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October 14, 2005
Review of the M-Audio Microtrack 24/96
NEW October 2006: Review of the Edirol R-1 portable digital recorder
I was very disappointed to find that the mic supplied with the M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 digital recorder
And for some unknown reason, my $200 Sony ECM-MS957 microphone won't work with the Microtrack. The recording comes out “phased.” I don't know what's causing this, but the inability to use my professional stereo mic with the Microtrack is a big letdown.
The interface is bad: the blue LCD screen is hard to read under any conditions, with tiny black type in very low contrast against a blue background. The software seems incomplete, too. Unlike a Minidisc recorder, you can't have it automatically create track split points every x number of minutes. Nor can you split or join tracks. Nor can you monitor the input level before actually beginning recording; the only way to check the level is to press Record to start recording a new track.
Oh, and how's this for brilliant design feature: you can barely stand the thing on the end. So if you use the supplied T-microphone, good luck getting the thing to stand upright, with the mic on the top. The RCA line outs, S/PDIF and USB ports are on the bottom of the unit, and the thing won't stand up. That just seems like poor design.
Technorati Tags: Edirol, EdirolR1, M-Audio, Microtrack2496, Roland
October 14, 2005 in Music | Permalink
Comments
Sorry to read about your problems with the Microtrack. I've got my own issues with it. My biggest gripe is that if you make a lengthy recording there's no way to split that recording in smaller segments onboard (you can do this with Minidisc.) So you may be forced to upload a recording that's several hours long to your computer and then use 3rd party software just to get at a particular segment that may be only minutes long.
I agree the supplied T-mic is boomy and lo-fi. But I've had good results with Sony's $70 T-Mic, and even better results with the $60 Panasonic binaural mics from Squid Audio.
Posted by: jazmaan | Oct 24, 2005 9:25:27 PM
dude, first of, why would you want to record your band with the the shitty mic that would come with this product, or any product that costs $350? I have mics that cost more than the recorder. Second, the interface, when you boost the contrast is great, very intuitive menu design. Stand the thing up, look how small it is. Can you stand up your minidisc? Didnt you see the design before you bought it. Ok, so it has some problems, but for what it is, i think its just a wonderful little recorder
Posted by: bill | Oct 25, 2005 4:27:00 PM
I've found an article on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists/ with a noise test, with the conclusion that it's not suiteable for nature recording. Also, I've read a lot of complaints about it's battery life and bad-working buttons. So it's not a recommendation ;-)
Posted by: Michiel | Oct 31, 2005 2:30:22 PM
You have to keep this kind of thing in perspective! This price point will NEVER get you pro-audio of a caliber that would be used in a live recording of a serious, commercial nature. What you DO get is a convenient "scratch" recorder which will fit in a bag and can be brought to your gigs (garage bands may or may not have these, but I have lots of gigs that I want to record. . .not perfectly, but well enough to "document" the thing)and lay down a decent "aircheck" of the event.
You get what you pay for. This is a decent piece of gear for around $400. May not be sufficient to lay down sound for the next major Hollywood movie. . .Look at Electronic Musician Mag, last month, for higher end field recorders which record to Compact Flash or other memory cards. EM covers the market up to about $1799.
Chris
Posted by: Chris Tune | Nov 9, 2005 2:10:51 PM
I've used the Microtrack for two months now with a pair of stereo AKG C451 mics to record live music and the results have been great! This little recorder has lived up to every expectation including sound qualitly and battery life. DAT (Digital Audio Tape) recorders have been the professional's choice for live recording in the past and this machine blows any DAT machine away (I used to use a HHB dat).
To say this is not for professional music recording is like telling a generation of DAT tapers to throw away their DAT recordings. For CD recordings this thing rocks as is! If you add a external preamp, that's were this thing really turns into a rival machine. The bottem line is, read the features, if it works for you than buy it. It's a great little machine.
Posted by: scott | Dec 16, 2005 7:06:37 PM
What's causing your recording to be "phased" is the inherent design of your Sony mic. It's an MS or "Mid-Side" stereo configuration. This configuration allows a lot of flexibility, but does not produce a natural sounding stereo field right out of the mic.
This article over at transom.org explains different stereo mic configurations and ways to adjust the phase to mix your tracks down to a true stereo field:
There are high-end portable recorders that will let you do the MS-to-LR mixdown right on the box, but with this unit you'll need an audio program that will let you copy and inverse-phase the Side channel. If you have a pro audio program, it should be no problem, but there are also a lot of shareware and freeware options that would do the job.
I think once you get this technique sorted and can switch back to using the Sony mic, you should be able to get great results recording your rock band. Best of luck!
Posted by: Mies van der Robot | Apr 28, 2006 9:40:29 AM
Hi, I'm about to buy a portable recording device, and I was recommended the m audio microtrack. Now, my main cincern is about the ability of adding tracks, while recording, like one does with a minidisc player. Is there a possibility of doing it at all with this?
Posted by: Delph | Aug 1, 2006 3:53:09 PM
The battery life on my MicroTrack has always been poor, but now it's useless. Today it won't even record 10 minutes. To make matters worse, the battery is not user-replaceable.
As I've had it less than a year, I first thought, "This is resolvable; warranty is most likely a year." Well, no. The battery is on a separate warranty of 90 days. I must ship the MicroTrack to California and pay $75 + shipping.
This is my last M-Audio product.
Posted by: HowardM | Dec 27, 2006 3:30:53 AM
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