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Author Topic: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6  (Read 77636 times)

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Offline Chuck

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #120 on: July 21, 2019, 07:57:22 PM »
I've been using 3.03 since it came out without any problems. About 40 hours of recording time. I use pre-roll too.
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Recorders: Sound Devices MixPre-6, iRiver iHP-120 (Rockboxed & RTC mod)

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Offline jerryfreak

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #121 on: July 21, 2019, 09:13:33 PM »
problem solved! I dont get "SD media too slow" errors anymore

now theyre called "record buffer errors"
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Offline morst

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #122 on: July 21, 2019, 09:15:26 PM »
problem solved! I dont get "SD media too slow" errors anymore

now theyre called "record buffer errors"
Oh, that's much more specific. Phew!
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Offline jerryfreak

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #123 on: July 21, 2019, 09:23:24 PM »
it actually might be more descriptive!

"SD media too slow" = "sorry, your shit sucks"
"Record buffer error" = "sorry, our shit sucks"

i kid... this is frustrating though. 4.5 MB/sec should be easy peasy with a reasonable buffer and *any* card performing at class 10. Shit, class 6 for that matter... youd think that 10X more writespeed than needed would be adequate.

I've given up on testing for now and reached out to the SD rep on here for guidance on good SD cards
« Last Edit: July 22, 2019, 02:01:45 AM by jerryfreak »
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Offline voltronic

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #124 on: July 22, 2019, 11:23:23 AM »
it actually might be more descriptive!

"SD media too slow" = "sorry, your shit sucks"
"Record buffer error" = "sorry, our shit sucks"

i kid... this is frustrating though. 4.5 MB/sec should be easy peasy with a reasonable buffer and *any* card performing at class 10. Shit, class 6 for that matter... youd think that 10X more writespeed than needed would be adequate.

I've given up on testing for now and reached out to the SD rep on here for guidance on good SD cards

Some people here used to eviscerate Tascam for not testing more cards, but IMO, Sound Devices has done far worse by their customers in this area regarding these recorders.  They have ONE item on their Approved Media for the MixPre series.
https://www.sounddevices.com/mixpre-series-approved-media-list/
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Offline justme

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #125 on: July 22, 2019, 11:37:27 AM »
Time to start a new thread?
Mix-Pre 3/6 SD memory cards  (what works and what doesn't)

List cards that handle 3+2 and 6+2 at highest resolution/sampling/bitrate respectively.
« Last Edit: July 22, 2019, 11:40:48 AM by justme »

Offline Gordon

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #126 on: July 22, 2019, 11:40:47 AM »
im getting 'media slow' errors with my mixpre6 on cards that should be plenty fast enough

my firmware version is the ancient 1.11

i see that media performance has been improved several times , up until the last version where preroll is an issue

is there a consensus on most reliable firmware? i just bumped to 3.03 since from reading here it looks like i can roll back if needed, testing now

what kind of card?  I have a sandisk and the SD one and no issues with either.
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Offline jerryfreak

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #127 on: July 22, 2019, 12:46:46 PM »
Are you testing the whole card at max bitrate?

I’ll start a new thread in the recording media subforum
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Offline rigpimp

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #128 on: July 22, 2019, 12:52:24 PM »
Are you testing the whole card at max bitrate?

I’ll start a new thread in the recording media subforum

Already did.

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Offline morst

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #129 on: July 22, 2019, 01:24:41 PM »
Some people here used to eviscerate Tascam for not testing more cards, but IMO, Sound Devices has done far worse by their customers in this area regarding these recorders.  They have ONE item on their Approved Media for the MixPre series.
https://www.sounddevices.com/mixpre-series-approved-media-list/
I had one of those SD branded cards fail in my MixPre6 last year. Luckily it was during a sound check and I had a different card with me.
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Offline Amir

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #130 on: July 23, 2019, 11:13:43 PM »
I got a reply from Sound Devices and they are able to replicate not being able to respond to an on-screen prompt from an external USB keyboard.

They said they will add it to the feature request list.
Oh! What a bummer! I'm a bit screwed 😊 Guess I should wait for this to be implemented before making the purchase. I was even thinking about getting a Mixpre-6.
Thanks for investigating that on my behalf.

Offline Amir

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #131 on: August 21, 2019, 03:54:51 AM »
Hi all,

After gathering enough information about the accessability and usability of the Mixpre-3 for the visually impaired, I finally came to the conclusion to purchase the Mixpre-6 given its extra channels. However, I'd like to use your help to determine if the Mixpre-6 can do what I want.
1. The Mixpre-6 is primarily advertised as a field recorder and I have no issues with that. But I want something which can do some sort of sound-mixing. I don't want to apply effects or use equalizers, but I want to be able to connect two or three XLR mics to the Mixpre-6, move all of them to the center of the so-called audio or stereo stage, and connect the Mixpre-6 to my laptop in order to live-mix the output of the microphones with the music which resides on my laptop. I also want to be able to mute all mics at once. Perhaps more important than that, I want to move the music sound gradually above or below the voice of all three XLR mics. Do you think the Mixpre-6 can do all of that? And can I increase-decrease the volume of the XLR mics at once to have the music fade in or fade out? For instance, I want for the music to fade gradually in order for a host or guest to start speaking with the music in the background.
2. I have seen some professional sound engineers do something strange, or strange in my view, even when they have USB mixers at hand. To bring in music from a laptop, they connect mixers to the headphone output of laptops instead of relying on a USB connection to achieve that. They say that such a connection is more stable than using USB to send audio from the laptop to the mixer. What do you think? Does what they say hold some truth? And is the Mixpre-6 capable of doing both?
3. With the Mixpre-6 I can use its built-in audio recorder, and that's really a boon. But is the built-in recorder capable of generating a single stereo mix of all channels, or does it provide me with separate tracks for each channel? Or maybe both? And are all volume changes I make to the music/XLR mic outputs captured by the recorder similar to what dedicated mixers do?
4. Finally, may I know how many aux sends the Mixpre-6 has? And do they have, or maybe does it have, its own volume control?

Thanks for your invaluable opinions and answers.

Best,
Amir

Offline DavidPuddy

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #132 on: August 21, 2019, 09:55:19 AM »
Hi all,

After gathering enough information about the accessability and usability of the Mixpre-3 for the visually impaired, I finally came to the conclusion to purchase the Mixpre-6 given its extra channels. However, I'd like to use your help to determine if the Mixpre-6 can do what I want.
1. The Mixpre-6 is primarily advertised as a field recorder and I have no issues with that. But I want something which can do some sort of sound-mixing. I don't want to apply effects or use equalizers, but I want to be able to connect two or three XLR mics to the Mixpre-6, move all of them to the center of the so-called audio or stereo stage, and connect the Mixpre-6 to my laptop in order to live-mix the output of the microphones with the music which resides on my laptop. I also want to be able to mute all mics at once. Perhaps more important than that, I want to move the music sound gradually above or below the voice of all three XLR mics. Do you think the Mixpre-6 can do all of that? And can I increase-decrease the volume of the XLR mics at once to have the music fade in or fade out? For instance, I want for the music to fade gradually in order for a host or guest to start speaking with the music in the background.
2. I have seen some professional sound engineers do something strange, or strange in my view, even when they have USB mixers at hand. To bring in music from a laptop, they connect mixers to the headphone output of laptops instead of relying on a USB connection to achieve that. They say that such a connection is more stable than using USB to send audio from the laptop to the mixer. What do you think? Does what they say hold some truth? And is the Mixpre-6 capable of doing both?
3. With the Mixpre-6 I can use its built-in audio recorder, and that's really a boon. But is the built-in recorder capable of generating a single stereo mix of all channels, or does it provide me with separate tracks for each channel? Or maybe both? And are all volume changes I make to the music/XLR mic outputs captured by the recorder similar to what dedicated mixers do?
4. Finally, may I know how many aux sends the Mixpre-6 has? And do they have, or maybe does it have, its own volume control?

Thanks for your invaluable opinions and answers.

Best,
Amir

Hi Amir, I will answer your questions as best I can. I'm sure others will chime in as well.

1. The default pan of each channel is center. I'm not aware of any method that mutes all of the mics at once - normally this is accomplished for each channel by pressing the channel fader and pressing mute on the touchscreen. The music issue seems like a post-production concern to me. Will you be using this for live broadcasting?
2. I would use the USB-C input for audio from a computer, otherwise you are running two DACs. However, you can run from a laptop headphone out into the 1/8" stereo in on the Mixpre 6 if you want to.
3. The Mixpre 6 is capable of creating a stereo "live mix" of all channels (which is something that we don't normally use in our application). Any volume changes that you make will be captured by the recorder while in record mode. I think the unit is very nice used as an interface with your computer, where you can record each track separately in your DAW. I've had no trouble when using the USB-C connection.
4. The unit has a stereo line out and a headphone out, both 1/8". The headphone out has an external volume control. but the stereo line out is controlled via the touchscreen.
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Offline Amir

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #133 on: August 21, 2019, 10:09:43 AM »
Hi David,

Thanks for taking the time to address my questions and concerns.
1. You are right. I want to use the MixPre-6 as a mixer for live broadcasts. As such, I want to use it to live-mix the output of two or three mics, all as a single mid-stage channel, with the music on my laptop. And that's why I need the fade-in and fade-out features if provided by the MixPre-6. So do you mean muting or unmuting each channel can't be accomplished by key presses, or a separate connected keyboard, instead of the touch screen? And am I correct in assuming that we can't combine two or three connected mics into a single channel and mute/unmute/fade them simultaneously?
2 and 3. Thanks for clarifying those important points re USB type C and the way volume changes are captured by the internal recorder.
4. Again, is there a way to control the stereo line out by a key press or via a separate USB keyboard?

Cheers,
Amir

Offline justme

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Re: Sound Devices MixPre-3 and 6, Part 6
« Reply #134 on: August 21, 2019, 10:51:14 AM »
1. You can only link channels 1-2 and 3-4 etc. You can not link 1-3 and control all 3 with one fader.
But you can connect a midi controller surface with buttons, knobs and faders and that way create a mixer control for live mixing.
Then you can control, play, stop  trim, pan, fade, mute, solo, master fade etc.

Unless you really need time code input/trigger, the MixPre-6M för music might be a slightly cheaper option.

The MixPre's support following controller interfaces

Akai MidiMix Interface
Korg NanoKontrol 2 Interface
Korg NanoKontrol Studio Interface
Novation LaunchControl XL Interface

 

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