henrimic

Looks great ! Nice interface. Thanks Jeff

After a few months of work with the SD833, here are my impressions and some suggestions. This topic is meant to be completed by other users to share their experience and thoughts about this machine, knowing that folks at Sound Devices are reading. First of all, I have to say that the SD833 is a great tool. I loved the 633 and was kind of skeptical at the beginning, not seeing well what were the advantages of the upgrade. But after a while, I have to say that I am completed conviced by the advantages of the 8 series, especially now with the new plugin and developments we can see coming. At the beginning, I was worried by the power consumption, and if indeed the 833 is more power hungry, this is definitly not an issue at all. With a full Audioroot Smart Battery of 98 Wh, I can work more or less five to six hours continuous, depending on channels activated, and with my MCR42’s feeded by the same battery. It’s 30 to 40 minutes less than the 633 in average, so not a big deal. Speaking of power, I miss the Quickboot option of the 6 series. Working mainly in documentary where one have to react very quickly, sometimes I prefer to keep the recorder powered on to not miss any shot. I am shure that with Quickboot, I could lay the 833 in sleep mode and spare my batteries. I love the flexibility of the routing and the 6 mic preamps. With the 633, when using an MS pair, the second channel potentiometer was not used and I had to mix the lavs on the small pots. Now, I put my Mid on channel 3, the Side on channel 4 and I keep channel 1 and 2 for radio microphones. If I need more lavs, I use Dungan that works better than on the 633, or at least, the display is clearer. Speaking of the MS pair, I find very cool to have he gains linked too, but I would love to be able to trim the level of the second channel. Now the gains are perfectly matched, but sometimes, it’s usefull to be able to lower the second channel by a few dB’s. The display, although small is clear and easily readable. But sometimes, when on a cart, I use the iPad app. I don’t know how could this be poossible , but I’d love to have the ability to browse the menus, or to adjust the eq’s on the iPad screen. Regarding the eq’s, that’s a great addition compared to the 633, and one of the main reason to change for me. But I miss the ability to store setups. I mainly use the eq to compensate the lost of High’s when lavs are concealed, or with a wind fur, and also to emulate the LFA filter of the Nagra to compensate proximity effect. If I could store these default setups, that would be a great addition. Same for the input routing. If I could easily change the inputs assignation and names without having to load a complete setup, that would be great and so helpful. Regarding the meters, I miss the balistics settings that were in the 633. We can’t adapt the type of meters like before. I love the PPM, and I can’t change the default setup of VU + Peak hold. The ouput settings are awsome and very flexible, but I can’t send an X1 or X2 Bus to the XLR out. Recently, I had to make a different mix on the recorder and the scratch track on the camera and was surprised that I could not change the XLR out. We were shooting while skiing and I had not my TA3 adaptors… Finally, this message is already far too long, and I am sorry for this, but I would say that I will not go back annd I am looking forward the developments of this great machine. I'll be interested to read what other SD833 users are experiencing or suggesting. Thanks for reading !

If you want a new hardware add-on like the SL2 or the CL16, everyone will find normal to pay for it. But in the case of software, one would want to get it for free ? In both cases, engineers have to work, and be paid for it to design these plug ins or devices. If you look at Aaton, they just released a new version of the Cantar firmware with optional features : AatonMix, 600€ excl. VAT, Dante+, 300€ excl. VAT, Auxiliary mix buses, 300€ ecl. VAT DAW manufacturers use this model for decades and that’s not unfair. The good thing is that SD opens his 8 series platform to other manufacturers. With the release of the V5.0, the Sonosax LC8+ is now compatible with my 833 and this is great ! Imagine in the future having 3rd party Plugins like Ambisonics or Schoeps double MS, or the ability to control Tentacle boxes or Audio ltd or Wisycom transmitters from the recorder via the Bluetooth Interface of the 8 series. I think we are just at the beginning....

As I am not on Facebook. Glenn, could you share the link here too ?

Thank you Glenn for your clarification. It's true that the nova is a whole new paradigm for me. I didn't see it that way. I'm definitely going to ask to test this machine to change my preconceptions.

I feel the same about redundancy. With only one device, you loose all your 4 channels in case of failure. It's always good to have spare stuff. That's the main reason I am also afraid of the Nova. In case of problem, you loose everything. I will defintely keep my MPR52 as this is also an excellent two channels camera hop.

I don’t have any experience in carrying RF and SDI in the same multi-core, but definitely, the impédances are different. 75 Ohm for video vs 50 for RF. Also, above 10 meters, you’ll need quite serious RF cable if you don’t want too much loss. I have some of these simple RF cables and they are not flexible at all. I am afraid you won’t find any multi cable with such qualities. Fiber is definitely the best option if you want to keep an eye on your receivers. I don’t know the price range, but BS-RF in France have smart solutions, certainly less expensive than Wisycom solutions. https://www.bs-rf.com/en/products/fiber-optic-rf-offset/

I can't believe they just recorded the voice over of their presentation with so many plosives. For a sound company, obviously among the finest, they should pay more attention to the quality of their presentation. Sorry I had to say, and I am a user and a big fan of their products. By the way, this is a huge product. No distribution needed for up to 4 channel, this will dramaticly reduce he weight of my bag. I was worried by the small screen but I can't wait to try it and especially the Bluetooth app.

Completely compatible as Wisycom will remain analog (with digital DSP) for a while. Compatibility with many companders, including from other brands, is one of their major strengths.

Sure, like you, I am not in the position to buy gear at the moment, but I found this funny. It looks like the very serious Schoeps company takes lessons at Apple marketing dept. and begin to play the game of exclusivities and limited offers. Fair enough, owning a Schoeps is like owning a fine mechanical watch, even if it’s primary a tool for us. I hope they will propose these blue edition later when we will all resume to normal business.

Here is a screenshot of the presentation. The french text says: Monitor and control Tx and Rx via USB-C or Bluetooth 5 (range more than 300 metres) on Wisycom Manager 2.0 (on a PC) Among the smallest transmitters in the world. Rounded shape. Optional internal recording that can be extracted via waterproof USB-C or Bluetooth. 48v Phantom power. As far as I can see, but not more than you, it seems the form factor is the same as the Sony DWT-B03r https://pro.sony/en_EE/products/dwx-digital-series-transmitters/dwt-b03r But this is a very preliminary information, I think they are just in the development phase, nothing to wait before a while. I generally don’t share rumours, but this was presented online on a free access meeting by the official french distributor, so I think we can trust this information.

For those who like to match the colour of their microphones, Schoeps has presented yesterday, during the Sound Summit, the Blue Colette Set. Included are a CMC1 + Cut60 + MK41 in a rugged Peli box + a B5D + SG20. This is a limited edition, only 100 pieces at the retail price of 2070$. I don’t know why, but I think the gear acquisition syndrome will soon hit me....

Wisy's user interface can be a bit confusing for the newcomer but when you get used to it, it's no big deal. There are fixed pre-programmed banks but also free ones, so you can tune precisely manually. The multi-compander function is sooooo useful. Recently, for a doco, I had to record a speech. Instead of trying to get the sound from the PA, I just checked the frequency of their mic, put my Wisy receiver on HDX and I received their signal without any hicup. For those who are interested, during a Zoom conference with the french distributor a few weeks ago, he confirmed and showed preliminary pictures of the new miniature transmitters they are working on.

Sennheiser HD26 Pro since 5, 6 years. Same as you, I have used several brands and models since 30 years, but the HD26 is my preferred one so far. I haven’t try the Neumann yet but have read good reviews.

It’s a chock for all the french speaking cinema community. Our renown Belgian colleague Marc Engels passed away two day ago, due to the Virus. Marc was 54 and won the Cesar of the french academy for best sound in 2017 for the film “L’Odyssee”. All of us here are devasted by this sad news. My thoughts for his family.