Epic Audio sensitivity with builds 1.7.x and 2.x....

[Maz Mawlawi]

Alright, I am wondering if anyone is having the same audio issues we are.... it appears that the only way to get any kind of acceptable audio out of our EPIC x is to put the volume input to its lowest setting of 8db...anything above that and audio blows out completely (goes in the red right away) It does not seem normal....also if we hook up a sound device mixpre and send a 1khz tone to it the EPIC it also blows out the audio and gets you a very loud tone (all red) as if the tone is way too loud...we have tried different cables, different mics, tried it on unbalanced, balanced and bal/48v, with mixer, without mixer, with Wooden camera A-box and without...checked and unchecked both link option and limiter option and the problem persist no matter what settings we use. This problem occurs in build 1.7x as well as build 2.x (yes I know it's beta and alpha builds but those are the only build that provide us with a balanced option) as well as release build 1.6.46. We have tried reloading the firmwares, rebooted, reset to factory default but nothing fixes it...the audio is just way too sensitive.
Anyone else noticed this?...or maybe we're just doing something wrong and are missing a setting somewhere....
Also another stupid question....why is there no "Line in" option like there use to be on the RED One?...unless that's a feature that will be enabled later. I have done a search on audio issues and all I find are critic answers and some workarounds...

Thanks

on a separate note, playback is awesome on build 2.x..... :ihih:

 

[Paul Leeming]

I remember Deanan or someone saying that the balanced setting was not ready and was only include by mistake in the menus, so for now run with unbalanced to fix the issues you are describing.

HTH

Cheers from Japan,

Paul

 

[Steve Wake]

@Maz You answered your own question. There is no "Line in" option. So if you are feeding a line level signal in from your MixPre (or any other line feed) it gets reamplified by the Epic/Scarlet preamps and so is too loud. There is no "line in" setting to bypass the Epic/Scarlet preamps. Kind of weird. I hope this can be changed in firmware.

So RED's advice on p 12 - 14 of the manual (depending on the manual version you have) is to reduce the mixer output so that a reference tone gives a 0dbu reading on the camera Peak Meter. In other words, turn down the gain on each mixer channel output or use a pad like these: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/68085-REG/Audio_Technica_AT8202_AT8202_In_Line_Attenuator.html Those pads have saved my ass more than once (read the reviews for examples) and should be in every audio kit, especially for solo operators.

I think a lot of Scarlet owners plan (at least at times) to record primary audio in camera. For various reasons we may want to use line feeds at times. Using a pad to reduce the line signal, then reamplifying the signal with in-camera preamps does not make sense to me. Bypassing the in-camera preamps with a "line - in" setting seems more practical and clean. With people talking about using mixers with Scarlet due to no phantom power, it seems like an option worth exploring. Again, I hope it's just a firmware change.

 

[Steve Wake]

@Paul. Deanan said Phantom power was not ready. Balanced is in Beta 1.7.10 and (now Beta, formerly Alpha) 2.0.2. Scarlet is shipping with 2.0.2

 

[Paul Leeming]

@Paul. Deanan said Phantom power was not ready. Balanced is in Beta 1.7.10 and (now Beta, formerly Alpha) 2.0.2. Scarlet is shipping with 2.0.2

Ah, you're right Steve, it was phantom. My bad!

Thanks for the correction

Cheers from Tokyo,

Paul

 

[Mark Stock]

The Sound Devices Mix Pre has line level output only.

 

[Maz Mawlawi]

Thank you all for the answers and advices. I certainly hope RED implements a "line in" option like they did with the RED one. In the meantime I'll follow Steve's advice (using a pad) as a workaround when using a mixer with line out.
Thanks again!

Maz