Review: Edirol R-09HR & M-Audio MicroTrack II
Pages: 1, 2, 3

Smiles, Everyone!

The two recorders side by side at a vocal and steel-guitar performance.

One of the things I love about field recorders is their ability to take an "audio snapshot"; I'm not always interested in capturing audiophile perfection. As I've said elsewhere, it's like photography — sometimes you don't want to worry about finding the right lens and wrestling with a tripod; a point-and-shoot digicam will do just fine.

The Aloha Music Camp was perfect for that mindset because it brings some of the best musicians in Hawaii to teach 'ukulele, slack key guitar, hula, and more to a large group of dedicated campers. You can bet there are plenty of great audio moments to record.

One day I happened on Maui songbird Robyn Mahealani Kneubuhl and steel guitarist KonaBob Stauffer in an impromptu rehearsal. As you can see from the photo at right, I simply fired up both recorders and stood back. Because the MicroTrack II doesn't have a tripod socket, it ended up flat on a glass table — probably the worst way to record due to the boundary effect. But listen to the performance and tell me if it was worth it; later you'll hear how the R-09HR fared. I recorded this example in 16-bit/44.1kHz WAV format and then compressed it to 192kbps MP3 in my computer for faster download.

• MicroTrack II: Blue Hawaiian Moonlight (2.7MB MP3)

The MicroTrack II records to both Compact Flash cards and Microdrives. It now provides true 48V phantom power as well.

Audio, Ltd.

As a bonus, M-Audio includes an analog limiter. That's right: unlike most field recorders, the MicroTrack II puts the limiter is where it should be — in front of the analog-to-digital converters. It works fine if you're recording spoken word; as you can hear, without the limiter the audio is seriously distorted:

• MicroTrack II Limiter Test (724KB MP3)

I would get more excited if the limiter offered some degree of control — on/off is all you get. And I don't think it's transparent enough for music.

The MicroTrack's S/PDIF digital input lets you use external converters.

My biggest gripe with the original MicroTrack was with the internal battery: it had an annoying habit of draining even when turned off. Replacing a MicroTrack battery that has reached the end of its life still requires a costly trip back to the manufacturer, but at least it now holds a charge overnight. However, I discovered a fully charged battery will drain over a period of a couple of weeks. Battery life is still good — I got close to the published five hours — but it drops to three hours or less with phantom power engaged.

And recharging the battery still takes more time than swapping out a couple of AA cells; I missed some prime recording opportunities while the recorder was juicing up back at the hotel. Once again, I would strongly suggest picking up a USB battery pack for emergencies.

High-Res Love

Like the original, the MicroTrack II records MP3 and WAV files, the latter at resolutions up to 24-bit/96kHz. Unless you use decent external mics, the extra storage space required for high-resolution recording may not be worth the increase in quality. However, flash memory is cheap, and the MicroTrack II supports both Compact Flash and Microdrives in any size. Just be sure you buy one before setting out on safari; M-Audio no longer includes a memory card in the box. Ouch!

Just to show you how good the MicroTrack II can sound, here is a snippet of my guitar recorded as a mono 44.1kHz/16-bit WAV file using a Neumann KM184 microphone. You might remember that this was one of the mics you could not use with the original MicroTrack:

• MicroTrack II + Neumann KM184 (5MB WAV)

One caveat: my review unit locked up on me a couple of times. A firmware update from M-Audio appears to have fixed the problem.

Ikaika Marzo, generating goosebumps.

With its big, 1/4" inputs; excellent audio quality (as long as you used quality microphones); and high-res, uncompressed WAV file support, the original MicroTrack was a solid choice for recording on the go. I am happy to say version II is even better.

When all is said and done, a field recorder is a tool for capturing dreams. Well after midnight on the last night of camp, I happened across one of those moments: a session with two of the best guitarists in Hawaii. Good thing I had the recorder in my bag.

Listen to Sonny Lim from Waimea and Ikaika Marzo from Kalapana dig into "Punahou Special." Pure chicken skin:

• MicroTrack II: Slack Jam (2.7MB MP3) Recorded with supplied T-mic.