Topic: Zoom F3

[mepaca]

Curious, Why not run straight into the F3 for a smaller foot print? 

Just had Nick make me a set if cables for this to go with my NBox.  Planning to try the F3 out when I get home

The F3 has very good preamps. There is no real need for external preamps.

[Gutbucket]

Comp time!

[voltronic]

Comp time!

Agreed! Let the ABX-ing commence!

[yug du nord]

I’ve ran a F3 once at an outdoor venue.. right next to the SBD. So it wasn’t necessarily perfect conditions, but decent.
Mikes > F3.
The recording sounds good.. but IMO.. it would have sounded better with a good external preamp.
But…... it was really slick to not have to worry about levels. YMMV.

[goodcooker]

Some folks just like their preamps. Also, taking phantom power off the load on the batteries will significantly increase runtime.

[aaronji]

In addition to the nBox "flavor", another reason might be cabling. I guess it is probably easier/cheaper to get a short connect from the nBox to the recorder than to get new actives to go directly into the F3.

[detroit lightning]

Some folks just like their preamps. Also, taking phantom power off the load on the batteries will significantly increase runtime.

Definitely true, but being able to power the F3 via usb-c also makes for pretty much endless runtime (even with a pretty small battery block).

[Fatah Ruark (aka MIKE B)]

Trying to figure this thing out before running it for the first time in a couple of weeks.

In the lower left of both waveforms there is a "x1 / x2 /x4" ...etc. This appears to be the gain. I know levels on this thing don't matter that much, but want to confirm what the best setting is for a normal concert.

Won't be my main rig, so no biggie if I screw it up, but might as well make a decent recording.

[darby]

Trying to figure this thing out before running it for the first time in a couple of weeks.

In the lower left of both waveforms there is a "x1 / x2 /x4" ...etc. This appears to be the gain. I know levels on this thing don't matter that much, but want to confirm what the best setting is for a normal concert.

Won't be my main rig, so no biggie if I screw it up, but might as well make a decent recording.

when I first got the F3 I left it at x1 and just raised levels in post sometimes as much as 20dB
I now go with x2 and it seems I only raise levels 5-10dB

[BlueSky71]

just hit record and put it on lock if you want, the slide. The waveforms are only visualizations I think. Its called magnification so that you can see a signal. It will set the levels by itself. someone correct me if I am wrong please.

[darby]

just hit record and put it on lock if you want, the slide. The waveforms are only visualizations I think. Its called magnification so that you can see a signal. It will set the levels by itself. someone correct me if I am wrong please.

NO... you have control of waveform BEFORE hitting record by using the menu

[voltronic]

The user manual doesn't really make it clear, but Darby is correct. You are in fact adjusting the recorded level. The good news is that you really can't mess up your levels recording with this kind of system (so long as you don't overload the input stage, which is unlikely).

[BlueSky71]

just hit record and put it on lock if you want, the slide. The waveforms are only visualizations I think. Its called magnification so that you can see a signal. It will set the levels by itself. someone correct me if I am wrong please.

NO... you have control of waveform BEFORE hitting record by using the menu

My mistake, thanks for the clarification. I keep mine set pretty high so that I can see it in the field. My files are always with some red and need normalization. This video spells it out better than the manual:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?source_ve_path=Mjg2NjQsMTY0NTAz&feature=emb_share&v=Jh34nsTETBI

[dallman]

The user manual doesn't really make it clear, but Darby is correct. You are in fact adjusting the recorded level. The good news is that you really can't mess up your levels recording with this kind of system (so long as you don't overload the input stage, which is unlikely).

I know this is splitting hairs and makes no difference, but the Zoom F3 sets the gain, you set the faders which is the finished product either up or down if needed. To quote the speaker in the Zoom video, "I'll use the waveform magnifier as a fader to adjust the level of audio in headphones and on the recorded file"

The words "fader" and "recorded file" at least imply that the magnifier is working on a file after recording. Again, it really does not matter in the 32 bit float world, but I'm just relaying what the speaker is saying. And I know Sound Devices does let you set gain, but the Zoom 2, 3 and 6 (maybe Zoom 8xx, I do not have that deck) set gain and you adjust the faders. You are adjusting the (already) recorded file.

[voltronic]

The user manual doesn't really make it clear, but Darby is correct. You are in fact adjusting the recorded level. The good news is that you really can't mess up your levels recording with this kind of system (so long as you don't overload the input stage, which is unlikely).

I know this is splitting hairs and makes no difference, but the Zoom F3 sets the gain, you set the faders which is the finished product either up or down if needed. To quote the speaker in the Zoom video, "I'll use the waveform magnifier as a fader to adjust the level of audio in headphones and on the recorded file"

The words "fader" and "recorded file" at least imply that the magnifier is working on a file after recording. Again, it really does not matter in the 32 bit float world, but I'm just relaying what the speaker is saying. And I know Sound Devices does let you set gain, but the Zoom 2, 3 and 6 (maybe Zoom 8xx, I do not have that deck) set gain and you adjust the faders. You are adjusting the (already) recorded file.

I chose my words carefully when I said "recorded level" because the preamp gain is indeed fixed on the new F series if recording in 32-bit float mode (the only option on the F3).

The portion of the Zoom video you quote doesn't make it any clearer than the manual, unfortunately. No levels are being adjusted after it is recorded. What the "waveform adjustment" AKA faders are actually doing is adjusting the level post-ADC, and then that adjusted data is written to the file. See the last page of the F3 manual where the block diagram indicates exactly where that adjustment is happening.