Taperssection.com

Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: danap on December 01, 2005, 03:54:06 PM

Title: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: danap on December 01, 2005, 03:54:06 PM
First the MT2496 is an awesome device. However, after the  new  beta release vesion 1.20b annoying bugs are still there:
1. I tried to reformat my 2Gb flashcard... the device just froze with blue  light on and empty screen having lost all text. I had to pull out the flashcard out of the MT in order to reboot the thing.  No damage was done to the card.  Crash during reformatting is the worst bug in any system.
2.  I have copied many different MP3 files on the flashcard and attempted to play them on MT2496. Result: mono mp3 files do not play,or rather: play a terrible garble  and worse than that: if I  attempt to play any such files (which play perfectly anywhere else), all sound output is cancelled for all mp3 files (even the 'good' ones). The device has then to be rebooted in order to work properly. This was  also the case under ALL previous software releases.
3.  Quick cuing or rewieving (cuing back)  sucks: one can advance a  playback only in painful 5 sec. jumps. Trying e.g., to cue quickly to the 20th minute of a  3hours mp3 file  takes hours. Fixing this should pose  no problem to ANY programmer. Or does it ?
4. I still tend to think that the red light clipping warning and the recording meter are not perfectly synched (well I'm might be wrong here).
5. If I  order my sound files in diverse catalogs (folders) access to these files for playback on the MT2496 does not make sense (at least not to poor me).

More bugs detected out there ??
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: Brian Skalinder on December 01, 2005, 04:39:38 PM
2.  I have copied many different MP3 files on the flashcard and attempted to play them on MT2496. Result: mono mp3 files do not play,or rather: play a terrible garble  and worse than that: if I  attempt to play any such files (which play perfectly anywhere else), all sound output is cancelled for all mp3 files (even the 'good' ones). The device has then to be rebooted in order to work properly. This was  also the case under ALL previous software releases.
3.  Quick cuing or rewieving (cuing back)  sucks: one can advance a  playback only in painful 5 sec. jumps. Trying e.g., to cue quickly to the 20th minute of a  3hours mp3 file  takes hours. Fixing this should pose  no problem to ANY programmer. Or does it ?
5. If I  order my sound files in diverse catalogs (folders) access to these files for playback on the MT2496 does not make sense (at least not to poor me).

These sound primarliy like problems if one uses the MT2496 as an MP3 playback device.  IMO, there are far better options  - dedicated MP3 players, as opposed to recorders - for such functionality.

More bugs detected out there ??

Poke around a bit, there are a handful of threads devoted to the MT2496 and its associated bugs and/or idiosyncracies.
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: danap on December 01, 2005, 04:46:39 PM
Well, I do agree with the argument that since the MT2496 is "not primarily" a MP3 player that important playback bugs should be tolerated. In my field work i would like to be able to [hear/i] som mp3 files additionally to the pure  recording activities. I think M-Audio know about this bug, but has kept silent all the time.
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: danap on December 01, 2005, 04:56:57 PM
Well, I do agree with 

well,I meant  "I do not agree".
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: Brian Skalinder on December 01, 2005, 05:23:00 PM
Well, I do agree with the argument that since the MT2496 is "not primarily" a MP3 player that important playback bugs should be tolerated. In my field work i would like to be able to [hear/i] som mp3 files additionally to the pure  recording activities. I think M-Audio know about this bug, but has kept silent all the time.

I didn't mean to suggest we should tolerate playback bugs.  Though I do believe they'll (rightfully) carry a lower priority than recording bugs.  There are far superior options for MP3 playback.

BTW, you can modify your own posts - just hit the "Modify" button, edit, and then Save.
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: udovdh on December 02, 2005, 01:04:45 AM
Did danap email M-Audio techsupport about those issues?
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: danap on December 02, 2005, 01:51:06 AM
Done
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: joekar on December 13, 2005, 03:51:13 AM
I wish I could monitor the input while recording thru s/pdif........That would be nice....
Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: sickrick43 on December 13, 2005, 07:11:07 AM
Some observations from this weekends outing (which I copied from my post on another thread)...



A few other observations:
1 - Had it lock up between sets while leaving it running in "pause" mode.
2 - 48/24 will not play back thru the headphone jack, so forget about checking your recording between sets.
3 - Ran it on the "Power Station" LI-ION battery for 6 hours, with 2 lites left (though the battery doesn't show lights when charging, so you have no idea whether it's fully charged or not - glad I bought TWO).
4 - Channels DO flip @ 48/24 - so I ran my mics reversed into the V3 inputs, so I wouldn't have to flip channels later on.
5 - DON'T use you PCMCIA card reader in your laptop between sets.  Lucky I live to blocks from the club I was recording in - I had to run home and format the card in my PC during the 2nd set.
6 - 48/24 is the SHIZZIZZLE.  Much more detail, especially in the high freq's.  Well worth the added steps to dither-down for CD burning.  I listened to a transfer from someone who had thier DAT patched out of the line-outs on my V3 and the difference is apparant.

Rick

Title: Re: Microtrack software bugs and wish
Post by: BC on December 13, 2005, 04:33:35 PM

4 - Channels DO flip @ 48/24 - so I ran my mics reversed into the V3 inputs, so I wouldn't have to flip channels later on.


Good idea!
It never occurred to me to do that.   :P  :laugh: