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Author Topic: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?  (Read 88132 times)

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Online voltronic

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #105 on: September 08, 2019, 07:59:54 AM »

"I really would like to see how Zoom is doing it in the F6. 
Or if the sudden manufacturing problem is somehow related to someones patent."


I caught that bit, too.  In their news release, Zoom is citing "a mechanical component that needed modification to assure consistent, overall durability."  Everyone assumes that it is the battery door / compartment, and that they are recalling all units to modify them in addition to the new production.  Zoom is now claiming Fall / Winter of this year as the projected release date.  We'll see.  The theory about a patent issue is interesting, but if that were true, I would expect Zoom to have to pull the unit entirely for a full redesign.
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Offline kindms

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #106 on: September 08, 2019, 08:39:21 AM »
depending on your mix, a simple 2-track out to any of the handhelds like a sony A10 would save your ass if recording stops due to buffer

thats if you were doing multiple stereo pairs like most tapers, a little less useful if you are doing isolated instruments unless you want to put in the time to do a decent mix on the fly

8 tracks usb out to a small laptop could be a backup but thats cumbersome and the opposite direction we should be working imo

small tablet would probably have enough horsepower
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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #107 on: September 08, 2019, 12:20:25 PM »
With all this drama surrounding SD cards not being able to handle what the MixPre is capable of:

1. Is it possible that a good amount of newly produced flash media are simply not up the performance challenge of multi-channel, high-bitrate / depth audio?*  I think we can all agree at this point that the manufacturer speed rating of the card seems to mean little when it comes to audio applications, as has been proven time and again.  Remember that the 7-series used CF cards, hard drives, and SSDs.  I don't recall any drama about write problems.

2. If (1) is true, then why (other than cost) are audio recorder manufacturers still using this format?

3. If I was working for Sound Devices, I would have ditched the SD card slot in series II, and instead used m.2 NVME SSDs.  They are small, relatively inexpensive, and their read/write performance is superlative.  The recorder would probably never approach the limits of what that SSD could handle, but then you would be assured that you would never run into a media performance bottleneck.

---

*Alternate theory:

Could audio recorder manufacturers simply be using write buffers that are too small, as was speculated with the Tascam media performance issues?
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Offline Gordon

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #108 on: September 08, 2019, 12:36:24 PM »

(SD card access requires removing the L battery sled, which is a nuisance and probably a source of future repair bills).  I may end up doing the transfer from the SD card anyway,

why not transfer via usb c direct from mp6 to computer?  that's how I do it on series 1.  I never take the card out....  even if computer doesn't have c get a c to a cable or something.
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Offline morst

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #109 on: September 08, 2019, 04:52:08 PM »
Just luck that I didn't lose anything Friday and could do the file transfer to my computer from the USB flash (SD card access requires removing the L battery sled, which is a nuisance and probably a source of future repair bills).
Why not plug the MixPre into the computer using USB A (computer end) to USB C (MixPre end) with the supplied cable? Power the mix-pre on, go into SYSTEM ( home menu page 3) and select FILE TRANSFER (menu page 2)


The machine will say USB-C FILE TRANSFER MODE and the SD card will appear on your computer as a hard drive volume.
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Offline WiFiJeff

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #110 on: September 08, 2019, 05:40:47 PM »
Just luck that I didn't lose anything Friday and could do the file transfer to my computer from the USB flash (SD card access requires removing the L battery sled, which is a nuisance and probably a source of future repair bills).
Why not plug the MixPre into the computer using USB A (computer end) to USB C (MixPre end) with the supplied cable? Power the mix-pre on, go into SYSTEM ( home menu page 3) and select FILE TRANSFER (menu page 2)


The machine will say USB-C FILE TRANSFER MODE and the SD card will appear on your computer as a hard drive volume.

Yeah, I guess I could also do a complete format of the card this way.  I will still want the USB flash drive as a backup.  Since it takes me a while to knockdown my rig I can leave the MixPre powered up until I am ready to leave.

Offline jerryfreak

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #111 on: September 08, 2019, 06:03:20 PM »
the sled connection is very robust i wouldnt sweat breaking it.

'slow formatting' cards didnt seem to make a difference in any of my tests
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Offline jerryfreak

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #112 on: September 08, 2019, 06:20:00 PM »
With all this drama surrounding SD cards not being able to handle what the MixPre is capable of:

1. Is it possible that a good amount of newly produced flash media are simply not up the performance challenge of multi-channel, high-bitrate / depth audio?*

no they handle much higher loads on video and other sequential write applications. Every card ive tested has demonstrated stable operation at an order of magnitude higher sequential write rates than the mixpre requires

I think we can all agree at this point that the manufacturer speed rating of the card seems to mean little when it comes to audio applications, as has been proven time and again.  Remember that the 7-series used CF cards, hard drives, and SSDs.  I don't recall any drama about write problems.

as for the cards, every one i tested exceeded its rating (V30, V60, U3, which are 3-6X higher than the 'class 10' they specify)

as for the robustness of the 7-series, hard to say. For all you know those were dropping samples and not alerting anyone. Thats kind of the next step for the mixpres. Even if they can make the unit not crash and burn on buffer errors, it is possible that they just decide to allow tolerance to these errors without alerting. If the problem is suddenly and mysteriously solved in firmware i would surely be looking at the waveforms for evidence of dropped samples

*Alternate theory:

Could audio recorder manufacturers simply be using write buffers that are too small, as was speculated with the Tascam media performance issues?

seems more likely in this case. with that much available overhead it should be fairly simple to write data sequentially to media. 250 mhz computers could do this adequately to slow 2.5" IDE hard disks 20 years ago... while running a full OS as well. Looking at the high tech level of the patent application, its baffling how adequate buffering isnt an afterthought for these guys.. and they are silent on the issue.
« Last Edit: September 08, 2019, 06:24:30 PM by jerryfreak »
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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #113 on: September 09, 2019, 06:32:58 PM »
I finally received my MixPre-6 II today since FedEx refused to deliver this weekend as scheduled.
I fire up the unit to set the Custom mode and set it up for 32 bit... I can't find 32 bit anywhere.
I powered it on and off and went thru Advanced and Basic setups and cannot find 32 bit.
I call Sound Devices tech support and speak with a guy named Sean who was quite helpful.
When he figured out I knew how to setup the unit, he had me restart it again and check the firmware.
My unit has firmware 3.03, which is incorrect for the II series, I should have 4.01.
I could either do a return with B&H, or wait for the firmware update since it is NOT ON THE WEBSITE YET.
Looks like they were in too big of a hurry to push these out.

Offline WiFiJeff

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #114 on: September 09, 2019, 08:40:37 PM »
Mine came with firmware version 4.00.  That wasn't up yet, either.  Wonder what .01 fixes.

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Offline Paul Isaacs

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #115 on: September 09, 2019, 09:36:06 PM »
I finally received my MixPre-6 II today since FedEx refused to deliver this weekend as scheduled.
I fire up the unit to set the Custom mode and set it up for 32 bit... I can't find 32 bit anywhere.
I powered it on and off and went thru Advanced and Basic setups and cannot find 32 bit.
I call Sound Devices tech support and speak with a guy named Sean who was quite helpful.
When he figured out I knew how to setup the unit, he had me restart it again and check the firmware.
My unit has firmware 3.03, which is incorrect for the II series, I should have 4.01.
I could either do a return with B&H, or wait for the firmware update since it is NOT ON THE WEBSITE YET.
Looks like they were in too big of a hurry to push these out.

Hi Darby,

I spoke with Sean after seeing this. If you reach out to him now, he should now be able to get you up and running straight away.

Paul

Offline Paul Isaacs

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #116 on: September 09, 2019, 10:03:27 PM »

Thought this might be of interest to some of you ...

https://www.sounddevices.com/low-signal-32-bit-float/

Paul

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #117 on: September 09, 2019, 10:19:12 PM »
I finally received my MixPre-6 II today since FedEx refused to deliver this weekend as scheduled.
I fire up the unit to set the Custom mode and set it up for 32 bit... I can't find 32 bit anywhere.
I powered it on and off and went thru Advanced and Basic setups and cannot find 32 bit.
I call Sound Devices tech support and speak with a guy named Sean who was quite helpful.
When he figured out I knew how to setup the unit, he had me restart it again and check the firmware.
My unit has firmware 3.03, which is incorrect for the II series, I should have 4.01.
I could either do a return with B&H, or wait for the firmware update since it is NOT ON THE WEBSITE YET.
Looks like they were in too big of a hurry to push these out.

Hi Darby,

I spoke with Sean after seeing this. If you reach out to him now, he should now be able to get you up and running straight away.

Paul

I received an email from Danny Greenwald with the correct firmware attached
after updating, I was able to get the unit to set up for 32 bit float... THANK YOU!

Offline WiFiJeff

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #118 on: September 09, 2019, 10:32:33 PM »

Thought this might be of interest to some of you ...

https://www.sounddevices.com/low-signal-32-bit-float/

Paul

VERY impressive.  Though if I ever screw up a piano recording this badly so that I need to do a >100 dB boost, I'll just leave the business quietly.

Jeff

Offline gewwang

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Re: New Sound Devices MixPre II-series coming?
« Reply #119 on: September 09, 2019, 10:33:30 PM »
Got my mixpre-10 II with firmware v4.0 today (signature required or I would have had it Saturday).

Great job Sound Devices, I don't envision a need to upgrade for quite awhile.

 

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