nossnevs Posted April 13, 2018 Report Share Posted April 13, 2018 Hi Am I the only one wondering why the balance output L/R on the Sounddevices mix pre 10 do not have line out (775mv) Connected to a pro camera you have to set the camera to mic input instead of line input. It would be nice to have this option on the mix pre 10 in the advance mode. Any one ? Will Sounddevices consider this in a firmware update ? Thanks Michael Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bary555 Posted April 13, 2018 Report Share Posted April 13, 2018 Hi Am I the only one wondering why the balance output L/R on the Sounddevices mix pre 10 do not have line out (775mv) Connected to a pro camera you have to set the camera to mic input instead of line input. It would be nice to have this option on the mix pre 10 in the advance mode. Any one ? Will Sounddevices consider this in a firmware update ? Thanks Michael I don't think the firmware update would fix that. It's hardware related and yes it's a pain.. Wysłane z mojego SM-G930F przy użyciu Tapatalka Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted April 13, 2018 Report Share Posted April 13, 2018 Very few of the devices now being produced for our arsenals output what has traditionally been a professional output level -- that being a nominal +4dBm, and in some cases +8dBm along with at least 20-24dB of headroom above that. Most of the professional mixers and recorders released for our use over the last so many years have a nominal output level of 0dBu -- typically with about 20dB of headroom. A large reason for this is miniaturization and portability. The maximum output level of an audio circuit is determined in large part by power rail voltages. In a device with constrained size and heat limitations, it becomes more difficult, and more inefficient, to have higher supply rail voltages. Add to that the fact that such powering would diminish battery life, and you can better understand why such compromises are made. In the case of the new MixPre series, their nominal line level output, lower than most fully-professional gear, is optimized for interconnecting with other semi-pro gear. Matching semi-pro and fully-professional gear has always been met with such challenges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam T Posted April 15, 2018 Report Share Posted April 15, 2018 Thinking on the same here... It seems that they cut some costs and powering current on the output amplifiers, as most user will use it as a recorder primarily, outputs are only for scratch and IEM. It is a viable compromise, 10T is still the best bung for the buck. For professional balanced broadcast line output there are the 6 and 7 series recorders or the 552 mixer... The spec says +7.8 dBu Full Scale. Assuming a 18-20 dB Headroom that means -12 dBu Nominal, or alignment. That is something like a -10dBV consumer level, too much for mic input, not enough for line. The bigger problem is the output impedance. 500 Ohms unbalanced and 1 kOhms Balanced is way too high for a professional output. Seems to be impedance balancing. These outputs are OK to feed the cam hop and IEM transmitters in the bag, or to feed a DSLR via 3.5mm Jack, but definitely not a professional line output, what you would send to a broadcast camera. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Blankenship Posted April 15, 2018 Report Share Posted April 15, 2018 The impedance is not an issue and neither is the prosumer line level output, since this was designed as a prosumer device. The problem lies with someone who buys the wrong tool for the job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam T Posted April 17, 2018 Report Share Posted April 17, 2018 Agree, MixpreSeries is primarily a recorder, does not have the professional ENG mixer capabilities, but if one must send a feed to a pro camera it is not impossible to do professionally. IMHO it is still better to use a low impedance "mic" level feed, then a high impedance 'low line level', especially when long cables used in an electrically 'noisy' environment. The best thing we can do is to use it as MIC level output with a step down transformer. for example Neutrik NTE4 wired 4:1 step down: Voltage Down 4:1 (-12 dB) means -4 dBu Full Scale, -24 dBu Nominal Impedance 16:1 approx 32 Ohms maybe a bit hot "MIC level" but most XLR inputs will be happy with this. These are tiny transformers quite high quality, that can be built in to an XLR male housing. Although they are designed for input step-up, they are useable for output step down, if care taken on the level and impedance conditions. The camera's mic preamp will see a very low source impedance, that practically lowers the noise. Using a low impedance transformer balanced output improve common mode issues, hum and RF noise problems, and ensures immunity to Phantom Power. Transformer related sound degradation is practically negligible until the load impedance is over 1 kOhms, and you don't want to record 40 Hz 0dBFS signal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lancashire soundie Posted April 20, 2018 Report Share Posted April 20, 2018 Interesting to know, I was considering buying one of these next year to replace an SQN on a job where my kit travels without me. I guess I'll look elsewhere now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ilari Sivil Posted April 21, 2018 Report Share Posted April 21, 2018 For a lot of people, this could be a non-issue if they're using a wireless hop to the camera(s). The MixPres are definitely not mixers, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhharvest Posted April 23, 2018 Report Share Posted April 23, 2018 That's so weird about the MixPre name. The original MixPre-D had completely different feature set, like proper balanced outputs and AES. I feel like the new MixPre recorders should have been called something like "Sound Devices MiniMix" or something to properly differentiate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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