Michael Wynne

Received mine last weekend, here’s a review I made.

Agreed, I was fortunate to build both my carts about four years back with their drawers before they closed up shop. What is everyone else buying these days?

I use my IFB on block 20 here in Atlanta, and have solid performance. Atlanta and surrounding area is a big place which part?

If they are the same as Scorpio they sound great AB. Sound Devices themselves said the Scorpio’s pre amps are the best sounding in their 20 yeAr history.

In Avid/ProTools workflows even if the AAF from editorial is 24 bit as long as the source files in the sound roll are 32 bit, and the TC from the exported AAF is intact the dialogue editor should be able to work in the 32 bit session and replace those 24 bit tracks. Providing the TC is intact when it hits the dialogue editor Pro Tools Ultimate/HD allows you to easily replace that by reading the TC and auto replacing it and importing from the sound roll. Replacing the AAF files from the sound roll is pretty common workflow practice on larger scale projects anyway for a variety of reasons. I will say that having the option to record both formats simultaneously would be an excellent future feature to ad to our flagship recorders X3, Deva 24, Scorpio. Etc

Your not missing anything, excellent point about relative levels. Most of the noise floor issues on a film set are all purely acoustic, so once again gain staging and signal to noise is important and it always will be.

Jon, thank you for posting this comparison. I just listened and adjusted the raw poly file here in Pro Tools in a 96k, 32bit Float session with a Apogee Symphony. I am hearing no discernible difference in the signal to noise input on the tracks when comparing the optimal gain setting to the one set 40db below. Very impressive! However, I will say that I thought I heard a better sonic performance and detail from the track recorded at the optimal level. It was very subtle but noticeable to me. Just to make sure I wasn't fooling myself I through it 180 degrees out of phase with matched levels and could still hear portions of the track coming through. One could still take the position that the pre amp / converter still prefers an optimal input level. But I will not deny that the 32bit float has many advantages in recording and post. Congrats to you and the team!

I love that idea if it is possible, Also Jon, what about Scorpio?

I've never heard any of these manufactures say that that gaining is no longer required on a mic pre amp. Maybe in the marketing literature as a way to sell a certain type of converter or recording system as far as dynamic range. But that's only one small piece of a much larger picture. Even if one thinks that they could hypothetically get away without proper pre amp gain based on this ridiculous application theory that input trim levels no longer matter, any under or over modulated input signal would therefore create more issues as it runs through the signal chain of the full system. Maybe as an experiment try ignoring your input trim levels on a professional job and see how long you hold on to that job before post gets a hold of you.

The ergonomics of the anticipated SRD, not to mention the slot mount advantages make something like this way more ideal in a bag. The other side of this is that antenna's on the front would have made cart use awkward as well, which is really it's intended use.

If there is no mic pre in the signal chain and it truly goes directly mic level into a AD converter that can handle these low input levels then you are technically correct. But only in theory not practical application in production sound workflows. No matter how extensive the 32 bit float point dynamic range is in the digital domain the fundamentals of proper gain staging and signal to noise still apply for all production sound systems on all analog input/output points in a 32 bit float workflow for those who wish to achieve outstanding audio. What concerns me is this marketing hype of “input trims no longer matter” It’s simply not true and it sends the wrong message for those who may not no better.

Thanks Jon, I just think it’s important to point out that your analog input signal level is not directly equivalent to your signal to noise level on any given mic preamp. For instance if you were to record at a relatively low level into a analog mic pre that had 32 bit floating point converter stage, the signal to noise level of that that track when you bring it up in post would be much less ideal then say a properly gain staged analog input that maximizes the use of the analog pre amp to its fullest. I won’t deny that 32 bit has some excellent advantages like you mentioned but I think it’s important we send the clear message to younger up and coming mixers and recordists that proper gain staging on the front end mic pre does matter, no matter what the bit depth your recording in.

I was able to compare it directly to the 688 using a passive whirlwind splitter and a hard lined Sennheiser MK50. Two observations are that the headphone amp is noticeably better and when I put the 48k 24bit files in the DAW its quite noticeable that the Scorpio is an improvement over the mic pre amps of the 688. It sounds more open and has more definition and detail to my ears. Sound Devices has stated that this is the best pre amp design to date.

The location of the two BNC antenna inputs, XLR /Dante outputs, and power is less ideal for a bag workflow and will be cumbersome, A slot mount SRB,SRC,A10, etc solves all that. And my guess is that with the digital winds of change the tumbleweeds will be bringing more to the slot mount design in the digital world such as the speculated SRD.

I’m sure it will have a sound report feature with the new included app. I’m assuming it will be along the lines of wingman which which works great once you got a workflow down for using it for delivery.