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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Two new pro sound recorders announced: Zaxcom Nova ($5K)& Sound Devices Scorpio ($9K)

rand thompson said:
David,

Maybe Tascam or Marantz will come out with low cost high quality sound recorders in the near future. It's really just Zoom and Sound devices most are seemingly using now.
Click to expand...

Higher end productions are dominated by Sound Devices and Zaxcom. With Sound Devices in a noticeable lead here in the US.

Zoom is pretty popular now especially in low to mid range productions from what I can tell. Never have seen a Zoom on a film set or episodic, but I recon that's happening for sure.

Own gear from all of them and use the SD stuff most of the time. Just kinda depends on what I'm doing really. The dance between the devices really comes down to unique features and pre-amps most of the time for me. Portability plays a big role on some gigs, so I'll pair down to smaller units often as needed.
 
Phil,

I had an earlier zoom product about 7 or 8 years ago, I can't remember the model number however. Until David started this thread, I had really never heard of Zaxcom. I only ever heard of brands such asTascam, Marantz, Zoom and Sound Devices. I'm hoping that Sound Devices, as I mentioned to Christoffer earlier, comes out with a new "6" Series model maybe something between $2500-$2999 range.or less.
 
Jon Dishler said:
Yes, I bitched about this $2000 price tag earlier today on jwsoundgroup, wasn’t well received. *It approaches a significant amount of what the entire 833 costs (half). *I think they should have kept it at $600 and just increased the number of channels it would work on.
Click to expand...

But that would go against the latest modus operandi for Sound Devices, which is to charge you the maximum possible for a firmware update.



rand thompson said:
David,

Maybe Tascam or Marantz will come out with low cost high quality sound recorders in the near future. It's really just Zoom and Sound devices most are seemingly using now.
Click to expand...

Tascam seems to be AWOL. The days of the HS-P82 are long long gone, and that was their most recent pro grade field recorder.

And Marantz has no history of making field recorders, and their one attempt at making a prosumer one for the film industry was a bit hit and miss.
 
Phil Holland said:
Higher end productions are dominated by Sound Devices and Zaxcom. *With Sound Devices in a noticeable lead here in the US.

Zoom is pretty popular now especially in low to mid range productions from what I can tell. *Never have seen a Zoom on a film set or episodic, but I recon that's happening for sure.
Click to expand...

Aaton has been making big in roads at the high end, it isn't just Sound Devices or Zaxcom. (in fact I'd hazard a guess there might even be more Cantar X3/Mini in usage than Deva 24. More than Scorpio though? Doubt it, but wouldn't totally shock me either if so) Plus there is Sonosax, who is the 4th ranked minor bit player.

Phil Holland said:
Own gear from all of them and use the SD stuff most of the time. *Just kinda depends on what I'm doing really. *The dance between the devices really comes down to unique features and pre-amps most of the time for me. *Portability plays a big role on some gigs, so I'll pair down to smaller units often as needed.
Click to expand...

It is like a7Smk2 vs FS7 vs VENICE, it is not just the better image quality as to why you're stepping up from each camera to the next. When you're going entirely wireless 100% of the time anyway, preamps matter even less than years ago in the past.

rand thompson said:
I had an earlier zoom product about 7 or 8 years ago, I can't remember the model number however. Until David started this thread, I had really never heard of Zaxcom.
Click to expand...

That's odd, that's like not having heard of RED?!
(there is an awful lot of good/bad similarities between both RED & Zaxcom...)

Tt was Zaxcom who first bought digital file based recording to the film industry!

rand thompson said:
I only ever heard of brands such asTascam, Marantz, Zoom and Sound Devices. I'm hoping that Sound Devices, as I mentioned to Christoffer earlier, comes out with a new "6" Series model maybe something between $2500-$2999 range.or less.
Click to expand...

That's not happening.

The 633 was their entry priced cheapest professional field mixer. The 833 is their direct replacement for the 633.

And they're got their very good prosumer range with the MixPre series.

Doubt there will be a cheaper recorder than the 633. And I doubt they'll make anything more expensive than the MixPre10

But I might be proved wrong, I have already been, the 888 surprised me! As I was skeptical to believe there was space in between the 833 and Scorpio to squeeze in another model. Still don't see the point of the 888, the price is too close to a Scorpio (just get that instead!).
 
David,

Back when I was really big into sound recording, I was trying to decide between a Tascam and Sony DAT deck. I went with the Sony. Back then Tascam had a great Rep. For sound recording, it's a shame that they haven't tried to make themselves a bigger force in portable field sound recording.

Another thought I had was maybe sound devices could establish a "7" series line for about around the same $3200 to $3500 price point ascthe 633 and discontinue the 633 altogether. Maybe call this "7" series line the "Spider" with a more appropriate subset of features from the " Scorpio".
 
rand thompson said:
David,

Back when I was really big into sound recording, I was trying to decide between a Tascam and Sony DAT deck. I went with the Sony. Back then Tascam had a great Rep. For sound recording, it's a shame that they haven't tried to make themselves a bigger force in portable field sound recording.

Another thought I had was maybe sound devices could establish a "7" series line for about around the same $3200 to $3500 price point ascthe 633 and discontinue the 633 altogether. Maybe call this "7" series line the "Spider" with a more appropriate subset of features from the " Scorpio".
Click to expand...

They already had a 7 series, as well. They were (more or less) dedicated recorders, as opposed to the 6 & 8 series hybrid mixer/recorders(throw the 552 in, too, that is shockingly STILL made) and 3 and 4 series that were just mixers.
 
Christopher A. Bell said:
They already had a 7 series, as well. They were (more or less) dedicated recorders, as opposed to the 6 & 8 series hybrid mixer/recorders(throw the 552 in, too, that is shockingly STILL made) and 3 and 4 series that were just mixers.
Click to expand...


I didn't know that they already had a 7 series line, thanks for letting me know! Maybe they can revive it with a much more modern feature set.
 
Zaxcom has been solidly kicking pants for many years. Their system has such flexibility and in the smallest possible form factors. Nova with the Oasis mixer panel makes possible a complete sound cart that fits in a medium Peli. At the other end of the scale, a tiny OMB production can use Zax transmitters (any of them) very reliably as stand-alone recorders, even monitor them wirelessly with an ERX and sync TC with scratch track to camera. It's a brilliant system in many more ways, and SD has been scurrying to catch up.

In the Zaxcom / Red analogy, Sound Devices is Arri. Scorpio is their Alexa. SD has got all the marketing connections firmly in place, and there has been some old-school antipathy framing Zaxcom as a wacky new character on the scene. Same as we heard about Red One. Same as we heard about Davinci Resolve. Same as we heard about Final Cut Pro at one point, and even about Avid.

I like to believe that the thoughtful beauty of these progressive tools speaks for themselves. For a certain market segment it does work that way. But it also seems there will always be the strong contingent of people who have their experience and income tied up in a particular workflow, who recognize the threat posed by a new system coming along and doing things, well, ...better.

With change comes resistance, then imitation, then acceptance. Rinse and repeat.
 
8 Series v7 20 Overview Livestream 12:8:2020



By
Sound Devices


 
Christopher A. Bell said:
They already had a 7 series, as well. They were (more or less) dedicated recorders, as opposed to the 6 & 8 series hybrid mixer/recorders(throw the 552 in, too, that is shockingly STILL made) and 3 and 4 series that were just mixers.
Click to expand...

https://www.sounddevices.com/products/

Even though the 552 is still a "current" product (crazy! The 552 is the one I started out with), I'd be quite skeptical if they're still currently manufacturing it in (nearly) 2021.

Likely just clearing out existing stock.

rand thompson said:
I didn't know that they already had a 7 series line, thanks for letting me know! Maybe they can revive it with a much more modern feature set.
Click to expand...

The 702/722/744/788 is what established Sound Devices as not just a manufacturer of field mixers, but made them known for recorders too.

Sean Solowiej said:
In the Zaxcom / Red analogy, Sound Devices is Arri. Scorpio is their Alexa. SD has got all the marketing connections firmly in place, and there has been some old-school antipathy framing Zaxcom as a wacky new character on the scene. Same as we heard about Red One. Same as we heard about Davinci Resolve. Same as we heard about Final Cut Pro at one point, and even about Avid.
Click to expand...

Zaxcom really isn't a new upstart player. Their DEVA is even older than the Sound Devices 7 Series.
 
Sean Solowiej said:
In the Zaxcom / Red analogy, Sound Devices is Arri. Scorpio is their Alexa. SD has got all the marketing connections firmly in place, and there has been some old-school antipathy framing Zaxcom as a wacky new character on the scene. Same as we heard about Red One. Same as we heard about Davinci Resolve. Same as we heard about Final Cut Pro at one point, and even about Avid.
Click to expand...

David Peterson said:
https://www.sounddevices.com/products/

Even though the 552 is still a "current" product (crazy! The 552 is the one I started out with), I'd be quite skeptical if they're still currently manufacturing it in (nearly) 2021.

Likely just clearing out existing stock.



The 702/722/744/788 is what established Sound Devices as not just a manufacturer of field mixers, but made them known for recorders too.



Zaxcom really isn't a new upstart player. Their DEVA is even older than the Sound Devices 7 Series.
Click to expand...


Yep, Zaxcom has actually been around longer than Sound Devices. They started in 1996 and SD in '98.

I was surprised that the 552 wasn't dropped right after the 6 series came out. Much less still "officially" hanging around like eight years later. To me, it was kind of a "stop-gap" device, anyway. Let's see if SD updates their website in January. The 552 is listed as "special order only" from B&H. One of my audio guys still has his, even though his 'A' bag is his 688. Mixers like the old 5, 4 and 3 series, at this point you are much better off just hanging on to them to have as back-ups, because they're almost worthless on the used market. That's why my 442 and 302 are still sitting in my office. They're damn near bulletproof and work great as dedicated stereo mixers, but no one will give you any real money for them.
 
Yup, the 552 was Sound Devices' first dipping their toes into the new mixer/recorder combo world, which is now the dominant paradigm that everyone has embraced.

And yup, doubt I'll ever sell my 552! Is worth too little now.
 
Access Inputs 7/8 on The Sound Devices 833 Recorder



By
Rob Disner



 
Recording calls with a Sound Devices MixPre-3 II via the USB-C port of your mobile phone



By
appclusive



 
Introducing CEDAR sdnx for 8-Series


By Sound Devices


CEDAR SDNX Sound Devices Website
https://store.sounddevices.com/product/cedar-sdnx/

Screenshot-725.png



 
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