8 Track Portable Digital Recorder from Sound Devices

[dcharrison]

See note in new products forum: 8 tracks with mic & line. 160Gb internal SATA, CF, USB, 1394, Sony battery, but, alas, no cappuccino dispenser.
Sound Devices, LLC | Professional, Portable Audio Products

[letsdance]

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remot...-channels.html

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by dcharrison

See note in new products forum: 8 tracks with mic & line. 160Gb internal SATA, CF, USB, 1394, Sony battery, but, alas, no cappuccino dispenser.
Sound Devices, LLC | Professional, Portable Audio Products

But 24/48 only, not 24/96 and £1,000 more than the Nagra VI which *does* do 24/96.

SD 788 = 8 tracks with 8 mic. pres and 24/48 (£4,200)
Nagra VI = 6 tracks with 4 mic. pres and 24/96 (£3,200)

Both good - of course - choose the one that does the job you want.

Sadly the price and lack of 96kHz put me off the 788.

[boojum]

True, it is choosing the tool which most suits your needs. I like the eight pre's as I see app's where I am going to be running at lthout an external pre. It is a tough call.

I do believe that the bitrate will be bumped up in later firmware releases. As it is a major grumbling point it means that more folks will choose other hardware, so no doubt SD will get that fixed ASAP.

They are both very good machines. Nagra has a track recdord of 50 years experience making top quality recorders. SD is a new kid on the block. And for me, currency exchange is a consideration.

I am checking for my 788T pretty soon. The factory says they are not yet shipping and will not be for a couple of weeks. The state of the art has come a long way since quarter inch 3 3/4 mono.

[zoom]

...and what about two linked 702T + 744T - vs. Nagra VI?
there is much more flexibility with the SDs. e.g. adding more tracks - just plug the machines together.

cheers
Stefan

[rufus13]

Mic stands and cabling dwarfs the recorder in space and weight.

Can any of you carry more than 4 tracks/inputs of all gear up stairs in one trip without strong interns?

Looking forward to an owner review of a SD 788. It is probably good even in V.0.92 Beta, and will get better as firmware is fixed.

Cheers.

[dcharrison]

In a G-Slutz poll a while back, the overwhelming majority of users (as I recall) were tracking at 48Khz or below. I am curious if the same holds true for the mobile crowd. When does the client want/need more than 24Khz band pass? Are there real-world apps driving sample creep or is this a case where the silicon manufacturers are trying to pass on the NRE from SACD as a "must have feature?"

There are only a handful of mics good beyond 30khz (and even fewer loudspeakers in the installed base capable of much more than 18Khz), so, what should we expect to find in the rarified air of a 96khz or even a 192Khz sample rate?

I know most ENG boys set it and forget it at 48K because that's what the editors want. Who is doing more and why?

Added:
I found the general population poll here http://www.gearslutz.com/board/high-...ou-record.html

About 1/2 of 300 respondents are working at 44.1, another 1/4 at 48, and 1 (one) at 192.

[huub]

Are projects for film generally recorded at 48khz?
huub

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by dcharrison

In a G-Slutz poll a while back, the overwhelming majority of users (as I recall) were tracking at 48Khz or below. I am curious if the same holds true for the mobile crowd.

I record 24/96 or 24/88.2 all the time and have done for the past few years.

My MKH 800s go up to 50kHz and so do the new MKH 8000 series (Schoeps and Earthworks go higher than 20kHz as well and, I think, DPA do as well).

Recording at 96kHz (or 88.2kHz) means you can have gentle filters and not a brick-wall at 20kHz.

[aracu]

"...and what about two linked 702T + 744T - vs. Nagra VI?
there is much more flexibility with the SDs. e.g. adding more tracks - just plug the machines together."

There's a limitation with linking Sound Devices recorders, which is that you
cannot play back the two linked recorders synched up, they will run slightly apart creating a slap echo. This is an issue that Sound Devices is not planning on fixing. The time line is the same though and the files synch up perfectly when transfered to a computer.

[boojum]

Now that is interesting. I have run two 722's ganged on a c-link. They start, stop and synch fine. I did not try to listen to them on the 722's themselves, though. As a certified SD fluffer, I would say that makes the 788T even better. <cough, cough>

[aracu]

Yeah it's only a synch problem in listening back to a recording from the linked recorders themselves. Try hooking up an adapting cable from both headphone outputs to one set of headphones. When the master recorder is played back, the slave recorder will play back also, but slightly out of synch, enough to make it unlistenable to check a mix. I have tried it with a combo of 744t + 722. Sound Devices tech support confirmed the issue.

[MichaelPatrick]

If you don't get much traffic on this one it's probably because there are already a few other threads about this new unit. It's an exciting package of features but sample rate is 48K tops making it unsuitable for some applications.

[John Willett]

Michael said it.

The alternative I like is the new Nagra VI - £1,000 cheaper and 24/96 capable - but 6 tracks rather than 8.