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Sound Devices Mix Pre-3 and Mix Pre-6


afewmoreyears

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55 minutes ago, John Blankenship said:

<grin> ... It won't be long before you figure out this isn't the tool for you.

I can't believe no-one's mentioned 'T' power.

But seriously he maybe very interested when he reads mix-pre6 has a frequency response of 10hz to 80khz. Jez actually has mics that go up this far (and beyond).

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here's a really nice interview from gotham:

 

so in basic mode the recorder seems to have fixed gain and does isos/mix post fader, while in advanced mode both can be adjusted separately (as can pan)

also interesting that if you connect HDMI for time code the MixPre frame locks to that, so no drift over very long recordings.

 

 

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I got a chance to see this in person yesterday. Very tiny yet powerful unit. Love the size, functionality, ability to link with Wingman via Bluetooth, and price point of these units. The Aux input is programmable for a few different functions, including LTC Timecode input. Only two things I dislike is that it has no hirose conector for power, only USB (but you can get an backplate adapter for AAs or Sony L-batts), and that you can't link all the inputs (which would've been lovely for my ambisonic mics). The latter shouldn't be difficult to accomplish via firmware update I imagine (hint hint Sound Devices).

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3 hours ago, Jose Frias said:

Only two things I dislike is that it has no hirose conector for power, only USB (but you can get an backplate adapter for AAs or Sony L-batts), and that you can't link all the inputs (which would've been lovely for my ambisonic mics). The latter shouldn't be difficult to accomplish via firmware update I imagine (hint hint Sound Devices).

Yeah, in the interview above he mentioned that it's possible to match gain on different channels exactly since its controlled digitally, so if it's possible to do manually it should be simple to do a linked gain through software.

for the power input, maybe somebody will do a backplate with hirose connector.

chris

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On 4/22/2017 at 10:50 AM, josephboyle said:

Paul, thanks for hanging around here and answering these questions. A couple more for you:

If the machine gets shut off or the battery dies, will the file be preserved? And if so, what portion? How frequent would the backups be made? Every minute? Just before it dies?

Unfortunately, I just found out that the MixPre-3 and the MixPre-6 don't have this feature (which would be similar to PowerSafe on the 633 and 688). Does anyone know if this is hardware specific or if it could be added in a future firmware update? Also, any thoughts on the necessity of a feature like this?

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On 28 Apr 2017 at 0:31 AM, josephboyle said:

 Also, any thoughts on the necessity of a feature like this?

well, it's probably necessary if you're doing work where recordings can't be replicated and you're fired if you loose a take.

that said, these things are built to a price point. of course it would be nice if the MixPres would have PowerSafe or Timecode etc, but then the machine gets more expensive, which means less people buy it, which means higher cost for development and production, which means less people buy it etc..

but I would think you could have a sled for power on the back and some power bank on the USB input and most likely it will gracefully switch from one power to the other, so in a way you have power safe right there.

chris

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13 hours ago, chrismedr said:

well, it's probably necessary if you're doing work where recordings can't be replicated and you're fired if you loose a take.

that said, these things are built to a price point. of course it would be nice if the MixPres would have PowerSafe or Timecode etc, but then the machine gets more expensive, which means less people buy it, which means higher cost for development and production, which means less people buy it etc..

but I would think you could have a sled for power on the back and some power back on the USB input and most likely it will gracefully switch from one power to the other, so in a way you have power safe right there.

chris

I realize that certain features have to go because of the price point, but seeing as this is a direct competitor to the Zoom F4, I'm just a little surprised (I mention this because a colleague has said that the lack of this feature is what pushes him solidly into the F4 camp for a backup recorder/mixer).

Also, this feature is common on much smaller and lower end products, such as the Tascam DR-10CS and even the JuicedLink Little DARling, which is about as spartan as a small recorder can be. So, that's why I'm wondering if it is a hardware issue or if it could possibly be added in a future firmware update.

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Haha, I figured this comment would be coming. I'm not complaining about the feature set. I think they've developed a great product at a very reasonable price, but there are still some things that are unclear so I'm trying to find answers for those questions. It would be foolish not to inquire about something that could affect your workflow or potential gigs, like chrismedr pointed out.

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1 hour ago, josephboyle said:

(I mention this because a colleague has said that the lack of this feature is what pushes him solidly into the F4 camp for a backup recorder/mixer).

strange criterium to me for making this decision as I never had the any files lost through the power getting low, but maybe he had other experiences. plus as mentioned you could hook up a huge USB battery and two big NP-F batteries that will last days until you reach the size/weight of a F4.

I was considering buying a F4/F8 as a backup too, but for me the MixPre-3/6 looks more appealing now. looking forward to give it a try. 

chris

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Just now, chrismedr said:

strange criterium to me for making this decision as I never had the any files lost through the power getting low, but maybe he had other experiences. plus as mentioned you could hook up a huge USB battery or two large NP-F batteries that will last days until you reach the size/weight of a F4.

I was considering buying a F4/F8 as a backup too, but for me the MixPre-3/6 looks more appealing now. looking forward to give it a try. 

chris

Personally, I agree with you. The sound/build quality/limiters/etc. easily get my money. I've never lost a crucial recording due to a power failure (I did lose one that was able to be redone with the JuicedLink Little DARling - unfortunately there is no screen and no way to monitor power or signal while it's on the talent - but it had this feature, so it at least kept what was recorded) either, but my workflow is very different from his, so I can understand his situation as well.

I'm also looking forward to getting my hands on this.

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4 hours ago, John Blankenship said:

If they released a Ferrari for a thousand dollars, someone here would complain that it doesn't have enough trunk space.

Just to clarify -- the quip was not aimed at anybody in particular, just the observation that rather consistently, when a new device is released -- even before anyone learns how it performs in actual use -- folks start redesigning it.

 

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1 minute ago, Paul Isaacs said:

MixPre updates file headers during recording so If u lose power your recording is safe.

Oh, that's great! Excellent news Paul. Someone else from SD (not sure who it was) had told me differently. Do you know how often the file is saved? Or does it work a different way?

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I'm saving up for a Mix-Pre 6 as a backup/alternative to my ageing 744, but am also surprised and a bit dismayed by the UK price-point, which is pretty high, at approximately US$1,240.00 pre-tax.  VAT adds 20%, so we're nearer US$1,500.00. The Zoom F4 comes in at just over half that, at around US$770.00, which is a big difference, so I'm not sure how much of dent these are going to make in the UK market at the moment. Regardless, it's something I'm looking forward to for later in the year.

Regards,

 

 

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1 hour ago, soundmanjohn said:

I'm saving up for a Mix-Pre 6 as a backup/alternative to my ageing 744, but am also surprised and a bit dismayed by the UK price-point, which is pretty high, at approximately US$1,240.00 pre-tax.  VAT adds 20%, so we're nearer US$1,500.00. The Zoom F4 comes in at just over half that, at around US$770.00, which is a big difference, so I'm not sure how much of dent these are going to make in the UK market at the moment. Regardless, it's something I'm looking forward to for later in the year.

Regards,

 

 

And if anything it's going to get more expensive in the UK as we exit single market. Given interest rates might even argue buying now on credit would work out cheaper than waiting.

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you might consider buying in germany where most places sell it for 900EUR net or 1070EUR inkl VAT.

How did that happen? Normally it's more expensive in Germany. Maybe it's because of that Berlin office they have
I'm saving up for a Mix-Pre 6 as a backup/alternative to my ageing 744, but am also surprised and a bit dismayed by the UK price-point, which is pretty high, at approximately US$1,240.00 pre-tax.  VAT adds 20%, so we're nearer US$1,500.00.

It's always a bit unfair to compare EU prices incl. VAT with the US price. That's not SD's fault.
Besides, VAT can often be claimed back.
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11 hours ago, Constantin said:


How did that happen? Normally it's more expensive in Germany. Maybe it's because of that Berlin office they have
It's always a bit unfair to compare EU prices incl. VAT with the US price. That's not SD's fault.
Besides, VAT can often be claimed back.

Probably due to the weak pound

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1 hour ago, efksound said:

Probably due to the weak pound

Possible, but €900 is still only £758. $1240 is £958. that is quite a markup. But it's true, this does appear to be a UK specific issue. So the good news is: before Brexit, you can all still buy this anywhere in the EU and pick the country with the lowest VAT rate

Besides, I still don't understand why not everyone in this business (i.e. working professionals) is registered for VAT. Everything you buy is instantly cheaper...

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3 hours ago, Constantin said:

Possible, but €900 is still only £758. $1240 is £958. that is quite a markup. But it's true, this does appear to be a UK specific issue. So the good news is: before Brexit, you can all still buy this anywhere in the EU and pick the country with the lowest VAT rate

Besides, I still don't understand why not everyone in this business (i.e. working professionals) is registered for VAT. Everything you buy is instantly cheaper...

It would be interesting to know whether SD will have the same reseller and service arrangements for these prosumer devices as they do for the professional lines. Eg. USA vendors are not allowed to sell into other markets (EU, GB) and buyers trying to do otherwise may be inconvenienced if equipment needs to be serviced etc. As SD compete against similar devices, wont these new devices need to be available from more vendors and the policy wont be so easy to enforce? Eg John/myself will be able to get 1 from USA with not much consequence for either party? 

Asides from the above there may be a golden window for UK residents to buy in May before results in June confirm our route to hard brexit and GBP takes another beating. After this there will be a good chance of a MixPre6 (or similar) costing a brit something close to what a 633 costs an American. 

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Enough of brexit - 1 of the really nice things about this MixPre series is the USB audio interface. Obviously being able to go straight into a laptop without additional hardware gives us a redundancy (on cart style setup) but it also allows for something I would like to see on more recorders: waveform metering. Something like wingman could be giving us a function like this on an ipad (without the recorder being a USB interface) but for now a mixpre plugged into a laptop would look like 1 of the easiest (and cheapest) ways of doing this.

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