M-Audio Compact Flash Portable
M-Audio unveiled the MicroTrack 24/96. This very compact digital recorder works at 24-bit/96 KHz and records in Wav or mp3 files on CompactFlash cards or microdrives. The MicroTrack features a 1/4 jack input, a micro preamp (fantom powered), a jack output, digital in/out (S/PDIF), a RCA output and a headphones output. MicroTrack comes with Lithium ion battery. User can charge battery on a computer via USB port.
MicroTrack will be available August ‘05 at 599 euros. So far no information in reference to a US release date. It looks cool however is it worth the price?
-paul.
Intersting info. It is the second time I see that on the net. Strangely I cannot find anything about it on the M-Audio website.
BTW, the link on the picture is linked to the PDF on the Neumann mike!
Pierre.
Paul, do you know exactly what kind of battery it is using?
By the way, it will be released in mid july in north U.S.
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/MM-FLASHTRACKER
Now open for order.
Lithium ion re-chargeable through USB I think. Thanks for that link by the way. What do you guys think of this piece?
-paul.
For that price it should have a hard drive.
Hello, I am interested in buying the item I see overleaf, I would like to know your mode of payment, so kidly get back to me asap. Thanks.
Jen,
Are you speaking of the portable recorder?
-paul.
How would you compare this recording device to the Edirol R1 or the line of Marantz professional models PMD671 or PDM660 field digital recorders? Mostly, aside from quality, I am interested in battery life and performance and digital recording capacity as it impacts workflow. Is the field recordist constantly juggling between batteries and recharging? Does the CompactFlash media provide enough storage to capture a lecture, interview, seminar, etc. without constantly changing media? Does one device perform better than the others or are they all performing to the same specification? It would be great to get some side-by-side comparisons going on the audio gear for Podcasting.
First-in reference to the estimated street price here in the US [$399] -the price looks reasonable for what it is capable of.
Austin,
I guess we will have to get our hands on one before we can make a valid assessment. I am very curious about the quality of the mic-pre’s, considering there are many unhappy Marantz PMD660 users our there, due to the poor pre-amps.
I would think solid state recording on CF Media should yield fairly decent battery effeciency.
I have been holding back on purchasing a portable recorder. Is this the one? Not sure-I’ll continue to keep an eye on it and hope to see a few early reviews surface.
-paul.
Thanks for the tip on the Marantz PDM660 as I have been looking seriously at purchasing one. Do you have any word on the 24-bit Edirol R1 that also records to CompactFlash and uses AA batteries? What keeps you from pulling the trigger and buying that rig?
M-Audio’s $399 price tag is aggressive if it lives up to spec on quality.
I’m kind of surprised that M-Audio (Now under the Avid wing) has announced this product for Europe and no USA announcement yet.
I, too am waiting on a decent portable flash recorder. My first choice would be the Fostex FR-2, but it’s $1300 w/o media. The Edirol looks reasonable and may fit the bill. But, with M-Audio’s move, I kind of think that in 6 months there will be plenty of CF recorders that do 24/96 to choose from. I might just wait till then.
Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
the Difficult Listening Channel – http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
ReGurgiTron – http://www.regurgitron.com
my blog – http://michaeloster.blogspot.com
The jump up to Fostex units is a 3 to 4X leap in price so I consider them bananas and oranges as far as comparsions. And, I think you have to put hard drive units like the Edirol R4 in a different class of recorder than a CF drive palm-sized recorder. Being as though I have a bunch of location sound gathering to do in the next four months, I’m not in that always favored position of waiting until the next best and greatest device comes out, although, I may be willing to wait until the M-Audio MicroTrack 24/96 appears if we’re talking days or weeks and not months before a US sale can be made. And if it is a worthy performer.
I recently purchased the pmd 660 and had to return it after a test drive. It’s all true about the noisy preamps. I called tech support and got no sympathy. Too bad cause otherwise it was perfectly what I needed. I upgraded to the pmd 671 and grabbed a 2gb card from tiger direct for @$165. I’m very pleased with it’s quality and added professional features above and beyond the 660. I’m waiting for marantz to release the Nimh rechargable battery. The size of this unit is a little bigger than I had hoped for, but it sure does feel alot more professional when you show up for a gig.
I bought my PMD660 from http://www.marteldirect.com. they seem to have the best deal going. I got a free Carrying case and 2 professional conferernce microphones worth $79.00 each for free. The mics also had the XLR pro jacks already on them so I was ready to podcast right away. They had the unit in stock which alot of companies say they do did but you have to call them to make sure. Martel had over 100 of the pmd660 in stock. Beware of Crooklyn companies, I mean brooklyn.
Steve
Steve,
Being located a ’stone’s throw’ from “Crooklyn’, I appreciate your advise and I totally agree. I can tell you a few stories…
-paul.
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack-main.html
Here is all of the info for the MircoTrack 24/96:
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/MicroTrack2496-main.html
You’ll see these in stores the first week in September.
I purchased a Microtrack 24/96 last week. I’ve had some problems with it. Although the lit. says it supports microdrive, I plugged in a Hitachi 2 Gb microdrive and the unit froze up. It wouldn’t boot, and had to be shut down. When I plugged in a 1 Gb CF card, it did fine. Tech supp had not heard of this issue, and had no suggestions other than saying they’d post it as a possible incompatibility.
The navigation wheel has a cheap feel to it. When I navigate to the “file” option, highlight a file and press the wheel to “select” it, it doesn’t consistently play the file. I think it’s a problem in the switch in the nav wheel. I used it to record an outdoor rally, and the sound was actually quite good. You can hear a sample of the sound in Podcast #2 at http://www.anothernightshift.com. The Wav file has been software compressed and normalized prior to mp3 export, but the sound was surprisingly good.
I’m returning the unit tomorrow, and will check out another to see if the same problems exist. If they do, I’m gonna try to find another alternative.
I just received three I ordered. I’ve noticed the same issue as Larry Payne with the nav wheel. However, you don’t need to go to the file option. From the main screen, you can use the nav wheel to jog thru the files you’ve saved.
I must say, the sound quality is very good.
The people who write the documentation, however, must have been working for another company ’cause it doesn’t match up with what’s on the actual unit.
Also, it doesn’t let you record in mono, only stereo. Did the engineers forget that option?
I’ll check the microdrive part later.
The m-audio microtrack will be able to record in mono in a later filmware update, keep checking the website and it will be up in a couple of months to update to the latest filmware.
I am tracking the responses, testing, and reviews of this device on my website. My first article is here with another due later today. I hope this helps anyone considering it.
Update: Re-engineer the nav wheel. I’ve had a day or two to play with it and it simply doesn’t function properly.
They way I have to keep squeezing it to get it to work, I keep thinking I’m going to break it. Try buttons on the next go around or a true wheel and not a toggle switch.
I have had one of these M-audio Microtrack 24/96 for just around three weeks and I have found it performs very well in most respects. The sound quality I found much superior to the Marantz 660 I own.
My only disappointments was with the power – it runs only about 3 – 3-1/2 hours on a full charge with no phantom power. If you let the power run out it will need to charge a bit before it will turn on, even if you have the adapter plugged in.
The nav “wheel” is a little dodgy – it’s actually a switch The unit is so light it’s kind of silly. It would be nice if it stood up or had a lug for a lanyard or something, but I’ve found a digital camera bag that works for carrying it around.
The background “hiss” is so much better than the marantz! It sounds clean and quite usable with even the included stereo microphone. I used a couple of inexpensive $24 lavalier mics from ratshack plugged in through 1/8 to 1/4″ adapters, switched in the “boost” record option and got great results.
Someone asked about how this new device compares with the Edirol R-1. Any ideas? That sort of comparison would be helpful and will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi,
See this post:
http://podcastrigs.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=340
-ptfigg.
I don’t understand why so many of these manufacturers are using Flash drives. I understand that it allows for smaller recorders with less power consumption. But HDs are so cheap these days and they are getting smaller. I’d rather have 40gigs.