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Author Topic: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5  (Read 124517 times)

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Offline edtyre

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #90 on: July 15, 2018, 01:41:08 PM »
Thanks for the help. I am pretty much an expert user here, i admin dozens of macs.
My unit just doesn't work via any usb function, i will try another MP3 and cable(s) soon

Not going to use it as an interface anyway, just wanted to see what the excitement was
using as a usb headphone amp.
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Offline justme

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #91 on: July 15, 2018, 02:07:24 PM »
Cool. Then we pretty much to do the same :)

If you are lucky it's just a bad cable.
Otherwise it kind of sound like your MP3 need a closer checkout by SD. :/

Thanks for the help. I am pretty much an expert user here, i admin dozens of macs.
My unit just doesn't work via any usb function, i will try another MP3 and cable(s) soon

Not going to use it as an interface anyway, just wanted to see what the excitement was
using as a usb headphone amp.


Offline justme

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #92 on: July 15, 2018, 05:00:07 PM »
I’m in search for some info.

Could anyone with a L- mount sled be able to measure the sled output terminal voltage when it holds a fully charged L-battery?
Does it measure 8.4V?

Offline Chuck

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #93 on: July 16, 2018, 12:02:34 PM »
So, am about to pull the trigger on a MixPre 6.

I've read the manual. Any advice on getting going quickly with this thing?
I've started reading all the threads, but it's daunting.

I'm assuming Advanced mode...
What connector are you guys using for external power? The full sized USB?
Can it make stereo tracks in pairs or is each track going to be mono?
Any rookie mistakes I can avoid right off the bat?
Things that are not obvious in the beginning?

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Microphones: AKG C 480 B comb-ULS/ CK 61/ CK 63, Sennheiser MKE 2 elements,  Audix M1290-o, Micro capsule active cables w/ Naiant PFA's, Naiant MSH-1O, Naiant AKG Active cables, Church CA-11 (cardioid), (1) Nady SCM-1000 (mod)
Pre-amps: Naiant littlebox, Naiant littlekit v2.0, BM2p+ Edirol UA-5, Church STC-9000
Recorders: Sound Devices MixPre-6, iRiver iHP-120 (Rockboxed & RTC mod)

Recordings on the LMA: http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/ChuckM
Recording website & blog: http://www.timebetweenthenotes.com

Offline morst

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #94 on: July 16, 2018, 01:39:07 PM »
I'm assuming Advanced mode...
What connector are you guys using for external power? The full sized USB?
Can it make stereo tracks in pairs or is each track going to be mono?
I use the USB C - C cable that came with my USB-C power pack (big fat Anker pack) or I use the USB-C -> USB A cable that came with that one when I power two channels off a smaller USB-A power pack.

I get stereo tracks on mine. I do suggest turning OFF the "L,R Mix" track, unless you need it for some reason. This way, when you only record 2 channels, you get a normal WAV instead of a multi-channel Poly Wav. Not a big deal to use the Poly Waves but you have to split them if you wanna flac 'em. (SD has a software app for that on their site)

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Offline jbell

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #95 on: July 16, 2018, 02:31:09 PM »
It records in polywave files!  One file with all your stereo tracks.  You can use Wave Agent (Free from SD) to separate the tracks into stereo pairs.  I run mine in custom mode so I can use the front knobs to control the gain.  Everything else in the menu I turn on advance.  It is easy to use and for me fairly intuitive.  I'd say once in hand mess with the settings and if you have problems post questions and everyone will get you fixed up. 

For batteries I use usb c> usb c with the suggested anker as a backup.

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-PowerCore-Ultra-High-Capacity-Portable/dp/B014ZO46LK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1531765922&sr=8-4&keywords=Anker+usb+c+battery&dpID=41nBqHD%252BCfL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

I have the L mount sled for my main battery power.  You can hot swap the batteries, which is nice.  I purchased the following batteries and they have worked great.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kastar-Battery-Charger-Sony-NP-F960-NP-F970-NP-F975-F950-BC-VM10-BC-VM50-BC-V615/262886954168?hash=item3d354894b8%3Am%3AmBCJ1E72Sn11dQ4ceT4UeNg&var=561885471462&_sacat=0&_nkw=Kastar+battery+charger+and+Sony+batteries&_from=R40&rt=nc&_trksid=m570.l1313

So, am about to pull the trigger on a MixPre 6.

I've read the manual. Any advice on getting going quickly with this thing?
I've started reading all the threads, but it's daunting.

I'm assuming Advanced mode...
What connector are you guys using for external power? The full sized USB?
Can it make stereo tracks in pairs or is each track going to be mono?
Any rookie mistakes I can avoid right off the bat?
Things that are not obvious in the beginning?
« Last Edit: July 16, 2018, 04:38:04 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 Gordon

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #96 on: July 16, 2018, 02:39:46 PM »
It records in polywave files!  One file with all your stereo tracks.  You can use Wave Agent (Free from SD) to separate the tracks into stereo pairs.

but as Morst said if you only do 2 channels and l/r is turned off you get a stereo file not a poly.

Some software will handle poly but wavelab won't.  Once I got the correct workflow down for wave agent it only takes a second to both split and combine to make stereo files.  Below is how you make both 1&2 & 3&4 into stereo files.


wa by Gordon Wilson, on Flickr
Microtech Gefell M20 or M21 > Nbob actives > Naiant PFA > Sound Devices MixPre-6 II @ 32/48

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Offline Gordon

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #97 on: July 16, 2018, 02:41:07 PM »
for battery's I have 4 AA rechargeables in the sled as backup and use this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KYUDAN4/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I can get about 8 hours off one.  keeping AA in enables hot swapping.

with this cable

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MSMOMAR/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
« Last Edit: July 16, 2018, 02:43:09 PM by Gordon »
Microtech Gefell M20 or M21 > Nbob actives > Naiant PFA > Sound Devices MixPre-6 II @ 32/48

https://archive.org/details/fav-gordonlw

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Offline junkyardt

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #98 on: July 16, 2018, 03:12:56 PM »
So, am about to pull the trigger on a MixPre 6.

I've read the manual. Any advice on getting going quickly with this thing?
I've started reading all the threads, but it's daunting.

I'm assuming Advanced mode...
What connector are you guys using for external power? The full sized USB?
Can it make stereo tracks in pairs or is each track going to be mono?
Any rookie mistakes I can avoid right off the bat?
Things that are not obvious in the beginning?

I just pulled the trigger on one recently myself. It's easier to learn it by actually sitting down and messing with the menu options yourself than it is to read the manual. Some things in the manual are under-explained or poorly explained, and annoyingly the manual refers to an early firmware version and thus doesn't refer to some menu options that are now available in v2.21.

As others have said, you can use the SD Wave Agent Beta software to split polywave files into stereo files. I was not able to figure out a way to do this splitting in Adobe Audition 3.0, which is what I use once I have a stereo 2-channel file. Has anyone found a way to set the MixPre to simply record into sets of 2-channel stereo files directly when using all the channels? It appears the polywave default is the only option. Not hugely annoying, but it'd be nice to cut out that extra step of using the SD software.

As someone else said, you'll likely want to set the overall mode to "custom" rather than "advanced", and then set channel, headphone, record and metadata options to "advanced" while setting gain to "basic". This is because using gain in advanced mode actually introduces functionality that is less than optimal for taping, as it forces you to set the gain for each channel by using the touch menu screens (and you can't see what the levels look like while you're setting the gain this way), and instead turns the knobs into fader knobs for adjusting the overall L-R mix. This is functionality that might be good for podcasters or some other applications, but for taping a show I just want the gain knobs to be gain knobs where I can see how the levels are changing in real-time when I adjust the gain. I set the L-R mix to off entirely, so the faders are completely unnecessary. If you're planning to use the L-R mix channels, you may want to consider whether setting gain to "advanced" is useful for you, though. I also set the outputs to "basic" because I won't be using the outputs and thus don't need that whole menu to be available. If you're going to be streaming or something though you might want the outputs menu set to "advanced" so you have those menu options.

You'll probably want to set channels 1 and 2 as linked, 3 and 4 as linked and 5 and 6 as linked. The star button is a wild card type of button that can be set to do several different things, but I find it's best to set it to take you to the screen for channels 5 and 6, since the screens for channels 5 and 6 are otherwise more tedious to get to. Also if you're going to be using channels 5 and 6 for a board patch or other line level signal, you'll want to set channels 5 and 6 to "aux in 1" (found under the channels 5 and 6 menu screen) and also (this time under the inputs menu screen) set "aux in mode" to "line". If "aux in mode" is set to "mic", it's telling the MixPre to provide 3v plug-in-power through that input.

Morst, I also was confused by the difference between "off" and "off and linked", but since I'm not using the mix tracks anyway it doesn't matter for me.

Lastly, is anyone else having trouble editing the headphone preset options once they're already set? I assume that for editing the HP presets you use the headphone volume knob to scroll left and right, then click in on the knob to either select or deselect a channel you want assigned to that preset, right? For me, pressing in on the HP knob works to select and deselect certain channels, but not the ones that were already selected for that preset, if that makes sense. In other words, the channels I selected the very first time I made that HP preset appear to be permanently locked to that preset. This seems like a bug to me, very weird!

There are still a few menu options I don't understand, such as the entire tone menu, the "phase" option under each channel, the difference between 1-2 and 1-2MS (for linking channels), and the option under the inputs menu called "MS Decode", which can be set to "ISOs & Mix" or "Mix Only". But I'm not worried about the stuff I don't understand, because I understand how to get it working fully for the purposes I'll be using it for.

Offline rigpimp

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #99 on: July 16, 2018, 04:23:39 PM »
So, am about to pull the trigger on a MixPre 6.

I've read the manual. Any advice on getting going quickly with this thing?
I've started reading all the threads, but it's daunting.

I'm assuming Advanced mode...
What connector are you guys using for external power? The full sized USB?
Can it make stereo tracks in pairs or is each track going to be mono?
Any rookie mistakes I can avoid right off the bat?
Things that are not obvious in the beginning?

It should not be that hard to create a cheat sheet in Google Docs.  I will post my xml presets on google drive and link to them in the cheat sheet.  We can all make a google doc that can be modified by anyone.  I'll start it.
Mics: Schoeps MK 5 MP, Schoeps MK 8 MP, Schoeps MK 41 MP, KCY 250/5 > PFA
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Recorders: Sound Devices Mixpre-6ii, Sony PCM-A10
Playback: Jolida 1501 Hybrid > McIntosh MX 130 > Von Schweikert VR-4 JR, or Little Dot MK III > Sennheiser HD700
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Offline dallman

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #100 on: July 16, 2018, 04:53:29 PM »

Morst, I also was confused by the difference between "off" and "off and linked", but since I'm not using the mix tracks anyway it doesn't matter for me.

To Sound Devices:
In v2.21 there is a record setting for the Rec L,R called "Off & Linked" - it's on page two of the Mix control options.
Page 1 has L&R Linked, L&R, L, R
Page 2 has Off, or Off & Linked
Because it was added in the last firmware revision (give or take) It is not covered in the manual. Any insight is appreciated.


From Sound Devices (but incomplete):
The Record controls pertain to the functionality of the Left/Right mix tracks.  The L R buttons allow you to record arm only the left or only the right channel of the Left/Right mix tracks.  L & R record arms both L/R, while the Rec L, R L& R Linked button arms and links the L/R mix tracks.  A function you may find useful on Page 2 of the Rec L, R L& R Linked menu is the OFF button, which disarms recording on the L/R mix tracks.

Kind Regards,

Sean McMahon
Sound Devices, LLC



To Sound Devices:
Hi Sean,
 I understand what you are saying, but there is also a button that says "Off and Linked". This is next to the "off" button on page 2. That is the button I am asking about. Thanks!


From Sound Devices:
The Rec L,R Off and Linked button links the Left and Right track and disarms both.

Thank you and kind regards,

Sean McMahon
Sound Devices, LLC


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Offline rippleish20

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #101 on: July 16, 2018, 05:01:43 PM »

To Sound Devices:
Hi Sean,
 I understand what you are saying, but there is also a button that says "Off and Linked". This is next to the "off" button on page 2. That is the button I am asking about. Thanks!


From Sound Devices:
The Rec L,R Off and Linked button links the Left and Right track and disarms both.

Thank you and kind regards,

Sean McMahon
Sound Devices, LLC


Oy, that's a helpful answer. 
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Offline Chuck

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #102 on: July 16, 2018, 08:12:45 PM »
Well, I got through this thread and I'll most likely pull the trigger tomorrow. Lots of great info here.
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Microphones: AKG C 480 B comb-ULS/ CK 61/ CK 63, Sennheiser MKE 2 elements,  Audix M1290-o, Micro capsule active cables w/ Naiant PFA's, Naiant MSH-1O, Naiant AKG Active cables, Church CA-11 (cardioid), (1) Nady SCM-1000 (mod)
Pre-amps: Naiant littlebox, Naiant littlekit v2.0, BM2p+ Edirol UA-5, Church STC-9000
Recorders: Sound Devices MixPre-6, iRiver iHP-120 (Rockboxed & RTC mod)

Recordings on the LMA: http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/ChuckM
Recording website & blog: http://www.timebetweenthenotes.com

Offline jbell

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #103 on: July 17, 2018, 09:10:10 AM »
You won't be disappointed!!  It is a great deck.

Well, I got through this thread and I'll most likely pull the trigger tomorrow. Lots of great info here.
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)     
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]][}   
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]][} 
__________________________
|Record|  Runtime: 4:19.99  {|||] 75%

Offline Chuck

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5
« Reply #104 on: July 17, 2018, 09:35:31 AM »
I hope so. I JUST ordered it. :)
Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Microphones: AKG C 480 B comb-ULS/ CK 61/ CK 63, Sennheiser MKE 2 elements,  Audix M1290-o, Micro capsule active cables w/ Naiant PFA's, Naiant MSH-1O, Naiant AKG Active cables, Church CA-11 (cardioid), (1) Nady SCM-1000 (mod)
Pre-amps: Naiant littlebox, Naiant littlekit v2.0, BM2p+ Edirol UA-5, Church STC-9000
Recorders: Sound Devices MixPre-6, iRiver iHP-120 (Rockboxed & RTC mod)

Recordings on the LMA: http://www.archive.org/bookmarks/ChuckM
Recording website & blog: http://www.timebetweenthenotes.com

 

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