Nagra SD

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by Johnstaf

Hi John

Thanks, I looked up the manual but I missed the bit about the inputs.

BTW have you run mics into the SD? I'm a little wary of doing so without using transformers. I contacted Nagra about this, and according to them pin1 and pin3 are connected together on their adapter, which should be fine. However some companies e.g. Schoeps don't recommend this when running their mics into unbalanced inputs.

Cheers

Hi John,

I use my SD in two ways.

The first way is as a small portable recorder - I have the high quality "green ring" stereo mic. (low noise pair matched capsules of higher quality than the standard "red ring" one).

The second way is to record the output of my Nagra EMP - so the cable I have is the line-input cable with 2 x XLR-3F. I use the EMP as the mic. pre. and record to the SD in 24/96.

The SD has not got phantom power to power a condenser (only plug-in power to power the plug-in heads).

[Johnstaf]

Thanks John.

I intended to use an external phantom power supply for the SD. Then I was going to get an EMP later, but now I'm thinking of buying the other way round. I can probably manage with the EMP's recorder for a while before buying the SD.

I know the EMP and SD might not be the same as a Nagra VI, but it should take me close enough to satisfy me --for now

[macula]

Originally Posted by Plush

Panatrope is certainly right. There should have been a digital input.

And output, I dare say.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by macula

And output, I dare say.

The reason, I am told, is cost.

Having a digital input and/or output means paying royalties to Sony/Phlips, which is why only Sony, Marantz and Tascam do hand portables with a digital input.

And a digital input is far more important than the output, I would say, as the output is mainly for transferring files and that is already sorted without a digital output.

But I would agree that I wish more units would include a digtal input.

[macula]

Originally Posted by John Willett

And a digital input is far more important than the output, I would say, as the output is mainly for transferring files and that is already sorted without a digital output.

Well, digital output allows the unit to be used as an interface, which may mean little to the engineer, but means an awful lot to a performer who uses recording as an integral part of the rehearsal/practicing process—and therefore works with an awful lot of short start/stop/playback cycles. It's a question of workflow and ergonomics, believe me. It is much easier to start/stop the recording--and the playback of the just recorded material--with a couple of keyboard shortcuts on a laptop than walking away from the piano bench to wherever your recorder is standing and then back. Of course this would not be an issue if recorders came with (wireless) remote controls including buttons for recording and playback.

[David Spearritt]

Originally Posted by John Willett

The reason, I am told, is cost.

Having a digital input and/or output means paying royalties to Sony/Phlips, which is why only Sony, Marantz and Tascam do hand portables with a digital input.

Doesn't make sense to me. Many common garden variety motherboards have SPDIF I/O on them and some of them only cost $50.

There must be some other reason.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by David Spearritt

Doesn't make sense to me. Many common garden variety motherboards have SPDIF I/O on them and some of them only cost $50.

There must be some other reason.

That was the reason given to me by one of the manufacturers when I suggested they add a digital input to the next model.

[surflounge]

Is the Nagra SD stereo mic "side address" so it can be used without pointing at a source?