MicroTrack 24/96 Beta 1.2.0

[Ed.]

i think the fact that they've said they're working on the 2gb limit, probably means they're working on it.  for the most part, i'd assume if they didn't have plans on working on it, they'd probably let us know by saying "we have no plans of fixing that at them moment" - i don't think an online petition of countless angry emails sent to them everyday will change anything.

patience is a virtue.

i don't see why some people feel that m-audio owes them the 2gb split, m-audio owes you nothing, if you don't want an mt, don't buy one.  i honestly think that tapers make up a small percentage of people buying this, and most people aren't using it to tape concerts.  we should be happy that m-audio has done this much for us.  maybe we should thank them for what they've done rather then send them hate mail for the things they haven't worked out yet.

[hydrobud]

patience is a virtue.

  we should be happy that m-audio has done this much for us.  maybe we should thank them for what they've done rather then send them hate mail for the things they haven't worked out yet.

DITTO !!!    +T

[Nick Graham]

Nick, M1 doesn't do 24 bit so I guess you mean for 16 bit recordings you like the M1 A/D better. Does the MT dither down to 16 bits? If so, I would think that's an advantage over the M1.

Glad to hear the MT does 24/96 line in no prob.

Exactly. At 16 bit I *slightly* prefer the M1, but obviously having 24 bit capability gives the advantage to the Microtrack.

Hmm, just checked m-audio's website and given the S/N ratio of 98 dB, seems like running 24 bit analog in on the MT offers almost no advantage to 16 bit.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_gb/MicroTrack2496-focus.html

Sorry for straying off topic...

Is this true?  Intriguing...  Would you elaborate the reasoning?  Is it because you'd just be getting more bits of noise?

As a standard, you should have a S/N ratio of at least 6dB ber each bit. A S/N ratio of 96 would be ideal for 16 bit, where as a S/N ratio of 144 or higher is needed for 24 bit.

Basically running analog in you increase the noisefloor of the MT at 24 bit. Have I found it to be problematic or overly noisy? - not in the least.

[sygdwm]

As a standard, you should have a S/N ratio of at least 6dB ber each bit. A S/N ratio of 96 would be ideal for 16 bit, where as a S/N ratio of 144 or higher is needed for 24 bit.

what recorder has a range that high? the r1, r4, 671, nagra V are all under 100db. the 722/44 is the only one i can find higher than 100db. hence, the price i guess.

[L Ron Hoover]

New firmware worked great for me at Phil and Friends Sunday night. (M300>V3>MT@24/48) I connected everything, powered up the V3 then MT. It showed I had   ~ 1hr50min. File saved and powered down at setbreak. Powered V3 back up, powered MT, and plugged USB powerpack in. (just to be sure-battery said just under half) All worked well second set too.


Am I happy?





Shit yes!!!!!

[BC]

New firmware worked great for me at Phil and Friends Sunday night. (M300>V3>MT@24/48) I connected everything, powered up the V3 then MT. It showed I had   ~ 1hr50min. File saved and powered down at setbreak. Powered V3 back up, powered MT, and plugged USB powerpack in. (just to be sure-battery said just under half) All worked well second set too.

sweet!     

Just wondering, what kind of CF are you using? No glitches/white noise in the recording?? (yes, I am still kinda paranoid about running this thing without backup for important shows    )

[Ed.]

New firmware worked great for me at Phil and Friends Sunday night. (M300>V3>MT@24/48) I connected everything, powered up the V3 then MT. It showed I had   ~ 1hr50min. File saved and powered down at setbreak. Powered V3 back up, powered MT, and plugged USB powerpack in. (just to be sure-battery said just under half) All worked well second set too.

+t for the tip, my first run with the mt will be saturday night, i'm going to follow these instructions exactly.

[L Ron Hoover]

Kingston 4GB. I didn't hear any glitches, or white noise while splitting tracks last night.

[ghibliss]

For those of you that wish to record with 144 db of dynamic range you simply need to use the spdif input and use an outboard processor with 24 bit capability.  By bypassing the mic preamplifier stasge of the Microtrack recorder you can derive excellent quality recordings with a very reasonably priced device.  I am using the Core-Sound Mic 2496 whichis very small, battery operated and provides great sound quality to the MT 24/96.  I have had no problems recently using the latest firmware provided by M-Audio.  Yes there are a few minor issues which they need to still address but I would say that given the fact that this product is now only on the market about 60 days they have made huge strides forward in fixing the major issues reported.  The 2 GB file size issue and other minor items will be addressed in forthcoming releases and then we will really have an amazing little recorder!!

I can think of no other product which comes even close to offering the features and performance that this piece provides for both the price it is sold at as well as the size package it is provided in.  The fact that you can have a stealth recording device that fits in your shirt pocket is pretty amazing when you can add a digital in (spdif) and get the quality sound that it offers.

To those that are moaning and groaning on the make or break features this must have I would suggest you are being hypercritical of this product prematurely.  Name any other product out there regardless of price that does what the MT 24/96 does that is even close to being similar in size!  I would love to have a 722 as well but this is hardly a stealth designed device and as long as one is using an external processor for their mic preamplifier/ A/D convertor I doubt that one will ever hear any difference between the two products since the mic preamplifier is not being used at all in the MT24/96 in this configuration.

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Len?

[mmedley.]

Len?

It's gotta be.

[frankho]

By bypassing the mic preamplifier stasge of the Microtrack recorder you can derive excellent quality recordings with a very reasonably priced device.  I am using the Core-Sound Mic 2496 whichis very small, battery operated and provides great sound quality to the MT 24/96.

Hi,

I'm totally new to audio and recording. Just about to purchase my first gears to record nature sounds, such as bird songs etc., mostly at remote site with long hiking. So portable and battery-powered is must. I already got a Senn ME-66, and ordered MT. After reading (almost)all posts regarding MT, I still have no definite conclusion. Some suggest this unit is quiet enough, but more suggest its preamp is too noisy for this type of recording. So I'm considering an outboard preamp and maybe /ADC to fit in between. I was considering Mic2496 too but no headphone monitoring(does it?) basically ruled it out, because MT also has no monitoring when SPDIF in? It's not just the level things, but also shotgun aiming. One question here, does MT's internal preamp kick in when line in? Read somewhere MT's internal AD is not bad, if I use a good analog pream > MT line in, will give good result(for this type of recording)? Again, size, weight, battery-powered is very important(and price of course, SD MixPre probably my upper limit). Sorry for thes newbie question... ^_^

[it-goes-to-eleven]

With a good preamp, the MT should work very well for nature recording.  But the MT preamp is noisy when adding gain and you'll want to use the lowest gain setting.  Based on the info on the core-sounds site, the mic2496 isn't well suited for quiet sources.  SD's 722 preamp is very quiet at high gain. I haven't used an SD mixpre but if it is similar, I think it would be good for this application.   If you want to record for longer periods of time or over weekend camping trips, etc, consider a disk based recorder like a 20 or 40GB jb3.  But you should probably start a new thread rather than continuing this discussion here.

[Kyle]

As a standard, you should have a S/N ratio of at least 6dB ber each bit. A S/N ratio of 96 would be ideal for 16 bit, where as a S/N ratio of 144 or higher is needed for 24 bit.

what recorder has a range that high? the r1, r4, 671, nagra V are all under 100db. the 722/44 is the only one i can find higher than 100db. hence, the price i guess.

This is not a recorder, but the Sonic AD2K (Benchmakr 2402) has a s/n or 117db, while the new Benchmark ADC1 has a s/n of 120db. I know those are not recorders, just a/d stages. As far as I can tell right now, if you want that high s/n, you have to run an outboard a/d.

I have to keep reminding myself that specs are just numbers. How it sounds is most important (but I really love all that dynamic range )



edit: Mytek ADC192 - dynamic range of 123db! 

[Chris K]

Hi,

I'm totally new to audio and recording. Just about to purchase my first gears to record nature sounds, such as bird songs etc., mostly at remote site with long hiking. So portable and battery-powered is must. I already got a Senn ME-66, and ordered MT. After reading (almost)all posts regarding MT, I still have no definite conclusion. Some suggest this unit is quiet enough, but more suggest its preamp is too noisy for this type of recording. So I'm considering an outboard preamp and maybe /ADC to fit in between. I was considering Mic2496 too but no headphone monitoring(does it?) basically ruled it out, because MT also has no monitoring when SPDIF in? It's not just the level things, but also shotgun aiming. One question here, does MT's internal preamp kick in when line in? Read somewhere MT's internal AD is not bad, if I use a good analog pream > MT line in, will give good result(for this type of recording)? Again, size, weight, battery-powered is very important(and price of course, SD MixPre probably my upper limit). Sorry for thes newbie question... ^_^

i would get a sound devices mp-2 or mixpre which are basically the same. good gain stage, works on AA batteries, portable and light and can run line into the mt2496. it also has a very good headphone amp. the mp-2 can be had for a reasonable price.

good luck.