Topic: New Microtrack and CF issues

[Elana]

I bought a new microtrack last week, and finally opened it this evening to try it out before a festival I'm going to tomorrow.  I also bought a 2gb CF card from Microcenter.  It's a store brand card that they sell in bulk.

So I formatted it on my computer (win2k) popped it in, and the MT said it wasn't formatted right.  So I had to format it in the MT, but the format didn't take, so I had to format it like a bunch of times in the MT before it recognized it.  That was problem #1

Problem #2 is this newly formatted card started saying "media full" whenever I pressed the record button.  But it seemed to record anyway.

Problem #3 is that when I popped out the microcenter card and put back in the card that came with it, it said "no media inserted".  I took it out, put back in the microcenter card, and it also said "no media inserted".  After turning it off and on a few times, it finally read the media.

I updated the firmware before I stopped playing with it, so I'm not sure if a firmware update will alleviate any of these problems, but I guess I'll see tomorrow.

Has anyone experienced any of these issues before, or know of a cause or solution?

I'll be recoding via s/pdif from my UA5.  I'm also going to bring my JB3 with me as backup, which for the most part works fine, except it overheats and shuts off really easily outdoors and in direct sunlight.

[coloartist]

Experienced that with old firmware. See if it still does it after the upgrade.

[svenkid]

all new microtrackers should come with the newest firmware, so how could old firmware be an issue?>

[Elana]

I didn't come with the newest firmware...

[Jhurlbs81]

Problem #2 is this newly formatted card started saying "media full" whenever I pressed the record button.  But it seemed to record anyway.

Problem #3 is that when I popped out the microcenter card and put back in the card that came with it, it said "no media inserted".  I took it out, put back in the microcenter card, and it also said "no media inserted".  After turning it off and on a few times, it finally read the media.

I updated the firmware before I stopped playing with it, so I'm not sure if a firmware update will alleviate any of these problems, but I guess I'll see tomorrow.

Haven't seen these issues come up since I went to the current software.

[blindman]

Everything you described were very common problems with the first MT version.

The MT-II will be out in the next couple weeks (Sept 10th I heard) so I would pack up your MT and return it and wait for the MT-II to come out. EDIT: it appears it will be much later than that... possibly October, maybe January '08! see the other MT-II thread

Always format the cards in the MT.

Never pop the card out while the MT is turned on... turn it off, swap cards and turn the MT back on.

The media full issue happened to some MT's and you had to hit record twice for some unknown reason.

Hope you can swap your MT-I for the new MT-II!

peace.

[Elana]

Seemed to record ok tonight... we'll see what happens after I transfer and go to record again.

If the next Microtrack is coming out in a few weeks, and I can get it for $250, I'll return this one.

[jcrab66]

anyone have a link on this new MTII?

[blindman]

discussion on MT-II here...
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,88437.0.html

There are some pics of the new case design in that thread.

Zzounds.com is claiming MT's coming in on Sept. 10th... but no mention if they are the MT-II's or left over stock of the MT-I... I would call to confirm in you are interested.  http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOMICRO

EDIT: guysonic seems to think the zzounds MT's might be Factory refurb's of the MT-I... I think they should mention it in the info... If I remember I will contact zzounds on Tuesday to see... I am curioius now.

[Elana]

If you don't mind calling, that would be cool.

[blindman]

Seemed to record ok tonight... we'll see what happens after I transfer and go to record again.

If the next Microtrack is coming out in a few weeks, and I can get it for $250, I'll return this one.

Glad to hear it worked.

$250 is not a bad price for an MT, so even if you end up keeping this one I think you got a good deal.

are you running the 1.4.6 firmware?

I found the only issues for me were few... for one, occasionally on playback the output would go silent... the wav was recorded fine, the MT just would not  sorta not put out any sound. This happened for long periods on early firmwares but was only momentary on the 1.4.6.

Another, was if running on external battery pack, the power would need to be removed and the unit shutdown before removing the CF card... I think turning the unit off with external power only put it in sleep mode and was not really off... because if I removed the card with external power attached the unit would sometimes lock up... sometimes for a long time with no remedy for restart. That only happened a few times on early firmware, and after that I made it a habit to never remove the card when the unit was on... so I don't know for sure if that was a firmware or CF issue.

Good luck with your MT and I hope you pull lots of great shows with it!

peace,
michael

[bdasilva]

Even with 1.4.6 I still get "Media Full" messages with my PQI 8 gb card... press record again and away it goes recording. I'd love it if they fixed little things like that before the abandoned it for the new model.

[jcrab66]

discussion on MT-II here...
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,88437.0.html

thanks, you seem to like the "+" flavored T's so heres one for you

[blindman]

Even with 1.4.6 I still get "Media Full" messages with my PQI 8 gb card... press record again and away it goes recording. I'd love it if they fixed little things like that before the abandoned it for the new model.

I think in M-Audio's mind this issue is not the MT, but a weird thing that happens to third party cards that they have no control of...

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=d872fc3d5ad086f92f3bd09b73bdf9f6

""Media Full" message when pressing Record button
If you are receiving a "Media Full" message after pressing the Record button on your MicroTrack 24/96, the first thing you should try is simply pressing the Record button a second time.  Internal testing has found that a small number of third party media makes/models require users to press the Record button twice to initiate recording.  This will not affect the quality of your recording or any other performance or functionality aspect of the MicroTrack."

[blindman]

thanks, you seem to like the "+" flavored T's so heres one for you

Thank you.

It is a privilege to be of service.