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Sonosax SX-R4+


pvanstry

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From what i've read, it seems Sonosax asked for a face to face verbal discussion, Zaxcom wanted an email 'meeting' with everything in black and white. 1 of these options creates a litigious atmosphere, the other option suggests a desire for a gentlemanly sounding out.

I think when there are potential legal issues (and certainly all this talk about lawsuits would seem to indicate), "gentlemanly" sounding something out without some sort of verifiable audit trail is not a great idea. Without this verifiable trail, things could go very badly for either Sonosax or Zaxcom or both. I will add, again, we have to move these discussions to the Patent thread --- all of this discourse has the potential to harm Sonosax I believe more than this issue itself. Let's get on with user reactions from those that have actually used this recorder, let's hear from Sonosax how the progress on implementation some of the features shown at NAB, current firmware updates, etc.

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US version or not, I think its still a superior machine which can stand out without needing to rely on fancy gimmicks, as some others do...

 

I would not say superior. IMHO:

 

16 channels recording - sonasax wins

Small and lite               - sonasax wins

Integrated battery        - sonasax wins

Wireless control           -sonasax wins

Touch screen              - sonasax wins

Front panel and shorcuts - Zaxcom wins

Output options                    -Zaxcom wins

Location of cards             -Zaxcom wins

Menu                              -Zaxcom wins

The rest is yet to be determent.

Edited by RadoStefanov
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I would not say superior. IMHO:

 

16 channels recording - sonasax wins

Small and lite               - sonasax wins

Integrated battery        - sonasax wins

Wireless control           -sonasax wins

Touch screen              - sonasax wins

Front panel and shorcuts - Zaxcom wins

The rest is yet to be determent.

I also prefer the SX-R4+ user interface, compared to the nomad and maxx- the touch screen makes it easier to get around like on the deva and fusion, this also means the menu stucture is less deep (having said this, I haven't used the nomad touch).  The record switch will also drop it into record wherever you are in the menu tree.

Of course the zaxcom software is more mature at the moment, the nomad and maxx offer integration with zaxcom wireless systems and they have more outputs and a slate mic routing.

It's a case here that inputs are routed to tracks and tracks are routed to outputs and the way they've managed this seems clear to me (tracks will identify the physical input assigned to them).  They'd moved the record arm screen up a layer in a beta of the newer v1.3 software I saw last month  

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I think Zaxcom menu is better with the RME style matrix tables. Routing is way clearer at least to me.

I have an RME Fireface 400 since almost a decade now and I still don't understand how that f.ing matrix works. Nevertheless, its probably the most durable and problem free piece of equipment I have ever owned, which is still supported by the company. I wish everything and everyone was like RME.

But about the recorder, I will miss having lots of buttons when I ditch my 788 for the Sonosax and its sad to see that almost all recorders are going that direction now, with the least amount of buttons possible and lots of menu scrolling, I hate it already. Of course there is always the X3...

I think another great thing about the Sonosax design is that it can be a big recorder for cart or a small recorder for bag which is a philosophy that is clearly not profitable enough for some of the other companies anymore who, by design, seem to insist you buy 2 recorders. So I hate to say it in this thread, but its sad to see companies with such philosophy to have to battle with nonsense against companies who are, well, trying to make you buy more recorders....

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The record switch will also drop it into record wherever you are in the menu tree.
 

That's a big deal. It seems like a thing that Zaxcom could also make happen, but for now it can be a little frustrating to stop what I'm doing in the menu system to go into record mode.

The user interface is surprisingly flexible, you've got 5 assignable buttons on each of the knobs and effectively 9 buttons as the touchscreen

Didn't know about this either. Really cool stuff.

 

The rest is yet to be determent.

This is the biggest thing, here. I'm sure quirks and features will all show themselves when we get more hands on the device. Maybe it won't be for me, but I'm excited to see what comes of it.

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This is the biggest thing, here. I'm sure quirks and features will all show themselves when we get more hands on the device. Maybe it won't be for me, but I'm excited to see what comes of it.


I've been using mine for a couple of months now.  Still waiting on firmware updates (especially for pre fade isos!).  Have experienced a some minor issues and reported back.  No showstoppers yet and I've found the record format is very robust.  I've had one card drop out of record (that was SD 6 series approved, the other wasn't) but the file was still intact.  Card's been relegated to camera duty now

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I put up an 'early days' review a while back but it'll be buried under patent stuff.

http://rtsound.net/?p=444

This is good stuff. Thanks!

Essentially, if it gets to a point where some basic adjustments can be made via the web interface, it would make bag drops a bit easier as long as the recorder can be accessed wirelessly.

Is that a potential feature you can forsee or does the hardware prevent this ability?

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This is good stuff. Thanks!

Essentially, if it gets to a point where some basic adjustments can be made via the web interface, it would make bag drops a bit easier as long as the recorder can be accessed wirelessly.

Is that a potential feature you can forsee or does the hardware prevent this ability?

At the moment you get record, track arming and metadata entry over the wifi interface. Can't see why you couldn't even have full mixing capability over wifi (even with the fader controller over RS422-USB?) as the DSP does all the work- the knobs on the front (except 5 and 6) are digital controls

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My Macbook Pro cannot read the audio files in the folder of the SD card, but I could read it off the recorder. This is the first time it has happened. What seems to be the problem and what is the solution to see and retrieve the files inside? This is the card from the 2nd slot. Card in first slot is at production house, yet to get a call from them about the same problem. The last time I worked with it, I can read from card in the first slot. 

 

Edit: Seems like a disc error. I hope that is the case. Will test record later to confirm the error. 

 

 

 

Edited by Soundmind
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My Macbook Pro cannot read the audio files in the folder of the SD card, but I could read it off the recorder. This is the first time it has happened. What seems to be the problem and what is the solution to see and retrieve the files inside? This is the card from the 2nd slot. Card in first slot is at production house, yet to get a call from them about the same problem. The last time I worked with it, I can read from card in the first slot. 

 

Edit: Seems like a disc error. I hope that is the case. Will test record later to confirm the error. 

 

 

 

Hey, It is possible you got the boot sector damaged. If you can read the files in the recorder the data is still there. does the sonosax record Wav files? I can help you recover if you are in a bind let me know.

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V1.3 is on Sonosax Website under support:

Changelog:

  • Fixed monitor presets: wasn't restored at boot time
  • Fixed take list menu: selected take timecode wasn't correct
  • Fixed pop noise during playback start
  • Fixed AUX AES output: channel status is now in pro mode
  • Fixed various minor bugs
  • False start files are now hidden
  • Full re-work of the metadata menu: scene is 10 alpha-num chars, added tag last take, added user editable snipped list for track names and notes
  • Full re-work of the push button assign menu (SETUP/SYSTEM/PUSH BUTTONS)
  • Added file size selection: fow now limited to 4GB (until WAV64 is implemented)
  • Added RECORD TRACKS menu
  • Added encoder long press new menu with various useful links and tools: timecode, track names, track arming, screen lock, headphones lock, display brightness, daylight mode
  • Added timecode set manual
  • Added quick power-down (to be enabled in menu SETUP/SYSTEM/POWER DOWN SETUP): press and hold REC button in rec ready to power down unit.
  • Added solo in headphones menu
  • Added a second reference level: user can now configure 'orange' level and 'red' level
  • Added a config save button (SETUP/SYSTEM) to force configuration save (done at power down)
  • Player: loading a take no longer begins automatically playback; encoder can be used to modify playback position (1 step = 1%), to change headphones level, enter pause or stop states.
  • Various minor interface improvements

 

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Hey, It is possible you got the boot sector damaged. If you can read the files in the recorder the data is still there. does the sonosax record Wav files? I can help you recover if you are in a bind let me know.

Hi Rado,

Thanks for offering to help. I managed to use some disc recovery software to retrieve those files. 

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Still no mix feature. This is the only thing that is stopping me from dumping my 788 for it. 

Well, it's possible to mix on it at the moment, but not record pre-fade ISOs.  That and fader assignment are due in v1.4 (as the 4 encoders are locked to whatever is going into each XLR- AES pairs can't currently be adjusted individually)

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Hello,

Here, the LINE OUTPUTS option, can be configured :

- 2 balanced analog outputs

- 4 unbalanced analog outputs

- 2 AES pairs (4 channels)

Will be available in 2 to 3 months, with V1.4

Cheers,

Jack

SX_R4plus_Module_NoirDSC0440.jpg

Good news- thanks Jacques

Will this require factory installation?

Edited by Richard Thomas
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Hello,

Here, the LINE OUTPUTS option, can be configured :

- 2 balanced analog outputs

- 4 unbalanced analog outputs

- 2 AES pairs (4 channels)

Will be available in 2 to 3 months, with V1.4

Cheers,

Jack

SX_R4plus_Module_NoirDSC0440.jpg

so if understand correctly, the options for the xlr sized output could be:

 

- 2 balanced analog outputs

OR

- 4 unbalanced analog outputs

OR

- 2 AES pairs (4 channels)

then there is also the 2 channel ta-3 output that will send unbalanced.

Let's say i want to send 4 independent channels to camera will i be able to route differently the two channel balanced line output AND the two channel unbalanced outputs on ta-3?

And last question: how would you tipically monitor a return feed from a camera in this recorder?

 

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so if understand correctly, the options for the xlr sized output could be:

 

- 2 balanced analog outputs

OR

- 4 unbalanced analog outputs

OR

- 2 AES pairs (4 channels)

then there is also the 2 channel ta-3 output that will send unbalanced.

Let's say i want to send 4 independent channels to camera will i be able to route differently the two channel balanced line output AND the two channel unbalanced outputs on ta-3?

And last question: how would you tipically monitor a return feed from a camera in this recorder?

 

I'm not sure whether any of the additional outputs will be 'stolen' from those already on the machine or not (I hope not).

I've just sent AES3 or wireless using the recorder and haven't used a return so far.  I've done a few jobs with the SX-M32 where I've used tails.  If I was going to, I'd either use inputs 5 and 6 or the Aux AES 3 input with an ADC (something like one of the cheap lindy/sescom ones would do).  Yes, you'd lose a couple of channels, but there's 16 of them

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