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Zaxcom Nomad - operating questions, plus tips & shortcuts


Jack Norflus

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Yes,

"INPUT TYPE 8" is:

AES 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 = OFF

RET 3/4, ANALOG 5/6, IFB INPUT = ON

"INPUT TYPE 12" is:

AES 1/2 = ON

AES 3/4, 5/6, 7/8 = OFF

RET 3/4 = OFF

ANALOG 5/6, IFB INPUT = ON

So, is there an input io setting that allows AES AND Zaxnet? Even if it's 1/2 = off, 3/4 = on, 5/6 = on etc. If yes, what number?

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Hello. I've been thinking more and more about Nomad, but i have some doubts that need to be cleared. I don't want to lose any functionality i have now with my 442+DR 680 Combo.

Recently i worked on a set when i used to boom with either MK41 or KMR81, used two radio mics, and recorded translation on the set - the director didnt understand the language and the documentary action had to be translated. So i sent the production tracks to the translator wirelessly (with a G3) then, miked him up and recorded his translation on the 6th Channel of the recorder. This way he didn't have to listen to his voice and i don't have to listen to the translation and can focus on the production tracks (as i monitor the mixer's output). Then i did a stereo mix on the recorder for director with production tracks on the left and translation on the right side. I used the stereo headphone jack of the recorder for this. I had to lower the production tracks a bit in the mix on the recorder (without touching the gain of iso tracks, just the headphone mix) for her so the translation would be heard better.

After this lenghty introduction here is my question: How would i do this with Nomad? I know it has two headphone outs, but how do you set the _levels_ of the iso tracks relative to each other with this recorder? What is the process of setting a headphone mix except for panning it L, R , C? I could not find anything about that in the manual. Do you do it with faders? How do you adjust two mixes, if director's mix is different that what you're feeding to the camera? With two boxes mixer and recorder, this is very easy and i can have two different mixes with pans and levels in no time. Thanks for reading this. I hope there is an easy and elegant solution, as i couldn't find a video yet that would illustrate this simple tasks like using faders and headphone mixes.

That's a complex question, but I'll take a stab at it.

A general primer of the Nomad's outputs

The Nomad has Output Bus 1-6, Mono Out, Tape/IFB Out, and two separate headphone outputs (that's ten different outputs, or twelve channels when you consider that the headphone outputs are stereo). All of these give you various routing options:

Output Bus 1-6

Inputs 1-6, Returns 1-4, Slate, Com, Tone. The inputs and returns can be pre or post fader.

Mono Out and Tape/IFB Out

Card Tracks 1-4, 6, 8, or 12 (whatever version of Nomad you own), Output Bus 1-6, Returns 1-4

Headphone 1 and 2

Same as Mono Out with each ear individually selectable. Headphone 1 also has Zaxnet returns.

Here's what I would do. Record the boom and two wireless mics to card tracks for isolated tracks and route them to the translator post-fader via output bus 3. Return the translator's mic on another input and route that post-fader to output bus 2 (for right ear) and the production mics post-fader to output bus 1 (for left ear) to the director. This gives you relative level control of the production mics going to both the translator and director and absolute level control of translator going to the director. If you are running a hardwired headphone line to the director you could use the headphone #2 output.

You can still record a mono or stereo mix too.

Mark

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That's kind of irritating if that's the case. There are 8 aes inputs, if you can only use 2 while using Zaxnet...

Brings me back to my previous question. During the Coffey sound demo of the digital sound bag, Glenn said every connection was digital. Three transmitters were being rx'd, and the mix was output to sta042. Erxs were being passed around to listen to the output of nomad. I count 3 AES channels being used as inputs, 2 AES channels used to feed IFB internally (as stated above), and 2 AES outs to feed the STA042...

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Mark,

Thank you so much for your answer. The ideal case for me would be to have two separate mixers - just as with mixer/ recorder combo.

1. I mix what i want to hear on the camera

- i don't want the translation on the camera, just on the iso tracks

- translator mic is hooked to the input of the recorder,i don't need to hear the translation myself.

- i send my mix to the translator via mono tape out wirelessly to him so he doesnt hear himself ,

- I mix what director needs on the recorder's internal digital mixer (prod tracks left, translation right), and give that to her via the stereo headphone out.

I can set the levels of each iso track in her mix, and do that fast. How would i control the levels on the Nomad?

I can wrap my head around the routing somewhat. But what about setting the levels? Is there a possibility of doing two mixes with not only different routings but different levels on the Nomad?

If yes, I'd have to flip between two mixes, right? How? Thanks, have a good day.

Bartosz

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So, is there an input io setting that allows AES AND Zaxnet? Even if it's 1/2 = off, 3/4 = on, 5/6 = on etc. If yes, what number?

At one point in a beta version of the software there was a "Mode 15" available which featured 3 AES pairs and Zaxnet control. It's not available in the current software so I'm not quite sure what happened to it. Perhaps Howy needed to to more work on it.

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At one point in a beta version of the software there was a "Mode 15" available which featured 3 AES pairs and Zaxnet control. It's not available in the current software so I'm not quite sure what happened to it. Perhaps Howy needed to to more work on it.

I want to thank everyone for taking part of their weekend to help me figure this out.

I will call Zaxcom on Monday and report back what I find out.

Thanks,

Paul

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Glenn,

You seem to have missed my question yesterday. I'll repeat it here:

"Glenn,

What's the official word on Zaxnet in the Nomad? We've been told it's fully implemented, but I haven't found how to "Wake" or "Sleep/Low 2" the transmitter from the Nomad, yet. How is that done? Also, how do you remix from the Nomad using the transmitter's recordings? You demoed that at Coffey, but it doesn't seem to be operational.

BTW: Transmitter gain adjusted via a Nomad pot is slick. I used it on set for the first time yesterday."

Thanks.

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Hi John,

The tx standby function and the re-play/re-record are not released yet. I showed the beta version at the demo. I hope they will be released by NAB.

Thanks, Glenn. I can quit searching for these features. <g> I knew I didn't imagine it. I got spoiled using the WAKE/LOW2 functions doing the NFL Films gig, so I miss it already.

I'll get acquainted with the features Nomad currently has and look forward to when Zaxnet is fully implemented. If everything else works as well as remote gain does it'll be well worth the wait.

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I was in the middle of a shoot when suddenly the level of a mic dropped dramatically. I thought maybe the actor's mic had fallen, but it was right where I placed it. It turns out that cycling through the A, D, T options in the Fader Assign menu causes the channel's trim level to jump to the current level of the associated fader. This is undesirable and unexpected. I think it would be better if no changes were made until leaving the page or manually adjusting the fader.

Mark

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I will look into this. As you had set the fader to the trim position the unit did set the trim value to the current fader value as it should. We could use the star key to enable the trim selection and just select between A, D and off.

Glenn

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  • 1 month later...

" the point with the usb connection? "

as described : thumb drive

" any possible trick "

adapter cable

Thumb drive? Googled it, it's like a pen drive, right? As any drive it should mount on my computer... that's not the case so far. Nomad won't mount, tried PC and Mac.

The second question was pretty silly... sorry fot that

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Thumb drive? Googled it, it's like a pen drive, right? As any drive it should mount on my computer... that's not the case so far. Nomad won't mount, tried PC and Mac.

The USB feature is not implemented yet on the Nomad.

NOTE: I see I posted at the same time as Jeff.

Edited by John Blankenship
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John you are correct - currently there is no plan for Nomad to support an external keyboard. In the future .... ?

And currently the USB port is not active - when activated it should support all USB drives - but keep in mind when implemented it will only be active in the Nomad 8 and 12.

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