Early MicroTrack 24/96 Reviews...

[Matt Gettemeier]

That's a good question... in the other threads I've read you can't recharge the battery and use it at the same time... so I'd guess that you also can't run it off the adapter... since that's for recharging.

I'll look into it and get an answer.

[Dan Brown]

I was at Guitar Center in Arlingon TX this afternoon and they had 4 MicroTrack 24/96's in stock. Price $399.99. The boxes were sealed in shrink-wrap so I didn't get to fondle it.

I'm really torn between it, the PMD660, and one of the Sony HiMD recorders. The 48v XLR's on the Marantz would be really, really nice.

[Dan Brown]

BTW, I just read the M-Audio specs and its states battery life as 8-hours, 3-hours with phantom power. They are silent about the 1/4" input phantom voltage, strange?

[Bill Binder]

Originally Posted by Dan Brown

BTW, I just read the M-Audio specs and its states battery life as 8-hours, 3-hours with phantom power. They are silent about the 1/4" input phantom voltage, strange?

No one is getting even close to those battery life numbers in the real world. And, I also believe they are now saying 48v phantom is not in the spec, it seems they've actually changed the switch's labeling from "48v" to "Phtm" (or something close) from the beta phase to the officially released product. BUT, all of that said, they're probably going to be able to fix a lot of the problems in firmware (although maybe not the 48v part). We all need to sit tight, because this device still has a lot of potential (even with the phantom issue).

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

This is the second time I've heard about the switch change. I'm pretty disappointed I've not seen mine yet. M-Audio has always been good about getting products to where they should be, and taking care of their customers. Years ago, their "Flying Cow" product had some initial issues, but they were great about keeping folks informed and moving ahead.
Lately, it seems as though several manufacturers are releasing products a little ahead of their time, or before they've been thoroughly tested out in working environs. Anyone else noticed this?

[Spike Spiegel]

for the time being, i think all those who are considering the maudio product, should check out a hi md from sony. I just used one for filming a travel show in India, and it worked brilliantly. It comes with a pretty good battery life, and if the stock isn't enough, you have the option to attach a 1.5 v AA batt to the himd so you can go as long as you have a set amount of AA's.

Besides outstanding battery life, you get insane audio quality in the PCM mode, the himds are durable as hell, they've handled brilliantly imo. Coupled with a mixer, this thing is pretty damn durable, i won't even consider the maudio for a moment untill all these errors are fixed. For now though, if you want 100 percent ease of use, great quality, and long battery life, go himd. You won't regret it!

[Jerome Terry]

I'm just reading this thread. I purchased my Micro Track this past week and used it to record ambient audio during a wedding ceremony. I placed the unit about 3 feet under and in front of a PA speaker the DJ setup for the ceremony. I used the stereo mic that came with it. When I got back home to listen to the audio I was blown away. Basically the minister came through clear with no distortion. I setup the groom with an iRiver 799 with a Giant Squid lav mic. Audio for that setup was good also. This was my first try and I was impressed. All the audio will be used for the wedding production. For my next wedding I'm going to use some mics with the Micro Track.

Peace, Jerome

[Dave Largent]

That sounds like some real good advice, Spike.
Which model are you using?

[Bill Binder]

New firmware now available in "beta" form. I have no idea what it fixes (and what it doesn't), and I haven't heard much talk about it yet, but for what it's worth, here you go. I consider this to be a good sign even if they don't fix everything in this release, at least they released new firmware pretty quickly...

http://m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.drivers

[John Rofrano]

Originally Posted by Spike Spiegel

for the time being, i think all those who are considering the maudio product, should check out a hi md from sony ...go himd. You won't regret it!

Spike,

What HiMD do you use and why? What’s the difference between the $399 Sony MZ-M100 and the $169 Sony MZ-RH910? It seems to me that the quality (from a specification point of view) is the same so the rest of the price is bells and whistles we probably won’t use if we’re just acquiring audio from a console at a live event or even from an external mic.

If I go HiMD, I’m inclined to go with the MZ-RH910 since I can buy two of them for the price of one MZ-M100! Also the MZ-M100 is within $50 of the Marantz PMD660 which has XLR inputs and Phantom power so at that price I think I’d rather go with the PMD660.

Also, don’t you have to capture your audio in real-time from HiMD? That certainly makes it less attractive than the PMD660 or the MicroTrack or even my iRiver 790T that I got for $85.

I really want to graduate from the iRiver to something more substantial but the MicroTrack doesn’t seem to be all we had hoped for which makes the PMD660 or a HiMD more attractive right now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated (especially from any PMD660 owners too)

~jr

[Dave Largent]

John,
With HiMD it is not real time capture. You would
be uploading a file at much faster than real time.

[John Rofrano]

Originally Posted by Dave Largent

John, With HiMD it is not real time capture. You would be uploading a file at much faster than real time.

Dave, That’s good to know. I guess the only question is if the MZ-RH910 is the same quality as the MZ-M100. If not, I think I’d spring the extra bucks and get the Marantz PMD660 so I'd have phantom, XLR's, and no moving parts.

~jr

[Jon Oskar]

Hi,

Im trying to find firmware for my MT, when i go on the m-audio.com site, and make a search it only offers me a user manual. My unit is running on the 1.0.2 firmware it came with, i want to use it with my Mac, is this making a difference? What is the latest firmware?

thanx

Jon

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Originally Posted by Jon Oskar

Hi,

Im trying to find firmware for my MT, when i go on the m-audio.com site, and make a search it only offers me a user manual. My unit is running on the 1.0.2 firmware it came with, i want to use it with my Mac, is this making a difference? What is the latest firmware?

thanx

Jon

Download the newest firmware http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=...fe7&showbeta=1

[Jon Oskar]

Douglas Spotted Eagle

Thank you for your quick response, appreciate it.

best

Jon