Raven pre-shipping (Weapon) audio I/O question

[Craig Meadows]

The current shipping Weapon Base I/O expander and the future V-lock version packaged with the Raven have 3.5mm mic input and headphone output jacks.

I often need to record in camera and not sure I have the budget for the higher end expander with XLR inputs for external mics. I've read the Weapon operations manual and internally the Weapon seems to have o.k. preamps and 48kHz quality.

For those of you currently using the base I/O expander what is your experience recording external audio directly to camera? Do you have enough signal strength for both the mic input and the headphone out and is it just o.k or quite usable?

I have a A-Box XLR adapter that would give me XLR inputs. With my 1DC I'm running a S-Devices Mix-Pre D that has worked out very well, but prefer to keep my rigs as compact as possible.

Thank you.

P.S. Not sure how many Weapon systems may be out there in the wild so I know this may be a bit premature question.

 

[Dave Winder]

The A-Box converts 3p XLR balanced to 3 conductor TRS balanced x2. Epic/Scarlet have two mic inputs. The Base Expander has only a single 3 conductor TRS jack for a pair of unbalanced audio channels.

 

[Elsie N]

The A-Box converts 3p XLR balanced to 3 conductor TRS balanced x2. Epic/Scarlet have two mic inputs. The Base Expander has only a single 3 conductor TRS jack for a pair of unbalanced audio channels.

Dave, will a 3.5" splitter like this work to use two mics in?

 

[Alex Doctor]

Dave, will a 3.5" splitter like this work to use two mics in?

I don't think that will work Elsie, I might be wrong but you need the 3.5 going into the camera to be dual mono, so one mic goes to one channel and the other to the other channel, otherwise you're just muxing down both mics to stereo input. No chance of splitting in post, however something like this should do the trick http://www.gear4music.com/Books-DVD...=24287460854&gclid=COqk9-HGrcgCFQFQ2wodz8cCEw

 

[Elsie N]

I don't think that will work Elsie, I might be wrong but you need the 3.5 going into the camera to be dual mono, so one mic goes to one channel and the other to the other channel, otherwise you're just muxing down both mics to stereo input. No chance of splitting in post, however something like this should do the trick http://www.gear4music.com/Books-DVD...=24287460854&gclid=COqk9-HGrcgCFQFQ2wodz8cCEw

Thanks Alex. I think I have one of those on hand... I'll try it when camera arrives.

 

[Stephen Pruitt]

Will the current Pro I/O module fit on the back of the Raven?

Stephen

 

[Stacey Spears]

Stephen, no. Weapon / Raven have a new interface. Unknown if a converter interface will be made.

 

[Todd T]

The A-Box converts 3p XLR balanced to 3 conductor TRS balanced x2. Epic/Scarlet have two mic inputs. The Base Expander has only a single 3 conductor TRS jack for a pair of unbalanced audio channels.

So now we can plug in something like the Rode Stereo Videomic Pro with no issues?

 

[Dave Winder]

yes, the Rode stereo videomic pro is compatible.

 

[camRAW]

I can't find the specs for the v-lock expander. Will it have an HD-SDI output?

 

[Craig Meadows]

I thought Jarred had posted something about it being very similar to the base I/O expander but with the V-lock on back. In that case it would have HDMI out, SDI out, DC in/power, 3.5mm mic in, 3.5mm phones out, sync and control ports.