Topic: Fr-2 Vs. SD 722

[jpschust]

at that price point, for applications other than stealth purposes i often question why not just go laptop. 

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

at that price point, for applications other than stealth purposes i often question why not just go laptop. 

My committed deposit is with a vendor who does not sell laptops.  Fr2 or R-4 is now looking like what I have to get if I'm going to do 96/24 at xmas jam.  I called edirol and I'm hoping to hear back from them on whether or not a 2 channel digital patch into the R4 is direct or resampled. 

[scb]

Sound Devices strikes again!!!!!!!

but the units do rock.  i was very impressed with the 744 i got to use.  the delay just blows

[cascademedia]

Wayne, your info regarding 722s arriving in the spring is not accurate from what I was told at AES last weekend.   

What should be clarified is any dealer placing an order for 7 Series now will not see anything until the spring.   This will also be true for any end-user placing an order as well.   

744ts will start to ship later this week.   They will continue to ship over the next month.  722s will start to ship later this month and continue thru the end of the year.  I hope to have all our preorders filled by the end of the year.   I am as frustrated with the delays as the rest of those who have placed orders but the final product will be worth the wait.   Those of us who have used the demos can attest to this.   There are many reasons for the delays but the bottom line is they want this piece to kick ass.  By compromising on parts that are not up to their standards makes the final product suffer.   


thanks

- F

[wbrisette]

Wayne, your info regarding 722s arriving in the spring is not accurate from what I was told at AES last weekend.   

What should be clarified is any dealer placing an order for 7 Series now will not see anything until the spring.   This will also be true for any end-user placing an order as well.   

This may be what they were referring to. I think it's going to be great once they get these units out the door. It's just unfortunately they didn't really fit my needs. I still can't figure out why they didn't make the 744T a bit larger and go with 4 XLR connectors for mics. Now you must use a mixer if you want four mics on four channels.

Wayne

[scb]

or just use an external pre or a/d and go line/digital in for channels 3 and 4

[wbrisette]

or just use an external pre or a/d and go line/digital in for channels 3 and 4

Exactly. So, in my case this was my setup:

SR-77--\
QTC-1  -- X4 -- AD2K+ -- DAP1

If I used the 744 it would have to be:

QTC1 --- X4 ----- 744
SR77 -------------- 744

OR

QTC1 -- X4 -- AD2K -- 744
SR77 --------------------- 744

Now with the Deva II it's

QTC1 ----\
SR77 ---- -- Deva II


It was simplicity I was looking for.

Wayne

[Flarnet]

It's just unfortunately they didn't really fit my needs. I still can't figure out why they didn't make the 744T a bit larger and go with 4 XLR connectors for mics. Now you must use a mixer if you want four mics on four channels.

That keeps me up at night as well. I just fail to see the logic in their product differentiation, regardless for which crowd (eng, sound-for-picture, nature recordist, concert taper) they were shooting.

Let's break it down to expose their madness.

The 722 isn't mad at all. It's a direct replacement to the plain 2ch DAT recorders (DA-P1, HHB, Sony whateveritsmodelis). Priced right inbetween what those models costed. A very sane feature-set and product. A timecode option for it and they could have stopped right there - they would stay way clear of the big boys (Zaxcom, Cantar, Fostex, HHB) while completely owning their segment.

The 744T is where things go completely wrong. Why? Because to use all 4 channels you need an external preamp/mixer. This isn't a problem for the target audience since most of them already work with a mixer+recorder setup. BUT WHY ON EARTH TROWN MONEY ON THE PREAMPS WHEN ALL WHO BUYS IT PER DEFINITION ALREADY HAVE ALL THE PREAMPS IN THE WORLD!?
With two additional preamps they would at least be in a fight with the upcoming Zaxcom Fusion, but as it stands now the Fusion will rape the 744T with 1) Same price 2) 3rd generation hardware 3) Zaxcom brand 4) Four frikkin mic inputs.

The smart line-up would have been:

A) 722 with timecode option available.
B) Line-only six or eight channel recorder with timecode option.

This would have made Joe "I wan't a replacement for my DAT" Schmoe happy, it would have made the ENG/Picture people happy, it would have made tapers happy and it would have made Sound Devices happy since recorder sales would not in any way eat into their mixer sales.

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

What should be clarified is any dealer placing an order for 7 Series now will not see anything until the spring.   This will also be true for any end-user placing an order as well.   

744ts will start to ship later this week.
thanks

- F

Thanks for that clarification.  Your post reiterates what SD told me directly a month ago when I called them.


Blood pressure now returning to normal levels.

[wboswell]

Check the feature set again...  The way it reads to me:
1)Inputs 3 and 4 on the 744t provide phantom power and,
2)Line level inputs are adjustable between -6 and +18 dbs. 

While +18 won't do everything you need, it would certainly put out enough gain for some functions...

[John Kelly]

Check the feature set again...  The way it reads to me:
1)Inputs 3 and 4 on the 744t provide phantom power and,
2)Line level inputs are adjustable between -6 and +18 dbs. 

While +18 won't do everything you need, it would certainly put out enough gain for some functions...

Where'd you find the first point?  Cuz I'm looking at the feature set right now and I don't see it...

[wbrisette]

With two additional preamps they would at least be in a fight with the upcoming Zaxcom Fusion, but as it stands now the Fusion will rape the 744T with 1) Same price 2) 3rd generation hardware 3) Zaxcom brand 4) Four frikkin mic inputs.

Zaxcom has one major issue going and that's price. Case in point. Their crowd is the film audio folks. They spend big bucks on products and Zaxcom has no incentive to make things any cheaper for them, so I doubt they will. I LOVE my new (refurbished) Deva II, but I got zero price breaks on it and then got a call back because it was going to cost me another $500 for a 40 GB hard drive... sheez. I doubt when fusion comes out it will be in the 744 ball park, could be wrong, but it doesn't fit Zaxcom's profile.

Wayne

[wboswell]

Check the feature set again...  The way it reads to me:
1)Inputs 3 and 4 on the 744t provide phantom power and,
2)Line level inputs are adjustable between -6 and +18 dbs. 

While +18 won't do everything you need, it would certainly put out enough gain for some functions...

Where'd you find the first point?  Cuz I'm looking at the feature set right now and I don't see it...

Well, you got me...  I thought that I had read it in the manual, but on second inspection, its not there.  My error came from a review posted by Fran after his first night out:

One cool little feature is that you can send phantom to the LINE LEVEL inputs so you can use these for high-SPL situations also.

I read that to say that the line level inputs could output 48v when actually the XLR inputs set to line level can output phantom power... 

my bad, but nobody's arguing that I am not an idiot

[cascademedia]

from page 14 of my user guide:

"Phantom Power is available for both mic and line level inputs.  Using line level inputs with mics is useful in extreme SPL environments such as concert recording.  Make certian to deactivate powre whne line level output devices are connected that are susceptible to damage from DC"

 

[wbrisette]

from page 14 of my user guide:
"Phantom Power is available for both mic and line level inputs.  Using line level inputs with mics is useful in extreme SPL environments such as concert recording.  Make certian to deactivate powre whne line level output devices are connected that are susceptible to damage from DC"

I suppose this might still be a doable solution, with some gender changers on the cable, but I wonder what happens when you're doing acoustical recordings??? It's one thing when you're going through a PA, but when you're micing just vocals or strings, I don't think this is going to be a workable solution for folks. Although if folks use QTC-1s, since there so damn hot to begin with, this might work even in that situation.

Thanks for pointing this out!

Wayne