Members Brittanylips Posted July 26, 2005 Members Share Posted July 26, 2005 I have to say, this looks really cool. http://namm.harmony-central.com/SNAMM05/Content/M-Audio/PR/MicroTrack-24-96.html A nice little stereo recorder, now no excuse for holding on to portable DATs. -Peace, Love, and Brittanylips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheWewus Posted July 26, 2005 Members Share Posted July 26, 2005 Reminds me of The new Hi-MD units but with more features, nice. I want one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 26, 2005 Members Share Posted July 26, 2005 Daddy wants a brand new bag!! Er.. recorder! I've been waiting for just such a recorder for years! Yeah, baby! It's just hitting the market, but I'd love to see one improvement. If it could record from one of the inexpensive, USB mics that would be great, just for convenience. I doubt it has this capability since the large, rectangular USB termination is used on the mics, to interface with computers. This uses a mini USB interface also used by Olympus, IIRC, for their digital cameras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daklander Posted July 26, 2005 Members Share Posted July 26, 2005 Not a bad list price but at 5 bones they should throw in the charger.48v phantom power? Must be some XLRs hidden on the back side. Looks to be ultimately useable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryst Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 So what would be a better overall buy? The Sony MZM100?http://www.zzounds.com/item--SNYMZM100 Or the Microtrack?http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack-main.html The Microtrack has phantom power and mic pres. The HD minidisc media is $7 for a 1gig minidisc. How much is a 1gig Compact Flash card? The Sony unit also comes with a stereo mic. They both have the ability to upload the recorded sounds via usb on mac and pc. It seems from the specs that the Microdisc would win since it has built in mic pres and phantom power in one unit but if it can record up to 24/96, how much time would that be on a 1gig CF card? I would assume you could use something larger than a 1gig CF card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the otter Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Nice... but how will it work with OS 9? nice and small, you can take it anywhere...coul be jus tthing for recording random sounds or even humming song ideas (I've never done that ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brittanylips Posted July 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Originally posted by Ryst So what would be a better overall buy? The Sony MZM100?http://www.zzounds.com/item--SNYMZM100Or the Microtrack?http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack-main.htmlThe Microtrack has phantom power and mic pres. The HD minidisc media is $7 for a 1gig minidisc. How much is a 1gig Compact Flash card? The Sony unit also comes with a stereo mic. They both have the ability to upload the recorded sounds via usb on mac and pc. It seems from the specs that the Microdisc would win since it has built in mic pres and phantom power in one unit but if it can record up to 24/96, how much time would that be on a 1gig CF card? I would assume you could use something larger than a 1gig CF card. The Microtrack just looks like a more serious tool, something you could plug a real microphone into. The Sony just looks more mini-jack-y. -Peace, Love, and Brittanylips Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I was in love with my MD, long before they had MP3 capability and USB connectivity. Then it stopped recording. Sure, it looked like it was recording, but upon stopping it, ALL DATA (including previous recordings on the disc) was gone. POOF! Like the wind... It will play back existing recordings, but for some reason it F's up the write. I don't know if it's writing data and no table of contents or if the data simply isn't being recorded. I will never trust MD technology again. The M-Audio unit is so much more professional in every way. From the CF media to XLR inputs and preamps based on their audio interfaces, to multiple record modes for mp3, 16bit/44.1kHz or 24bit/96kHz. Plus I would be shocked if data transfer to a computer were not noticably faster from the M-Audio unit and you should be able to put a CF card in a reader for transfer, if necessary and it can be used for storage of other computer files, again, if necessary. I want one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jackpine Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 For 500 bucks it looks like a winner. I do a fair amount of field, stereo recording. This could be just the ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Wait a minute, Fellers!!! I still want one, but forget about XLR connectors! The unit sports two, TRS connectors and a mic/line switch. In mic mode, you have access to the mic pre's with phantom power. I know this is getting picky, but I wish they found a way to integrate XLRs, perhaps on an angle to keep the profile slim. Locking connectors on a field recorder are pretty important, IMO, and I never liked locking 1/4" jacks. (Plus, they're as big as XLR jacks.) I'm more than a little disappointed that M-Audio seems to be hiding this as best they can before people get their hands on one to demo. Even their own webpage is hazy on this point. But if you check it out, you'll see (and read) about the TRS jacks, the mic/line switch, but nothing about XLRs. Their are a few more views of the unit, as well. The Micro-track, main page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheWewus Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I think two things to note on differences between The MicroTrack and Hi-MD is the ability to record in 24/96 format on The MicroTrack, and the cost of the recording media on each machine. On The Hi-MD I believe Wav files are recorded at a maximum resolution of 16 bits/44.1 Khz, so The MicroTrack is superior in that respect, but as someone mentioned a 1GB Hi-MD disc is only $7.00 whereas a 1GB CompactFlash disc for use on The MicroTrack goes for $50.00 or more, although those prices still seem to be dropping. Microdrives? Don't know anything about them. What are they selling for? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gearmike Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I want to know what they're gonna do when these things start blowing up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Wewus, you can transfer files almost instantly to your computer, so 1GB Flash could be a one time purchase. And MD's, while not completely fragile, are hardly as rugged as CF cards. Did you see the story about a photographer who set his cameras (The digital SLR was brand new!) too close to the demolition of a local bridge? The cameras were destroyed, but the CF media, which had been flung free of the camera, not only survived physically, but had pictures of the blast safely stored away. MD's (the media) are toys in comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brittanylips Posted July 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Hey Fantastic, Sure XLRs are more pro, but maybe including them would have meant increasing the unit's size. I'm not sure something this small can accomodate the full XLR connection. Or if it could, perhaps they wanted to keep cost down. After all, even though this looks nice, it's not "Hi-End" - nothing m-audio makes is truly hi-end. As a friend of mine once said about the early groundbreaking portable DAT machines from Casio, it's disposable technology. Amazing what it can do and at the price, and elegantly targets an absolute need, but it's not like a prized preamp. And the TRS will still enable balanced connections that are far from mini-jacks. What I would do, and will likely do, because I'll probably get one, is simply use a high quality XLR to TRS cable. And hope it doesn't suck. -PL&B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TheWewus Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Originally posted by fantasticsound Wewus, you can transfer files almost instantly to your computer, so 1GB Flash could be a one time purchase. Hi-MD has that same capability. It's just nice to have cheap, portable media, and CompactFlash ain't cheap yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gearmike Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 You can't send Phantom therough TRS jacks... Well you CAN, but if you insert or remove the cables you short the phantom power and the caps will explode. I want to know how they're planning on dealing with this... Anyone seen Gus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Originally posted by gearmike You can't send Phantom therough TRS jacks...Well you CAN, but if you insert or remove the cables you short the phantom power and the caps will explode.I want to know how they're planning on dealing with this...Anyone seen Gus? Took the words right outta my mouth. They're going to see a lot of damaged units if this hasn't been addressed. I sincerely hope it has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gearmike Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I'm trying to get a demo unit here to play with. I wonder how long it will take me to break it.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brittanylips Posted July 27, 2005 Author Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Originally posted by gearmike You can't send Phantom therough TRS jacks...Well you CAN, but if you insert or remove the cables you short the phantom power and the caps will explode.I want to know how they're planning on dealing with this... I didn't realize this. If you find an answer, please post. Thanks - PL&B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Originally posted by gearmike I'm trying to get a demo unit here to play with. I wonder how long it will take me to break it.... Give it the real survival test... How old is your kid? Hand it over and see if it survives the drool and drop tests! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gearmike Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Dude, if my 17month old can get a podcast recorded on it without cracking the manual we have a winner. Phantom power problem be damned! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jotown Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Originally posted by fantasticsound I was in love with my MD, long before they had MP3 capability and USB connectivity. I will never trust MD technology again. I have used MD's in 250 live shows per year for over ten years. I have had several players over the years, yet I still have and use discs that are ten years old. You must have gotten a bad disc, or your recorder made a mistake writing the TOC (it happens) that is usually why you get a read/write error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 I've attempted to make it work with other previously used discs and brand new ones. I treated this unit with kid gloves and it died with absolutely no warning. That's enough for me to move on. Currently I've been fortunate to have access to a consumer grade, stand alone CD burner. It provides better quality sound and I can play the discs in standard CD players. And talk about cheap media. It's not as portable or easy to use for on the fly, mic input recording. But for direct to two track it works well. If MD works for you, so be it. I won't ever spend another dime on one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fantasticsound Posted July 27, 2005 Members Share Posted July 27, 2005 Originally posted by gearmike Dude, if my 17month old can get a podcast recorded on it without cracking the manual we have a winner. Phantom power problem be damned! Careful! He's likely to take recordings of your theater production and sell 'em on Ebay! (People will buy just about anything if the marketing is right. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ryst Posted July 28, 2005 Members Share Posted July 28, 2005 I would call M-Audio and ask if they are aware of the phantom power concerns but I don't have much luck with their tech support. I have called them a couple times and they were always impatient and rude. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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