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Instamic + Tentacle Sync E, is now a bodypack recorder with timecode


IronFilm

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https://instamic.io/products/instamic-pro

Interesting new firmware update! Now records with timecode, thanks to being connected to a Tentacle Sync E. 

Unfortunately with its short battery life of 3hrs (and no mic input, and somewhat thick size, are the other cons. Plus the biggest con of all: no way to monitor the audio life) means it definitely want find widespread usage in our world. 

However it might be a handy tool for some people to use in some rare instances, as the so called "Pro" version is waterproof! Thus it could be handy to keep around a couple of these to pull out for short segments during the day while shooting in the water if you don't already own any waterproof transmitters. 

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12 hours ago, Patrick Tresch said:

Is the limitation of audio monitoring and recording due to the Zaxcom patent? As I understand you can monitor it with the app but not record and monitor it at the same time?

 

That is my gut guess why

 

12 hours ago, Patrick Tresch said:

 Would be great if they buy the license... ! (and add an external mic input 😉 )

Zaxcom isn't offering
(or at least not at any reasonable price I'd assume, seeing as noone else is licensing it)
 

10 hours ago, daniel said:

Dual mono good for a 'passenger' mic but for $20 more (Rode Go wireless) you get a realtime output which you can plug into your record in your camera/recorder and monitor.

 

I'd agree that for "general usage" the Rode Go Wireless is "better". 
However the Rode product wouldn't replace anything in my kit or find any additional usage that I'm not already covered for. 
And I suspect this is true for most of us, the Rode Go doesn't fill a real need for any of us. We're already well sorted  with much better options when it comes to general wireless for talent. 

However the Unique Selling Point for the Instamic Pro (which the Rode Go can't do) is that it is waterproof.
An affordable little tool to have in your kit for those of us who say don't have a Lectrosonics WM, so if there is a short scene when someone is going to go into the water (or is at risk at this) then this is an alternative approach you could take rather than say risking your non-waterproof SMQV going for a dunk!

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5 hours ago, IronFilm said:

That is my gut guess why

 

Zaxcom isn't offering
(or at least not at any reasonable price I'd assume, seeing as noone else is licensing it)
 

 

I'd agree that for "general usage" the Rode Go Wireless is "better". 
However the Rode product wouldn't replace anything in my kit or find any additional usage that I'm not already covered for. 
And I suspect this is true for most of us, the Rode Go doesn't fill a real need for any of us. We're already well sorted  with much better options when it comes to general wireless for talent. 

However the Unique Selling Point for the Instamic Pro (which the Rode Go can't do) is that it is waterproof.
An affordable little tool to have in your kit for those of us who say don't have a Lectrosonics WM, so if there is a short scene when someone is going to go into the water (or is at risk at this) then this is an alternative approach you could take rather than say risking your non-waterproof SMQV going for a dunk!

 

As cheap and cheerful as the Rode Wireless is, it IS 1 of the smallest, lightest TX available, IF the quality and range are passable, i can see a stronger case for 1 or 2 of them in the kit than I can see for the Instamic, which is also pretty small and the waterproof feature makes a case for 1 or 2 these being in someone's bag - but the idea of taking professional responsibility for a recorder I can't monitor doesn't appeal. Whatever the reason (and market), it's hilarious that near the end of Q1 of C21 'technology' companies can't/dont put realtime monitoring/outputs on an audio recorder. OK for vloggers (as intended) who can hear what they are saying and can decide to go again but Sennheiser memory mic does similar for those guys and then automatically transfers to app on smart phone, this 1 needs a USB connection to a computer and syncing in an editing program. 

 

Funny too that despite how small you can make a recorder there's only 1 P48 XLR plug-on recorder (without TX) and it's horrible.

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  • 2 years later...

Waterproof is such a good selling point. I had a scene in a long shot of two brothers on surf boards. And a bathtub scene worked along the edge of the tub. These can be on wrist straps. They can be sewn into a wet suit, or placed under the hood of a full body suit. I have buoys for them, the way some folks with boats keep their set of keys. These are not underwater mics. But I haven't tested them for that purpose.

 

I tried timecode on them yesterday. A peer support group for a documentary where I had to then leave the room. For a local public channel with community producers, this is a good forum to use as a lab. Running 7 units off a single Sync E. They won't function off an Ultrasync Blue at the time of this writing, however the Blue is kind of handicapped when it's anything but an accessory to a complete system.

 

They inherit the frame rate, unlike the TS first gen and most anything which has to be changed over before it will read the TC. There were three different readouts, which I will take up with the developer. It could be lag in the display, it could be that I was looking at the record time and that they stagger as they speed.

 

It could be that it doesn't really work. Perhaps it does a superficial nod to the TC coming in, and then a free run for the remaining recording...But my guess is that each unit will be nudged in place by hand...

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On 11/10/2021 at 3:06 PM, James Louis said:

Waterproof is such a good selling point. I had a scene in a long shot of two brothers on surf boards. And a bathtub scene worked along the edge of the tub. These can be on wrist straps. They can be sewn into a wet suit, or placed under the hood of a full body suit. I have buoys for them, the way some folks with boats keep their set of keys. These are not underwater mics. But I haven't tested them for that purpose.

 

I tried timecode on them yesterday. A peer support group for a documentary where I had to then leave the room. For a local public channel with community producers, this is a good forum to use as a lab. Running 7 units off a single Sync E. They won't function off an Ultrasync Blue at the time of this writing, however the Blue is kind of handicapped when it's anything but an accessory to a complete system.

 

They inherit the frame rate, unlike the TS first gen and most anything which has to be changed over before it will read the TC. There were three different readouts, which I will take up with the developer. It could be lag in the display, it could be that I was looking at the record time and that they stagger as they speed.

 

It could be that it doesn't really work. Perhaps it does a superficial nod to the TC coming in, and then a free run for the remaining recording...But my guess is that each unit will be nudged in place by hand...

SO how do the files sound compared to a normal Lav and UHF set-up? And whats the monitoring like?

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I think the mics sound very good for a lav. Honestly, there's no compromise from a TRAM or something to that effect. The latest version introduces an eq, so perhaps you could give it a concealer bump in the upper register...

 

I think the quality is on par with any deliverable lav, it's just that I don't have a critical listening comparison to offer you. It's a MEMS and its maybe a 2db bump at around 4k and 6k, and a 2db shelf above 10k. It's electro-mechanical on the scale of a microphone "chip", but as far as how that addresses your question, the diameter is that much smaller, resulting in a more perfect spherical omni, even in the upper registers...It's not a carved out sound like a rodes. It's a clear and direct sound, but we'd want to do a real side by side to find to which lavs its analogous.

 

Monitoring is non-existent. It functions as a recorder, it functions as a mic for your bluetooth "hands free" applications, it offers live monitoring if you were to record to your smart device. I would not try this for most any reason, so I cannot vouch for the latency or dropouts. One time I pressed the monitor button, and indeed the unit switched to a microphone function. How was I supposed to know that monitor meant "no longer recording"? Could you imagine if a background auto-updated iOS app forced you to update your Sound Devices mixer in order for it to work? Also, consider how you would know if an app updated, resulting in an incapability unless your phone notified you or if you were ready to use the app on the set, unless you rehearse all your contingencies before each gig? Then have that resulting firmware introduce a condition in which the unit doesn't record? That's a reshoot on my hands.

 

You get a meter on the app when the recorder is rolling and you get a waveform populating the screen. I hid 7 of them on the aforementioned shoot, and I didn't get any clothing noise, from multiple materials, from multiple mic treatments, from tape to clips. They are around the size of a travel dental floss dispenser, so "hiding" requires some skills. But it can be done. Back to the lack of monitoring, you would need to know something about what handling and clothing noise look like on a meter if you needed any form of confidence. But you can see them rolling.

 

These are designed to be the Go Pro for audio. Effectively like a camera trap or any such application. You deploy them, and then you happily retrieve any results. This is not for critical jobs.

 

If I was covering a wedding (a gig I've never had, but the production value in some do look amazing, and some directors can truly capture a magical moment), I might put one of these on the best man as he goes from table to table getting stories about the couple or his friend. I might put one on grandma, who is going to have some wonderful blessings to share as folks visit her. I might put one already running in the middle of the table, you know where we used to offer a disposable camera. But I wouldn't put this on the bride and groom and pray that I captured their vows, as least invasive and swift as these devices may be.

 

I gave them the College Try on a trauma-informed yoga series, hosted by Lulemon...Part of the contingency was these were people returning from war and offering self regulating skills and equilibrium through yoga, with modifications for amputees and frankly every range of ability a body might have in a yoga class. That's a raised-hand-to-toe ultra full length shot from all directions that had to accommodate both seated and standing poses throughout a sequence in a single take. I wasn't allowed to show a pack, I guess for the brand. (maybe branded athletic wear has to think more about playback sync or VO and original music?) And the producers of course were insistent that I was not allowed to handle (touch) the participants. Ultimately, I could either offer these mics or realize that everyone was making more of a fuss, and to discover that every session welcomed my assistance and hands-on in placing the mics. But after each instructor, I had to run to the computers, hand over one of the last instamics, copy over and "check the gate" so to speak on each one. And the producers were not being realistic about city traffic listening to the boom mix nor slowing down for anything. In other words, they didn't schedule enough time so they had no recourse for anything that didn't work the first time (even when a construction crew was drilling.) It's not ideal, but doing a 12 minute yoga sequence a second time isn't going to kill anyone if they had scheduled 12 minutes out of an entire day to do a single 2nd take of something. Better than a reshoot.

 

On a final note, I resist all remote apps for my recorders, particularly on the real estate of a phone. But in this case how else would you know you are recording on what is essentially a little "black box"? If you have them on auto-leveling, a topic for another discussion, the three LEDs will bounce responsively to incoming signal, and you can then confirm that you pressed something that actually ran sound. BUT BUT BUT those same LEDs have a flickering, elaborate sequence as the unit powers on, and you would not know if they were currently on or off just looking at them. And I've powered one on, confirmed, pressed the SAME button for record, got the flickering again, which logically should correspond to recording signal, and found out once the lights went back off (they don't stay on while you record) that it had been sitting inert for the first yoga instructor's video all the while (only captured on boom). Only way you would catch the error is if you pressed that same button a third time and it started to go through the record sequence lights. In other words, there's no confidence on the unit itself, and there's no stop button. Pressing the button again if it's already running triggers a new recording, or holding it down turns it off even if it is already running.

 

So you are somewhat obligated to update the units themselves with the updates to the app and to consequently use the app.

I assure you even if you habitually check that your fly is up a few times a day, this method of recording will catch you with your pants down.

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I really wanted the Instamics to work for recording podcasts on location, especially when they started adding time of day TC (I use UltraSyncs and don't want to buy a Tentacle just for this). The timestamping is never accurate enough, and I got burned when a mic shut down during an interview. So now I use Rode Wireless Go IIs when I don't want to haul the bag, mics, stands, etc.

 

It's even more convenient now that the Go IIs work with the Connect computer app; I can easily bring someone in remotely and record in person. The software records the audio as individual ISO files. Before I'd have to use an iPad into a JK Audio box for the remote, set up a mix minus in the recorder, etc. Now I can use my laptop with the GO II RX as an audio device.

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Would that RX work to an iOS device?

For a podcast, I might consider pulling out the DPA mma-a in my possession. With even the latest iPad (although I can also go to computer), the 3.5mm connection can be used for TC.

But if I understand what you mean by remote vs in-person, I get a sense that your setup allows the talent to be wherever they want with the GoPro. Cool!

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10 hours ago, James Louis said:

Would that RX work to an iOS device?

You can use the Go II RX with iOS with one of Rode's SC-15 or SC-19 cables; you can also use a Lightning to camera adapter and a USB A to USB C cable.

 

I cohost a podcast with someone that's not comfortable being in close quarters unmasked, as he has a daughter that's too young to be vaccinated. So he calls in over Facetime, and that used to mean setting up a mix minus and headphone distro.

 

If this was a paying gig I'd bring the mics, mixer, etc. But for a passion project (a podcast about my neighborhood) I'm going for speed and convenience.

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