Thanks Todd, this is super helpful. I have one coming soon, and this seems to reflect my general experiences with SD (limited to owning a USBPre2 and playing with others' 744ts). If you're not willing to learn how the menus work, these aren't for you; it seems to me like a difference in actual pro gear and the prosumer stuff like the F8 (great deck, keeping mind) and R-44 (also great, even easier to use).
Sounds like I will just save a simple 2-mic config, a 4mic w/ 2 phantom, a 4mic w/ 4 phantom and maybe a 4mic + 5/6
If you read through the comments, you will find that many all the issues I elicited were due to known bugs and others an
indirect byproduct of trying to get around some of these bugs at shows. The fact that I (and others if you read the comments) happened to hit some of them was luck of the draw. I also own a SD702 an have never had any issues with it. Most of the issues not indicative of me "not knowing the menus". The 5/6 channel confusion was my fault, but due to me having to switch from XLRs to a 1/8 inch connection about a minute before the band started (the SE tried to give me a XLR connection but the board was old and having issues and could only give me RCAs out. I was not prepared to use 5/6.
As I indicated I like the device, but I , and others, have found the firmware to be very buggy.
When I received the Mixpre-6 it was at firmware 1.0. You really couldn't use SD cards larger than 32GB. A bug.
Firmware 1.01 came out before the first show I used it at. I successfully formatted a 128GB card and it looked like the problem was fixed.
First show, I used microphones and also had a sbd connection, XLRs. I used a 32GB card just in case. I used Custom Mode with gain set to simple, etc but turned also off the l/r recording. I ended up with the low recording gain issue. A bug.
Shows two and three, I used advanced mode, 32GB card and just recorded the SBD, XLRs. No problem except I turned off power between sets and the channel gain had reset to default.
Show four, I used microphones and had a SBD connection, XLRs. I used advanced. No problem except I turned off power between sets and the channel gain had reset to default.
Show five, I just had a SBD connection, RCAs. I used advanced mode. I attempted to use 128GB card. It worked correctly the first set but turning the power off and on again resulted in a "cant create directory structure" error. I had to turn the power of and remove the battery pack to get it ot work again. I missed the first song. This, I assume is a bug, but I will have to report it to SD.
Show six and seven I went back to 32GB card, advanced, SBD only, XLRs. No problem except I turned off power between sets and the channel gain had reset to default.
Show seven. Advanced, SBD but the board with RCAs again. I was going to record with microphones instead but decided, at the last minute, to go for the SBD but try the 1/8 port instead (first time I had no choice to but use RCAs to XLRs). As I indicated, I found the way you turn on arm these ports strange. Within even the way SD does it on this device,as I said, arming them first nd then changing what the input source is makes more sense to me than showing a seemingly armed but greyed out icon in the menu. This is not a bug per se but what I think is a human interface issue.
I am an early adopter and don't consider it the end of the world that I had issues, especially things like me not knowing how to turn on 5/6 quickly. But for a "pro" device, its a lot buggier than my "Prosumer" F8, and that "Prosumer" device has a decent menuing system in my opinion. Ultimately I agree that SD is more in the Professional realm and that the Mixpre is superior in terms of Pre's etc. I like the device and Im sure my experience will get better with bug fixes and my better understanding how I want to use it.
Topic: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 3 (Read 110619 times)