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Zaxcom Nomad - Real World Impressions


Jack Norflus

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Since Nomad is now shipping, and since all the other Nomad threads are several pages long - I think it is time to start a new thread.

Perhaps in this thread users can post their thoughts, impressions, issues, likes and dislikes.

So let me start with a post about the the flexibility of Nomad - this is taken from a shoot that I did yesterday.

We were shooting three people, unscripted, sitting at a table of a restaurant interacting with each other. There were 4 cameras - one on sticks, two on dolly's and one on a jib. There was one close up camera on each of the three subjects and a master wide. Primary audio will be taken from the camera rolls, and back up tracks delivered on a CF card.

Production wanted channel 1 of each CU camera to have the iso track of the person they were shooting and channel 2 to have a mix. The wide shot had an iso of the "main" character and channel 2 as a mix as well.

In addition to feeding 4 cameras I had to feed a mono mix to a DVD burn, feed a Comek transmitter and feed an hardline headphone DA located in an adjacent room. I also had to record a time-coded MP3 for transcript, as well as record WAV iso tracks, for back-up.

In the past this setup would have been quite involved and required several pieces of additional hardware. But I was able to accomplish all of this with just Nomad, no splitters, no DA's and no sub mixers. In just a few minutes I routed what I needed to go where via the output matrix and I was good to go. And Nomad has enough outputs that with all of this I still had an available unused XLR output. Furthermore I was also able to independently monitor mono returns from each of the 4 cameras.

Jack

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Do you mind sharing what kind of custom cables you needed to make in order for this setup to be accomplished?

The only new cables I made up to use with Nomad are some TA5 break out adapters. So TA5F to two XLR males for sends and TA5F to two 1/8" mini female for returns. Every thing else are standard cables that you probably already have in your kit.

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Yeah, useful, but this comes across as advertising. It would be useful for people to know your relationship with Zaxcom in the interests of impartiality. Of course it is useful to have information, but is it like having advertising in the editorial, or product placement in films?

My only relationship with Zaxcom is that of a beta tester and consultant with regard to Nomad. About a year and a half ago, through a mutual friend, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time when approached by Glenn to see if I would be interested to "take a look and comment on" a new product he was working on - which ended up being Nomad. Prior to that I did not know Glenn but I knew about Zaxcom and its products but was never interested in them because their recorders were never designed for the ENG world.

I am not paid by Zaxcom, with the exception of being taken out to a few lunches, nor do I have any financial stake in Nomad or Zaxcom.

My excitement comes from, after doing ENG audio for 20+ years, to be able to tailor a intricate piece of equipment that I use every day to help fit my needs. The job I did a few days ago, like I said would never have been accomplished so easily without Nomad - which made my life easier - and to me is priceless. Plus I know for a fact that there are featured and certain operation parameters that exist in Nomad, that if not for my suggestions would not be there today. The thing I've always hated about gear is having to say "this is great but I wish it would do ...."

I guess my drive comes from be an ultimate gear geek. And at the end of the day it comes down to the fact that I am one of you, a fellow ENG sound mixer. And believe me if you want but my reflections of Nomad are quite honest and genuine - and if Nomad was a piece of crap I would say so.

So there you go.

Jack

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No freezes or reboots here whatsoever so far - in 3 (or is it 4) weeks of beta testing. In this respect the machne has been rock solid, and I am feeling more confident about it on a daily basis. At present Zax are working on a pile of tweaks and nits and stuff, and we betafolk have been receiving new soft 3 or 4 (sometimes more) times per week. Features are being turned on almost daily, and my Nomad is already a very different machine to that which arrived about 4 weeks ago. Exciting times.

My relationship with Zax is that I have been a happy customer for 10 years or more, and I have a regular dialogue with them from across the pond here!! About two years ago Glenn was over in the UK, and Roger Patel (the UK agent) and I spent an evening in the curry house talking Glenn through what we believed would be a bunch of good ideas for what was then the 'new' machine design. In fact, Glenn came over for a Sunday lunch, and he and I spent the rest of the afternoon with his laptop on my dining room table, where we drew out a pile of stuff on his laptop. Some of those ideas were not possible, not practical, or were just bad ideas, so didnt make it to the Nomad. Some of the other ideas did make it into Nomad, and I am very proud to have been part of the process that has made Nomad what it is. I am now very much enjoying the beta testing, learning, and soon to be using the machine.

Anyway - no freezes or reboots here Rado.

Hope that this helps,

Simon B

PLEASE report if you experience freezes/reboots!!!!

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So let me start with a post about the the flexibility of Nomad - this is taken from a shoot that I did yesterday.

We were shooting three people, unscripted, sitting at a table of a restaurant interacting with each other. There were 4 cameras - one on sticks, two on dolly's and one on a jib. There was one close up camera on each of the three subjects and a master wide. Primary audio will be taken from the camera rolls, and back up tracks delivered on a CF card.

Production wanted channel 1 of each CU camera to have the iso track of the person they were shooting and channel 2 to have a mix. The wide shot had an iso of the "main" character and channel 2 as a mix as well.

In addition to feeding 4 cameras I had to feed a mono mix to a DVD burn, feed a Comek transmitter and feed an hardline headphone DA located in an adjacent room. I also had to record a time-coded MP3 for transcript, as well as record WAV iso tracks, for back-up.

In the past this setup would have been quite involved and required several pieces of additional hardware. But I was able to accomplish all of this with just Nomad, no splitters, no DA's and no sub mixers. In just a few minutes I routed what I needed to go where via the output matrix and I was good to go. And Nomad has enough outputs that with all of this I still had an available unused XLR output. Furthermore I was also able to independently monitor mono returns from each of the 4 cameras.

Jack

REEFER MADNESS CONSUMES JWSOUND....

post-1622-0-92469500-1319554327.jpg

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Ouch! This thread reminds me painfully of RAMPS. It started with good intentions, a place for actual users to post actual impressions of an exciting new product. If everyone observed the O.P.s stated intent, it would have been quite helpful to many. Instead it's devolved into off-topic nonsense and useless blather.

Shame... not an example of JWS at its best.

Thanks, Jack, for trying. It would be refreshing and most welcome to have a thread solely dedicated to user impressions of the Nomad and void of attack dogs and a spammer spouting "look at me, I said something," every other post.

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did you bring back the returns of all 3 cams to your Nomad for monitoring?

Phil,

I actually brought all 4 cameras back to Nomad for monitoring. Nomad has 4 channels of return over two TA5 connectors. So I had a mono mix (Ch1 + Ch2) return from each camera.

Did you make a mono full mix and send it anywhere?

Mono mix was sent to channel 2 of all 4 cameras, as well as to the CF card - for back up - since primary audio will be edited off the camera rolls.

Does the Nomad allow you to listen to more than one return or mix at the same time?

Nomad allows you to custom program 12 headphone set-ups. You can program any combination of output buses, return channels, card tracks, or -when available- Zaxnet returns, to either ear. After programed you can toggle thru all your HP set-ups by pushing the HP knob. In addition you also have PFL to listen to all your input channels.

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Hmmmm... this is the Equipment thread and this is a pretty radical new piece of gear. The more user posts the merrier as far as I am concerned.

Yeah, useful, but this comes across as advertising. It would be useful for people to know your relationship with Zaxcom in the interests of impartiality. Of course it is useful to have information, but is it like having advertising in the editorial, or product placement in films?

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Phil,

I actually brought all 4 cameras back to Nomad for monitoring. Nomad has 4 channels of return over two TA5 connectors. So I had a mono mix (Ch1 + Ch2) return from each camera.

Mono mix was sent to channel 2 of all 4 cameras, as well as to the CF card - for back up - since primary audio will be edited off the camera rolls.

Nomad allows you to custom program 12 headphone set-ups. You can program any combination of output buses, return channels, card tracks, or -when available- Zaxnet returns, to either ear. After programed you can toggle thru all your HP set-ups by pushing the HP knob. In addition you also have PFL to listen to all your input channels.

So 4 returns plus listening to it's own recorder's output or? I mean, does the onboard recorder submix/moni mix appear as an option for monitoring along with the returns?

phil p

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One of the things I like is being able to quickly and easily change what I can monitor in my headphones. It is a very powerful setup. Also, the camera returns are very adjustable. I had to record to one of those awful Panasonic HVX200 cameras with pathetic headphone output. I had to boost the gain 30db in the return setup window, but it was just enough gain to match the recorder/mixer output. The one thing I noticed was that the signal was much cleaner then I was used to with a camera return.

A useful thing would be a "Favorite" headphone monitoring mode. When you hold the button down for .5 seconds the matrix number you are listening to goes backward which is nice. It would be very useful if i addition you held it for a whole second that it jumped back to #1, making that similar to the 788T "Favorite" matrix.

The thing I'm not used to is PFL listening. The mix is still included in your ears post fader, which means that when you are listening PFL you hear original source and mixed source phasing with it. Very strange. Am I missing something?

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