Topic: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6

[shijan]

If it is not against forum rules, take a look at my custom made 14.8V 50Wh 18650 Battery Enclosure Module. It was  designed for BMMCC cameras, but it also can be mounted directly at the top of MixPre and combined with DC Power to USB Type-C Adapter Converter it can power MixPre all day. Not too slim form factor, but at least it will feels like rugged solid single brick stack inside your bag.

https://lavky.com/handmade/home-and-hobby/electronics-and-circuitry/18650-battery-enclosure/?product=UW590888
https://lavky.com/handmade/home-and-hobby/electronics-and-circuitry/dc-to-usb-c-converter/?product=AM429494

[jerryfreak]

If it is not against forum rules, take a look at my custom made 14.8V 50Wh 18650 Battery Enclosure Module.

cant see ginormous pictures

[jerryfreak]

another lockup with 4.01 today. counter displays 0:00 and all meters are frozen, but remaining disk space still counting down as if it is recording. will let it run and see if it actually recorded

[shijan]

If it is not against forum rules, take a look at my custom made 14.8V 50Wh 18650 Battery Enclosure Module.

cant see ginormous pictures

Ok, i edited post with smaller sized images now

[justme]

Not exactly.

All MixPre's uses a single pre amp feeding audio into an AD converter from Asahi Kasei which have 6 resp 8 input AD channels.
These AD channels can be summed in different ways to achieve better signal to noise dynamics. 3dB for each multiple summing.
In this case they are summed 6-to-3 and 8-to-4.
That means the preamp feeds 2 inputs on the AD Converter which are summed digitally and output divided into half amplitude, thus adding 3dB to the S/N ratio.
But they are still only using a single pre amp per input.

The new MixPre II are using multiple parallel preamps with different gain into different ADC stages which then are summed with floating point into a _very_ wide input range.

Thanks for explanation, now it is more clear for me.
So MixPre3 and 6 use dual ADC for each input to combine high and low gain. Each ADC is separate phisycal chip soldered to pcb. MixPre10 use the same? What about triple ADC explained in Sound Devices patent application? Is it possible that they use it in high end Scorpio line? Or it is technology yet reserved for future?

[jerryfreak]

another lockup with 4.01 today. counter displays 0:00 and all meters are frozen, but remaining disk space still counting down as if it is recording. will let it run and see if it actually recorded

despite the display, counter and levels locking up, it kept recording until the card was full. if youre on 4.01 and your device hangs, look at the remaining recording time display, if its counting down youre prob ok.

prob safest to revert to 3.03 for now

[rick.lang]

Jerry, what media card are you using?  I’m staying with my Wise SDXC 128 GB after my Sound Devices 32 GB card had a data error.


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[jerryfreak]

Jerry, what media card are you using?  I’m staying with my Wise SDXC 128 GB after my Sound Devices 32 GB card had a data error.

somebody bought my mixpre, wrapping up my testing and shipping in the morning

never found any SDXC cards that worked reliably with my unit (out of 5 fullsize sdxc and 5 microsdxc). found 4 different models of 32GB card (2 full size, 2 micro) that worked flawlessly and i tested 10-30+ hours each and couldn't break them

my top two performers (aka most tested and/or best benchmarks) of the 4 cards i couldnt break:

1. Sandisk 32GB "100 MB/s" Extreme Pro microsdhc (>70 hrs of testing on two different cards, two different firmwares)

https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=191314.msg2305855#msg2305855

2. Sandisk Extreme Pro 32GB SDHC UHS-I Card "Older generation" - "95 MB/sec" (>13 hours so far at 24/192 on 2 different firmwares)

https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=191314.msg2312650#msg2312650


would have liked to test that full size one a bit more, might be able to get to 20-25 hrs of testing but m not gonna get up in the middle of the night need to ship tomorrow.

justme sent me the Integral 128GB card hes had luck with to test... but it hasnt gotten here yet. I was going to send it back but if hes down (as i suspect) we can pass it around here in the US for a bit)

I'll prob pick up a mixpre-6 II or a zoom sometime before next summer when i see a deal, i have no full-rig shows for next 6 months

while some people have had luck with the larger cards, they all eventually break for me. the best i had went 22 hrs before failing, but indeed did fail. testing the smaller cards is kind of a pain in the ass, 4X as many tests. still for what i do, 6 channels at 24/48, a 32GB is more than enough. id rather have multiple $10 cards stacked up if i needed to do >10 hrs of recording in a session

[borjam]

Thanks for explanation, now it is more clear for me.
So MixPre3 and 6 use dual ADC for each input to combine high and low gain.

As far as I know (I read it elsewhere) the original MixPre-3 and MixPre-6 use dual ADCs per channel in order to reduce input noise.

[lerond]

another lockup with 4.01 today. counter displays 0:00 and all meters are frozen, but remaining disk space still counting down as if it is recording. will let it run and see if it actually recorded

despite the display, counter and levels locking up, it kept recording until the card was full. if youre on 4.01 and your device hangs, look at the remaining recording time display, if its counting down youre prob ok.

prob safest to revert to 3.03 for now

To offer a counter-anecdote, I've been running 4.01 (after staying on 1.21 since forever) for 2 channels at 24/44 in an original MP6 for 2-3 weeks now. So far over ~20 sets of 45min to over 2h long, I've only had one problem: a strange situation where I powered the device on and then record wouldn't engage: levels showed, but it wouldn't start. Turned off, disconnected my USB-C cell, counted to 5, then reconnected and powered back up: all good, except for losing a few seconds of pre-performance stage banter.  Of course, YMMV....

[justme]

justme sent me the Integral 128GB card hes had luck with to test... but it hasnt gotten here yet. I was going to send it back but if hes down (as i suspect) we can pass it around here in the US for a bit)

Sure. Please let other test it.

[rick.lang]

When I made my recent recordings using Timecode, I left the ubits all zeros.  Now I’m thinking I should use them to record CC:YY:MM:DD such as 20191011 to complement the Timecode HH:MM:SS:FF.   Is that of any value in metadata to sort and sync clips by Timecode recorded over a period of time? 

The Timecode Mode has a downward arrow and upwards arrow to select a Mode.  It defaults to U:U:U:U which seems the only appropriate mode for a date CC:YY:MM:DD.  When I select Mode D:M:Y:U, it does rearrange the values automatically but that’s not the smartest sort sequence. 

I’m trying to determine how best to handle audio recorded potentially spanning a period of months or years for one project.  That audio will need to be synced to video.


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[jerryfreak]

another lockup with 4.01 today. counter displays 0:00 and all meters are frozen, but remaining disk space still counting down as if it is recording. will let it run and see if it actually recorded

despite the display, counter and levels locking up, it kept recording until the card was full. if youre on 4.01 and your device hangs, look at the remaining recording time display, if its counting down youre prob ok.

prob safest to revert to 3.03 for now

To offer a counter-anecdote, I've been running 4.01 (after staying on 1.21 since forever) for 2 channels at 24/44 in an original MP6 for 2-3 weeks now. So far over ~20 sets of 45min to over 2h long, I've only had one problem: a strange situation where I powered the device on and then record wouldn't engage: levels showed, but it wouldn't start. Turned off, disconnected my USB-C cell, counted to 5, then reconnected and powered back up: all good, except for losing a few seconds of pre-performance stage banter.  Of course, YMMV....

3.03 is probably the most stable

[DavidPuddy]

Looks like I have a problem with channel 4 of my MP6. At some point, it has started running 12+ db below channel 3 when running a pair. Tested the same mics with channels 1&2 and they're as normal. Anyone else had this problem develop?

[rick.lang]

I’ve used a pair of Line Audio Design CM-4 mics on 1 and 2.  When I used the Sennheiser AVX on 3 and MKH416 on 4, it’s apples and oranges.  Same apples and oranges yesterday with a line feed from the soundboard on 1 and MKH416 on 4.  The levels in post were different but that likely because I had a lower gain on 4.  I can do a test of the pair of CM-4s on 3 and 4 but I don’t have much time available for the next week or so.  If no one else can test their MixPre-6 II, I can do it.


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