Motu Traveler as stand-alone field mixer?

[Chad Haufschild]

There are several great posts about using Motu's Traveler for multi-track recording with a laptop in the field. I use one myself in post production audio recording with Acid Pro. Love it! But has anyone used it as a stand-alone mixer in production audio sans laptop, recording to the two channels in camera?

It's capable of such a use according to the product literature, but I've not run into anyone who has used it this way. Anyone have a story to tell? Any issues to be aware of?

I ask because I love the thing as a computer interface. If I can get similar results using it as a mic preamp/mixer on location, why wouldn't I?

Thanks,
Chad

[Chad Haufschild]

I played with the Traveler for several hours today as a stand-alone field mixer. I rigged up the unit to my HD250 with a wired shotgun and wireless lavs.

First, I had to use 1/4in. to XLR-male cables to jack into the camera. Luckly I had a couple of cables. The pain in my butt was setting up the outputs on the Traveler. After 20 minutes with the manual I was able to configure the out. Step one complete.

Next was mixing the lavs to one channel and the shotgun to the other. Again with the manual in hand I was able to figure it out. Only took 10 minutes this time.

I recorded a few minutes to tape and was satisfied with the audio quality. It sounded as good as I expected.

The problem I foresee using it in the field is all about ease of use. It's a pain in the butt to configure on the fly. Everything you need to do, panning and mixing and bus switching and the like, are in submenus. If you configure ahead of time you'll be ahead of the game, but if you have a problem in the heat of shooting it's gonna be a nightmare. It's just too easy to bump and turn a knob which might accidently switch buses or output settings or master volumes. It's just not a direct-to-camera kind of mixer.

Now I could see a definite advantage to using it as part of a laptop-based double-system shoot, using it as it was designed to be used.

I'm interested to get another opinion if anyone's got one.

Chad