Topic: Zoom F6 (32-bit float equipped)

[aaronji]

Also, I realize comparing Zoom to a company like Sound Devices may be a bit unfair. The history of those companies' respective products and the customers they serve are not at all the same. A better comparison might be with Tascam or Sony.

This is an important point, in my opinion. Zoom, I think, has most of their products made (and possibly designed) by overseas manufacturers. SD does a lot of R&D in house (witness the number of patents they possess) and do all, or most, of the assembly in WI. Those factors reflect a huge difference in corporate philosophy... 

[voltronic]

I am beginning to suspect the short drop several weeks back that broke the NP battery tabs off may have broken something else internally. At last night's rehearsal recording I had 4011's on ch 1-2 and 4006's on 5-6 and the right 4006 channel (F6 input 6) recorded about 6 dB lower than the left even though the input levels onscreen at the time showed no imbalance. I thoroughly tested everything today - mics, cables, recorder settings, etc. There is absolutely no problem I can find with anything.

This problematic M/S recording was from the concert I recorded right after the drop occurred. At the time, I (and many others) were suggesting the fig8 pattern on one of the 414s could be wonky, but everything tested perfect. That pair of mics was recording on F6 channels 3-4, with my 4006 pair on 5-6. Different cables, too. So I can't even track it down to one bad channel.

So I now have two different concerts post-drop where 4+ channels were recording where I have had channel imbalance issues in my recorded tracks. The cables and mics for the problem tracks were different, and everything (including the F6) tested perfectly after the fact both times.

One thing occurs to me: All of my testing trying to track down the problem after both incidents had me recording only two channels, rather than 4 or 6. I'm going to format my SD card and see if that might be a possible failure point. There are never any dropouts or glitches, though.

[Gutbucket]

Wondering if one leg of the differential input on channel 6 became disconnected.

[voltronic]

Wondering if one leg of the differential input on channel 6 became disconnected.

I get where you're going, where it would make that one channel lower level and unbalanced, but I don't think that's it. When I just plugged my 4006 pair in this afternoon for testing both inputs there were rock solid. And the level meters while recording looked exactly right. There was no visual imbalance between 5 and 6 except when strong material came from either side. Also, I previously had an issue with channel 4 on the failed M/S recording I linked to above.

[voltronic]

Update: I did more thorough testing today with three matched pairs of mics. Channels 1-2 are fine, but channels 3 and 6 are much lower level than they ought to be. This is not SD card related - it is clearly seen and heard even when not recording. I also did a factory reset, went through different modes, channels linked or unlinked, etc.

Clearly there is internal damage and I will need to do the $300 replacement if I want to keep using this as more than a 2-channel recorder.

[Colin Liston]

What are people using for gear bag for their F6?  Rather not pay big money for an actual gear bag but looking for something like a nice camping type fanny pack.  Any ideas?

[grawk]

What are people using for gear bag for their F6?  Rather not pay big money for an actual gear bag but looking for something like a nice camping type fanny pack.  Any ideas?

https://clearbackpacks.com/products/stadium-tote-for-sports-venues

[breakonthru]

What are people using for gear bag for their F6?  Rather not pay big money for an actual gear bag but looking for something like a nice camping type fanny pack.  Any ideas?

I use the 25 year old apogee zipper pouch that they used to include with a 10-box of DATs. Fits the F6 perfectly with the fatty six-cell L battery attached

A quick search for the image shows they come up on eBay now and again. Here’s one but you have to throw down for the DATs

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255344895237

Not a full bag solution but protective enough that you can then chuck it in a larger bag. If you’re running 6 channels you prob have a big bag for cables and mic mounts. I use a sleeping bag stuff sack to shove all my cables in. And a zipper case about twice the size of the apogee for mic mounts. Compartmentalization is the name of the game for getting in and out efficiently

[Organfreak]

I use the F6 also for play-back via its 3.5 mm line out. The knobs provide the option for instant mixing of the channels.
What about the quality of this line out connection? Is it OK or would using a dedicated SD card player give (even) better audible result?

[Organfreak]

^^
Background is that I had a first-generation Marantz PMD661 in the past. The PMD661 had a weak headphone output (2x 16 mW) and a below par line output. Doug Oade explained that both its line out and headphone were taken directly from the DA chip - for cost savings.
I was wondering if the F6 line out is a better design.

[al w.]

I'm double checking my F6's setup for some shows this week, and something is making me wonder if I'm crazy.

I swear that the last time I taped, I was able to link all 6 tracks together so that I could enable all tracks simply by turning the knob for track 1. However, today, when I turned the track 1 knob, only tracks 1 and 2 turned on (because they are a stereo pair).

I assumed this was controlled by the trim link setting, but when I trim link all tracks together (setting all tracks to "Group A"), the behavior doesn't change... am I misremembering? I could have sworn I was able to make it work this way, and I liked being able to control everything from one knob.

 

[voltronic]

I'm double checking my F6's setup for some shows this week, and something is making me wonder if I'm crazy.

I swear that the last time I taped, I was able to link all 6 tracks together so that I could enable all tracks simply by turning the knob for track 1. However, today, when I turned the track 1 knob, only tracks 1 and 2 turned on (because they are a stereo pair).

I assumed this was controlled by the trim link setting, but when I trim link all tracks together (setting all tracks to "Group A"), the behavior doesn't change... am I misremembering? I could have sworn I was able to make it work this way, and I liked being able to control everything from one knob.

 

Try clicking on knobs 3 and 5? I'm assuming you have Input Link as stereo pairs 1-2, 3-4, 5-6. Maybe those separate pairs need to be activated with their respective controlling knob in order for all 6 to be controlled from 1? I haven't tried this myself, as I have mine set to stereo pair trims.

If that doesn't work, try resetting all your Input Link and Trim Link settings and starting over.

[Gutbucket]

Make sure all channels you wish to gain link are record armed.  I assume trim-link functionality is the same on F6 as F8, in which case you should be able to trim-link across various channel pairs as long as they are armed/activated.   

Also, be aware that if you had the gain trims set differently for some of the channels prior to gain-linking them, they will be forced identical to the others once the link is established.  That's not immediately obvious when linking.  I wish that was not the case and instead any desired gain offset one might want would be preserved even when linked for simultaneous adjustment, but unfortunately not.  At least not with current firmware.

[spyder9]

I link my channels in pairs:  1-2  3-4  5-6   I have never linked all 6.  My channels could have up to 3 pairs of mics, with each set having a different sensitivity.  So linking all 6 wasn't feasible for me.  My 2 cents.

[al w.]

Thanks friends!