Topic: Microtrack Bug Report

[fozzy]

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

[sunrisemusic]

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. 

[rdvdijk]

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

[it-goes-to-eleven]

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!

[musicsherlock]

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

[ShawnF]

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.

[JasonSobel]

just realized another "bug", albiet minor.

in this picture on M-audio's website:

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.

[cascademedia]

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.”

[musicsherlock]

+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)

 

[jboyzh]

...
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.

[wboswell]

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.

[Sebastian]

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.

[udovdh]

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"?

[cascademedia]

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

[oleg]

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