Topic: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 5

[junkyardt]

also there has got to be an easier way to adjust the gain setting for channels 5 and 6, which currently requires going into a submenu screen and tapping tiny little onscreen up and down arrows.

You know you can use the headphone knob to adjust levels on 5&6 when at that menu, right?

ah, actually i didn’t know that, but that would actually be harder for me than just tapping the screen based on the way i have the unit in my jacket pocket when stealthing, given the awkward position of the headphone knob. really what i want is an experience where i can turn it on, turn on phantom power, stow it away and then never have to physically touch the mixpre the rest of the night — starting the recording, setting levels and holding/locking the recording would then all be done from wingman. it’s starting to seem like that may never happen.

[aaronji]

Just out of curiosity, would I have to use any kind of inline attenuators using akg481s into a mixpre3?

I use them currently going into a shure fp24. Hoping I can do away with them with the deck upgrade?!

TIA

If I recall correctly, the CK61 has a sensitivity of 20 mV/Pa and the MixPre-3 can handle +14 dBu (mic input) or +28 dBu (line input).  The mics will put out +14 dBu at 140 dBSPL (and +28 dBu at 154 dBSPL); you probably won't have any problems unless you set the gain too high.  For what it's worth, I have a pair of mics that are 40 mV/Pa (so 6 dB hotter) that I have used into a MixPre-6 with no issues.  If you are in really high SPL environments, you can always go line-in with phantom.

[dogmusic]

the recording would then all be done from wingman. it’s starting to seem like that may never happen.

I was hoping for more from Wingman also: virtual transport controls for FF, REW, scrub, next & previous takes, etc. It's surprising that this is so difficult to implement. Currently, I have to move my SD card to my laptop to review my recordings using these basic operations. The encoder knob substitute for these transport controls is a cumbersome PITA.

[morst]

From the other thread:
https://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=188887.msg2284725#msg2284725

Confirming. Definite issue with the v. 3.0 firmware. Use the previous version (2.21), til they fix this. Probably wasn't a good omen that the Sound Devices customer service line was busy today throughout the entire afternoon. At a show at the moment, and likely experiencing what first reared it's ugly head at last night's gig. Luckily, I'm running backups. Details to follow... REPEAT, do NOT roll firmware v. 3.0, til it's fuckin fixed!

...wait until 3.01.

[Chuck]

Odd, they still have v 3.00 up on the firmware page.

[junkyardt]

yikes, that's pretty bad. i've already installed 3.00. does anyone have the zip file saved of 2.21 they can share, so the rest of us can roll back? i bought mine at a point after 2.21 was already out, so 2.21 came preinstalled on mine thus i never had to download the zip for it. i would like to think they'd push out 3.01 quickly (within a week or so), but who knows. it could take a month or more for all we know. luckily the winter is a dead time for shows near me and i wasn't planning to use the mixpre again anyway for at least a few weeks.

[aaronji]

^ When you go to the firmware download page, after you click on "Download" and then the orange "Download MixPre Series Firmware" button (and accept the liability agreement), you will get a pop-up box with a drop-down menu.  All previous versions of the firmware are still available there...

[junkyardt]

oh cool, thanks. did not realize that, figured they would pull everything but the latest release.

[rippleish20]

Paul Isaacs "Guys - v3.00 has been in QA for many many weeks and passed intensive testing. It is highly recommended that after you update to new firmware, you load factory defaults, then reformat your SD card in the MixPre, then rebuild any presets. A machine can literally have millions of possible setting states. So starting from a clean factory default state/preset often clears up things after a major firmware update. If this doesn't help, then please contact our tech support who will help you resolve issue. Thx"

[justme]

I can verify that some of my saved 2.21 presets was broken in 3.00.
I rebuilt it and saved it although I have downloaded both the old one as well as newly built one I have not yet compared the difference.

[morst]

Odd, they still have v 3.00 up on the firmware page.

Hah, they're blaming the users for any troubles.


OF COURSE you all know that you have to factory reset your machine after a firmware update and rebuild all your presets, right?




 
 

[Chuck]

That's going to be a pain each time...

[checht]

Hah, they're blaming the users for any troubles.

'You're holding it wrong...'

[junkyardt]

yeah not a good look on that response. new firmware should just work, or if additional steps are necessary on the user’s part to get it to work properly, those steps should be communicated clearly and ahead of time. will probably hook it up and record background noise at home for a few hours to verify files are splitting properly and are uncorrupted.

[jbell]

I love my Mixpre-6, but it seems like Sound devices could do some better QA before releasing new firmware.  I rolled back to 2.21