Yamaha DM3-D 22-channel digital small format mixer with Dante

[Philip Perkins]

A mixer that is also the recorder needs TC to function in our world.  See Sound Devices, Zaxcom, Aaton, Yamaha DM7, etc etc.

[codyman]

26 minutes ago, Philip Perkins said:

A mixer that is also the recorder needs TC to function in our world.  See Sound Devices, Zaxcom, Aaton, Yamaha DM7, etc etc.

Sonosax SX-ST with recorder option wants a word.  Although, never seen one in real life so I'm pretty sure they are rare?

[ramallo]

9 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Am not Philip, but my guess and my reasons why are: a lot of these mixing boards also allow basic recording functionality as well (might not be all the full tracks, might be just the stereo mix) and it would be nice to have these with TC as an emergency backup recording to your main recorder (say with BoomRecorder). 

The DM3 only have a two track recorder, but in other hand thru Dante or the USB you can add several recorders, such as two SD970, or two computers

 

But I will try to investigate reading control, it has a time reader in the mixer

[Brian Liston]

After ordering one 6 months ago, I finally got it the other day. 

 

The Good:

- Motorized faders are as quiet as any I've used. Certainly more quiet than my Avid S1.

- Touch screen is fab

- Software is superior to Behringer/Midas. 

- Boom recorder and it got along great

The Bad

- Only two tracks on the recorder? Come on!

- Has a clock, and even a frame rate selector. No way to jam in or out. No 23.976!

- Limited FX

The Ugly

- .500ms changeover from Primary to Secondary. All my other stuff is seamless

[Michael Capulli]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the clocking over Dante was excellent and you no longer needed word clock if using Dante 

[Brian Liston]

On 2/26/2024 at 12:56 PM, Michael Capulli said:

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the clocking over Dante was excellent and you no longer needed word clock if using Dante 

No need for word clock, correct. Dante uses PTP to good effect, albeit the chattier V1. However, Dante devices don't like changing clocks, as they stay doing whatever they're told. But if you have word clock on some devices, they will auto-switch rates.

[Philip Perkins]

On 2/26/2024 at 10:56 AM, Michael Capulli said:

Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought the clocking over Dante was excellent and you no longer needed word clock if using Dante 

You are good with the Dante clock unless your system needs to follow another system's clock (in a complex set up).  If everyone goes Dante then you are probably ok.  If everyone is syncing to a master generator in a production truck etc then your console needs to have its sample rate follow that clock.

[Philip Perkins]

On 2/16/2024 at 11:23 PM, Brian Liston said:

After ordering one 6 months ago, I finally got it the other day. 

 

The Good:

- Motorized faders are as quiet as any I've used. Certainly more quiet than my Avid S1.

- Touch screen is fab

- Software is superior to Behringer/Midas. 

- Boom recorder and it got along great

The Bad

- Only two tracks on the recorder? Come on!

- Has a clock, and even a frame rate selector. No way to jam in or out. No 23.976!

- Limited FX

The Ugly

- .500ms changeover from Primary to Secondary. All my other stuff is seamless

Yamaha is very strict in all consoles about having only stereo recorders on board.  Weird, but just as true for the top of the line "Rivage" as it is for this mixer.  You can get clock i/o in a Yamaha mixer but you have move up the line a ways.  Isn't there a way to add plugins to the mixer?

[ramallo]

17 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

You are good with the Dante clock unless your system needs to follow another system's clock (in a complex set up).  If everyone goes Dante then you are probably ok.  If everyone is syncing to a master generator in a production truck etc then your console needs to have its sample rate follow that clock.

You can follow any Dante clock as master or for example with a Avio AES by AES EBU (Enable sync to external)

 

Best

Suso

[LoganSound]

Update: CL and QL were discontinued last week.

https://fohonline.com/featured/yamaha-to-discontinue-cl-and-ql-series-consoles/

[andrewbenz]

22 hours ago, LoganSound said:

Update: CL and QL were discontinued last week.

https://fohonline.com/featured/yamaha-to-discontinue-cl-and-ql-series-consoles/

Really forcing end users to choose between economy (DM) or luxury (Rivage)…anything but a TF 🤣

[Philip Perkins]

DM7: what they have instead of CL and QL.  Venues I work at with those are looking harder at DM7 than Rivage right now. 

 

Those working with DM3 dante or no--are you able to use USB (or Dante) to get input into channels 17-18?  Like via a USB interface box?  Have you tried making a Mac aggregate device with the DM3 and an interface to  ProTools or Boom Recorder or etc?

[ramallo]

On 9/25/2024 at 5:10 AM, LoganSound said:

Update: CL and QL were discontinued last week.

https://fohonline.com/featured/yamaha-to-discontinue-cl-and-ql-series-consoles/

I'm feel like Cassandra 😅
 

On 10/18/2023 at 2:39 PM, ramallo said:

 

 

My complain of this desk is the lack of insertion points (Channel or Bus) or the lack of Dugan automix 

 

Update, have insertion points with the last firmware

On 10/18/2024 at 9:42 PM, Philip Perkins said:

Those working with DM3 dante or no--are you able to use USB (or Dante) to get input into channels 17-18?  Like via a USB interface box?  Have you tried making a Mac aggregate device with the DM3 and an interface to  ProTools or Boom Recorder or etc?

You can download the editor for try, also you can use a device such as an AVIO for get these inputs (Dante). I haven't tried aggregated device, why would you want to do that?

[ramallo]

5 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

I'm using a DM3D in an aggregation with other USB interfaces to up the track count into a DAW when I need more than 16 mic channels at once.  It is working very well.  The DM3D's stereo mix goes to the DAW on USB 17/18 and returns to the DM3D on USB inputs 17/18.  I can also do the same USB connections with the DM3D audio connected via Dante and an aggregation with DVS and USB.   The editor app works ok but doesn't cover quite all of the functions of the mixer.    Note that my use of this system is for location music etc type recording, not regular on-set movie dialog work (so far).

I think it's better to keep everything on Dante instead of mixing USB and Dante using add-on devices. I bought the DM3 for the same purpose as you, but I'm using the DM3 for monitoring and I have a Dante sound card as an interface.

 

IMMO with a Yamaha Tio, using its 16 channels direct to the computer, plus the 16ch from the mixer, and inputting both via DVS to the computer would give you 32ch, and you could monitor the Tio's from the DAW you use to the stereo return. By the way, you would still have the Tio in case you want to use it as a snake of the mixer.

[Trey LaCroix]

I just got one these and love it! It's a rad little mixer. I'm now trying to figure out how to power in my cart. Has anyone built a 12v to 24v step up converter for one these yet? Would love to know a model and wire gauge that works before I start soldering. My electronics knowledge is pretty basic.

[Philip Perkins]

So far DM3D+external 16 chan ADAC+Audinate AVIO (w/ a switch) aggregated on a Mac into Reaper is working quite well.  DM3 mix goes to reaper on USB output  17/18, return of Reaper full mix (DM3 + external ADAC channels) on input 17/18.  (Thus 32 record channels+mixes.)  With Avio as Dante clock leader the sync has been very tight, and Reaper correctly timestamps its files to the incoming TC.  I'm quite happy with the sound + headroom of the DM3 (96k!), and even happier with the small size and light weight.  Many of our non-video gigs can be managed in 16 channels or less, so then the rig is just the DM3 and a laptop. 

[Izen Ears]

On 12/25/2024 at 2:19 PM, Trey LaCroix said:

I just got one these and love it! It's a rad little mixer. I'm now trying to figure out how to power in my cart. Has anyone built a 12v to 24v step up converter for one these yet? Would love to know a model and wire gauge that works before I start soldering. My electronics knowledge is pretty basic.

Make an adaptor cable - 2x XLR4M to 1x XLR4F. Join them hot to hot and ground to ground. Then plug into two 12 volt outputs and voila, the output is  24 volts!

EDIT - oops I got that backwards sorry! Thanks for the corrections!

[Matthias Richter]

that would be 2x 12V parallel - still 12V. 
You want 2x12V seriell. 

[Jim Rillie]

Sounds like 12v parallel. For 24v they would need to 

be in series.

[codyman]

This should do the trick

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1620952-REG/bescor_12vto24v_12v_to_24v_2a.html

[Wyatt Tuzo]

Sorry to pile on, but yeah Trey, you actually want series wiring. See diagram below. I would double check the DC powering range of the Yamaha, as, if your cart psu is actually outputting 14.5v (for example), you're now looking at 29v at the board. This is probably well within spec, but it doesn't hurt to look into it first

 

[Philip Perkins]

Back when I made DC-DC convertor rigs for my cart I found that many convertor packages introduce noise into the DC line, as well as were RF sensitive.   I went through several before I found some that didn't add buzz to the line (and can't recall now what brand they were, sorry).   Many of them also make a lot of RF--back in the day I worked with a video assist guy who had rolled his own DC-DC rig and it made a cloud of RF around his cart that overwhelmed the Comtek etc RX I was using to link to him and for the clients.  Not good.  Do your testing!

[Izen Ears]

Thank you all for the correction, der!