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Author Topic: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3  (Read 108837 times)

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Offline justink

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #270 on: August 01, 2017, 11:15:28 PM »
Been reading these threads and I want to buy one but man...  This recorder seems way more  complicated than it should be.
Mics:
DPA 4023 (Cardioid)
DPA 4028 (Subcardioid)
DPA 4018V (Supercardioid)
Earthworks TC25 (Omni) 

Pres and A/D's:
Grace Design Lunatec V3 (Oade ACM)
Edirol UA-5 (bm2p+ Mod)

Recorders:
Sound Devices MixPre10 II
Edirol R-44 (Oade CM)
Sony PCM‑M10

Offline mitchellm

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #271 on: August 02, 2017, 06:17:50 AM »
Been reading these threads and I want to buy one but man...  This recorder seems way more  complicated than it should be.

Perhaps for your particular usage you are correct. I'm finding it all super simple to use. Especially to move between different kinds of setups. But I only need the basics with the MixPre-3: direct to computer (one or two mics), 1 stereo mic (phantom) on locations (i.e. not connected to computer) for music or ambiance, 2 mics (dynamic) for location interviews, 2 mics (phantom) for interviews. Simple as can be and a joy to work with. Quality is fantastic.

Offline noahbickart

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #272 on: August 02, 2017, 07:31:55 AM »
I don't find it complicated at all.

I have a number of setups saved as presets, which makes setup very easy.
Recording:
Capsules: Schoeps mk41v (x2), mk22 (x2), mk3 (x2), mk21 & mk8
Cables: 2x nbob KCY, 1 pair nbob actives, GAKables 10' & 20' 6-channel snakes, Darktrain 2 & 4 channel KCY and mini xlr extensions:
Preamps:    Schoeps VMS 02iub, Naiant IPA, Sound Devices Mixpre6 I
Recorders: Sound Devices Mixpre6 I, Sony PCM m10

Home Playback: Mac Mini> Mytek Brooklyn+> McIntosh MC162> Eminent Tech LFT-16; Musical Fidelity xCan v2> Hifiman HE-4XX / Beyerdynamic DT880

Office Playback: iMac> Grace m903> AKG k701 / Hifiman HE-400

Offline ero3030

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #273 on: August 02, 2017, 09:45:45 AM »
Been reading these threads and I want to buy one but man...  This recorder seems way more  complicated than it should be.
[/q
I'm with Justink.  The mixpre' s seem great as a mixer or for going into a PC,  but not as easy 2 channel recorder.  Am I off the mark?
With soooo many peeps going to small active set ups ( no adc's or even pre's )  is a multi channel deck really needed?  Nice for a sound board patch for a diff mix,  but using it too fly 2 sets even 3 sets of Mics??!!  Not sure what that is all about other than to show off what u own.  Maybe peeps should look at one good pre amp that matches well with the mics they own,  iMO.    Love the size and looks of the new units for sure,  but the battery thing is deff a PITA just by what I've been reading.  Should be able push on a higher MAH L battery on the back of the dam thing without having to buy ANYTHING extra to run one of these things.  I do hope everyone that is using one is having fun with it,  because we all love new gear!!  Tape on,  ed
« Last Edit: August 02, 2017, 09:48:40 AM by ero3030 »
needin some fishhead music!

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Offline jbell

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #274 on: August 02, 2017, 09:55:18 AM »
IMO the deck is very easy to use the menus are very intuitive.  Not anymore difficult to figure out than any other multichannel deck I have used.  It is smaller for me to run the mixpre-6 for 2 channels then running my VMS 5U> M10. 
« Last Edit: August 02, 2017, 12:47:42 PM by jbell »
Mics: DPA ST4011ER & 4018ER
Preamps: DPA MMA 6000 | Audioroot Femto
Recorders: Sound Devices Mixpre-10 II | Sony PCM A10

-20        -12         -6        TDS   (32/48)     
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|Record|  Runtime: 4:19.99  {|||] 75%

Offline johnw

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #275 on: August 02, 2017, 10:26:48 AM »
Been reading these threads and I want to buy one but man...  This recorder seems way more  complicated than it should be.
[/q
I'm with Justink.  The mixpre' s seem great as a mixer or for going into a PC,  but not as easy 2 channel recorder.  Am I off the mark?
With soooo many peeps going to small active set ups ( no adc's or even pre's )  is a multi channel deck really needed?  Nice for a sound board patch for a diff mix,  but using it too fly 2 sets even 3 sets of Mics??!!  Not sure what that is all about other than to show off what u own.  Maybe peeps should look at one good pre amp that matches well with the mics they own,  iMO.    Love the size and looks of the new units for sure,  but the battery thing is deff a PITA just by what I've been reading.  Should be able push on a higher MAH L battery on the back of the dam thing without having to buy ANYTHING extra to run one of these things.  I do hope everyone that is using one is having fun with it,  because we all love new gear!!  Tape on,  ed

I used it with 2 sets of actives and liked the mix recording better than either of the pairs alone. I found matrix recordings frustrating to do with the 744 so I stopped. This makes it pretty easy. Also 8AA and USB C battery was easy to power. I had trouble keeping a stable blue tooth connection at the recent phish show I tried it with. This was from maybe 8-10 feet away. All in all, I really like it and will continue to use it when I don't want to bring my larger bag.
Schoeps MK41 & MK4V  |  Schoeps CMC6, Schoeps KCY, AKI/2C, PFA, Nbox Cable/PFA  |  Grace V2, Nbox Platinum  |  SD744T, SD MixPre 6, Sony PCM M10

Canon 16-35mm/2.8L mkii, 24-70mm/2.8L, 70-200mm/2.8L IS, 50mm/1.8 mkii, 135mm/2L, 100mm/2.8L IS, Sigma 35mm/1.4 A  |  Canon 5D mk4

Offline dogmusic

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #276 on: August 02, 2017, 10:32:36 AM »
I like the recording quality of the MixPre-6 and find it easy to load my preset when I power it up. There are certain features I wish it had and have sent this request to SD today:

"There need to be buttons displayed on the screen or on the Wingman App to make it easy to fast forward and rewind ("scrub") within a recorded file. The present system using the headphone volume button is awkward and inexact.  Also, we could use the same virtual buttons to move from file to file which would be so much easier than going into the menu. These features are available on even the simplest of voice recorders as well as all field recorders that I've ever used. And once again, can you please add a method to turn off that annoying BEEP that occurs when starting or stopping record as well as when a new file is created. It's awfully loud when monitoring through headphones. "
« Last Edit: August 02, 2017, 10:35:06 AM by dogmusic »
"The ear is much more than a mere appendage on the side of the head." - Catherine Parker Anthony, Structure and Function of the Human Body (1972)

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Offline dallman

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #277 on: August 02, 2017, 11:21:12 AM »
Been reading these threads and I want to buy one but man...  This recorder seems way more  complicated than it should be.

I think the word versatile is what should be in place of complicated. I think any deck has a learning curve, but many of them are designed for the exact same functionality, so perhaps the learning curve is shorter after one becomes comfortable with basic taping terms and techniques. If anyone owns a Sound Devices USB Pre 2, there are (I think) 17 DIP switches to set, so it might take a little time to figure it out. Same with the Marantz PMD 661 and the PMD 620  which allows three very detailed presets. This deck is a breeze, but has lots of usage options. I have not learned them all (for instance I do not podcast so I have paid no attention to that), but I know how to record 2 track, 4 track, 6 track with or without the L and R mix, and I know how to use the knobs on front for gain or for fade. I know how to do the functions that I want to use and I have set 3 presets., At 62 years of age :yikes:, I will forget much of what I learned over time, especially as I like to rotate through different decks.

I would say this deck is no more complicated than any other of the popular decks often mentioned on this site. It is one of the more versatile. It also is not for everyone, it seems that taping styles, music tastes venues and local customs are some of the variables that best determine the right deck for each of us.
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Offline gewwang

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #278 on: August 02, 2017, 11:34:47 AM »
Once unboxed, it took about 15 minutes to set mine up for my purposes. I set it up to do 3 channels: Input 1: Left, Input 2: Right, Input 3: mono. So now the only change I make is turning Input 3 on or off depending on if I'm stealthing in 2 channel or open taping with 3 channels.

For powering, I'm not even using the USB power option. Just the 8AA sled for stealth and the L-mount sled for open.

Offline rippleish20

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #279 on: August 02, 2017, 11:43:33 AM »
I don't think these are complicated but they are really designed as mixers and the mixpre-6 has some short comings as a four track recorder. They were also fairly buggy firmware wise at first although I have had no trouble since 1.11 (perhaps some people had no issues but I ran into almost every bug). At the same time, the mixpre-6 is pretty versatile, with the 1/8 inch 5/6 channels..
« Last Edit: August 02, 2017, 11:45:53 AM by rippleish20 »
AKG C480B (ck61, ck63, ck8) /  Neumann KM100 (AK40, AK50) / AT853s  (cardiod, omni) / CA-14 (cardiod) / CA-11 (Omni) / Mixpre-10t / Mixpre-6 / Roland R-07 / Zoom F-3
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Offline willndmb

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #280 on: August 02, 2017, 10:01:06 PM »
It seems complicated to me too but that's reading everything here and not actually having one in hand.
I think if you have one in hand it would be much simpler because you can actually see everything and play with it
Mics - AKG ck61/ck63 (c480b & Naiant actives), SP-BMC-2
XLR Cables - Silver Path w/Darktrain stubbies
Interconnect Cables - Dogstar (XLR), Darktrain (RCA > 1/8) (1/8 > 1/8), and Kind Kables (1/8f > 1/4)
Preamps - Naiant Littlebox & Tinybox
Recorders - PCM-M10 & DR-60D

Offline justink

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #281 on: August 03, 2017, 12:36:13 AM »
It seems complicated to me too but that's reading everything here and not actually having one in hand.
I think if you have one in hand it would be much simpler because you can actually see everything and play with it

Yeah. Makes sense. I need to see one in the field and ask some questions.

Still, no hold button and lack of linked gain is kind of the two obvious things need fixing before I buy.

My R-44 works fine for now (even without linked gain it's self).
Mics:
DPA 4023 (Cardioid)
DPA 4028 (Subcardioid)
DPA 4018V (Supercardioid)
Earthworks TC25 (Omni) 

Pres and A/D's:
Grace Design Lunatec V3 (Oade ACM)
Edirol UA-5 (bm2p+ Mod)

Recorders:
Sound Devices MixPre10 II
Edirol R-44 (Oade CM)
Sony PCM‑M10

Offline larrysellers

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #282 on: August 03, 2017, 10:22:42 AM »
I purchased a mixpre-3 last week and I love it. I was able to transfer the presets from EdTyre's recorder by having him send me his preset folder and loading them through the sd card. How long were the mixpre-d and usbpre2 on the market before SD increased the price of both? I am assuming the same thing will happen with these units. Maybe I rationalized it so I would purchase one sooner than later?

Offline tom the taper

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #283 on: August 03, 2017, 11:09:07 AM »
I purchased a mixpre-3 last week and I love it. I was able to transfer the presets from EdTyre's recorder by having him send me his preset folder and loading them through the sd card. How long were the mixpre-d and usbpre2 on the market before SD increased the price of both? I am assuming the same thing will happen with these units. Maybe I rationalized it so I would purchase one sooner than later?
CONGRATULATIONS!! :cheers:
MK4V, MK41, MK2XS, AKG 414XLII, CSB
MixPre-6ii, 744t, M10, MT II, SV250, D5, D6
MixPre-2, VST62iu
NBob Actives, KCY 250/5i

Offline gewwang

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3
« Reply #284 on: August 03, 2017, 11:19:48 AM »
If it was that complicated to use, we'd be seeing alot of people selling them in the used gear section or returning them to their original point of sale.

I think people post here when they have questions about how to use it instead of watching the youtube videos or reading the manuals. Once they have it figured out, they don't come back to the thread.

It took me 15 minutes to figure mine out and I've taped 6 shows since then without any issues or need to change my configuration.

 

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