Topic: Microtrack Bug Report

[John Kelly]

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.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

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.

[udovdh]

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...)

[adam smith]

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.

[JasonSobel]

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:

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.

[jhirte]

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).

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

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



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.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

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.

[mikey10123]

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.

[udovdh]

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...?

[neutrino]

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-

[mikey10123]

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.

[reesey]

the picture in my manual has 48v under the phantom power swtich....
tap...tap..tap... so weird.

[udovdh]

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?

[mikey10123]

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.