Soundwil Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 Thank you Constantin and Armin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 And here's the pic: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myriam Posted May 26, 2014 Report Share Posted May 26, 2014 Does any one know the weight of this 3ch or 2ch fader? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogpole Posted May 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Sorry, But I won't be able to get the M3 in for Nomad 12 cable build until next week. Forty some years ago, I tried to solder a cable. It turned out looking like a Giacometti statue. So,I gave up and left soldering to the Professionals at Vark Audio...... Wise decision on my part. Ciao, Sully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Myriam: " Does any one know the weight of this 3ch or 2ch fader? " Kortwich... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundwil Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 Does any one know the weight of this 3ch or 2ch fader? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Weight for the 3 channel is 317.2 grams without anything connected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundwil Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 Here's the specs in German if you're in to that kind of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myriam Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 Weight for the 3 channel is 317.2 grams without anything connected. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogpole Posted May 29, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 Friday, May 30, 2014 is maiden voyage for the M3 tied into a Nomad 12. I got cables made just in time for a job on Friday and Saturday. I can get 9 mike pres and one line IN (10 record channels) for the Nomad. The M3 seems to need a lot of juice to run (about 250 Ma with phantom power on at 12v). The SN level does't look that good on the scopes, but it sounds just fine. I have to crank an extra 10db gain above 0db into the line level settings for the Nomad and keep the HP volume up. But the actual sound tests seem to work out just fine. The numbers for this machine don't look that good, but it sure sounds good. And remember, I am using it for a Nomad, not the purpose (SD 633) the M3 was intended. So, here we go. I hope the M3 does not drain my NP1s down too quickly. I am using the loop through right now. But I could go to a direct M3 power with another NP1 if it draws too much power from the main set-up. I'll report back Monday (Sunday is recovery day with a nice Bordeaux). Ciao, Sully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Constantin Posted May 29, 2014 Report Share Posted May 29, 2014 but it sure sounds good. And remember, I am using it for a Nomad, not the purpose (SD 633) the M3 was intended So do you think it will sound better with a 633? By the way, you are using mics with 12V ph? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogpole Posted May 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Constantin, I tried the M3 with a SD 633 and it sounded just fine. Hopefully, it will sound just as good for the Nomad. I'm using 48v phantom, but the mikes are powered by a 12v NP1 battery. I sorry for the confusing explanation. With phantom power on, it pulls about 250ma, which is a lot, I think. Anyway, I will let you know Monday how it went. Ciao, Sully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Davies Amps CAS Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Is there a UK distributor for this unit and Kortwich stuff? Or is dealing direct the way to go? No there isn't a UK distributor. Just give them a call, Pieter in Sales speaks perfect English and they are a joy to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soundwil Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 Thanks Malcolm. It may not be obvious from my previous posts but I communicated with them via email and the deal was done last week and I am now a proud owner of an M3. FWIW a VCP-M3, 3 x TA3-XLR(F) and 1 x TA3-TA3 (all 100mm) cost £583 + £15 bank charge. Delivery was within 3 days of payment. I haven't set it up yet with my 633. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnpaul215 Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 It should work with Nomad, but it still won't help with recording prefader isos unfortunately. True, but the Nomad fader panel is coming pretty soon. It looked good at NAB, and the (estimated?) price made it a no brainer if you regularly need to mix those extra channels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbiesodd Posted May 31, 2014 Report Share Posted May 31, 2014 True, but the Nomad fader panel is coming pretty soon. It looked good at NAB, and the (estimated?) price made it a no brainer if you regularly need to mix those extra channels. If I can avoid the size and weight of the FP8 and have a usable 3 Channel device then I'm going to seriously consider this M3 alternative - for the times when I don't need 6 extra faders. Cheers, Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogpole Posted June 2, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2014 M3 goes to work.....The Job--High School Musical recording. Three shows.... two hours in length (one on Friday night, and two on Saturday).... I thought it would involve flying a bunch of Schoeps from the overhead grid, but this approached was nixed...time and costs. So, plan "B"...Main mix feed and 9 iso outs from large Allen & Heath board in sound booth. Every actor was miked with a wireless (17 in all). The director picked only 9 "must have" students for isos. The rest would come from the main mix channel. The mixer on the board was a young lady who was only a sophomore. But she did a really great job on a very difficult show. Bad news--I couldn't use the M3 as a mike preamp. Good news--As a line impute (with pads) from the main board, it saved my bacon. If you have time, you can adjust the impute levels of the Nomad, channels 7, 8, 9, and 10 with no trouble. But with quick level tweaking needed for a fast moving show, the M3 really helped speed up my reactions to sudden changes. With out the 48v preamps switched on, the Nomad (recording all 12 tracks) and M3 ran smoothly for over 2 hours on one NP1 battery. There was very little heat coming out of the M3. I will probably get the Zaxcom fader unit when it is available, but I'm keeping the M3. Ironically, I got it for the SD 633 and ended up using it for the Nomad. I'll try and use it some more with the 48v system to ring out the preamps. The M3 seems to pull a lot of power with 48v, so, I'm still a little worried about how long an SD 633 or a Nomad will last with one NP1 powering everything. If anybody else gets the M3, please let us all know how it performs. Ciao, Sully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbiesodd Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Thanks for sharing your experiences, Sully. I still have a few questions regarding your workflow... - Did you need separate attenuators in order to input a Line Level signal into the M3? - When used for Nomad's channels 7/8/9, did they function as pre-fade or post-fade controls? Did you still need to access and use the Nomad's VFaders at all? Cheers, Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 hobby: " Did you need separate attenuators in order to input a Line Level signal into the M3? " why would you need to put line level inputs through the M3 ?? I must be missing something..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbiesodd Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 mikemike: I must be missing something..? Often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 when will all the rhetorical questions end..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogpole Posted June 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 The four inputs for the Nomad 12 (7,8,9, and 10 are line level-in with a virtual menu to set the gain levels. A straight line level to those imputes can be adjusted easily with the menu system--- if you have time. If the signal coming into that setting is correctly adjusted, then you really don't have to deal with the virtual setting again. But if the levels to the virtual channels changes quickly (wild high school play), you need to move faster than the virtual fader system can deliver. Enter the M3. Attaching the the M3 faders "ahead" of the virtual fader setting gives you control of the signal coming off the main mix board. The virtual settings of the Nomad become a "sort of" trim setting and the M3 is the fader for the trim setting. The M3 has two settings for the mike preamps....48v and dynamic. It does not have a line setting input. It only outputs line level. The board signal I am taking is line level "Out". I used the dynamic input setting of the M3, and put in-line pads, to bring the line level "Outs" of the main board down to a level the M3 could accept. Now, the wildly erratic signals coming off the main board could be faded by the M3 to the correct levels for the virtual settings of the Nomad. I didn't have to readjust the Nomad settings. I could keep a lid on everything with the M3 faders. I could see the settings for the channels 7,8,9 on the Nomad "Card" menu screen. This system worked pretty well. As Mike knows (he has lots of earnest students), you have to roll with the punches on these jobs. The Nomad and the M3 saved my bacon on this one. Luckily, I remembered to bring the Swiss Army Knife tone generator along to set levels out of the board. That has to be the greatest piece of gear since Velcro. I gave the my the M3 to Jim Gilchrist, so, he can ring out the preamps on his SD 644. Look for some analysis from him later on. Ciao, Sully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Sully: " (wild high school play) " part of doing a proper professional job is having the correct tools for the gig... I would not be mixing a wild high school play, let alone that many wildly varying inputs on a bag mixer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frogpole Posted June 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2014 Mike, I'm not "mixing" the show. I'm recording 10 Line Outs from the main board into a Nomad with the M3 and sending a mono mix to the main camera. A student is doing the board mix (F0H and the recorder feed). She did a great job for a complex show (17 talent wireless, 3 instrument settings, and pre-recorded efxs). She gave me good enough iso feeds that I could handle with the Nomad/M3 combo. Having the M3 gave me the quick fader control to match the other six faders on the Nomad. Ideally, I would have used the new Zaxcom fader for the Nomad, but I don't have one yet. I'm not so sure I would refer to the Nomad as a "bag mixer". In this case it was used as a recorder. And I'm sure you know a few people who use Nomads and SD 644s as recorders taking feeds from boards on their sound carts. I think the term "mixer" is often used out of habit, even when a producer means "mixer-recorder". I make this mistake myself all the time....But I'm old. Now, all the producers assume you have a mixer/recorder combo. Evan, The M3 faders were ahead of the Nomad virtual presets. So, they acted as pre-fader for the Nomad card tracks. I could still go into the Nomad virtual settings for adjustments to the card, if I had to, (which I didn't need to do). The M3 handled all the signals just fine. I used several different attenuators (25 to 35db) between the board and the M3. J. Gilchrist is wringing the unit out on his SD 644 this week. He immediately thought it would be nice for Kortwich to build a bigger box that would do six channels for the 644. Although power consumption by the M3 on my job was fine, we thought it might prove a problem with six pots, all at 48v. Nevertheless, we hope Kortwich will look into this possibility. My dealings with them for cases and modifications has always been great. Since the M3 is a new piece of gear for us, we would love to hear about it from other users....durability?....bugs???...etc. Ciao, Sully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbiesodd Posted June 8, 2014 Report Share Posted June 8, 2014 Thanks for the info, Sully. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Immoral Mr Teas Posted June 9, 2014 Report Share Posted June 9, 2014 Luckily, I remembered to bring the Swiss Army Knife tone generator along to set levels out of the board. That has to be the greatest piece of gear since Velcro. Hi again Sully, Could you tell me what "Swiss Army Knife tone generator" you're using here? The best I've come up with as a DIY tool (outside of outputting from a SD302 or similar) is recording long bursts of tone on a mini recorder (at mic levels, so low enough to batch set groups of uncalibrated preamps to say +30 or +40 dB). Are you using some kind of plug in XLR unit - and if so can the tone out level be set to a low figure? Cheers, Jez Adamson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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