Dan Misener dot com

Unbeknownst to me, M-Audio released a firmware update for my MicroTrack 24/96 earlier this month. Among other things, it addresses one of my major beefs with the original firmware: mono recordings.

Previously, the MicroTrack only recorded in stereo. For most of what I do, this is twice the number of channels I need. So thanks M-Audio, you’ve effectively doubled the capacity of my Compact Flash card.

Update: Spoke too soon. Upon closer inspection of the release notes:

When recording mono from the analog inputs, the inputs are monitored directly. This means that when monitoring, you will still hear whatever source is on the right channel even though it is not being recorded. Only the left channel will be recorded. For MP3 format recordings, a Stereo MP3 file will be created but both left and right tracks will contain whatever was recorded into the left channel. For WAV recordings a true mono WAV file is created. Note that when recording from S/PDIF, input monitoring (whether mono or stereo) is not supported.

Bah!

Well, I’ve been waiting for this ever since I bought my first 3G iPod a couple years ago. We’ve known for a while that the new 5G iPods support high quality voice recordings, but up until now there’s not been a way to actually make recordings.

All that changed today, when Griffin announced the iTalkPro.

It’s powered by the iPod, has built-in mics, software gain controls, and can record CD quality stereo sound. No word on whether you can hook up an external mic or monitor while recording. This probably won’t replace your pro flash recorder, but if you carry an iPod around already, it might be a nice accessory to bring along.