Zaxcom Nomad - Real World Impressions

[soundslikejustin]

Yes, but in a traditional sense, your input came down a channel strip to the fader controlling just that input. Your PFL button couldn't be anything other than just the input it was inline with. With the flexible routing of the Nomad, any input can be mapped to any fader, so the input you expect to PFL above the fader number you're using doesn't necessarily have to be that same input number. This could be confusing. But it would be more confusing to have a choice and not know what 'mode' of PFL you were in. At least I think so.

[Wandering Ear]

PFL - Pre Fader Listen.

If you want to monitor your faders you can setup 6 headphone single channel matrix and just go to each channel with the simple press of the headphone knob.

I'm not talking about listening to a channel post fade, and I know i can burn 6 of my hp setups to do that, but I would have to change them everytime I re-assigned my faders. I also have 9 hp setups on my current job, and don't see a reason to burn some of those to get pfl functionality, plus that seems less efficient than they way the pfl system on the nomad works, i.e. listening to a combination of channels i didn't anticipate by pressing and holding multiple channel buttons. I also get that the pfl assignments are using the input numbers which would be pre fade (input) listen. I think it would be great to have a pre fade (channel) listen which monitors the channel assigned to a specific fader. that would also automatically listen to multiple channels if you had several tied to one fader (very handy). if it was possible to have the option to tie #1-6 to the fader assignments or the input channels, then you could pre fade listen to what ever channel is assigned to the corresponding fader or input. I would find this a very usefull feature.

Wandering Ear

[RadoStefanov]

Got it.

[bendybones]

..I actually wish that the pfl assignments would follow the fader assignments, so I can quickly listen to the mic that's assigned to the fader I want to mix with. [...] Maybe this could be a menu option to make pfl and pan shortcuts follow fader assign instead of input #?

+1

[cfp]

YES! I agree with having a PFL follow too.

[yrlk]

Yeah, I would think that Nomad has better routing, and i read the manual , but still - I'd like to have control over level of each microphone in each of two separate mixes with the faders or otherwise. Right now, it sounds like i have to group the channels to some bus and then use one fader to control that whole bus volume, and the other channel (narration) would sit on other fader. I'm just wondering how that works in practice when you want to adjust level of just one track from 3 bussed to one fader, and then switch pretty quick to normal hardware faders operation like a hardware mixer with all of the channels spread on faders 1-6. It's pretty easy when you have two boxes because the mixes are separate.

I own a DR-680 as well as a Nomad 6. I'm still learning the Nomad because its functionality and routing are really deep, but there is no way that the Nomad poses a problem for what you're trying to accomplish. Additionally, I don't see how the DR-680 is even giving you what you need as it has one headphone mix routed to one headphone output, and that is all. And I suppose you could use all the RCA outputs, but you have no ability to control mix downs from those outputs without routing to an external mixer, do you?

For your application, I'd be giving the translator the headphone 2 mix. I'd then setup two faders on the Nomad to easily mix between translation and actual dialog to an output bus which would then be routed to the director via IFB (which would be SO nice for him to use). Even having never setup the Nomad for this application before, I can tell you it would be SO easy if you simply take a few hours to get familiar with the basic layout and functionality of the Nomad.

*I'd also make the card "mixing" all pre-fader, by the way, which is what I typically do when I'm sending out buses straight to camera. *That way, I have the "safety" isolated tracks without messing with the levels of them. *I also put on light limiting to card, as I figure this is safer than not, but that's just me.

[yrlk]

The one thing that's really bugging me about the Nomad so far is this: metadata is not written onto the files like it is on the Sound Devices 744t or even the Tascam DR-680. And I fully appreciate the powerful, easy-to-use post software that Zaxcom provides us, but so many of my jobs don't have the time or luxury of lugging a laptop around and re-naming files. As a Detroiter, I get lots of jobs from people coming in from out of State, and they need files right away.

It almost feels embarrassing to me not to be able to have named the files with a simple JOB NAME, let alone the individual track names which I took the time to program in myself.

Does anyone else find this disappointing? And maybe the reason is this: with all the other incredibly forward-thinking design functionality and capability of the Nomad, it feels out-of-touch for Zaxcom to not be able to match the standards set by other, older (and/or lesser) recorders available on the market today... especially, for something so seemingly simple (?) as file naming.

I mean, my Nomad mirror cards show up as Deva, and that's annoying enough! =)

Other than the file naming inability in-mixer and the fact that my power switch broke (permanently fixed to the ON position, thank God) after about 12 on/off cycles, I am thoroughly impressed and satisfied by my purchase.

Does anyone know if Denecke's TS and Nomads are happy together now? I saw another post suggesting pretty bad frame drift. I'm about to purchase a TS-C, but I won't bother if it's not going to jam and stick.

Brad Kelly

Musician/Producer/Audio Engineer out of Detroit

www.yrlk.com

[Jack Norflus]

Brad,

My Deneke TS-C is totally frame accurate with my Nomad and they both play very happy together.

As for the power switch - Zaxcom received a bad batch PC switches from their supplier - this has been rectified and if you contact Zaxcom directly they would be happy to fix the switch issue.

I'm a bit confused regarding the meta data issue because nomad does write the meta data to each file.

[Mike Wally]

Wave Agent is an amazing program and takes care of meta data and renamming. I've never had a problem with a client yet, but totally understand the frustration of not having it rename things the way a Sound Devices system does.

You can change the folder name of the primary folder under ENG Setup. You can name it what the job is, and then when mirroring, it will label the file as JOBX.

[berniebeaudry]

Changing up the discussion a little. The meter screen as we all know can be difficult to see in the bright sun. Part of the issue is how shiny and mirror like the surface is. On Thursday I'm getting a Zagg mat finish screen protecter applied to my screen. I saw a demo at one of those mall kiosks and talked to the guy who applies the product for you. He quoted me $20 which seems like a lot for such a small area but if its effective will be worth it. I do a lot of construction/home improvement shows and the dust is starting to scratch up my screen. He says the overlay will fill in the scratches somewhat and will keep it from getting more scratches. I'll report back after its done and provide photos. I might still need some sort of shade but should help with the reflection issue.

Best,

Bernie

[Mike Wally]

http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Glare-Screen-Protector-For-NookColor/dp/B004H6JO6E

That's just an example of a cheap solution, but any type of matte screen cover that would work on a iPad or Smart Phone would work on that screen. It would "matte" it which would make it less glare, but it would also dull the colors a bit.

There are better quality ones that I use on my phones, namely ones made by SGPStore. They are very easy to cut, and I haven't figured out a place to buy the material wholesale.

In short, you could pay anywhere from 3$ to 25$

[Wandering Ear]

The one thing that's really bugging me about the Nomad so far is this: metadata is not written onto the files like it is on the Sound Devices 744t or even the Tascam DR-680. And I fully appreciate the powerful, easy-to-use post software that Zaxcom provides us, but so many of my jobs don't have the time or luxury of lugging a laptop around and re-naming files. As a Detroiter, I get lots of jobs from people coming in from out of State, and they need files right away.

It almost feels embarrassing to me not to be able to have named the files with a simple JOB NAME, let alone the individual track names which I took the time to program in myself.

Does anyone else find this disappointing? And maybe the reason is this: with all the other incredibly forward-thinking design functionality and capability of the Nomad, it feels out-of-touch for Zaxcom to not be able to match the standards set by other, older (and/or lesser) recorders available on the market today... especially, for something so seemingly simple (?) as file naming.

I mean, my Nomad mirror cards show up as Deva, and that's annoying enough! =)

Other than the file naming inability in-mixer and the fact that my power switch broke (permanently fixed to the ON position, thank God) after about 12 on/off cycles, I am thoroughly impressed and satisfied by my purchase.

Does anyone know if Denecke's TS and Nomads are happy together now? I saw another post suggesting pretty bad frame drift. I'm about to purchase a TS-C, but I won't bother if it's not going to jam and stick.

Brad Kelly

Musician/Producer/Audio Engineer out of Detroit

www.yrlk.com

If you want to name your files with a job name, rename the folder name under the primary card menu.

All entered metadata, scene, take, notes etc are included in the bwav files on the mirror card, and will be delivered to the client. I would also suggest writing a sound report before handing off the mirror card. This will create a csv file that lists all the files and their associated metadata.

[Christian Spaeth]

...and let's hope that Zaxcom will implement a function into the Nomad software that automatically converts the file names of the mirrored segments to scene/take numbers. That would shut up all of us asking for custom file naming!

[RadoStefanov]

I really start disliking the mirror option.

Changing up the discussion a little. The meter screen as we all know can be difficult to see in the bright sun. Part of the issue is how shiny and mirror like the surface is. On Thursday I'm getting a Zagg mat finish screen protecter applied to my screen. I saw a demo at one of those mall kiosks and talked to the guy who applies the product for you. He quoted me $20 which seems like a lot for such a small area but if its effective will be worth it. I do a lot of construction/home improvement shows and the dust is starting to scratch up my screen. He says the overlay will fill in the scratches somewhat and will keep it from getting more scratches. I'll report back after its done and provide photos. I might still need some sort of shade but should help with the reflection issue.

Best,

Bernie

please do report back

[yrlk]

Changing up the discussion a little. The meter screen as we all know can be difficult to see in the bright sun. Part of the issue is how shiny and mirror like the surface is. On Thursday I'm getting a Zagg mat finish screen protecter applied to my screen. I saw a demo at one of those mall kiosks and talked to the guy who applies the product for you. He quoted me $20 which seems like a lot for such a small area but if its effective will be worth it. I do a lot of construction/home improvement shows and the dust is starting to scratch up my screen. He says the overlay will fill in the scratches somewhat and will keep it from getting more scratches. I'll report back after its done and provide photos. I might still need some sort of shade but should help with the reflection issue.

Best,

Bernie

Yeah, let us know, Bernie. This is something I've been concerned about as well.

[yrlk]

Wave Agent is an amazing program and takes care of meta data and renamming. I've never had a problem with a client yet, but totally understand the frustration of not having it rename things the way a Sound Devices system does.

You can change the folder name of the primary folder under ENG Setup. You can name it what the job is, and then when mirroring, it will label the file as JOBX.

I probably have to disable the mirroring in order to change the folder name--I assume? And then I have to re-enable. I will try this.

I do still think it would be great if Nomad would write individual track names in addition to the master "job name" label. That would truly set the recorder apart from others with metadata.

I also wish there was a way to constantly (static) display which file number is being written during a record. With my other recorders, a lot of times, I call out the file name being written so that in the case of D-SLR dual systems, the post editor can immediately find the file he's looking for by name. A lot of editors seem to like this when time code isn't being used.

[yrlk]

You can change the folder name of the primary folder under ENG Setup. You can name it what the job is, and then when mirroring, it will label the file as JOBX.

This worked! I couldn't figure out where it was, but I'm glad you told me about this. Thanks!

[Mike Wally]

No worries.

I'm using the Nomad for the first time on a Feature film as just a mixer with my own boom op. I'm able to apple meta data very easily when not handling the boom, have been running 4 lavs in some shots and a boom.

I've had a few freezes, but I think it's from the unit overheating, being as it was like 100 degree's today. It's the only time i've ever had freezing.

[Sprotnik]

_{I´m thinking about to but a nomad in the next future, i would ask to the nomad owners about the nomad working in hot enviroments, humidity, cold, etc...}

_{i would like to know how nomad works in hard conditions.}

_thanks

[dominiquegreffard]

I might be missing something but is there a way to display the duration of the recording when rolling?

+1 for file name display when rolling and for automatic filename changing from metadata when mirroring. It would be great

Appart from that i love my nomad and it has been rock solid for me. The fact that i donc have to switch gear anymore is awesome.

[johnpaul215]

I probably have to disable the mirroring in order to change the folder name--I assume? And then I have to re-enable. I will try this.

I do still think it would be great if Nomad would write individual track names in addition to the master "job name" label. That would truly set the recorder apart from others with metadata.

I also wish there was a way to constantly (static) display which file number is being written during a record. With my other recorders, a lot of times, I call out the file name being written so that in the case of D-SLR dual systems, the post editor can immediately find the file he's looking for by name. A lot of editors seem to like this when time code isn't being used.

I usually create a new folder every day. The folder name is the date or film name initials, job name etc. then every file is 26June001.wav or ACP077.wav. If there are multiple recordists then we just we just add an A, B, C in there.

[RadoStefanov]

I've had a few freezes, but I think it's from the unit overheating, being as it was like 100 degree's today. It's the only time i've ever had freezing.

IMHO it is not the overheating. I work in 106-110F 5 days a week. Working fine in hot weather is one of the reasons why I love NOMAD.

[RadoStefanov]

_{I´m thinking about to but a nomad in the next future, i would ask to the nomad owners about the nomad working in hot enviroments, humidity, cold, etc...}

_{i would like to know how nomad works in hard conditions.}

_thanks

See 1 post up.

[RadoStefanov]

I probably have to disable the mirroring in order to change the folder name--I assume? And then I have to re-enable. I will try this.

I do still think it would be great if Nomad would write individual track names in addition to the master "job name" label. That would truly set the recorder apart from others with metadata.

I also wish there was a way to constantly (static) display which file number is being written during a record. With my other recorders, a lot of times, I call out the file name being written so that in the case of D-SLR dual systems, the post editor can immediately find the file he's looking for by name. A lot of editors seem to like this when time code isn't being used.

if you scroll trough the I/O views it will show the file being written. Or press menu twice to go in to metadata.

[Mike Wally]

IMHO it is not the overheating. I work in 106-110F 5 days a week. Working fine in hot weather is one of the reasons why I love NOMAD.

Ok, then the software is just fucking up then. It happened yesterday on set, and I lost the take (even with it recording to the last second, It still ruined the take). The Red had one mess up yesterday as well, so they evened out.

The Nomad is very reliable, it's just weird this is the first job I've ever had it freeze.