Derek H

In the interview Gotham did Glenn said it was possible to order it in custom frequency bands as a special order.

Glad to hear that 13 hours is conservative. Glenn, you mentioned in the Gotham interview that, potentially, a VRX1 could be programmed for different frequency ranges. Can you elaborate on that? For example, if I’m able to order a few custom units to operate in the older 72-76 band or maybe TV5/6 could I later have them re-tuned to 216 or 944? Would this just be a firmware update or a hardware swap? Which brings another question about.. Could the VRX work with Lectrosonics IFB mode transmitters?

I think it’s pretty great to have a modern Comtek alternative. According to the video $495 is the introductory price. Hopefully it doesn’t get much more expensive otherwise it will be less enticing. Nice that you can add some of these to an existing Comtek system without having to use a separate transmitter. 13 hours on rechargeable AAs is cutting it pretty close if you ask me.

TinySA or TinySA Ultra? Anyone compare the two? Price difference is significant. Side note.. I’ve been pretty happy with the scans I’m able to do with the TXadvance app and an SDR dongle. If anyone has used both TXadvance and a TinySA care to comment on how the two compare? I imagine you get a lot more functionality for scanning out of tinySA.

What device and dongle are you using?

Denecke for me. No interest in trying to use a different kind of slate. When will they incorporate Bluetooth and other features? I hope never. I like that the slate has no menu to navigate or wireless status to keep an eye on. Battery. Jam. Don’t worry about it again until tomorrow. After it gets dropped for the 100th time maybe it will need a short trip back to Denecke for a reasonable fee and then it’s good for another 100 drops.

I’ve found that you won’t need the 20k resistor but you will end up setting your transmitter gain very low. Which is fine I think.

Yeah it’s happened. I remember a scene where we went from quiet dialog to hysterical screams and I thought I aced the screaming part (used the 24dB mode) but then heard back that levels were too low on the quiet part. Oh well. I try to tweak the trims as needed but sometimes it’s not really possible quickly enough.

Thanks for posting that! Seems Stuart’s mixing quite a bit lower than I typically do. I’m usually trying to get the input level to 0 and the post fade a 6-10dB above that.

Alpha Wire part number 80008 2 conductor, 24ga, no shield. Ultra flexible. If you find a place that sells it by the foot let me know!

Thanks Wyatt and Dan(?) for your suggestions. I also love the 24dB mode on the SX-ST for quiet-loud scenes and agree with the mentality of just let the iso be lower and mix quieter. However post on my show will send us emails if we deliver low ISOs. I almost think they’d rather fix clipping than deal with low levels. I don’t really get it.

You just have to try them both and see.

The consensus seems to be most people prefer the 61 for an all-rounder. I don’t think you’ll have an issue with noise unless you’re dealing with extremely low levels like whispering. I like having a few 4060s on hand for special cases as well as 4071s but generally we go for the 61s first. Lots of people seem to only use the 61s.

So I’ve been using a Sonosax SX-ST semi-regularly (not mine) and there’s a few things that still mystify me. Maybe some of the long time Sonosax users can enlighten me here. No output limiters? Really? I was surprised and asked Sonosax about this and was told that since it has always-on input limiters that one would never overload the output unless using a large amount of fader gain. Well then! I suspect the guys at Sonosax have never tried to mix a scene with mumbled whispers plus action even if that action is an unexpected folder slapping a desk or someone accidentally kicking a chair... when you’re adding 30dB of gain to pull out some ridiculous whisper just about anything can blow you out of the water. Overload LED? Sending tone (@+8) from a Lectro venue seems to overload the input when set to the “2nd click” and trim at the 0 detent. Ok, but when I reduce the trim the red LED remains lit even though all other evidence suggests the input is no longer overloading. Is this just a quirk of how the LED is lit in the circuit? My concern would be that reducing the trim knob doesn’t actually reduce the gain but introduces attenuation in which case you’d be just turning the overload down. Sonosax seemed to indicate this was not the case and my ears agree as does the meter on the recording LCD module.. yet the red LED persists. The Venue won’t overload it in the “1st click” without jacking the trim but that’s almost never enough gain for the performances I’m dealing with. Granted I’m usually not fully modulating the transmitters especially for the whispers so there’s a lot of latitude before clipping but still it can occasionally be tough to find the gain sweet spot and I’ve been tempted to reduce the Venue output levels to find some sort of happy medium. How do you guys typically setup your SX-ST with Lectros? Maybe I’m overthinking it all as the results have been generally good but for some reason this board has eccentricities that I don’t see on other equipment. Thanks! Sorry for the long rant.

Email sound devices. I think the faders on the CL-16 are the same model so you could likely just order it straight from them.

Hey thanks Richard. Just curious if you have the RAD 1 or 2 with the droop problem? I’m not on Facebook anymore so I haven’t seen the prototype pics. I just sent Simon an email suggesting all black parts and fur.

Thanks Roland, I remember your article now. I think your assessment is fair that it comes down to the more boom centric features such as the XLR clamp and ratcheting adjustments. Both are features I really like about the Cinela mounts. Myself and most other boom ops I work with are mounting a plug on transmitter at the shock mount end of the pole so to use a standard Invision 7 mount I need to first add an XLR holder (I like the simple aluminum one from Ambient) and a short XLR so the cost difference between Rycote and the RAD-1 becomes a moot point. I wonder if using an MKH50 in one of these deforms the cable clips? I’ve found that once I’ve used a 50 in a Rycote mount for a while the clips get stretched and it’s no longer useable for smaller diameter mics.

I’m curious who has picked up one of the RAD mounts from Radius and what do you think of it? Haven’t seen a lot of discussion about them other than the business side of things which I’m aware of. I’d like to hear from people who have used the new RAD mounts out in the field. I’m a Cinela fan but have also gone with the much cheaper invision mounts for certain mics and have been happy (MKH50 for example which is more forgiving). While I like Cinela mounts for their well thought out features and perfect match approach they are very pricey and I find their full blimp to be kind of heavy and fiddly. It’s great at its job but I sometimes find myself preferring the old school Rycote windshield which worked well and was easy to use. I’m very curious to see what Radius does for a full windshield this year.

Sure why not. If space isn’t a huge concern find a sled that puts 9 AA in series and that’ll put you at 14-15V depending on type. Probably get a decent runtime. SRs are pretty easy on power. Though 6 will also work.

I use the Sennheiser brand one and send unbalanced line level to an SK2000 transmitter. Never had a problem with noise. Sennheiser SK transmitters do not have a balanced input. It’s either mic input or line input and that is selected by the cable wiring itself. The specs direct you to ground the unused input so maybe check your cable. Pretty sure mic level is tip and line is ring but that’s going off memory.

Prepare to get roasted by our anti-32bit friends.

I think Penn Elcom is the choice for aluminum drawers these days. Or Star case but they make some weird design choices if you ask me.

Thanks Colin. Yeah I don’t think Sennheiser wants anyone to know they are generally compatible with G series.

“The signal should be compander free and…” These are analog. If you look at the specs it will confirm. Sennheiser is discontinuing the G4 series at some point soon. I suspect these are positioned to be a budget-level IEM once the G4 replacement comes out which will be digital and probably priced higher than the current G4 IEM system. I spent awhile on the phone and over emails with Sennheiser to find out if these new XSW receivers are compatible with G4/3/2 transmitters because it would be nice to be able to add less expensive receivers to an existing setup. They were pretty coy about it and I got a couple of no’s but someone did finally test it for me and said that the audio did come through. I think they’re a different compandor than their usual “HDX” one so you’d have to listen to see what they sound like.

Thanks for the offer Adrian!