IronFilm

That unreliability would be largely due to using the 2.4GHz frequencies, which has some pros, but a lot of cons too. To be fair, Lectrosonics SR receivers don't have true diversity either. Dunno about the Deity wireless though?

Newsshooter just published coverage of this: https://www.newsshooter.com/2023/04/18/deity-announces-theos-dbtx-d2rx-wireless-audio-system/ And their bodypack recorder too: https://www.newsshooter.com/2023/04/18/deity-releases-the-pr-2-pocket-recorder-with-32-bit-float/

Exactly, and is why the Deity UHF receiver could be a popular choice as a camera hop if they simply have pro line level (+4dBu) output from it so we can feed ARRI cameras.

For Americans: that is "TBD", and not being discussed further by Deity at this present time. My personal hope, is that no matter what happens with the American market, it will at least be possible for non-Americans??

The market for products that are only a field mixer (and not a recorder too) is very small these days. There are a still few being made and sold for this tiny niche market, such as the Sonosax SX-M32 mixer. https://sonosax.ch/product/sx-m32/ If anybody wants to buy a brand new "modern 302" then that is what I'd recommend. (or perhaps the Sony DMXP01, which only just got discontinued a year or two ago) Indeed! And this fact applies further pressure onto the lack of demand for a brand new 302 to be developed and sold, as who would buy it when you could buy three Sound Devices 302 mixers second for less than half of the cost of a brand new model? Not really, the 302/442/552 preamps are still broadly on par with the 8 Series. Not enough of a difference that anybody would ever tell them apart in the final edit anyway. It isn't exactly the same as what you're saying, but I've suggested something similar many times before: The 833 has inflated in price to become very expensive, it is hard for someone starting out to justify it. The gap from a MixPre10 to a 833 is quite large for them. But the MixPre series is quite crippled, limitations somewhat due to internal software but mostly due to the external hardware design. What if the guts of a MixPre6/10 was put inside instead a 633/833 body? So that outwardly it "looked like" an 833/633 while behaving like a MixPre? Simply 3x mic inputs with also 3x line/AES inputs with faders and trims for them all like the 833, and the sensible powering/outputs/media/ergonomics design of the 833, and priced at say US$3.5K Call it the "MixPre6 Pro" perhaps. Because under the hood it is a MixPre that's running everything, this wouldn't get as super ultra hot as an 8 Series does, so perhaps they could even do something extra innovative with the "MixPre6 Pro" design such as making this "633/833 chassis" (that the "MixPre6 Pro" is wearing) be made out of lightweight carbon fiber? Man the Zoom F4 was such a good little recorder! It could even do 6 channels in a pinch, I did a whole feature film with a Zoom F4 running six channels into it most days for a month straight. Wish there had been a "Zoom F4n", even if only had little improvements such as giving us switchable line/mic inputs (ditch the 1/4" adapter cables!) and proper pro line level outputs, then that alone could have been a really nice refinement on what was already a great product. Wouldn't even mind if there wasn't an app for it, the screen remained B&W, and they'd kept that weird proprietary connector (but seriously, it should be ditched! Replaced with 5/6th channels on TA3F over AES? Or line level, with gain adjustments within the UI).

Even has features lacking in many pro grade wireless in use. I'm guessing though the Deity UHF will fit in the middle ground (or higher, let's see how the reviews are) between prosumer wireless such as Sennheiser G4 / Sony UWP-D21 and the professional wireless (the usual suspects of: Lectrosonics, Zaxcom, Sony DWX, Shure Axient Digital, Sound Devices Wireless, Wisycom, etc). As historically there has been a huge gap between those two categories, at least in terms of price! Great for anybody who travels a lot too! As when you go overseas you'll automatically get unlocked legal frequencies overseas (that were illegal back at home). Sennheiser G4 is $700 for one channel. This Deity UHF is dual channel, I wouldn't be surprised at all of Deity ends up costs less per channel than a G4 does. Yeah, I've heard that mentioned too, I'd probably rank it is a "possible" but not a "probably" rumor? But yeah, if the Deity UHF wireless turns out to be good then I'd love to see a Deity UHF Superslot receiver with AES. That could be my second receiver in the Sound Devices SL2 with a Lectro DSR4. (as sadly my Lectro SRb receivers won't output AES in the SL2 to match with a DSR4) But my biggest wish right now, is that the currently announced Deity UHF will get pro line level output (+4dBu), so that it can be used as a camera hop with all the many productions which require a line level feed into their camera (as there isn't a mic level option on the camera, as this is a quite common scenario).

More likely is that it seems like the news got leaked over in Europe (a retailer published the first link I shared), which forced Sennheiser's hand to announce it, and thus then others published their info (such as B&H's video) which they already had ready to go once they got the go ahead.

Video out by B&H: They've got very cheap prosumer pricing of it at only US$700: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1754634-REG/sennheiser_700012_ew_dp_me2_set_r4_9.html yes! This must be great news for people like you who were already using the rack mounted receivers for it! But it is is a pity that their portable receiver seems to be badly designed when it comes to bag usage 😕 Edit, found another video: He does a range test of it here compared against other prosumer/consumer grade Sennheiser wireless, the video is entirely in german but you can figure out the gist of it:

New prosumer grade Sennheiser wireless just dropped: https://www.leisuretec.co.uk/news/sennheiser-evolution-wireless-digital-ewdp Not really at all for our line of professional work. But I bet we'll be seeing a lot of these in use by other people, be they cameraman/DoPs/videographers or newbies starting out doing sound. (surely seems like a much better product than the usual Sennheiser G3 -ish types of wireless people would buy?)

First of all, I wouldn't patent and defend anything that shouldn't be patented (although unfortunately the system is designed to force you to get defensive patents). For instance the entire category of software patents simply should not exist! To have a patent for those is as ridiculous as having a patent for eiπ + 1 = 0! (Imagine if Euler had been given a patent for that?? Or even a copyright. Or maybe Roger Cotes should have got the IP for it? What an absolute mess of a disaster!) That should never ever happen, it's a crime against science and physical reality. Ask yourself if it is ethically right and good for society if there are patents for math? Or is it immoral and a net harm? And yes, I'm quite aware of patent history (I'm quite a big nerd for this stuff, been around the IT scene a long time, I was pretty deep into the politics of IP law at one point). Aware of in the USA too, it's really got out of hand there, too many patents being granted in the USA that just wouldn't be allowed in other countries (for instance here in my country the entire category of software patents that's allowed in the USA is instead banned in NZ. As I said before the entire IP system in America is badly broken, and that's just one example). Just because something "has a patent" doesn't make it right. Funny timing to bring this up, as I just watched this evening a video from JinniTech as for the first time in three long years he's put out another video, of course about RED and how this other patent there is the film industry that should never ever have been granted: JinniTech has put out a bunch of other videos, have a watch of them, such as this one: After watching them then ask yourself, is it right this patent still stands? How much has the existence of this patent held back over a decade's worth of progress in the film industry? How much has society missed out on because of this? I understand you are very quick in wanting to defend Zaxcom, as you have a long history of using them. And I appreciate the products they've been making. Don't read this as an attack specifically on Zaxcom (note that I didn't even use the word "Zaxcom" in my previous post!), but a wish to highlight the broken patent system. (which is what the bulk of my short comment was about) If it had been any other company I'd be still saying exactly the same! Just like I am also against how RED abused the patent system in America. And although I'm primarily a Lectrosonics and Sound Devices user, if they did something similar I'd be quick to bring up my issues I see with their actions too! For instance if Sound Devices decided to play hard ball with the Superslot standard and deliberately kept out Deity/Zaxcom/Hollyland/DJI/Line6/Godox/Rode/Saramonic/AudioTechnica/Audix/whoever/etc and were pursing aggressive legal actions against them, then I'd certainly be strongly objecting to that as well! As not only would it be ethically wrong, but it would be very bad for our industry too if Sound Devices did that. (& I hope they never do! I don't think they would either as they seem like sensible people, just gave it as a theoretical example) I'm very strongly in favor of innovation! 🙂 That's why I strongly oppose obstacles that block and hold back innovation.

And their lawyers. And the screwed up Patent Office, and the messed up IP laws in the USA. Ah well, at least their patent will expire in a few more short years.

Anybody who can answer that question would be under a NDA. I think Lectro has hinted the performance will be comparable to a 411. But ah well, soon enough the DSR4 will be shipping! (fingers crossed) Then the user reports will be coming in.

Probably not much that would be really wanted in a new Sonosax recorder, that couldn't maybe(?) be already added to the SX-R4+ with a firmware update? Such as EQ/Automix/NR.

They only just put out the Sonosax SX-RX8+!! (in fact, I think it is not even shipping the first units yet?) Thus it seems unlikely to me there will be a SX-R4+ v2.0 any time super soon? (and if there is, it had better have backwards compatibility with all of their accessory add ons for the SX-R4+! Would suck having to wait again for a decade to finally see their range fleshed out again for the next generation like it took for the SX-R4+)

I think they are. But it wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to use the X+ instead of the M+ if I was super super ultra tight for space. Keep a close eye out for news of support for the StudioLogic Mixface! Fingers crossed this happens. As that's even smaller than the X+ iCON X+ = 335(L) x 196(W) x 58(H)mm StudioLogic Mixface = 26.2 x 13.0 x 3.6 cm Someone posted on Facebook a pic of the Mixface in use with their Sound Devices recorder, so hopefully we should maybe see the official announcement soon-ish in the new year:

I've got the iCON M+ with the D2 display, and although there are more options now available than back when I bought it (which was immediately after the 833 release) I would still today make the same decision if I had to buy it all over again. The way I see it is: Behringer X-TOUCH = needs a DC mod to power it, is AC only Mackie MCU Pro = this just never ever gets talked about by the 8 Series users? I dunno why. People dislike 7.5V powering that much vs the preference for everything to be 12V? Nah, that can't be the reason. Or maybe the fact that it is over double the price of the iCON M+ & D2 combo, even though it doesn't seem to offer much more than the iCON does?? Or maybe it is because the Mackie is a little wider, a lot deeper and a lot heavier than the iCON?? Sonosax SX-LC8+ = I like how very nice and compact this is, but: no trim controls, no banking, and no display Sound Devices CL-12 = no longer made, and a bit pricey on the secondhand market because demand for it is still very high Sound Devices CL-16 = I wish I had this, but too crazy expensive for me personally! iCON Platform M+ (w D2 Display) = the sweet spot for me! iCON Platform X+ = it's basically an M+, but without the shortcut buttons on the righthand side iCON Platform B+ = no linear faders (is curious, this is on the list of ones officially supported... but I never hear anybody talking about using it? It's just to access a heap of shortcuts I assume?) So yeah, when I look through the whole list, then I'm very happy with the decision of the iCON M+ (with the D2) as the best decision for me. Perhaps if the Sonosax SX-LC8+ was just a little bit cheaper, then I might buy that too as a backup/secondary option. As I do especially like how very compact the Sonosax is compared to the iCON. There is a very strong hint that there might in the future be 8 Series support for the SL Mixface. https://www.studiologic-music.com/products/mixface/ https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1443131-REG/studiologic_sl_mixface_the_sl_mixface_control.html If that happens, then I'll definitely be getting one, just so I can have the option of a control surface with a much smaller footprint than the iCON M+

@Allen Williams is!

Ah, unusual to see a Sony DWX user! How do you like them, do you have other Sony wireless or just that one receiver? Have you tried out the previous generation DWX wireless beforehand?

Depends, if you just want a bit more rough general familiarity with it, then could do that over a few weekends, but if you want to create your own new and improved codec? Might take years and years.

If a persons really really wants to save some money by using Sennheiser transmitters instead the Wisycom transmitters with the MCR54, then I think the best plan would be to get some secondhand Sennheiser SK 5212 transmitters as they seem to go for low/mid three hundreds on eBay (or get the Sennheiser SK5012 nearly for free, they're just about being given away). The SK5212 will sound better, be more durable, and as a bonus are much more compact too so easier to hide on costumes.

ha, I was very very tempted to make a comment in my post about middle out compression... but I resisted the temptation to talk about D2F or T2O. Well, until now!

Deity made a few products (such as their shotguns and wireless) which were what I'd call prosumer grade. (half way between consumer grade and professional grade, with a foot in each camp) However their timecode products I'd definitely put in the professional grade category. btw, I think it is a bit premature to buy their timecode slate though for you currently, as there are plenty of other higher priorities to spend your limited $$$ on. Definitely get their timecode boxes though. You could get a secondhand Tascam DR60D and Deity SMic2 shotgun kit (with a cheap aluminum 3m boom pole), plus a single channel of Sony UWP-D21 (or even the previous generation UWP-D11) all for under US$1K with a little bit of sleuthing. And that could be enough to "save the day" if everything totally goes to a hellish sh*t in a handbasket (such as if you fell into a canal wearing your mixing bag). Plus as I said, all of this could also be handy supplementary kit for your main gear. If you need to squeeze in an extra channel of talent wireless then the Sony will work very well in a pinch. Or if you need to send scratch audio to a camera, then the Sony's great for that. Likewise a second boom has many ways it might be useful. Lectrosonics also has multiple compatibility modes too. But just like when you try to use other brands with Wisycom, it won't ever sound quite as good as when paired with the receiver it is meant to go with. No need to rush and buy a PHA60, as at this point in time you should go with a hardwired boom any time you're working from a bag and booming yourself. But it is very handy to have if you're say doing a Short Film with a Boom Op, then you'll need them to go wireless, so get yourself a Wisycom PHA60 as it's very affordable at just US$295: https://www.gothamsound.com/product/pha60-48v-phantom-power-adapter Your main two other options are: Ambient UMP III which is very similar in general concept to the PHA60, but rather than being specifically made for a particular Wisycom transmitter it is intended for more general purpose usage with no one transmitter in mind. Oh, and it costs $100 more than the Wisycom PHA60. https://www.gothamsound.com/product/ump-iii-universal-mic-power-supply Or get a dedicated boom transmitter, the Wisycom MTB40S-UN. But that's nearly US$1.4K, and you don't have the versatility of also being able to use this transmitter on talent as well as a bodypack. https://www.gothamsound.com/product/mtb40s-un-plug-transmitter So for where you're at currently, the PHA60 sounds like it makes a lot more sense for you to get. Lectrosnics IFBs are also very popular too. Kinda also depends on where in the world you are. Also often people might mix and match. Use the higher quality Lectro IFBs for their team in the Sound Dept, and perhaps the Director too & a select few other VIPs, but then have a dozen of the cheaper Comteks to give out to everyone else. Keep in mind that: 1) the Sennheiser G4 used as IEMs are a specific model that's quite different to the Sennheiser G4 wireless people: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1385733-REG/sennheiser_ek_iem_g4_a_ek_iem_g4_stereo.html (note, that's more expensive than the IFBlues made by Lectrosonics: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1658800-REG/ifblue_ifbr1c_a1_ifbr1c_bodypack_ifb_receiver.html ) 2) I have very low opinion of using the Sennheiser EW100 G4 kits as talent wireless. As Sony UWP-D21 are priced the same and are better. And besides, any you should be using pro grade wireless for talent, not prosumer wireless.

This is really a topic that's in Computer Science, so if you wish to go deep into it expect to seriously upskill your CompSci knowledge. And as Computer Science is a niche within the Mathematical Sciences (most CompSci Depts grew out of originally being within the Mathematics Department), expect lots of math especially for this topic in particular. Audio codecs/compression is also heavily related to signal processing, which is very heavy on mathematics. How deep are you wanting to go? What are your goals? (come up with better audio compression??) I guess I'd suggest this pathway: A general introductory programming course (in any language is fine, but Python is a very popular choice) https://www.coursera.org/specializations/python-3-programming An introductory paper to Discrete Mathematics (do this before DS&A). https://www.coursera.org/specializations/discrete-mathematics A couple of introductory papers to DS&A (data structures and algorithms. What's in DS&A is really core to progressing further, so might as well do this twice over so it gets drilled into the brain). https://www.coursera.org/specializations/data-structures-algorithms https://www.coursera.org/specializations/boulder-data-structures-algorithms You've now got a solid but very basic foundation done on the CompSci side of things. But you've still not touched signal processing at all. So take a general mathematics course in Calculus and Linear Algebra: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/mathematics-engineers Then do two Signal Processing courses (yes two, as again, this is really of core importance!): https://www.coursera.org/specializations/digital-signal-processing https://www.coursera.org/learn/audio-signal-processing (yay, finally we got to do something specific to the audio world!) Might be good to do a foundational statistics course too, either one or both of these (don't do it before the general math class though, or before taking the introductory Python programming course): https://www.coursera.org/specializations/statistical-inference-for-data-science-applications https://www.coursera.org/specializations/data-science-statistics-machine-learning Ok, you've now got some foundational knowledge laid down, let's get started on learning more specifically how all this can be applied to audio codecs and compression?? Well, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be many/any MOOCs specifically do with audio (well, other than the one I just linked to), but there are tonnes about the same general concepts however applied to images (as obviously image processing is a very hot topic these days!). So you could take a few of those, and a lot of the general concepts you learn would apply back to audio too. https://www.coursera.org/learn/digital https://www.coursera.org/learn/image-processing https://www.coursera.org/specializations/image-processing https://www.coursera.org/learn/matlab-image-processing https://www.coursera.org/projects/autoencoders-image-denoising https://www.coursera.org/projects/image-compression-generation-vae And beyond that, just use the background knowledge you've now gained to start learning on your own, buy some textbooks on this, and help out on open source audio projects for instance. Feel free to hit me up with any more specific questions, as while I haven't studied audio codecs and compressions specifically, I do have a mathematics degree, did a physics postgrad signal processing paper and now doing postgrad engineering analytics.

It is crazy how high prices for secondhand equipment has shot up vs where the pricing was just a year or three ago! My theory is because the pandemic absolutely screwed up production of brand new goods, forcing many new equipment products to have extremely long backlogs of orders (want to buy a new Shure Axient Digital complete setup immediately tomorrow? Good luck!! As it's not going to happen, you'll have to wait). Or even in extreme circumstances manufacture gets suspended entirely! (as happened beforehand with the Sound Devices 833 and MixPre3) This in turn has forced many people, who'd have otherwise have preferred to buy brand new, to instead look to the secondhand market to fulfil their needs. Which of course applied upwards pressure on pricing. Plus the general high inflation causing prices of everything in general to go up, including secondhand goods.

Timecode boxes are the really big and obvious omission here, surprised you don't have any already considering what you've accumulated so far. Get at least a couple (and all the many cables!) either Tentacle Sync E, or maybe TCS Ltd Ultrasync ONE, or Deity TC1 (they've got a three pack deal!) are good choices. However getting a timecode slate seems much less important than numerous other purchases I think you should do first. Is there any older/secondary/backup gear as well which you've upgraded from which you haven't listed? As I think it is really important for a professional to have "something" as your backup for if disaster strikes. What if something breaks in a freak accident on set, or a criminal steals your gear during lunch break, or a random Act of God happens. Is very helpful to have "something" so the show can go on. As you can just fetch the spares from your van, or from back at home. Ideally say a MixPre3 or Zoom F6 would be almost ideal as a backup recorder, but even a dirt cheap (almost nothing!) Tascam DR60D would be better than nothing! Plus often there are times when extra gear comes in handy, maybe for instance you have a loooong day running up and down a mountain following a couple of athletes for a doco. Wouldn't it be nice to use your backup MixPre3 for that instead of your MixPre10? Or maybe you're doing an interview setup and it would be nice to have one MKH50 over each person? (rather than splitting it down the middle, or ignoring one prson) Yet another benefit of having a spare mic and a second boom pole. So with that in mind, I'd suggest some of your first considerations be that you upgrade from your 416 (and then the 416 can be your back up mic. Consider the 8060, or any of the great mics from Sanken/DPA/Schoeps) and get a second boom pole. (perhaps a 5m pole? For when you need a little more extra reach than your current one can do). Have spare lav mics for your transmitters as well (would suck if just one lav breaks when you're needing to use all four transmitters, & you're stuffed because you only own four lavs), just simply getting a couple of Deity W.Lav Pros are a cheap but good solution here. After that, I'd look into getting a second MKH50 as well. Same logic is why you should get a couple more eSmart batteries and a second eSmart charger too. (ditto a second ISDT charger too! Could you imagine what total disaster it would be if your only AA charger got broken / stolen / lost??) Once you've done all that, then get the Wisycom PHA60 for when you need a wireless boom (for instance every time you work with a Boom Op). Get a Wisycom MPR52, this is both very useful for if your MCR54 ever goes down (it's your only receiver! Talk about having all your eggs in one basket) at least you'll have still be able to do two channels of wireless (might be enough to get through the rest of the day in a pinch) but is also useful when you need more wireless on set (such as for sending a high quality feed to a camera, or if you need to wire up a 5th and 6th talent on camera. On which point, get a couple of Wisycom MTP61 as well! For when you need to put a lav on a trickier costumes which you can't hide your bigger MTP60 transmitters on). Have you checked out the IFBlues? (by Lectrosonics) I like you can get these in either the VHF or 941 block, meaning you can put these all in frequencies far away from your much more important boom and talent wireless frequencies.