Sound Devices MixPre-10T

[justink]

Can I ask wtf anyone needs 10 inputs for doing what we do? I get four channels but ten? Hosting others mics?

You're right, we don't. These units aren't even marketed to "us." They're designed for the needs of pro sound and film users and forums like JW Sound, which I would encourage anyone who hasn't to check out, are a better place to find discussion relevant to all features these units provide. These units can still be used by concert tapers, but typically only use the most basic recording features are leveraged.

The truth is, concert tapers have long since been forgotten by the major equipment manufactures. Even Grace Design has forgotten about us as the last field recording product they released was the Spacebar, which I think was about 10 years ago. We'd all love to see them produce a 4-channel V4 preamp/recorder designed for field use, but it's seemingly never going to happen.

been dreaming about this.  i know they are aware of the interest.

[MakersMarc]

I guess our numbers are way down, it just ain't like it used to be. Christ, there had to be thirty STANDS at XMas jam 2003 in the section, not even counting the fob crew. Just don't see that much anymore. Suppose all the live release should of every show and etree made a lot of peeps give up the trade. Those of us left try to make up for it by owning obscene amounts of gear me included. 

[down2earthlandscaper]

I guess our numbers are way down, it just ain't like it used to be. Christ, there had to be thirty STANDS at XMas jam 2003 in the section, not even counting the fob crew. Just don't see that much anymore. Suppose all the live release should of every show and etree made a lot of peeps give up the trade. Those of us left try to make up for it by owning obscene amounts of gear me included. 

LOL. So true

[IronFilm]

Can I ask wtf anyone needs 10 inputs for doing what we do? I get four channels but ten? Hosting others mics?

Reality TV shows. They can quickly get to crazy high track counts!

Heck, even myself when I was doing an ultra low budget feature film was often maxing out my F4 and recording 6 tracks at once, and wishing I could run just one or two more wireless into it....

And if I was not doing this solo, but with a team in my sound department (wouldn't a 3 man sound crew be the dream! ahh), then you could easily throw on another five tracks to that.

[acidjack]

I own a 722 and love it. But I'm lacking a really good solution for 4 channels (I have a Zoom H6 which is ok, and an old R4 that I just don't use because of the file transfer hassle from that unit to the computer). These new mix pre's look really tempting, especially considering the price, and a good opportunity for me to get into a higher quality 4+ channel device. I'm just wondering what the new versions lack in feature set compared to the 7xx series?  Thanks

Great question and I hear you. If you're stuck on the 722/702T, well a big feature missing is the extra channels. Hard to argue with that. My statement was aimed more at 744T/788T users, but for someone with a 722 here's some of the 'robust' features I see missing on the MixPre series:

- Pre-roll recording buffer
- Dual-Media Recording
- Compact Flash Support (can be important due to SD Card compatibility issues)
- Support for Mono Wav, MP3, and FLAC recording (Only Poly Wav is supported)
- AES3 / SPDIF Digital Inputs and Outputs
- Balanced L/R Outputs (TA3) (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)
- Timecode / Wordclock generator (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)
- Hirose Power Connector (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)

For the casual taper, I wouldn't consider most of these missing features to be huge deal-breakers. Timecode / Wordclock is probably the biggest missing feature for the professional user, but 99% of the time is irrelevant for the average concert taper.

The lack of a Hirose connector seems to be annoying from the threads I've been reading in the Remote Power section and the only solution is to buy a pretty expensive sled adapter. It puts your $899 recorder well over $1000 and you're having to buy a 3rd party product. Not sure why Sound Devices didn't come out of the gate with their own adapter products.

For me, the lack of Digital I/O support is probably the biggest issue. This might be unimportant for a 722 owner, but as 744T user (and previously DR-680), one of the main reasons for having extra channels is to take a digital patch from another taper in the section. After running an 8-channel deck, I quickly found that my desire to run more than one set of stereo mics + take a board feed was usually pretty minimal, but I almost always want to grab a buddy's pull so I could do casual listening tests at home. I'm usually running Schoeps, so when a friend was running MiLabs or MBHO's, I wouldn't hesitate to grab a feed from their digital output if I had spare channels. However, my enthusiasm for taking a feed usually was tempered if I had to take an analog patch, which on the MixPre series is the only option as there are no digital inputs, even on the 10T.

I'm also incredibly unimpressed with Sound Devices ability to write to SD Cards in the year 2017. I'm sorry, but having to have an approved SD card list is bullshit and having to buy your SD cards directly from Sound Devices feels like outright fraud. There are countless recorders / mixers on the market, including the 7xx recorders, that rarely, if ever, have problems writing to removable storage. You don't see Sonosax, Nagra, or even Trashcam (for the most part) having this problem the way Sound Devices does. Compact Flash, while expensive and lower capacity, is more reliable, as is an internal hard drive. This is a big deal to me as I know that my trusty 744T is going to successfully capture the recording every time. The internal HDD (SDD in my case) is a feature I simply do not want to give up.

On a final note, I would also say that that user interface, include touchscreen and joystick, are a step in the wrong direction. They are more cost-efficient to build, but I cannot tell you the number of times I have seen issues with them in the Sound Devices Facebook group. Over the past 3-4 years (or however long the 6 series have been out), I have constantly seen busted/cracked LCD screens or software corrupted displays that are unreadable. With the 7xx series, the worst that would happen is a burnt LED. I don't need a color display, I don't like having to excessively access menus, and I like physical buttons.

So there you have it. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a MixPre6 at $899 simply for the extra channels, but if you already own a 744 or 788 I wouldn't bother.

[acidjack]

Can I ask wtf anyone needs 10 inputs for doing what we do? I get four channels but ten? Hosting others mics?

hosting other mics.  but i've been wanting to do multitrack direct outs from the soundboard for a while.  that way i can mix to my liking at home and not have to take the sometimes poor board main mix.  for a solo or duo with multiple instruments, 8 or 10 is just about perfect.

Not all of us do exactly the same thing. Not often, but sometimes I will run onstage mics + audience mics + stereo mix + a couple of discreet SBD channels, for example. I've also linked 2 F8s in order to do a 16-track multitrack.  90% of the time, though, yeah, you're right, it's not something "we" need. It can be amusing to run a whole bunch of different pairs from the same spot, but that's not really useful other than comparing types of mics.

[dallman]

It can be amusing to run a whole bunch of different pairs from the same spot, but that's not really useful other than comparing types of mics.

I totally agree, and for whatever reason I love to do this which is just an over complication of what could be a very simple process. Go figure... 

[rodeen]

You're just a glutton for punishment    

And don't stop.  I love your variety of recordings! 

It can be amusing to run a whole bunch of different pairs from the same spot, but that's not really useful other than comparing types of mics.

I totally agree, and for whatever reason I love to do this which is just an over complication of what could be a very  and is simple process. Go figure... 

[acidjack]

You're just a glutton for punishment    

And don't stop.  I love your variety of recordings! 

It can be amusing to run a whole bunch of different pairs from the same spot, but that's not really useful other than comparing types of mics.

I totally agree, and for whatever reason I love to do this which is just an over complication of what could be a very  and is simple process. Go figure... 

Exactly. No shame in it--just because it isn't "necessary" doesn't make it bad!

[voltronic]

I own a 722 and love it. But I'm lacking a really good solution for 4 channels (I have a Zoom H6 which is ok, and an old R4 that I just don't use because of the file transfer hassle from that unit to the computer). These new mix pre's look really tempting, especially considering the price, and a good opportunity for me to get into a higher quality 4+ channel device. I'm just wondering what the new versions lack in feature set compared to the 7xx series?  Thanks

Great question and I hear you. If you're stuck on the 722/702T, well a big feature missing is the extra channels. Hard to argue with that. My statement was aimed more at 744T/788T users, but for someone with a 722 here's some of the 'robust' features I see missing on the MixPre series:

- Pre-roll recording buffer
- Dual-Media Recording
- Compact Flash Support (can be important due to SD Card compatibility issues)
- Support for Mono Wav, MP3, and FLAC recording (Only Poly Wav is supported)[/b]
- AES3 / SPDIF Digital Inputs and Outputs
- Balanced L/R Outputs (TA3) (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)
- Timecode / Wordclock generator (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)
- Hirose Power Connector (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)

Good summary.  Pre-roll and iso mono files could (and should) be addressed through future firmware updates.  I wonder if they could implement true dual-media recording through the USB-A port to a flash drive, instead of the periodic chunk writing the 10T has now.

From the above list, the most glaring hardware omissions to me are the lack of digital I/O (including AES42 for digital mics) and balanced outputs.  Having both of these onboard would make these units more true successors to the MixPre, 302, and MixPre-D field mixers.

[gewwang]

I own a 722 and love it. But I'm lacking a really good solution for 4 channels (I have a Zoom H6 which is ok, and an old R4 that I just don't use because of the file transfer hassle from that unit to the computer). These new mix pre's look really tempting, especially considering the price, and a good opportunity for me to get into a higher quality 4+ channel device. I'm just wondering what the new versions lack in feature set compared to the 7xx series?  Thanks

Great question and I hear you. If you're stuck on the 722/702T, well a big feature missing is the extra channels. Hard to argue with that. My statement was aimed more at 744T/788T users, but for someone with a 722 here's some of the 'robust' features I see missing on the MixPre series:

- Pre-roll recording buffer
- Dual-Media Recording
- Compact Flash Support (can be important due to SD Card compatibility issues)
- Support for Mono Wav, MP3, and FLAC recording (Only Poly Wav is supported)[/b]
- AES3 / SPDIF Digital Inputs and Outputs
- Balanced L/R Outputs (TA3) (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)
- Timecode / Wordclock generator (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)
- Hirose Power Connector (absent on MixPre3/6, only available on Mixpre10T)

Good summary.  Pre-roll and iso mono files could (and should) be addressed through future firmware updates.  I wonder if they could implement true dual-media recording through the USB-A port to a flash drive, instead of the periodic chunk writing the 10T has now.

From the above list, the most glaring hardware omissions to me are the lack of digital I/O (including AES42 for digital mics) and balanced outputs.  Having both of these onboard would make these units more true successors to the MixPre, 302, and MixPre-D field mixers.

You can add lack of "hold" capability to the list of things missing from the mixpre. I've stealthed with the mp3 about a dozen times and it hasn't been a problem so far but it is another thing I always have in the back of my mind.

[Sentry]

...and balanced outputs...

The mixpre 10T have balanced output on ta-3

[voltronic]

...and balanced outputs...

The mixpre 10T have balanced output on ta-3

I know, I meant on the 3/6.

[sos]

User Guide, now online:

http://cdn.sounddevices.com/download/guides/MixPre10T-UG.pdf

[waltmon]

Posted today as now shipping...