarding monitoring the recording level: You also can not see the recorded level on playback, so you have no idea if the file contains actual audio unless you have headphones to monitor.
dB-
-
damn, jb3 is staying w/ me for AWHILE longer
figured this thing would 'poop' on us!
-
I don't think it's "pooped" on us yet... at least for those who aren't using an outboard adc and hoping to use the MT as a storage device. ;)
dB-
-
I thought I would replace my JB3 for a MT, but some of these problems are making me wait a little more. Freezing for no apparent reason and low battery time, as stealth taping wasn't nervebreaking enough for me, I have to worry about these issues.
... but I really want one... :P
MoFo2
-
I thought I would replace my JB3 for a MT, but some of these problems are making me wait a little more. Freezing for no apparent reason and low battery time, as stealth taping wasn't nervebreaking enough for me, I have to worry about these issues.
... but I really want one... :P
MoFo2
my I thought I would replace my JB3 for a MT, but some of these problems are making me wait a little more. Freezing for no apparent reason and low battery time, as stealth taping wasn't nervebreaking enough for me, I have to worry about these issues.
... but I really want one... :P
MoFo2
thoughts exactly bud!
sorry to highjack teh bug thread, im leaving now.....
-
REC/Pause mode with visual levels and the ability to change the levels is missing. This function is just like a DAT or tape deck from teh old days; very useful!
Currently one can only change levels while recording (writing to a file).
-
I am having a problem with setting levels.
On a fully charged unit I connected the 1/8" input on the MT to the 1/8" headphone jack on my mini-me. It was working fine. I could set levels and increase or decrease them with no problem when I was recording.
Later I tried to repeat this and I could no longer change the levels. Even if I turned the unit off and back on, or started a new file I was not able to change the levels. Sure the triangular indicators would move up and down but this had no effect on the levels displayed.
I then tried the stereo mic that came with the MT and the same thing happened. I was not able to change the levels.
I even tried changing the settings on the H/M/L switch to see if this would do anything (I know the manual doesn't imply this is supposed to have an effect on the 1/8" input but wanted to try anyways) and it had no effect.
This was the second time that this has happened to me. It also happened the first time I tried the unit. I could set levels initially, increase or decrease during recording, but on subsequent files I could no longer change levels when recording.
It's like the level switch is locking up. It appears that somehow the level switch was reset when I tried it again, a few days after the first time it happened. It worked for a short period of time and then locked up again. I don't know how it was reset.
I am also having a hard time playing files stored on the MT. It does work but I can't figure out what's happening. I can get to the file list and select a file but it does not easily open. I have to keep hitting the selector button over and over and the file will usually not open but then all of a sudden a file may start to play, but it is usually the first one in the list and not the one that I have highlighted.
Also, if I have a lot of files stored on the MT, more than will fit in the display window, I cannot select any file other than the ones at the top of the list. The selector cycles through the files shown in the window but it will not move down to the second page of files (i.e. the ones with higher numbers).
I really would like to be able to monitor levels without recording. I hope this issue is addressed too.
-
I'm having the same issue here with playing back files I've selected. I have noticed that the l/m/h switch is not a live active switch. Meaning, once you engage a recording, the unit will not recognize a change in the position of the switch unless you perform a reboot.
dB-
-
A workaround for playing back files - open any file and use the scroll (pause) button to scroll up or down thru the files. A bit of a pain if you have many many files, but at least you can get to them.
I'm pretty sure I was able to change the switch in stop mode and have it be active, though it didn't register if I did this in while actually recording. I'll retest that and if there's anything different I'll let you know.
-
Here's the list of bugs so far, I've tried to eliminate the 'feature requests', and filter out the true bugs:
bugs:
- no 24bit S/PDIF
- unit freezing up at random
- M/L/H switch is reversed
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
- battery life seems to be falling well short of advertised life
- some sort of problem with the "first file"
- 2GB file limit
- no D/A during digital in (for monitoring)
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
- annoying glitch/pop in headphones when saving recordings, and sometimes also when beginning recordings
Did I miss some?
Roel
-
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
- battery life seems to be falling well short of advertised life
- no D/A during digital in (for monitoring)
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
I wouldn't consider those bugs. The last two are definitely feature requests. As for the 30v instead of 48v, as far as I know that was up for debate. Something about needing a draw? I'm not an expert at that stuff, but to my knowledge no one has even tried to use it yet - so I'm not sure we can even call it a bug.
As for the battery, that's life. My cell phone claimed a standby time of 10 days - guess how many times it's hit that mark...
-
Here's the list of bugs so far, I've tried to eliminate the 'feature requests', and filter out the true bugs:
bugs:
- no 24bit S/PDIF
- unit freezing up at random
- M/L/H switch is reversed
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
- battery life seems to be falling well short of advertised life
- some sort of problem with the "first file"
- 2GB file limit
- no D/A during digital in (for monitoring)
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
- annoying glitch/pop in headphones when saving recordings, and sometimes also when beginning recordings
Did I miss some?
Roel
the 1/8 input issue ( mike , line, dont work, dont change levels)
about not to able monitoring digital input or changing the levels on pause mode or presents of phantom in line input we can call really stupid design issue
-
660 mb partition would be nice 2 for these who burn CD later
This isn't a bug, and it's not a good idea either.
-
660 mb partition would be nice 2 for these who burn CD later
, and it's not a good idea either.
why is that?
-
why is that?
What happens if at, say the 659MB mark, they are in the middle of a 10 minute song? By using your logic, an autosplit would be created to fit the first 660MB onto a CD, leaving the next 5 minutes of the song on CD 2.
Using CD Wave to split the tracks works fine.
-
That's why you have 2 gb split:-) not to mention what happens if you are on 2gb mark and the band still have 10 minutes:-)
sorry to say but still more people use cd for moving and keeping data then dvd( i use both).
and for me 2 burn 2 cd in the end of the day is much faster then burn dvd without need to go edit ,split and cettera.
eventually this small unit was made for everyone use , home musisians ,people who recording lecturs ,separate recording for low cost video industry, privet investigators and maybe few tappers :-)
so if this spesific 660 split is not useful for you, you really dont have to use it , i will be happy to get it since it will make my life a little bit easier :-)
best
-
If I were an MT2496 owner, I'd be wary of asking for unnecessary feature enhancements since they may put bug fixes at risk. I can all but guarantee M-Audio's priorities are not quite the same as ours, and by suggesting new features along with bug fixes gives them an opportunity to prioritize new features over bug fixes, self-justifying due to "user demand". Paranoid? Perhaps. But I've seen it happen in the s/w dev world, no reason it couldn't or wouldn't happen in this arena as well. Something to think about, that's all.
-
If I were an MT2496 owner, I'd be wary of asking for unnecessary feature enhancements since they may put bug fixes at risk. I can all but guarantee M-Audio's priorities are not quite the same as ours, and by suggesting new features along with bug fixes gives them an opportunity to prioritize new features over bug fixes, self-justifying due to "user demand". Paranoid? Perhaps. But I've seen it happen in the s/w dev world, no reason it couldn't or wouldn't happen in this arena as well. Something to think about, that's all.
Exactly. Lets get the big stuff working first (like SPDIF recording) and worry about the rest later.
-
If I were an MT2496 owner, I'd be wary of asking for unnecessary feature enhancements since they may put bug fixes at risk. I can all but guarantee M-Audio's priorities are not quite the same as ours, and by suggesting new features along with bug fixes gives them an opportunity to prioritize new features over bug fixes, self-justifying due to "user demand". Paranoid? Perhaps. But I've seen it happen in the s/w dev world, no reason it couldn't or wouldn't happen in this arena as well. Something to think about, that's all.
from other hand if you will ask for more eventually you will get more , if you will ask for less you will get less , i think that this virtual negotiation with the manufacturer ( i hope they read it) is eventually to bring the product for optimal needs for everyone use .this group of people maybe the only one which talking about actual recorder needs and it falls , the other just vote by their vollet and not buying it , i prefer that the voice would be as wider as it can and would come not only from the tapper community since i dont think we are the brad for this company,
but i'm sure they wont the butter 2 :-)
-
from other hand if you will ask for more eventually you will get more , if you will ask for less you will get less
Given limited money and resources - and M-Audio has limited money and resources just like every business - asking for more will not get you more, it will simply provide an opportunity for M-Audio to prioritize based on their perspective, not ours. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't ask for new features, but rather that it may prove prudent to delay new feature requests until after key bug-fix requests are addressed.
-
sorry i dint ask for tc - just for 660mb partition , 20 minutes for programist :-)
m-audio wants to take as much it can for the low cost cf recorder market , i dont see any problem with that if they can bring better device and not only fix the mess .
-
from other hand if you will ask for more eventually you will get more , if you will ask for less you will get less
And if they ask for bug reports and get feature requests, they'll wonder about our reading comprehension skills. Not that Frank isn't capable of synthesizing this stuff and weeding out what probably shouldn't be asked for at this point, but if they're willing to listen to bug reports, let's respect that and keep the feedback focused.
-
That's why you have 2 gb split:-) not to mention what happens if you are on 2gb mark and the band still have 10 minutes:-)
sorry to say but still more people use cd for moving and keeping data then dvd( i use both).
and for me 2 burn 2 cd in the end of the day is much faster then burn dvd without need to go edit ,split and cettera.
eventually this small unit was made for everyone use , home musisians ,people who recording lecturs ,separate recording for low cost video industry, privet investigators and maybe few tappers :-)
so if this spesific 660 split is not useful for you, you really dont have to use it , i will be happy to get it since it will make my life a little bit easier :-)
best
Sure most of us use cd's, but since we also have to split the songs into separate tracks and having an automatic 660 mb partition split does us no good whatsoever. In fact, we'd have to re-combine the split since in all likelihood it would be in the middle of a track. I'd wager none of us just burn their recordings to cd w/o any track splits whatsoever, hell that's a sure way to get on someones "bad trader" list.
-
Hmmm, I hadn't originally seen having a Rec/Pause monitoring (both levels and audio) as a feature request. This is because I had naturally assumed that it was a feature of the recorder before I bought it and only found out to my total surprise afterward that it wasn't. I don't think there's any recorder out there that doesn't have this feature. (correct me if I'm wrong about that). So in my eyes this is a bug, though in actual fact, yes, I guess it is a feature request. M-Audio should realise that there will be a lot of people out there that it as a kinda bug though. That kinda thing should be mandatory.
Okay, let them fix the other stuff first, but that's my 2c anyway.
-
That's why you have 2 gb split:-) not to mention what happens if you are on 2gb mark and the band still have 10 minutes:-)
sorry to say but still more people use cd for moving and keeping data then dvd( i use both).
and for me 2 burn 2 cd in the end of the day is much faster then burn dvd without need to go edit ,split and cettera.
eventually this small unit was made for everyone use , home musisians ,people who recording lecturs ,separate recording for low cost video industry, privet investigators and maybe few tappers :-)
so if this spesific 660 split is not useful for you, you really dont have to use it , i will be happy to get it since it will make my life a little bit easier :-)
best
Sure most of us use cd's, but since we also have to split the songs into separate tracks and having an automatic 660 mb partition split does us no good whatsoever. In fact, we'd have to re-combine the split since in all likelihood it would be in the middle of a track. I'd wager none of us just burn their recordings to cd w/o any track splits whatsoever, hell that's a sure way to get on someones "bad trader" list.
Guys - he wants it to be an option, not a mandatory setting.
-
Hmmm, I hadn't originally seen having a Rec/Pause monitoring (both levels and audio) as a feature request. This is because I had naturally assumed that it was a feature of the recorder before I bought it and only found out to my total surprise afterward that it wasn't. I don't think there's any recorder out there that doesn't have this feature. (correct me if I'm wrong about that). So in my eyes this is a bug, though in actual fact, yes, I guess it is a feature request. M-Audio should realise that there will be a lot of people out there that it as a kinda bug though. That kinda thing should be mandatory.
In the manual I read: 8. Enable INPUT MONITORING. This will allow you to see the level of your incoming signal on the MicroTrack 24/96 s on-screen meters before you start to record. This option is enabled by default, but you can manually adjust it by using the [MENU] key and the [NAV] wheel to select Record Settings > Input Monitoring. Select On and press in on the [NAV] wheel to activate.
Did you try this?
-
bugs:
- no 24bit S/PDIF
- unit freezing up at random
- M/L/H switch is reversed
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
- battery life seems to be falling well short of advertised life
- some sort of problem with the "first file"
- 2GB file limit
- no D/A during digital in (for monitoring)
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
- annoying glitch/pop in headphones when saving recordings, and sometimes also when beginning recordings
- S/PDIF defines audio up to 20 bits, 24 bit is no standard. Many implementations are limited to 16 bits. see http://www.tech-faq.com/spdif.shtml (http://www.tech-faq.com/spdif.shtml)
- There seems to be some corelation between hangs and non-standard SPDIV
- Many (most) microphones will accept a range of phantom voltages e.g. 10-52V
- Level monitoring should be present with correct menu settings
- The 2GB file size limit implies you should split recordings longer than 2 hours (48000/24) in two takes.
- There are different reports on battery lifetime from the same person.
I don't think mentioned bugs are real showstoppers. I've not seen any negative reports on preamps and ADC's.
-
- S/PDIF defines audio up to 20 bits, 24 bit is no standard. Many implementations are limited to 16 bits. see http://www.tech-faq.com/spdif.shtml (http://www.tech-faq.com/spdif.shtml)
- There seems to be some corelation between hangs and non-standard SPDIV
- Many (most) microphones will accept a range of phantom voltages e.g. 10-52V
- Level monitoring should be present with correct menu settings
- The 2GB file size limit implies you should split recordings longer than 2 hours (48000/24) in two takes.
- There are different reports on battery lifetime from the same person.
I don't think mentioned bugs are real showstoppers. I've not seen any negative reports on preamps and ADC's.
Thanks for clearing up some 'bugs', pietje (a fellow Dutchman, I suppose?). Still it holds that the phantom-power switch is labelled '48v' but is actually 30v. Many users on this board still want to use 24bit S/PDIF input, though, and they probably won't buy a MicroTrack if it doesn't.
I read in another thread that someone has run a phantom powered recording for 2 hours and 40 minutes, and that's pretty close to the advertised 3 hours, so that's great.
Roel
-
There seems to be some corelation between hangs and non-standard SPDIV
Not true. The unit hangs on anything other than 16/48 - including 16/44.1 and 16/96.
-
There seems to be some corelation between hangs and non-standard SPDIV
Not true. The unit hangs on anything other than 16/48 - including 16/44.1 and 16/96.
Hmmm. Worked for me when I fed 16/44.1 from a Denecke Inbox. But not 24/96 from
a V3, that hung it good.
Jeff
-
Has anyone tried running various sample rates and bit depths via SPDIF from say an Audiophile 192 or 2496? Seems some people can record one thing and others can't? I think it might be worth a shot. Maybe some strange compatibility issue going on?
-
I'm wondering if there are different versions out there. Mine is firmware 1.00, but if you go to Version on the System menu I have version 1.0.2, anything else out there?
Jeff
-
I'm wondering if there are different versions out there. Mine is firmware 1.00, but if you go to Version on the System menu I have version 1.0.2, anything else out there?
Jeff
Got the same 1.0.2 version here.
dB-
-
One reason why M-Audio delayed their shipment/release was to correct the problem with recording 24bit using digital in. They knew about this bug a few months ago. What is the point shipping it if they did not fix the problem? After so many weeks/months they just gave up trying? Shipping it without solving anything after a few weeks/months of delay is irresponsible.
Simon
-
thanks for the feedback everyone, I have sent off the compiled list to the powers-that-be at M/Audio. Hopefully we will see some action on the firmware side of things shortly.
- Frank
-
hey real quick..... when the unit hits the 2GB limit does it simply just stop? How quickly can you get a new file started? With the 7 Series it can be stopped and started in a couple secs. Fill me in....
thanks,
Frank
-
S/PDIF defines audio up to 20 bits, 24 bit is no standard. Many implementations are limited to 16 bits. see http://www.tech-faq.com/spdif.shtml (http://www.tech-faq.com/spdif.shtml)
Just because it's not defined in the standard doesn't mean it can't be done. Other devices produce and/or receive 24-bit digital streams, no reason M-Audio can't do the same.
The 2GB file size limit implies you should split recordings longer than 2 hours (48000/24) in two takes.
Only enabling continuous recording of 60min at 24/96, on a 24/96 device - i.e. not implementing a buffer for either auto or manual seamless new file creation - is simply poor design. For those wanting to record more than 60 continuous minutes, it's absolutely a showstopper. The "workaround" of splitting the recordings manually - and losing content in the process - isn't a workaround if it doesn't solve the problem of lost content. But maybe I'm mistaken and starting a new file is, in fact, seamless? I don't think so, though.
-
hey real quick..... when the unit hits the 2GB limit does it simply just stop? How quickly can you get a new file started? With the 7 Series it can be stopped and started in a couple secs. Fill me in....
thanks,
Frank
With the 7-Series, you don't even need to stop and start the recording. As long as you have the autosplit enabled, it creates a new file on the fly.
-
hey real quick..... when the unit hits the 2GB limit does it simply just stop? How quickly can you get a new file started? With the 7 Series it can be stopped and started in a couple secs. Fill me in....
thanks,
Frank
It simply stops recording. Takin a few seconds is unacceptable IMO - as is monitoring for when the 2 gig limit is reached. It should be an automatic file split and the recording should continue...
-
I forgot about the auto split feature in the updated firmware...thanks for the clarification
-
Just because it's not defined in the standard doesn't mean it can't be done. Other devices produce and/or receive 24-bit digital streams, no reason M-Audio can't do the same.
I understand you want it, but I would "not working with non-standard formats" not classify as a bug.
Only enabling continuous recording of 60min at 24/96, on a 24/96 device - i.e. not implementing a buffer for either auto or manual seamless new file creation - is simply poor design.
I understand you want it. Recording media used to have time limitations. 60 minutes of 24/96k or 120 minutes of 24/48k is not even too bad. It is not unusual for merformers to have a break after 45-60 minutes. I would not classify it as a bug.
If you really need these features, and you need them now, there are other solutions with a different pricetag.
-
Frank --
If you see this and can add more:
From my experience, when recording long files (more than an hour or so?), the level meters stop working. The peaks keep working and keep changing with the changing signal level, but the actual levels for the signal disappear. This continues even after you stop recording one file and start a new one. Only way to get the meters to reappear is to shut the unit down and power back up again. This is just the level meters -- it keeps recording perfectly, you just can't see level meters.
Also, from my experience, you can record at 16/44.1 -- I've done it numerous times. But the spdif is not reliable, probably 1 times out of 3 when I try to record off spdif (16/44 or 16/48), the unit locks up and must be re-booted. And on the lock-up, I've never had it lock up at any time other than when trying to start a spdif recording. Once the spdif recording starts successfully, it records without a glitch for hours (though the level meters disappear).
-
Just because it's not defined in the standard doesn't mean it can't be done. Other devices produce and/or receive 24-bit digital streams, no reason M-Audio can't do the same.
I understand you want it, but I would "not working with non-standard formats" not classify as a bug.
Except that it was advertised that the unit would be able to record at 24/96 from all inputs, including S/PDIF. If they say they are going to do it, and it doesn't work, than it classifies as a "bug" and not a "feature request"
-
I understand you want it, but I would "not working with non-standard formats" not classify as a bug.
JasonSobel summed it up for me nicely:
Except that it was advertised that the unit would be able to record at 24/96 from all inputs, including S/PDIF. If they say they are going to do it, and it doesn't work, than it classifies as a "bug" and not a "feature request"
I understand you want it. Recording media used to have time limitations. 60 minutes of 24/96k or 120 minutes of 24/48k is not even too bad. It is not unusual for merformers to have a break after 45-60 minutes. I would not classify it as a bug.
I'll disagree with the comment that it's not unusual for performers to have a break after 45-60min. I can't remember the last time I saw a sub-60min set that wasn't an opening act or festival environment. But you're right - 2 hrs at 24/48 will cover most situations. And agreed, it's not a bug. But it's still poor design.
If you really need these features, and you need them now, there are other solutions with a different pricetag.
Of course there are. But I have a tough time self-justifying $2400 for a 722 to act purely as a digital recorder behind my V3. If I needed and wanted the functionality now, I could do it with a laptop far less expensively than the 722. I'm willing to wait to see if the MT pans out. And if not, the next lower cost device to arrive. Someone, sometime soon, will produce a reasonably priced 24-bit recorder that takes a 24-bit digital input and doesn't choke on 2GB files.
-
I was under the assumtion that the 2gig limit was because of how wav files work and therfore not a bug?
-
I was under the assumtion that the 2gig limit was because of how wav files work and therfore not a bug?
technically, wav files on a fat32 partition can be up to 4gb.
the problem came about when fat16 was the predominant consumer filesystem(think win95a/b and earlier).
fat16 was limited to partitions of 2gb. the problem still surfaces today because apps are hard coded into the 2gb wav limitation, originially due to backwards compatability.
-
I was under the assumtion that the 2gig limit was because of how wav files work and therfore not a bug?
It's the handling (or in this case non-handling) of the 2GB limit that's the issue. The non-handling isn't a bug, since they didn't advertise it would handle the issue. But it's still poor design.
-
Don’t the other consumer flash recorders like the edirol and the marantz have the same 2gig limitations?
Also it looks like this company did all its firmware and the chip.
http://www.portalplayer.com/
Very consumer orientated by the look of things, this may explain the fact that they only have 16/44.1 spdif, in M-Audio’s advertising they only ever claimed SPDIF inputs and not 24/96 spdif inputs so technically they don’t have to upgrade this (naming it 24/96 refers to the internal codec’s) so Lets hope M-audio pushes them to upgrade the spdif above the consumer specs.
-
here is the response I got from M/Audio today:
BUGS:
-no 24bit S/PDIF
- M/L/H switch is reversed
- annoying glitch/pop in headphones when saving recordings, and sometimes also when beginning recordings
ANSWER:
All three of these items – along with a bunch of other things they didn’t catch – are fixed in v1.5, which will probably be out tomorrow.
The L/M/H switch reversal was just dumb. Apparently, the silkscreening was reversed from the T1 prototype to the T2 and mass production. The engineers, of course, had T1 units. That has been fixed… and the engineers are now working from mass production units.
BUG:
- some sort of problem with the "first file"
ANSWER:
This was just recently identified, and will be fixed in the next release.
BUG:
- no D/A during digital in (for monitoring)
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
ANSWER:
Both of these are really one thing – we don’t have input monitor mode at the moment. That is slated for a later release.
BUG:
- unit freezing up at random
ANSWER:
It sounds like they were using SPDIF, which is where we discovered several problems.
BUG:
- battery life seems to be falling well short of advertised life
ANSWER:
The battery life depends greatly on how the unit is used. Higher resolution requires more power for processing. Different mics drain the phantom power in varied amounts. Also, some people have thought the unit was fully powered when it wasn’t. I’m not just trying to confuse the matter, I’m just saying there are many variables.
BUG:
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
ANSWER:
I believe our marketing mentions “Phantom Power”, but never states 48v. We took a prototype down to an equipment rental store, and they let us go through their mic closet. The MicroTrack provided enough power for everything we tried, from the U87 to Sennheiser shotgun mics and some esoterics. So, is this a complaint that a mic didn’t work, or is it a complaint that the Volt-Ohm meter needle didn’t go where they wanted?
BUG:
- 2GB file limit
ANSWER:
This is not an issue that is likely to change. We are planning to put some safeguards in place to prevent this from causing problems. (For instance, auto-stopping at 2GB and saving the file and offering the time remaining countdown from the lesser of the space available or 2GB.)
My take- All of this seems acceptable and its nice to see that they are stepping up quickly. That said, I am mainly concerned with the phantom power issue and answer. The current draw is the issue that needs to be addressed as well, but I can't see this unit powering many mics with 30volt phantom. I would like to hear some people who have tested this give some feedback.
I will continue to keep you all updated and pass along feedback.
Frank
-
after I posted this I had a chat with them and made mention of an auto-split feature. they said that it was a do-able fix so its not a dead issue. more to come.
-
after I posted this I had a chat with them and made mention of an auto-split feature. they said that it was a do-able fix so its not a dead issue. more to come.
Shoot, I don't even care if it's auto-split - pressing a button to make it happen would be fine for open taping. But don't tell them that - keep 'em thinking auto-split. :)
-
Yet another +T to Frank. Can't wait for the release tomorrow. ;)
-
BUG:
- 2GB file limit
ANSWER:
This is not an issue that is likely to change. We are planning to put some safeguards in place to prevent this from causing problems. (For instance, auto-stopping at 2GB and saving the file and offering the time remaining countdown from the lesser of the space available or 2GB.)
Thanks you for passing along the bugs to M-Audio but their 2GB reply is really unacceptable.
No `auto-open new file` makes the device a nono for everything above 44.1/16 which would nullify the '2496' name tag.
For the battery life they do not state how one can get close to 8 hours (asked support about the conditions, got no reply).
Vague.
-
thanks Frank for keeping in touch with M-Audio, and acting as a laison from our community. I'm looking forward to the 24-bit S/PDIF, very much so.
I think we should keep on pushing for either the auto-start next file at 2 Gigs, or at least be able to start a new file seamlessly with the push of a button. That is a critical point, IMO.
it is nice to see that M-Audio is serious about getting new firmware versions released. Hopefully it will be a frequent thing and everything will get resolved sooner rather than later :)
-
Thanks you for passing along the bugs to M-Audio but their 2GB reply is really unacceptable.
No `auto-open new file` makes the device a nono for everything above 44.1/16 which would nullify the '2496' name tag.
For the battery life they do not state how one can get close to 8 hours (asked support about the conditions, got no reply).
Vague.
after I posted this I had a chat with them and made mention of an auto-split feature. they said that it was a do-able fix so its not a dead issue. more to come.
-
BUGS:
-no 24bit S/PDIF
- M/L/H switch is reversed
- annoying glitch/pop in headphones when saving recordings, and sometimes also when beginning recordings
BUG:
- some sort of problem with the "first file"
BUG:
- no D/A during digital in (for monitoring)
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
BUG:
- unit freezing up at random
BUG:
- battery life seems to be falling well short of advertised life
BUG:
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
BUG:
- 2GB file limit
Answer:
Keep your JB3's
-
I bet there were bugs in the JB3 when it came out...
and when was the last firmware update from Creative?
-
If I can record 2-3 hrs at 16bit (CD-quality) and not be afraid of the battery running out or the device locking for no reason, that's enough for me to change from Jb3. So... it's actually just a smaller JB3!1!!
MoFo2
-
BUG:
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
ANSWER:
I believe our marketing mentions “Phantom Power”, but never states 48v. We took a prototype down to an equipment rental store, and they let us go through their mic closet. The MicroTrack provided enough power for everything we tried, from the U87 to Sennheiser shotgun mics and some esoterics. So, is this a complaint that a mic didn’t work, or is it a complaint that the Volt-Ohm meter needle didn’t go where they wanted?
Problem w/ 30v is that most mics will work but their caractaristics may change when under powered. The standard phantom power voltage is 48v or 12v(less common for our application). Some mics are rated @ 12-52v but optimal is almost always 48v.
It sounds like thay can't fix this one w/ software based on their response
-
cascademedia,
Thank you so much for doing all that, and passing it back onto us. I for one am grateful to see that M-Audio is trying to support the unit. A couple of disappointing issues, but none of these will affect me personally at this point so I certainly won't be returning the unit.
Would you be able to clarify if when they said:
===============
BUG:
- no D/A during digital in (for monitoring)
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
ANSWER:
Both of these are really one thing – we don’t have input monitor mode at the moment. That is slated for a later release.
================
that with 'input monitoring' they are also referring to being able to monitor/hear sound (ie thru headphones, etc), not just visual watching of levels on the unit. I'm hoping that their future fix does include sound/listening monitoring.
Also, someone on an R1 group posted that the dealbreaker for them was the long boot up time because they didn't want to constantly keep the machine turned on as it uses the battery pretty quickly. They wanted some kind of sleep mode so that they could wake it quickly to record whenever they needed to, rather than having to wait 18 seconds for the machine to boot up before they could record.
Is something like that possible for a future update, or is it impossible to implement? It's probably a good feature to have, and as mentioned, certainly a dealbreaker for some.
Thanks again for putting that list together and passing it on!
Pietje - I will have to take another look, I can't remember about the level meter monitoring when in pause/stop modes, so I could have been mistaken, but when I wrote the post saying I couldn't monitor the audio when not in REC mode I was mainly referring to not being able to hear any sound. I remember being surprised when pausing the unit to find that the sound dropped out.
-
here is the response I got from M/Audio today:
BUG:
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
ANSWER:
I believe our marketing mentions “Phantom Power”, but never states 48v. We took a prototype down to an equipment rental store, and they let us go through their mic closet. The MicroTrack provided enough power for everything we tried, from the U87 to Sennheiser shotgun mics and some esoterics. So, is this a complaint that a mic didn’t work, or is it a complaint that the Volt-Ohm meter needle didn’t go where they wanted?
Now that's just weird.
I have just noticed this: on the German site we find this picture:
http://www.m-audio.de/us/MicroTrack-side-L.jpg
The phantom power switch is clearly labelled '48v'.
On the American site, we find this picture, of much lower resolution, but I think it's labelled "PH PWR".
http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/product_pics/th/microtrack_3.jpg
So, what is the deal, is the actual unit labelled '48v' or not?
Roel
-
Mine says 'ph pwr'.
I thought their response on the 30v issue was weak. There is a big difrerence between testing mics by simply plugging them in and looking for movement of the meters and verifying that there is no sonic impact.
Thanks for working with them on our concerns, Frank!
-
here is the response I got from M/Audio today:
BUG:
- 30v max on Phantom on stead of advertised 48v
ANSWER:
I believe our marketing mentions “Phantom Power”, but never states 48v. We took a prototype down to an equipment rental store, and they let us go through their mic closet. The MicroTrack provided enough power for everything we tried, from the U87 to Sennheiser shotgun mics and some esoterics. So, is this a complaint that a mic didn’t work, or is it a complaint that the Volt-Ohm meter needle didn’t go where they wanted?
Now that's just weird.
I have just noticed this: on the German site we find this picture:
http://www.m-audio.de/us/MicroTrack-side-L.jpg
The phantom power switch is clearly labelled '48v'.
Anyone in Germany who can get their hands on the European version (if it's released over there yet...) and see if there's a difference? i.e. 48 volt phantom
-
I was certain I had seen a picture with the phantom switch labeled 48V, but when I went hunting on their site last night to "prove" I had seen it somewhere, I couldn't find it. Perhaps it was the German pictures I remembered.
-
just realized another "bug", albiet minor.
in this picture on M-audio's website:
(http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/product_pics/th/microtrack_System-setup.jpg)
you can clearly see a place to set the date and time.
my system menu doesn't have this option, and the recorded files are dated 11/30/2003.
Not that this really makes any difference, but it's got to be an easy fix, and it would be nice to have the proper time and date stamp with the saved files.
-
update - just got this from my boy @ M/Audio in regards to the 2gb limit and an autosplit:
>>Yes, we are planning on an auto-split (or some other handling there of). It’s on our checklist – there were a few other higher priorities ahead in the list.”
-
+T in 12 Frank!
So, are there any major bugs that are not fixable via Firmware updates, except battery life and Phantom Power at 30v?
autosplit
input monitoring (digital)
-
...
Anyone in Germany who can get their hands on the European version (if it's released over there yet...) and see if there's a difference? i.e. 48 volt phantom
The Swiss one I've got reads "PH PWR" and has the same lower voltage that you all talk about. Nothing different.
-
the beta units were labeled 48v. However, it is my understanding that there is hardware limitations that prevent the unit from being able to provide 48v. At least that what I was told back in July. Also, the unit was originally set to auto split at 2gb but was changed during testing to the current state (for a reason the programmer could not explain). Obvoiusly, it can be changed via firmware updates.
-
Anyone in Germany who can get their hands on the European version (if it's released over there yet...) and see if there's a difference? i.e. 48 volt phantom
I'll try my best, but stores here don't have it, yet.
-
update - just got this from my boy @ M/Audio in regards to the 2gb limit and an autosplit:
>>Yes, we are planning on an auto-split (or some other handling there of). It’s on our checklist – there were a few other higher priorities ahead in the list.”
That translates as: ''more seriosu limitations"?
-
update- we just got the rest of our order in.... everyone who ordered with us should ship today. Phone calls and emails to come.
thanks.
Frank
-
Feedback from Joerg Wuttke from Schoeps. He states that a CMC6
will not work at full specs wehn used at phantom is not 12V or not 48V.
It leads to increased noise and distortion in low frequencies.
He also says that he doesn´t understand why an audio device with 30V
is released because it is beyond all phantom standards.
Oleg
-
All three of these items – along with a bunch of other things they didn’t catch – are fixed in v1.5, which will probably be out tomorrow.
Has v1.5 firmware been released yet?
Nope, I've been checking about once an hour, too. ;)
-
Feedback from Joerg Wuttke from Schoeps. He states that a CMC6
will not work at full specs wehn used at phantom is not 12V or not 48V.
It leads to increased noise and distortion in low frequencies.
He also says that he doesn´t understand why an audio device with 30V
is released because it is beyond all phantom standards.
Oleg
Thanks for checking, Oleg. That was my concern - they have designed for 12v or 48v but not everything in between..
Funny how the m-audio response seemed to be so dismissive that this would be an issue.
One option would be to voltage divide the 30v to 12v.. Or get the 12v from another source (lithium 9v + something for 3v). Of course that only helps the cmc6 users.
-
One option would be to voltage divide the 30v to 12v.. Or get the 12v from another source (lithium 9v + something for 3v). Of course that only helps the cmc6 users.
The only option would be to mod the MT and change the regulator from 30V to 12V. (could be as easy as swapping a few SMD resistors)
(going from the Li-Polymer voltage to 30 to 12V is of course no good route...)
-
I'm not sure how you'd categorize this one, but I've noticed that all the recorded files are dated November 29, 2003 11:04 pm when I put the CF card into my card reader and transfer the files. I can't find any way to set date and time on the unit.
-
I'm not sure how you'd categorize this one, but I've noticed that all the recorded files are dated November 29, 2003 11:04 pm when I put the CF card into my card reader and transfer the files. I can't find any way to set date and time on the unit.
yup, same thing for me... I already posted that on this thread.
just realized another "bug", albiet minor.
in this picture on M-audio's website:
(http://www.m-audio.com/images/global/product_pics/th/microtrack_System-setup.jpg)
you can clearly see a place to set the date and time.
my system menu doesn't have this option, and the recorded files are dated 11/30/2003.
Not that this really makes any difference, but it's got to be an easy fix, and it would be nice to have the proper time and date stamp with the saved files.
-
Not sure if its a bug, but I didn't see it elsewhere. Even after I format the media, create some files and delete them (which I can't thru the file menu.. mebby I'm retarded and in the wrong spot?) the next file I create isn't numbered 1 again. it'll be whatever the next one would have been.
ie, say I record 3 files, delete them all (or format the media) the next time I go to record, the filename is file004.xxx
Anyone else see this one?
Also, in testing to see how long the battery would run, it stopped recording at 1hr 55min. V3 was still going... Battery on the MT showed it had only run down half way. I actually had it running off the V3 w/o the ANSR on, but the files showed up in CEP as 16bit. I assume it truncated the extra 8 bits.
I havent come accross to much other funky stuff in the day I've had it. Although it did take a hell of a long time to charge the battery initially... (not a bug obviously).
-
I don't know if I'd call this a bug. Probably more of a design flaw.
My coax cable doesn't fit into the Micro Tracks SPDIF in. So I got something similar to this at Rat Shack:
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=274-306
(http://www.radioshack.com/images/ProductCatalog/ProductImage/274/274-306.jpg)
It's basically the same but all metal. Also more of the male end is exposed. Hopefully this will pass a digital signal without problems.
Could this thing create any problems?
I'm probably just going to buy a short custom cable. My coax cable is already too long. I'm sure a footor 2 is plenty long to go from my UA5 > MT.
-
ie, say I record 3 files, delete them all (or format the media) the next time I go to record, the filename is file004.xxx
That's a feature! Most digital cameras do that. The idea is that you can download to the same directory and not worry about the new files clobbering previous recordings.
I've had a few cases where I lost my config (screen contrast, etc) and the filename history. I think that happened when I powered off while in the middle of a recording. Those were cases where I just wanted to monitor levels but not record.. On some cameras, the filename history is stored in a directory on the card. In this case, it appears to be stored in some nvram on the MT.
-
I skimmed this thread and didn't see a mention of this, so if it's already been brought up here, I apologize. I'm pretty sure it was brought up in another MT thread, but since I've had the same experience I thought I'd mention it here:
On initially charging the unit, after a few hours the battery icon stops the "filling" animation and is a full block. If you unplug the power cable, the unit boots. shut it off, plug it back in, and it will continue charging for quite some time.
I think this is important because failure to address it, at least to my knowledge, may result in batteries that don't last as long as expected. I may be wrong about the severity of the problem, but it does seem weird to me.
Edit: It's been about 6 hours now since I started the initial charge, and it's on the fourth go-round of acting full and being rebooted only to charge more.
-
On initially charging the unit, after a few hours the battery icon stops the "filling" animation and is a full block. If you unplug the power cable, the unit boots. shut it off, plug it back in, and it will continue charging for quite some time.
What is quite some time?
It may just mean that it is really full...?
-
I skimmed this thread and didn't see a mention of this, so if it's already been brought up here, I apologize. I'm pretty sure it was brought up in another MT thread, but since I've had the same experience I thought I'd mention it here:
On initially charging the unit, after a few hours the battery icon stops the "filling" animation and is a full block. If you unplug the power cable, the unit boots. shut it off, plug it back in, and it will continue charging for quite some time.
I think this is important because failure to address it, at least to my knowledge, may result in batteries that don't last as long as expected. I may be wrong about the severity of the problem, but it does seem weird to me.
Edit: It's been about 6 hours now since I started the initial charge, and it's on the fourth go-round of acting full and being rebooted only to charge more.
The MT has some false peaking issues in its charging stage. I have no idea if this is going to be addressed in the next firmware.
dB-
-
On initially charging the unit, after a few hours the battery icon stops the "filling" animation and is a full block. If you unplug the power cable, the unit boots. shut it off, plug it back in, and it will continue charging for quite some time.
What is quite some time?
It may just mean that it is really full...?
Well, it was indicating that it was full after 2.5 hours of initial charge, which I don't believe. Unplug, power off, plug in, and it charged for around 2 more hours before indicating it was full again, rinse, repeat. It seems like it's getting shorter each time, but even today, it's doing the same thing. Thus, I've got no idea if it's really full, and I'm just wasting my time, or if it really truly needs to charge 18+ hours the first time. I suspect it's full by now, but I don't know how to tell.
-
the picture in my manual has 48v under the phantom power swtich....
tap...tap..tap... so weird.
-
On initially charging the unit, after a few hours the battery icon stops the "filling" animation and is a full block. If you unplug the power cable, the unit boots. shut it off, plug it back in, and it will continue charging for quite some time.
What is quite some time?
It may just mean that it is really full...?
Well, it was indicating that it was full after 2.5 hours of initial charge, which I don't believe. Unplug, power off, plug in, and it charged for around 2 more hours before indicating it was full again, rinse, repeat. It seems like it's getting shorter each time, but even today, it's doing the same thing. Thus, I've got no idea if it's really full, and I'm just wasting my time, or if it really truly needs to charge 18+ hours the first time. I suspect it's full by now, but I don't know how to tell.
Ah, I understand better now. Thanks for clarifying.
This the route I should follow when I get my MT?
Also: does anybody know yet how the charge circuitry is implemented in the MT?
I.e.: could the charging behaviour be changed easily?
I read that this type of battery gets a 1C charge at constant voltage until the current drops. Maybe we could use that info to check if it is really charging OK or not?
Or deduce from the actual battery capacity (what is it?), charging current and charging time if it could be full?
-
Ah, I understand better now. Thanks for clarifying.
This the route I should follow when I get my MT?
My pleasure.
I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, though. I know next to nothing about rechargable batteries, so I have to wonder if it's possible that I'm making things worse and conditioning the battery to operate for the ~20 seconds it takes to boot and shut the unit off after it's got the full battery icon.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge than mine can offer some advice.
-
yeah, mines the same way with the charging, i have yet to see a "charging complete" after many times of doing what mikey is talking about....
-
Ah, I understand better now. Thanks for clarifying.
This the route I should follow when I get my MT?
My pleasure.
I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, though. I know next to nothing about rechargable batteries, so I have to wonder if it's possible that I'm making things worse and conditioning the battery to operate for the ~20 seconds it takes to boot and shut the unit off after it's got the full battery icon.
Hopefully someone with more knowledge than mine can offer some advice.
usially these devices charge in parallel with operating from ext soars
the battery dont discharge while it charging .
the charger inside charge at least until the voltage come to 4.3 v (3.7v battery) , usially your device will show full after 90% of capacity
and would complete the charge after few hours.
the lithium ion dont have memory so you can discharge the battery and charge it even it didn't come to the end , its better not to push the battery for 100% and keep it atleast20-30% before charge , it would increase battery life.
what might be happen that when you disconnect the charger and the mt goes to internal battery the voltage drop immediately to 3.7 under load
if you connect the charger it will continue to charge it again antil the voltage will rise to 4.3 again, since this is a very cheap device it might be lying on the condition of your battery ,but usially the full mark would be about 90% so it not so drastic mistake .
the strange thing that the unit didn't power up until the battery was little bit full is might be that the battery was under the minimum voltage
which maybe must to been seen by mt for powering up- might be they made it for safety that you at least can save the file while you have external battery ( soars ) faller - or just a bug like all the other bugs you have :-)
-
Also it looks like this company did all its firmware and the chip.
http://www.portalplayer.com/
Does microtrack use a portalplayer chip or are they just doing the software? They have some different models but portalplayer is used in the ipods, at least the hard drive ones. I don't know what is in the nano.
-
Also it looks like this company did all its firmware and the chip.
http://www.portalplayer.com/
Does microtrack use a portalplayer chip or are they just doing the software? They have some different models but portalplayer is used in the ipods, at least the hard drive ones. I don't know what is in the nano.
The nano got a portal, which surprized some industry analysts. Most flash based devices have a SigmaTel chip.
http://macuser.pcpro.co.uk/macuser/news/78028/ipod-nano-teardown-priced-at-90.html
-
Can the fact that we have to reboot the darn device to make it recognise the L/M/H switch and other settings be considered a bug?
I guess so.
It makes you wonder who designed the thing, what they used as example, what they used as requirements and what kind of world they live in. (you still think rebooting is practical?)
-
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
While recording you can push the "NAV Wheel" to pause the recording, so actually the MT has a PAUSE mode.
-
- no level monitoring on pause/stop
While recording you can push the "NAV Wheel" to pause the recording, so actually the MT has a PAUSE mode.
But does the level monitoring continue? I don't think it does.
I wish they could have come up with a better button for pause. For those times when you need it unlocked to adjust levels, it is much too easy to hit the nav button and have the recording stop.
-
Any news on the new firmware?
-
I've been checking here: http://m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers
not there yet.
-
I sent a question to M-Audio and the confirmation email I got back saying my question was in queue had some links to their site that answered some questions I've seen raised here...sorry if this has been mentioned before...not too sure how I feel about these answers...looks like input monitoring will never be available via SPDIF.
No Input Monitoring from the S/PDIF (digital) input
Q: Can I monitor the input signal while recording from the S/PDIF input?
A: No. Input Monitoring is only available when using the MicroTrack 24/96's analog inputs.
Device doesn't boot completely when connecting the power supply while off
Q: When the MicroTrack is off and I connect it to the power supply, it doesn't boot up completely. Is this normal?
A: Yes, the MicroTrack will boot into "charge mode" when connecting to the power supply while it is off. If you want to use the MicroTrack while it is charging, please first disconnect the power supply, power up the MicroTrack completely and then re-connect the power supply. You should now be able to use the device normally.
-
Q: When the MicroTrack is off and I connect it to the power supply, it doesn't boot up completely. Is this normal?
A: Yes, the MicroTrack will boot into "charge mode" when connecting to the power supply while it is off. If you want to use the MicroTrack while it is charging, please first disconnect the power supply, power up the MicroTrack completely and then re-connect the power supply. You should now be able to use the device normally.
This seemed like a biggy for people. Now they know!!
MIne will be here tomorrow !!!
-
When in charge mode, you can just press the 'del' button and it will reboot into normal mode. No need to unplug.
At that point, you can power the unit off. I'm wondering if it charges when off?
-
If so, this is a serious limitation that I was hoping did not exist with this unit. I guess I'm not going to invest in one after all.
Edit: Stuff about metering problems when recording digital in via s/pdif deleted.
Microtrack meters work with signal from minime.
-
I've been heavily leaning toward the pmd671 myself lately, but im gonna let everything pan out till after xmas and by then CF cards will certainly be cheaper as well!
-
since I need metering on the recorder
Why? You could set up an SVU-1 meter for monitoring.
-
If so, this is a serious limitation that I was hoping did not exist with this unit. I guess I'm not going to invest in one after all.
It is a serious limitation. The meters are good too.
I'd guess that the metering must be tied to the analog input stage. But I would still think they'd be able to get some kind of digital level from the ADC to drive the meters. Perhaps their software 'event loop' doesn't allow them to drive the meters at 24/96 without risk of sample loss?
Wait, when I first read this I thought it meant the headphone out doesn't work for audibly monitoring levels when using the spdif input. Are you saying the levels meters on the Microtracker don't move when using spdif in, or am I all confused here? (still waiting for mine to arrive)
-
to clear up some confusion, when using the S/PDIF input, the level meters DO work. the analog outputs do not, so you can't plug in your headphones and listen. but you do see levels on the unit when recording from S/PDIF.
-
i think thats actually a limitation of the UA5 more than the MT2596.
If my memory serves me, i think the UA5 is the only portable box that does AD coversion w/out good metering...the MiniMe isn't great, but has a broader spectrum.
-
If my memory serves me, i think the UA5 is the only portable box that does AD coversion w/out good metering...the MiniMe isn't great, but has a broader spectrum.
a bit off-topic, but the denecke ad-20 has no meters at all.
-
but those are pre/ad's, everyone likes meters on recorders, i do anyway
-
fwiw the jb3 does not allow headphone monitoring either when using the optical in, so that is not surprising.
FWIW, I'm able to listen via headphones while recording optical-in on the JB3. And/or output 1 or 2 analog line out signals as well.
-
fwiw the jb3 does not allow headphone monitoring either when using the optical in, so that is not surprising.
FWIW, I'm able to listen via headphones while recording optical-in on the JB3. And/or output 1 or 2 analog line out signals as well.
same here!
-
Okay.. clarification: My Microtrack meters meter when I send output from my Minime to the coax in.
Sorry for any confusion.
-
you can still turn the unit off while the hold switch is engaged.
-
you can still turn the unit off while the hold switch is engaged.
This is a MAYOR bug!!
Did the M-Audio people ever look at a Sony deck?! ???
-
you can still turn the unit off while the hold switch is engaged.
Not on mine you can't. Everyone should check theirs rather than trusting Simpy. He may have a bad unit/hold switch for all we know.
-
you can still turn the unit off while the hold switch is engaged.
Not on mine you can't. Everyone should check theirs rather than trusting Simpy. He may have a bad unit/hold switch for all we know.
Can't get mine to turn off either.
-
you can still turn the unit off while the hold switch is engaged.
Not on mine you can't. Everyone should check theirs rather than trusting Simpy. He may have a bad unit/hold switch for all we know.
Can't get mine to turn off either.
just tested mine, if the hold switch is on, pressing the power button gives the message "HOLD switch is on"
however, if I hold down the power switch for about 10 seconds, the unit will shut off (this is the same amount of time needed to shut off the unit after it has frozen).
and if the hold switch is on, when I try to power up, it gives me this message:
"M-AUDIO (next line) Hold key is active" and then the unit doesn't power up.
based on this, I'd say that if you're power button got stuck or something was constantly pushing against it, the unit would turn off. but it seems to me that that would be difficult. my power button doesn't feel like it'd get sutck in the pushed position very easily.
-
Thanks for clarifying on the power button. It's not 100% as we want it to be but not as bad as I thought...
-
to clear up some confusion, when using the S/PDIF input, the level meters DO work. the analog outputs do not, so you can't plug in your headphones and listen. but you do see levels on the unit when recording from S/PDIF.
yes jason is correct, the meters do work with the digi in whilke recording, just no levels are shown on playback ...
-
just tested mine, if the hold switch is on, pressing the power button gives the message "HOLD switch is on"
however, if I hold down the power switch for about 10 seconds, the unit will shut off (this is the same amount of time needed to shut off the unit after it has frozen).
yeah i meant if i hold it down...not likely to be a big problem for me as i don't stealth (yet ;) ) but if something gets stuck up against the MT and holds the power button down it will turn off. try it...
-
I finally got my 4gb cf card yesterday, so I was able to take the MT with me tonight to a show. From this, I can confirm at least two bugs, and maybe a third.
1. Meters (not peak level bars though) stop being displayed after a time. They came back after a while longer, though.
2. Simultaneously, I had no control over record levels on the MT, it was as though the level buttons did nothing. In other words, turning up the record volume had no effect on the record level being reported by the meters. I'm not sure if that ever came back, as I didn't try to monkey with the levels after the opening act.
3. Also, and I'm not sure this is a bug per se, but from a programmer's point of view it's definitely sloppy code - the MT *hates* it if you change sample rate while you've got a file on record/pause. That broke bad and had to be rebooted before anything would work again, and it left a corrupt, uncopyable file and a "tmp" folder on my cf card. I hope a format will get rid of all that; I presume it will.
Hope that's useful...I know the first two have been reported already.
-
firmware update is available at m-audio - fyi.
here's the link:
http://m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers
-
just tested mine, if the hold switch is on, pressing the power button gives the message "HOLD switch is on"
however, if I hold down the power switch for about 10 seconds, the unit will shut off (this is the same amount of time needed to shut off the unit after it has frozen).
yeah i meant if i hold it down...not likely to be a big problem for me as i don't stealth (yet ;) ) but if something gets stuck up against the MT and holds the power button down it will turn off. try it...
This is a HUGE problem for me. My first experience ever with this thing, I lost a entire set because the power button got stuck in with the hold button on. For some reason, if I push the power button in and it gets pushed down, it'll stay stuck! So this is the biggest problem ever for me right now. I don't want to open the thing up, but I don't know if I have a choice.
-
From this, I can confirm at least two bugs, and maybe a third.
If they are also present in the latest firmware, just report them with enough info (how to reproduce them) via the link near the firmware.
-
i just had a weird one after last nite.
I had NO problems starting it up or anything like that, but in both sets at exactly 598,281kB file size it would stop recording!!?? I found that extremely strange to have it happen twice with the exact same file sizes.
I am using the Dane-Elec card. It would start back up immediately when i hit record tho.
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
-
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
Latest firmware?
I could try and see if I can reproduce that?
-
i've had problems the last 2 nights at mule...
MT records first set no problems. stop recording, left it turned on through set break.
second set, start recording and it freezes.
shut down, restart, no luck, froze again.
shut down, pull out cf card, replace, restart. freeze.
tried external power, frozen again on record.
todd got it to work briefly the first night on external power, but it froze and shut itself down after a couple minutes.
any idea if the firmware will fix it? i'm gonna do it anyways...
-
with the new firmware, it says:
New Items:
- S/PDIF is enhanced to 24-bit/48kHz, and is more reliable
with the old firmware, I had also experienced the freezing when I went to record via S/PDIF in about 5 or 6 recording tests today, the unit hasn't frozen on me yet. granted, time will tell how reliable it actually is. but at this point, the S/PDIF does seem more stable with the new firmware.
-
i just had a weird one after last nite.
I had NO problems starting it up or anything like that, but in both sets at exactly 598,281kB file size it would stop recording!!?? I found that extremely strange to have it happen twice with the exact same file sizes.
I am using the Dane-Elec card. It would start back up immediately when i hit record tho.
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
Could you try a different flash card? Strange that it would stop at exactly the same (and relatively small) file size each time.
FWIW someone else posted that his friend was having problems with his dane-elec card also.
-
My new Microtrack is unable to provide sufficient phantom power to my MBHO 603's.
I was able to send phantom power to my buddies Neumann 184's and have determined that
the phantom power is operable on my Microtrack.
Has anyone been able to power MBHO's with their Microtrack?
-
Silent Mark updated his firmware on the MT2496 today, after running it on the shipped firmware a few times for gigs at 16/44.1(v3>MT and modsbm1>MT). His MT (at 16/44) ran just fine on a Kingston 4gig CF for all the shows. Loaded fine to the HD blah blah blah
.. allthough our opinion of the level meters is marginal (slow, not accurate), the unit appears to be a DAT replacement (so far).. which is good! :)
__concerns at 16 bit via spdf with this unit__
Allthough our opinion of the level meters is marginal (slow, not accurate), the unit appears to be a DAT replacement (so far).. which is good! :)
Im also not sure what the red clip lights mean on the MT.. They will flash even though the v3 has not clipped..
One last issue we had was the need to reboot the unit upon every recording session. Run a set, stop/save file, hit record button for second set and freeze.. So it goes.. Run a set, stop/save file, shutdown, power up, start recording.. not that big of a deal..
thats pretty much all the issues that weve seen with the MT(mind you, just running spdf)
__updated firmware__
Smark and I are sitting here right now running a 24/48 (v3>spdf> MT2496) of just ambient sound.. its at about the 30 minute mark and it still says its recording data. The level meters, however, are not functioning correctly. It appears that the right channel peak meters sort of work (verry slow), but the overall bar shoots to peak with every ambient spike(handclap). The left channel, on the other hand, has the same peak meter slowness ( :( ),however the bar is full on (clipping, but with no red light) and only dissapears when there is enough ambient sound to make the right channel spike. Basically it appears that the bar meter on the left channel is reverse of the right channel(so right now, right channel nothing, left channel full). Like I said, the little peak meters operate on both channels(albiet with a very slow response time).
as of right now.. neither of us like the meters one diddlydang bit on this unit.. :-\
btw .. the recording is now at the 56 minutes in, and appears to still be recording.. same level issues..
edit.. typos crossposted here... http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=51241.msg673321#msg673321
-
rec time available on a 4gb card set to 16bits with the new firmware shows only 03:01:59 which is not correct. maybe i'll test it out to see how much time i can get.
-
i just had a weird one after last nite.
I had NO problems starting it up or anything like that, but in both sets at exactly 598,281kB file size it would stop recording!!?? I found that extremely strange to have it happen twice with the exact same file sizes.
I am using the Dane-Elec card. It would start back up immediately when i hit record tho.
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
I had *exactly* the same problem exept I was using a hitachi 4gb microdrive. I was trying 16/48 via the spdif input. I have not retried again with the new firmware.
-
rec time available on a 4gb card set to 16bits with the new firmware shows only 03:01:59 which is not correct. maybe i'll test it out to see how much time i can get.
found that when you set the analog in stats ( bit rate, freq) in the menu.. it gives you the correct time and still records spdf.. and while recording via spdf, the time is correct if you set the analog stats.. setting the unit to "auto" give you an incorrect time at both 16 and 24 bit.
-
i just had a weird one after last nite.
I had NO problems starting it up or anything like that, but in both sets at exactly 598,281kB file size it would stop recording!!?? I found that extremely strange to have it happen twice with the exact same file sizes.
I am using the Dane-Elec card. It would start back up immediately when i hit record tho.
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
I had *exactly* the same problem exept I was using a hitachi 4gb microdrive. I was trying 16/48 via the spdif input. I have not retried again with the new firmware.
which part was exactly the same? The file size stoppage?
-
with the new firmware, it says:
New Items:
- S/PDIF is enhanced to 24-bit/48kHz, and is more reliable
with the old firmware, I had also experienced the freezing when I went to record via S/PDIF in about 5 or 6 recording tests today, the unit hasn't frozen on me yet. granted, time will tell how reliable it actually is. but at this point, the S/PDIF does seem more stable with the new firmware.
very cool. once I hear this thing is reliably doing 24/48 via s/pdif, I'm on it.
-
rec time available on a 4gb card set to 16bits with the new firmware shows only 03:01:59 which is not correct. maybe i'll test it out to see how much time i can get.
That is not incorrect. This unit can only record up til 2GB files. So, 16bit/44.1kHz can record 11338 seconds, which is 3:08:58 .. Hm.. Still a few minutes off-the-mark ::)
Roel
-
My 1\4 TRS input jacks don't fit the plugs very tightly, is this the overall opinion?
IF anyone is not having this problem I could use som sugestions as to a brand (right angle if at all possible) that has a little snugger fit. Currently I am using a SoundPro dongal.
Brad
-
I can make you some nice silver-clad interconnects for the MT if you'd like. Check my post at the top of the retail section for more general information. I've made both cables with both right-angle and straight 1/4" TRS plugs and both have fit snug and fine. I can make the other end with XLRs, RCAs, 1/8" mini (male or female), etc.
Otherwise, the G&H Rightfoot is a nice 1/4" right-angle plug that fits the tight spaces of the MT.
-
The meters suck balls.
As has been reported in the "real-life" thread, the meters appear to work fine then at some point (I have seen reports from 20 minutes to 50 minutes approx.) they start to show full bars until you get a sound source, then it is flickering showing levels with the peak bars moving. There is a definate delay in the peak bars as well.
A small peave right now with the meters, but the good news it appears as if 24bit up to 48 works through the spidf. Hopefully the 2g limit is resolved with an auto start or something AND I would like to see the meters revamped, ditch the peak bar as it is crap, add some dB numbers and just make them work properly ;)
-
I can make you some nice silver-clad interconnects for the MT if you'd like. Check my post at the top of the retail section for more general information. I've made both cables with both right-angle and straight 1/4" TRS plugs and both have fit snug and fine. I can make the other end with XLRs, RCAs, 1/8" mini (male or female), etc.
Otherwise, the G&H Rightfoot is a nice 1/4" right-angle plug that fits the tight spaces of the MT.
Thanks Todd I think I will go that route..unless your ready to mod the unit with some mini xlr's that would be nice. At any rate I will be getting in touch with you soon.
Brad
-
AND I would like to see the meters revamped, ditch the peak bar as it is crap, add some dB numbers and just make them work properly ;)
Agreed.. These guys have a LOT of development to do in the basic features department. Obviously, there are still a tons of bugs. Beyond the bugs, there are a lot of features they could and should add that wouldn't be that difficult. Like just printing the amount of gain (ala the 722). I shouldn't be setting it to "3 bars" before a show, I should be setting it at 28.5 dB. Etc..
I just have to keep telling myself that the R-1 is no better because it has been out for a long time and still doesn't have decent support for shows longer than 2 hours (which to me suggests a lack of on-going development).
-
Maybe open an new Microtrack Bug report for the newer firmware?
Then we can separately mention the issues (new and old) of the newer firmware.
-
well, i finally tested this thing, ran it until the end of the media, problem is that it didnt write the file when the media was full. The file doesnt show up on the media but when the card is installed in the microtracker it says media is full, anyone have this problem yet? Kind of sucks because i was monitoring the thing while it was recording and was gonna hit the "rec" button with about 5 seconds left so it would write the file but when i went to do that it pretty much froze up and said media was full. Anyone know how I might recover this file that is causing the media to show full?
-
well, i finally tested this thing, ran it until the end of the media, problem is that it didnt write the file when the media was full. The file doesnt show up on the media but when the card is installed in the microtracker it says media is full, anyone have this problem yet? Kind of sucks because i was monitoring the thing while it was recording and was gonna hit the "rec" button with about 5 seconds left so it would write the file but when i went to do that it pretty much froze up and said media was full. Anyone know how I might recover this file that is causing the media to show full?
The only time I saw that on mine John is before I formated the CF.
Brad
-
Hi folks,
I considered posting this on the "Real Life Experiences" thread, but figured here was more appropriate. Right now my MicroTrack is totally useless (not heavy enough to use as a doorstop) and I can't even perform the firmware update, much less take advantage of it.
The little bugger consistently tells me record time available is 00:00:-1, regardless of media (included Kodak CF or 4GB Hitachi Microdrive), or whether the media is formatted in the device or on a PC. In fact, files on the card prior to "formatting" in the device are still there afterward. I'm unable to use the MicroTrack as a USB device on either of my three XP computers, as it never seems to allow itself to be properly recognized (and I've ruled out a bad USB cable). It does not show any files on the CF cards, even when I load the firmware update or mp3/wav files onto the cards via a card reader.
Any ideas? Thanks!
-
well, i finally tested this thing, ran it until the end of the media, problem is that it didnt write the file when the media was full. The file doesnt show up on the media but when the card is installed in the microtracker it says media is full, anyone have this problem yet? Kind of sucks because i was monitoring the thing while it was recording and was gonna hit the "rec" button with about 5 seconds left so it would write the file but when i went to do that it pretty much froze up and said media was full. Anyone know how I might recover this file that is causing the media to show full?
The only time I saw that on mine John is before I formated the CF.
Brad
well it was definitly formatted, there are currently 3 filles on the card and it recorded no probs but it got to the end and just froze up....
-
Hi folks,
I considered posting this on the "Real Life Experiences" thread, but figured here was more appropriate. Right now my MicroTrack is totally useless (not heavy enough to use as a doorstop) and I can't even perform the firmware update, much less take advantage of it.
The little bugger consistently tells me record time available is 00:00:-1, regardless of media (included Kodak CF or 4GB Hitachi Microdrive), or whether the media is formatted in the device or on a PC. In fact, files on the card prior to "formatting" in the device are still there afterward. I'm unable to use the MicroTrack as a USB device on either of my three XP computers, as it never seems to allow itself to be properly recognized (and I've ruled out a bad USB cable). It does not show any files on the CF cards, even when I load the firmware update or mp3/wav files onto the cards via a card reader.
Any ideas? Thanks!
Yeah - return it for a new one. ;) It sounds like you just got a bad one.
-
i just had a weird one after last nite.
I had NO problems starting it up or anything like that, but in both sets at exactly 598,281kB file size it would stop recording!!?? I found that extremely strange to have it happen twice with the exact same file sizes.
I am using the Dane-Elec card. It would start back up immediately when i hit record tho.
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
I had *exactly* the same problem exept I was using a hitachi 4gb microdrive. I was trying 16/48 via the spdif input. I have not retried again with the new firmware.
which part was exactly the same? The file size stoppage?
bump since no answer posted
-
i just had a weird one after last nite.
I had NO problems starting it up or anything like that, but in both sets at exactly 598,281kB file size it would stop recording!!?? I found that extremely strange to have it happen twice with the exact same file sizes.
I am using the Dane-Elec card. It would start back up immediately when i hit record tho.
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
I had *exactly* the same problem exept I was using a hitachi 4gb microdrive. I was trying 16/48 via the spdif input. I have not retried again with the new firmware.
which part was exactly the same? The file size stoppage?
bump since no answer posted
My old trading buddy Josh can probably answer for himself, but pretty much the exact same thing:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=51241.msg667305#msg667305
-
thanks
some good news:
I was able to record for 96 minutes straight, so maybe the new firmware has corrected this?
Bad news:
There are little skips in the samples. This only seems to occur after 1hour. They are not drops, but for example i recorded the tv (simpsons) Homer says "Your're right...it is Christmas" On the recording you hear "You're right...it is Ch....as" There is no gap, but more of a skip.
Any idea what could be causing this? Using the Dane-Elec4GB compact Flash card.
I have a microdrive on the way so maybe it will cease?
-
i just had a weird one after last nite.
I had NO problems starting it up or anything like that, but in both sets at exactly 598,281kB file size it would stop recording!!?? I found that extremely strange to have it happen twice with the exact same file sizes.
I am using the Dane-Elec card. It would start back up immediately when i hit record tho.
Fortunately i was running backup DAT so i can splice it, but how bizzare.
oh yeah...this file size was at 16/44.1 which is 57:34 time
I had *exactly* the same problem exept I was using a hitachi 4gb microdrive. I was trying 16/48 via the spdif input. I have not retried again with the new firmware.
which part was exactly the same? The file size stoppage?
bump since no answer posted
My old trading buddy Josh can probably answer for himself, but pretty much the exact same thing:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=51241.msg667305#msg667305
the recording stopped at the same file size. This is fixed with the new firmware.
-
thanks
some good news:
I was able to record for 96 minutes straight, so maybe the new firmware has corrected this?
Bad news:
There are little skips in the samples. This only seems to occur after 1hour. They are not drops, but for example i recorded the tv (simpsons) Homer says "Your're right...it is Christmas" On the recording you hear "You're right...it is Ch....as" There is no gap, but more of a skip.
Any idea what could be causing this? Using the Dane-Elec4GB compact Flash card.
I have a microdrive on the way so maybe it will cease?
I had some skips on my scofield recording from last night. I was running 24/96 via the line in to a 6gb microdrive. I thought it was the microdrive. What sample rate were you recording?
-
16/44.1
-
damn, thats not good :'( hope those skips cease and desist :)
-
i put this in the other thread, should of put it here:
ok, finally had a chance to actually use this thing in a real situation and unfortunatly i let someone use my JB3 who promptly messed it up by injecting 48v into the line in so i had no backup. Heres what happened:
10/12 - recorded 3 bands, all at 24/48 analog in (C4's > UA5 > MT). The first thing i noticed is the meters seemed to act normally for the first 10 minutes or so of each set but then started acting real buggy so as has been mentioned they are pretty worthless, i just set the input to where the red lights would flash( i did get varying intensities) every once in a while which put all three recordings at around -3db when i looked at them with CEP. The biggest problem is all 3 have some rather annoying noise that is especially noticable during quiet times, almost like some hardrive noise even though there is nothing mechanical going on there. Its not overbearing but its definitly there.
10/13 - same room, mics in exact same place (never took them down from night before), got there early enough for soundcheck because i wanted to try some different 1/4" adapters and rca cable, i also wanted to try recording at 16/44.1 and 24/48 to see if there was a noise problem as there was the night before. I recorded part of the soundcheck at both settings and when listening afterwards there was no noise present so i chocked up the night before to a bad adapter or something. When the show started i decided to record at 24/96, nothing including level adjustments were changed from soundcheck earlier. The thing recorded fine, level meters did the same as the night before. I got bitten by the 2 GB bug but fortunately it was right after the "thank you, good night" so i just started another file to get the encores. The big problem was after i transfered it later. This thing is unlistenable, sounds like they are playing underwater and its all broken up and distorted. I am thinking that maybe this Dane-Elec 4GB CF card cant keep up with the write speed required for 24/96, thats the only thing i can think of unless there is an actual flaw recording analog in at that sample rate. I have to do some testing of this now with a diff card to see if thats the problem, anyone else have this happen yet?
-
I am thinking that maybe this Dane-Elec 4GB CF card cant keep up with the write speed required for 24/96, thats the only thing i can think of unless there is an actual flaw recording analog in at that sample rate. I have to do some testing of this now with a diff card to see if thats the problem, anyone else have this happen yet?
FWIW, me and at least one other friend have been using the Dane-Elec 4GB CF reliably at 24/44.1 in the R-1 since May. If I ever get my MT back, I will test it out with my 4GB Dane Elec and 4GB Kingston Elite @ 24/44.1 or 48 and see what I get.
-
FWIW, me and at least one other friend have been using the Dane-Elec 4GB CF reliably at 24/44.1 in the R-1 since May. If I ever get my MT back, I will test it out with my 4GB Dane Elec and 4GB Kingston Elite @ 24/44.1 or 48 and see what I get.
yeah, mine worked flawlessly at 24/48 the second day, i would be curious as to what happens if you try 24/96 with that dane card, that is if you ever get your MT back :)
-
Barely started testing (hell...I rec'd the MT on Monday, but left it unopened until yesterday, as I debated with myself all week whether to return it after reading everything here). First thing I did was update the firmware. Then, I just did a basic charging / discharging test, to see if I had the same experience everyone else did on initial charging. I did.
The bug part: once "fully" charged, I left the MT on till it reached the low charge level and shut down. I plugged it in to recharge; and after about 30 minutes or so, I checked the charging status. The battery icon was flickering, not giving the normal "cascading" charge icon. I diconnected, allowed the unit to boot, shut it down and reconnected to the charger. It went back to charging, with the "cascading" icon reappearing.
Later today, I expect to put it through the general testing using all my gear. This is, of course, after I've made a visit to RS or similar to get some connectors / adapters for my S/PDIF and RCA cables. Honestly, whoever was responsible for the design/engineering for the S/PDIF & RCA jacks must have done their testing with the cheesiest RCA plugs they could find to get the tolerances so tight.
-
thanks
some good news:
I was able to record for 96 minutes straight, so maybe the new firmware has corrected this?
Bad news:
There are little skips in the samples. This only seems to occur after 1hour. They are not drops, but for example i recorded the tv (simpsons) Homer says "Your're right...it is Christmas" On the recording you hear "You're right...it is Ch....as" There is no gap, but more of a skip.
Any idea what could be causing this? Using the Dane-Elec4GB compact Flash card.
I have a microdrive on the way so maybe it will cease?
I had some skips on my scofield recording from last night. I was running 24/96 via the line in to a 6gb microdrive. I thought it was the microdrive. What sample rate were you recording?
I finally got through to M-Audio. there are only 2 people working in there right now!!
Anyways, this problem is not a known issue, so they didn't have much. There was 1 case of this, but a new card fixed it. The only thing they came up with is it could be a bad card...
They did suggest trying a new card, which i already have one on the way so hopefully i will be able to test this out sooner than later.
I would suggest calling MAudio and reporting this since i am sure they would like to hear about it.
No update on the next firmware, but the 2GB file split is on their priority list.
-
was that the dane-elec card you scored off of ebay phil? wasnt there word they didnt play nice w/ some devices ???
-
I also use a 4GB dane-elec CF card. A few days ago I recorded city noises just to test if this card work with 24/96 setting via mic in using the supplied mic. The recording was so bad it was not listenable. There were cracking noises and distortion in the recording. It was fine when I recorded at 24/48. So I guess dane-elec CF card is not compatible with MT at 24/96??????
-
i am just going to use it for 24/48... either way it puts me into the 24-bit recording business without a laptop.
actually, in listening to my recording from saturday, i have all kinds of weird dropouts in places. fuck... this dane-elec card may not be working properly.
-
I also use a 4GB dane-elec CF card. A few days ago I recorded city noises just to test if this card work with 24/96 setting via mic in using the supplied mic. The recording was so bad it was not listenable. There were cracking noises and distortion in the recording. It was fine when I recorded at 24/48. So I guess dane-elec CF card is not compatible with MT at 24/96??????
What characteristic of the card does make it incompatible?
Sustained write speed?
24/96 is only 576 KB/second or so?
Anyone?
-
i have no idea, but there are dropouts at 24/48 in the middle of an hour-long set.
-
I haven't listened to my 24/48 recording pass 1 hr so I guess I should test this out. 24/96 via mic in is definitely not good with dane-elec CF cards.
Can anyone here tell me a reliable 4GB CF brand capable of recording 24/96 via mic/line in without problems?
-
My Sandisk records 24/96 just fine, although I haven't done a show with it yet (just testing). 24/48 over SPDIF has worked great on multiple occasions, though.
-
I got this from customer service today regarding the skips I had when recording on 24/96 to a microdrive:
-------snip
Is the microdrive you’re using 40x or above? If not, please get one that is.
Please let us know if you need further assistance.
Take Care,
LE
Technical Support
M-AUDIO
A part of Avid
ph: 626-633-9055
fax: 626-633 9060
techsupt@m-audio.com
www.m-audio.com
-------snip
24/48 seems ok so far to the microdrive.
-
i did have issues with the cheaper sandisk 4GB cards (the ones with the 2GB partition switch) when i was using them in the 722 and R-1...this was when i switched to the Lexars
boogie
Heh, that's the one I'm having no problems with. ;D
-
I finally got more responses from Maudio. I submitted two items, email & once from the beta firmware support:
Here's what i got:
Phil,
Is your card at least 40x? This is the minimum requirement for the compact flash card to work.
Please let us know if you need further assistance.
Take Care,
LE
Technical Support
---
Problem:
Originally after 57:53 minutes of recording the unit would stop via SPDIF in. It seems the new firmware has fixed this so far, so that is good. What doesn\'t seem to be better is that there are little skips in the recordings. This occured first time out of the box & after the firmware update. For example, the skips are from a tv audio simpsons recording through microphones. The word \"Christmas\" is said, but on the recording it sounds like \"Ch.....as\" There is no real gap, but a skip when writing the file. I am using the Dane Elec 4GB compact flash card. Is this not a compatible item? Thanks Phil
and:
Hello, we apologize for the problems you are experiencing. The issues you refer to are known at this time, have been noted and will be addressed, if not by the Beta 1.1.5 firmware update now available on our website, then in upcoming firmware releases.
Thank you for the information, I will refer this to our driver developers.
Unfortunately I am unable to suggest a workaround for your issues at the present time
A R
--------------------
Hello
I recently purchased the MT2496 and a 4GB Dane-Elec compact flash card.
I have updated to the beta firmware too.
I am having a problem with the recordings: there are little skips in the audio, but they are not gaps. running a test recording of ambient noise, an example of this would be a word on the recording (from the simpsons tv show): "Christmas"
Only on the recording, it sounded like "Ch....as" There was no drop out, but rather a seamless skip.
This seemed to occur after around 30-45 minutes of recording time. Unfortunatley this flaw basically renders this unit useless.
I know of another user with the same problem who is using the Hitachi microdrive.
Is there a known problem of the writing of files? Could this be a "buffer" issue? Is Dane-Elec not compatible?
I tried to call but i waited 45minutes on hold before i had to hang up.
I appreciate your help on this. I do have great expectations on this product so hopefully this will be an easy fix
THanks
Phil
-
i sent in an email to m-audio support yesterday about the levels being so hot & the lowest setting being marked at about a 15db gain. here is the response i received today:
Hello, right now we are working on a firmware update that will address this issue. If you like, there is a beta version firmware revision available on our website, but it will not address all the issues that the full version addresses.
The firmware update for the MicroTrack can be found here:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers
Please let us know if you need further assistance.
Take Care,
LE
Technical Support
M-AUDIO
A part of Avid
ph: 626-633-9055
fax: 626-633 9060
techsupt@m-audio.com
www.m-audio.com
-
Good news!!!
The 45x Kingston 4GB flash card seems to be working like a charm :)
No skips/gaps found in the recording after 62 minutes of testing. I would normally find them at around 35-40 until the end, so thats good news!!!
Bean..i think we are one step closer for you
-
Yay, I get to report another "wtf" moment with the MT.
It's been through 4 charge cycles since the last time I used it (and it was at half battery at the end of that session) and it was verified at full charge and powered off before I put it in my bag this afternoon. 4-5 hours later i pull it out at the show I'm to tape tonight, and the battery has a sliver of juice left in the meter. Immediately I plug in my USB battery box and let it charge, but it completely ran out of juice within about half an hour. USB box won't affect it, it won't boot, and I missed one of the better shows to come through here lately (Meshuggah) because of it.
Needless to say, I'm not real happy.
I know this issue's been mentioned up here before, the mysterious discharge of battery while the unit's off...has this been reported to M-Audio since the beta firmware came out, though? Or should I do that? [edit: i bug reported it to them on principle]
I'm not sayin this is absolutely ridiculous...but jeez...I really thought I was going to be able to rely on this unit after taping 6-8 shows with it, but now I'm not so sure...
-
the prevailing wisdom that multiple charge cycles gives you more time also seems to be a fallacy IME and its only gonna kill the li-ion battery sooner
I agree. From everything I have read, a lion degrades EACH charge-discharge cycle. I think some are burning down their batteries with a bunch of needless cycling. It isn't a NiCad and it isn't a an NiMH. I'd like to see a document from an authoritative source that says otherwise.
When you buy a used lion laptop battery on ebay, the big question is "how many cycles". That's because each discharge-charge cycle brings the battery one cycle closer to end of life. Laptop batteries often keep count and you can get that info in windows.
-
probably goes without saying, but the hold switch is invaluable....esp when putting the device in a bag...its entirely possible that it got turned on while it was in there
i have not seen any spontaneous drain out with my MT
the prevailing wisdom that multiple charge cycles gives you more time also seems to be a fallacy IME and its only gonna kill the li-ion battery sooner
these USB battery boxes also seem to be flakey with 1.2V nimh batteries, but work fine with full 1.5V AA batteries (alkalines or lithiums)
boogie
I agree that it's possible it got turned on in my bag, but it's highly unlikely...I couldn't really afford the MT so I'm way, way anal/careful with it...In this instance it was in a loose bag, on top of the two battery boxes and facing LCD upwards, sitting on the desk. It would have had to turn itself on, drain completely at idle in a few hours, and then turn itself off prior to me going to the show.
Also, as for the hold switch, I know you can still turn it off with the hold switch on if you hold power down long enough. I wonder if it can still be turned on like that too.
I've only read of one other person that had this happen on here, and as I recall theirs was just sitting idle and powered off too, so I'm guessing it's either a fluke of operator error (still not ruling that one out here either) or some really nasty random bug.
As for the internal battery, thanks to you guys who responded...there's been some conflicting opinions, some feel that charging it when it's full won't hurt it, and some feel that charging it when it's full just wears it out... as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I know next to jack about batteries, but I really do appreciate the adivce. I'll change my habits, and I'll only charge it until the battery icon says full when i boot it normally, if you guys think that might be wearing out the battery.
The USB battery box had 1.5v alkalines in it last night, brand new ones, and they didn't seem to have enough juice to really make a difference. I used 1.5v lithium cells the other day and they worked great, I taped for over 4 hours and had half juice when I was done. I had the battery box plugged in during taping and then used it to charge the unit a little between sets that day.
Thanks for the comments and advice for sure guys.
-
I doubt you can overcharge the battery. Because, as a lithium, it would probably just explode :laugh:
-
the prevailing wisdom that multiple charge cycles gives you more time also seems to be a fallacy IME and its only gonna kill the li-ion battery sooner
I agree. From everything I have read, a lion degrades EACH charge-discharge cycle. I think some are burning down their batteries with a bunch of needless cycling. It isn't a NiCad and it isn't a an NiMH. I'd like to see a document from an authoritative source that says otherwise.
I don't think people are cycling their batteries as much as recharging to simply "top off" the charge. Yes, a lithium-ion battery will loose a percent of capacity after "X" amount of charges, but these losses in capacity come after full discharge and charge cycles, not simply topping off the battery to peak the charge. I've said it before, but I believe the biggest issue with the MT battery is the way the charging circuit is programmed in the firmware. Most high-level chargers have the ability to "peak charge" a battery several times to reach its full potential. Most low-level chargers are subject to "false peaking" and are not programmed to allow for a certain tolerance of false peaks and continue the charging cycle to maximize the batteries potential. I have yet to do so, but I am tempted to remove the battery cell from the MT and cycle charge the battery on my Triton battery charger, which would tell me what kind of capacity the battery has and would maximize the charge itself. It would be interesting to see what kind of run time I would get after one battery charge outside of the MT platform...
dB-
-
the prevailing wisdom that multiple charge cycles gives you more time also seems to be a fallacy IME and its only gonna kill the li-ion battery sooner
I agree. From everything I have read, a lion degrades EACH charge-discharge cycle. I think some are burning down their batteries with a bunch of needless cycling. It isn't a NiCad and it isn't a an NiMH. I'd like to see a document from an authoritative source that says otherwise.
I don't think people are cycling their batteries as much as recharging to simply "top off" the charge. Yes, a lithium-ion battery will loose a percent of capacity after "X" amount of charges, but these losses in capacity come after full discharge and charge cycles, not simply topping off the battery to peak the charge. I've said it before, but I believe the biggest issue with the MT battery is the way the charging circuit is programmed in the firmware. Most high-level chargers have the ability to "peak charge" a battery several times to reach its full potential. Most low-level chargers are subject to "false peaking" and are not programmed to allow for a certain tolerance of false peaks and continue the charging cycle to maximize the batteries potential. I have yet to do so, but I am tempted to remove the battery cell from the MT and cycle charge the battery on my Triton battery charger, which would tell me what kind of capacity the battery has and would maximize the charge itself. It would be interesting to see what kind of run time I would get after one battery charge outside of the MT platform...
dB-
That's a point of clarification I wanted to make also...I'm not talking about a full discharge, full charge cycle, what I'm talking about is letting the MT charge to full battery icon after normal use (ie, the icon has stopped doing the filling animation) then unplugging it so that it boots, turning it off, and plugging it back in. This is only in an effort to actually fully charge the battery, and in all cases it will continue to charge for at least an hour, sometimes more.
So the general consensus is this specific activity isn't a bad thing and shouldn't hurt the battery?
-
the prevailing wisdom that multiple charge cycles gives you more time also seems to be a fallacy IME and its only gonna kill the li-ion battery sooner
I agree. From everything I have read, a lion degrades EACH charge-discharge cycle. I think some are burning down their batteries with a bunch of needless cycling. It isn't a NiCad and it isn't a an NiMH. I'd like to see a document from an authoritative source that says otherwise.
I don't think people are cycling their batteries as much as recharging to simply "top off" the charge. Yes, a lithium-ion battery will loose a percent of capacity after "X" amount of charges, but these losses in capacity come after full discharge and charge cycles, not simply topping off the battery to peak the charge. I've said it before, but I believe the biggest issue with the MT battery is the way the charging circuit is programmed in the firmware. Most high-level chargers have the ability to "peak charge" a battery several times to reach its full potential. Most low-level chargers are subject to "false peaking" and are not programmed to allow for a certain tolerance of false peaks and continue the charging cycle to maximize the batteries potential. I have yet to do so, but I am tempted to remove the battery cell from the MT and cycle charge the battery on my Triton battery charger, which would tell me what kind of capacity the battery has and would maximize the charge itself. It would be interesting to see what kind of run time I would get after one battery charge outside of the MT platform...
dB-
That's a point of clarification I wanted to make also...I'm not talking about a full discharge, full charge cycle, what I'm talking about is letting the MT charge to full battery icon after normal use (ie, the icon has stopped doing the filling animation) then unplugging it so that it boots, turning it off, and plugging it back in. This is only in an effort to actually fully charge the battery, and in all cases it will continue to charge for at least an hour, sometimes more.
So the general consensus is this specific activity isn't a bad thing and shouldn't hurt the battery?
It won't hurt the battery, your simply taking a manual approach to peak charging which in better battery chargers would be controlled via software.
dB-
-
I questioned M-audio on this very subject and was advised that once the battery charge indicator icon has reached the full position the unit is completely charged. Repeated charging will not increase the battery charge level at all according to the manufacturer. i tried this same scenario and had the same results with the icon always allowing you to continue charging after a completed charge cycle had just taken place. This is obviously yet another item which the software needs to have revised.
If you are that concerned about battery life get a USB battery box or rechargeable battery that you can use to increase your recording time. This subject has been covered elesewhere in the forum.
-
Don't know if this is necessarily a bug or just an issue with my particular unit. But I noticed a whole line on my display isn't working. Sort of like a blown pixel in a digital camera display except it is a whole line crosswise. It cuts right accross the "Booting Firmware" upon startup and remains missing when doing anything. Just wanted to check to see if anyone else had this display issue. I am debating trying to exchange it for another unit since it came that way new out of package.
-
Don't know if this is necessarily a bug or just an issue with my particular unit. But I noticed a whole line on my display isn't working. Sort of like a blown pixel in a digital camera display except it is a whole line crosswise. It cuts right accross the "Booting Firmware" upon startup and remains missing when doing anything. Just wanted to check to see if anyone else had this display issue. I am debating trying to exchange it for another unit since it came that way new out of package.
The display is fine on my unit, looks like you got a bad one.
-
Has no-one had the issue of battery draining totally when turned off for a few days after being fully charged?
I had this happen once before installing the new firmware (I noted it on this site). I have also had it go a few days fully charged and find that there was about 2/3 battery charge left (or even more).
I installed the new firmware a few days ago and charged up doing the extra charging as per some folk on this site a few times. (BTW, I didn't charge it that way the previous time the battery drained dead.)
Anyway, just now I turn it on and, er, well, tried to turn it on. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. So I plugged it in to charge and it's still dead. This is after well over 5 minutes, probably longer. So I then plugged it into the USB port of my powerbook not expecting anything and finally, after 1-2 minutes the lights turned on.
Even though everything else seems to work as expected, I'm really hoping that I have a dud unit because I don't like the way iteh battery drains when turned off like that. That means that I need to keep topping it up almost daily even when I don't use the unit for a long time.
Anyone else had this? Hopefully not. Please post experiences.
-
i've not had that experience. i was testing a few things on it early last week, and didn't use it again until sunday...seemed to have the same battery as when i left it
-
As I posted before the MT appears to destroy Traxdata 4GB CF cards when formatting them.
They come out as 707G (after powerdown, formatting takes forever).
Anyone know what is wrong? ???
Is this an issue with only my MT?
(the Kodak 64MB CF works OK)
-
Has no-one had the issue of battery draining totally when turned off for a few days after being fully charged?
I had this happen once before installing the new firmware (I noted it on this site). I have also had it go a few days fully charged and find that there was about 2/3 battery charge left (or even more).
I installed the new firmware a few days ago and charged up doing the extra charging as per some folk on this site a few times. (BTW, I didn't charge it that way the previous time the battery drained dead.)
Anyway, just now I turn it on and, er, well, tried to turn it on. Nothing. Dead as a doornail. So I plugged it in to charge and it's still dead. This is after well over 5 minutes, probably longer. So I then plugged it into the USB port of my powerbook not expecting anything and finally, after 1-2 minutes the lights turned on.
Even though everything else seems to work as expected, I'm really hoping that I have a dud unit because I don't like the way iteh battery drains when turned off like that. That means that I need to keep topping it up almost daily even when I don't use the unit for a long time.
Anyone else had this? Hopefully not. Please post experiences.
Mine seems to lose a bit of charge after sitting for a few days without being turned on as well.
-
As for the internal battery, thanks to you guys who responded...there's been some conflicting opinions, some feel that charging it when it's full won't hurt it, and some feel that charging it when it's full just wears it out... as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I know next to jack about batteries, but I really do appreciate the adivce. I'll change my habits, and I'll only charge it until the battery icon says full when i boot it normally, if you guys think that might be wearing out the battery.
I'm not an expert but I do have experience with LiPoly cells in electric airplanes.
1. The cells degrade with each charge / discharge cycle. Partial or full. The degradation is in proportion to the energy removed and replaced.
2. There is some evidence that LiPoly cells that are held fully charged (as opposed to being fully charged and then having the charge circuit disconnected) degrade faster than cells that are charged and then left to self discharge. For example, my laptop charges to 100% and then disconnectes the charge until the cells drop to about 95% (by using the laptop or simple self discharge).
3. Unlike the constant current charge routine used with NiCd or NiMh cells, the LiPoly charge routine involves applying a current limited constant voltage (4.2V/cell) to the cell(s). Because of this, "topping off" has no effect at all once the cell(s) reach full charge. In fact, a properly operaitng LiPoly charger should not even attempt to charge a fully charged LiPoly pack. Full charge is defined as 4.2V per cell and a charge current near zero at 4.2V. Assuming the charger is working correctly, that is. I have my doubts about the MT. From what I have read, either the charger is not operating correctly in some units or the battery meter is screwy or there is intermittent discharge occurring even when the unit is off. What I would expect is for the unit to charge to full charge and then terminate the charge. Removing power and immediately re-applying it should NOT result in further charging.
Paul
-
Thanks for the replies, guys. Since I had this happen when charging to full on one charge only, as well as the multi-charge experiment, and since no-one else seems to have experienced the battery draining fully it so far looks like I may have a bad unit.
I'll get in touch with M-Audio. It's not good when I want to take it out and record for 20 mins, thinking I should have an over-half full battery, only to find it's dead.
-
Update: I charged it up today, turned it off around midday. Now, around 12 hours later, turning it on, the battery shows only a tiny slit left. Calling M-Audio as soon as I have the time. Will charge again and try again in the interim.
-
i just got the microtrack yesterday. im just a little confused about charging it for the first time.
i took it out of the box, put in the compact flash card that it came with and plugged it in. the quickstart guide said it would start charging, but it didnt. i tried pushing the power button and it did nothing. i couldnt get the microtrack to power up. i left it plugged into the wall for a little while and as i was walking by i saw that the whole screen was lit up blue. it says its charging now.
does this sound normal? should it take a few minutes for the thing to turn on after plugging it in the first time?
-
i just got the microtrack yesterday. im just a little confused about charging it for the first time.
i took it out of the box, put in the compact flash card that it came with and plugged it in. the quickstart guide said it would start charging, but it didnt. i tried pushing the power button and it did nothing. i couldnt get the microtrack to power up. i left it plugged into the wall for a little while and as i was walking by i saw that the whole screen was lit up blue. it says its charging now.
does this sound normal? should it take a few minutes for the thing to turn on after plugging it in the first time?
this happened to me and at least several other folks here. don't worry about it.
-
I know all about the display flaking out, but during a show my green recording lights also went out. I was recording 24/48 s/pdif from a V3. The whole unit was locked up, no lights, display frozen. I thought for sure it had stopped recording but left it alone. After the show I had to hold the power button down until it turned off, then turned it back on again. Booted up and then locked up again... had to do another hard re-boot until it finally worked normally. The recording itself never stopped and seems to be intact.
Another time while listening to a recording on the headphones the sound on the headphones suddenly went out, and I had to re-boot. Has anyone else had that problem?
-
It is official:
Traxdata 4GB Pro CF cards are NOT compatible with the MT.
Today I could try a Kingston Elite Pro 4GB which appears to work OK. (formatting works, 6+ hours of space after some waiting to get that info)
Anybody know when (+/-) the updated firmware should be here? Before Christmas?
-
Anybody know when (+/-) the updated firmware should be here? Before Christmas?
I asked M-Audio this earlier in the week. Their response:
"Unfortunately, due to the nature of firmware releases (testing/verifications/fixes/features) we cannot specify any official dates on when the next firmware may be available."
Obviously doesn't tell us much. I wrote back looking for a general timeline and will report when they respond.
-
Anybody know when (+/-) the updated firmware should be here? Before Christmas?
I asked M-Audio this earlier in the week. Their response:
"Unfortunately, due to the nature of firmware releases (testing/verifications/fixes/features) we cannot specify any official dates on when the next firmware may be available."
Obviously doesn't tell us much. I wrote back looking for a general timeline and will report when they respond.
I can understand they don't want to pin temselves down but they can give us a rough goal date and keeping their list of bugs to be squashed before that date for themselves?
I'd rather see more often released firmwares with a few bugs less (or more features) than released farther apart with less chance to give feedback on fixes or progress.
Did anyone check out the limiter in the ADC?
AKM EK5365 I read somewhere here.
I am no limiter expert but can anyone if it can be useful?
-
Anybody know when (+/-) the updated firmware should be here? Before Christmas?
I asked M-Audio this earlier in the week. Their response:
"Unfortunately, due to the nature of firmware releases (testing/verifications/fixes/features) we cannot specify any official dates on when the next firmware may be available."
Obviously doesn't tell us much. I wrote back looking for a general timeline and will report when they respond.
I can understand they don't want to pin temselves down but they can give us a rough goal date and keeping their list of bugs to be squashed before that date for themselves?
Don't hold your breath.
-
I heard back from M-Audio this morning. They said the firmware update would be available hopefully within the next month, but they cannot guarantee that. The metering issue(meters go haywire after a while) is one of the issues they are working on for the next update.
-
I heard back from M-Audio this morning. They said the firmware update would be available hopefully within the next month, but they cannot guarantee that. The metering issue(meters go haywire after a while) is one of the issues they are working on for the next update.
Heard the same thing here as well. I was told this is a much bigger firmware upgrade which is supposed to correct the bulk of the issues. We shall see.
dB-
-
Anybody know when (+/-) the updated firmware should be here? Before Christmas?
I asked M-Audio this earlier in the week. Their response:
"Unfortunately, due to the nature of firmware releases (testing/verifications/fixes/features) we cannot specify any official dates on when the next firmware may be available."
Obviously doesn't tell us much. I wrote back looking for a general timeline and will report when they respond.
I can understand they don't want to pin temselves down but they can give us a rough goal date and keeping their list of bugs to be squashed before that date for themselves?
I'd rather see more often released firmwares with a few bugs less (or more features) than released farther apart with less chance to give feedback on fixes or progress.
Did anyone check out the limiter in the ADC?
AKM EK5365 I read somewhere here.
I am no limiter expert but can anyone if it can be useful?
My software engineering background tells me that it makes more sense for M-Audio to release one large update as opposed to several smaller updates. If they are following a rigorous testing scheme then it is easier to do all the tests once as opposed to many times (with each update). One fix could break another part of the code, probably best to avoid this happening multiple times.
Most MT users probably have adequate functionality at this point, so M-Audio are probably not rushed to release updates. On a side note, I noticed a couple reporters using the microtrack in my area.
-
If they are following a rigorous testing scheme then it is easier to do all the tests once as opposed to many times (with each update).
Rigorous testing scheme? In all seriousness, that would be a change from the process they seem to have employed in the past.
Given the serious problems, I'd vote for more frequent, minor, bug fix releases. The team that does this code hasn't demonstrated that they can even do a quality release yet. So holding off for that ideal pie in the sky release seems like an odd way to go. Hope they surprise us.
Most MT users probably have adequate functionality at this point, so M-Audio are probably not rushed to release updates.
The number of bugs in this thing when it was first released would barely qualify it as an alpha product. Given the number of problems with the current firmware, I don't really even consider it beta. A normal beta has obvious issues resolved. It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes to find bugs in the MT and serious omissions in the documentation.
Based on reports here, a significant percentage of recordings are still being lost.
I'd get an R-1 except it looks like that firmware will Never get updated (2gb fix) :P
(hugs 722)
-
If they are following a rigorous testing scheme then it is easier to do all the tests once as opposed to many times (with each update).
Rigorous testing scheme? In all seriousness, that would be a change from the process they seem to have employed in the past.
Given the serious problems, I'd vote for more frequent, minor, bug fix releases. The team that does this code hasn't demonstrated that they can even do a quality release yet. So holding off for that ideal pie in the sky release seems like an odd way to go. Hope they surprise us.
Most MT users probably have adequate functionality at this point, so M-Audio are probably not rushed to release updates.
The number of bugs in this thing when it was first released would barely qualify it as an alpha product. Given the number of problems with the current firmware, I don't really even consider it beta. A normal beta has obvious issues resolved. It doesn't take more than a couple of minutes to find bugs in the MT and serious omissions in the documentation.
Based on reports here, a significant percentage of recordings are still being lost.
I'd get an R-1 except it looks like that firmware will Never get updated (2gb fix) :P
(hugs 722)
Testing and the managers' push to market are always tough to balance. Products are often released much earlier than engineers would like, usually because the projects have tight capital plans. In custom software that, as a customer, I beta test everyday I always find the first release is putrid followed by a quickly released patch, and then wait a much longer time for more significant patch or full release.
The managers get some relief with the initial release and this usually allows time for engineers to do more thorough testing. Exhaustive software testing is a very time consuming process.
Having said all this, in my humble opinion, I would expect the next real firmware upgrade will take some time, but address a significant amount of bugs.
-
IMO this is a complete exageration of the situation, past or present
people are entirely too sensitive over the "edge" condition problems with this device...sure not all the features advertised work perfectly yet, but....
pure and simple the basic functionality of this device is solid, stable and reliable....someone using this device for recording using the mic input to a 16/44.1 file will have what problems exactly?
contrary to what people here want...24/96 over the SPDIF is NOT a function even 10% of the market for this device needs/wants/cares about
i have been regularly using the MT for 24/44.1 recordings and haven't lost one...sure i use the analog inputs, a more expensive name-brand CF card and a name-brand micro-drive, i reformat the media between sessions, and i have used many different recorders so i'm pretty familiar with how they work, but i dont feel the majority of "reported" problems i have seen on this site are the fault of the device as much as user inexperience/error/lack of understanding of the inherent issues with solid state media, file formats, etc
the 722 you are hugging had by comparision more significant issues with basic functionality in its initial releases..file corruption was a major issue with the 722...it got fixed....just like the m-audio problems will get fixed....be patient, or use another piece of gear
boogie
+T, I agree with you. Most people are using this in analog-in situations.