Loud Static in SD 552 Recording

[thebrengun]

I just posted this in the <hat> forums but I figured I'd add it to the brain trust here on JW. Fortunately I asked to redo the take for other reasons!

This happened to me today. I have the latest firmware, recording 24bit 48k .wav to a SanDisk SDHC 14GB card Class 4. I've never had a problem (that I know of). Last night I formatted the card for Fat 32 in disk utility and then formatted the card with SVEN in the 552. Today at the end of a take I heard what sounded like an intermod issue on my wireless (right channel) and, fortunately, asked to do that take again. When I was reviewing the files at home on my iMac I discovered that there was loud static on both channels during that portion of the take. After the static subsides you can hear a bit of that intermod in the right channel. I mention the intermod because I find it to be a huge coincidence and perhaps it isn't an intermod at all...

Upon discovering the static in the duplicated files on my system harddrive, I went back to the card and listened from there to find the same issue. I then popped the card back into the 552 and found that the issue was present when playing back from the 552 as well.

I then put the card back into the computer and opened Disk Utility. I ran Verify Disk and came up with the following screens (attached)

I repaired the disk and re-copied the offending file but the static remains so this happened during recording. I'd be curious to know if anyone else was able to hear this problem in real time monitoring in Record Source? I was monitoring the Stereo Program.

I'm also uploading the offending segment of the file to my Dropbox here:

https://www.dropbox....segment.wav.zip

In the meantime I'll be getting some new cards to use.

[Marc Wielage]

Looks like the disk is corrupted. Once that happens, all bets are off. I'd format a brand-new disk and try again.

I owned a 552 for a couple of years ago, and while I loved the mixer and thought it sounded great, I was never as impressed with the record section. I think it's good for a backup, but it makes me nervous as a primary recorder. Strictly a subjective opinion. I never once had it fail, either mixer or recorder, though a few times I had trouble getting it out of record mode.

[dugstar]

Yes this happened to me a few months ago, was a corrupted class 4 SD card. As a precaution i retired that set of cards and replaced them all with class 10s and have had no further issue

[Matt Morris]

I had exactly the same problem, although my problems manifested themselves over several different SD cards. I first noticed it like you, when reviewing a take back. I then ran lots of lots of tests with Sound Devices to try and nail the problem down. I tested using three different class 4 Sandisk cards - black 16GB, black 8GB and older blue 8GB. I also tried with a Kingston 16GB card and got the problems on each card.

I found that when I just left the 552 recording 1kHz tone overnight, filling up the card, there would regularly be a glitch at some point in the recordings. Maybe that would be worth a try with your new cards just to make sure?

The strange thing was that each of my cards showed up as corrupt when I scanned them with Apple Disk Utility. I checked with another 552 user and he noticed the same thing. I guess that when the 552 formats the card it does it in a way that ADU doesn't like.

Anyway, I sent my 552 back to SD and am having a replacement sent. It's knocked my faith in the recorder though and like Marc, I'd be hesitant to use it for critical recordings.

It seems to be a problem other people are having too as there is a similar thread to this one over on the Sound Devices forums.

[Toy Robot]

Same issue here a long while back. Use Class 6 or higher SDHC cards and make sure you are running the latest firmware. Since I changed to Class 6 cards and installed the latest firmware, I haven't had any issues with my recorder locking up.

Opinion: Reformat your cards in the 552. Do not attempt to reformat in your Mac. The 552's software is written to format the card the way SD wants it formatted, and since I always reformat my cards at the beginning of each day in the 552, I don't have any issues.

[BAB414]

Opinion: Reformat your cards in the 552. Do not attempt to reformat in your Mac. The 552's software is written to format the card the way SD wants it formatted, and since I always reformat my cards at the beginning of each day in the 552, I don't have any issues.

+1

I used my 552 as my sole and primary recorder for over 2 years and never lost a file, using Class 4 Sandisk Cards

[thebrengun]

Thanks everyone, I spent yesterday recording tone onto the problem card and some of my smaller backup cards. I also ordered a couple new cards, which are class 10, although according to Sound Devices this should have no bearing on anything. I was able to replicate the error on the problem card. I verified the card with disk utility before formatting in the 552, after formatting in the 552, and once again after recording in the 552. No errors were found until after I had recorded to the card. So it isn't simply the 552 formatting that disk utility doesn't like.

I then followed the same procedure on one of my other cards, a 4GB Kingston SDHC class 4, and was not able to replicate the problem However disk utility still found errors after recording.

The reason I like to give the cards a format prior to formatting in the 552 is because a friend once had problems after he had formatted an SD card in a Zoom and then re-formatted the card in the 552. Apparently something about the previous formatting caused problems but a secure re-format in the computer fixed the issue.

I've also never lost a file on my 552. It's proven to be a reliable machine for me, I just want to be certain a new card will indeed fix the problem.

What timing! As I was writing this my new cards were delivered!