New pre from SD

[Roy Feldman]

MixPre-D Compact Field Mixer | Sound Devices, LLC
any rough idea on price?

[Rick Reineke]

As I recall, $795USD With SD's pricing structure, resellers can't or are not permitted offer much of a discount... still a good deal IMO, for what you get. Two hi-end mic pre-amp channels with multiple analog outputs, plus USB and AES digital.

[Kirk Candlish]

It's basically a 302 minus a channel but with USB interface capabilities including A/D conversion.

With SD quality this will be a great piece of gear !

[Tom Morrow]

This reminds me of when high end home audio companies started confronting the massively integrated receivers that were essentially special purpose computers, and realized they had to either go out of business as pure audio companies or turn into computer companies.

That's what it feels like is happening to sound devices. They're trying to play the computer game but their core competency, and the reason people buy their mixers, is for the analog audio.

I just bought a used MixPre after deciding I don't want the MixPre-D and all its destabilizing inverters and clocks floating around squashing my dynamic range.

And does anyone really need a portable mixer to output USB? I haven't even seen a hypthetical use case for this yet.

[David Sholle]

Originally Posted by Tom Morrow

I just bought a used MixPre after deciding I don't want the MixPre-D and all its destabilizing inverters and clocks floating around squashing my dynamic range.

And does anyone really need a portable mixer to output USB? I haven't even seen a hypthetical use case for this yet.

Although a user manual is not yet available at the SD website for the MIXPRE-D, if you compare the fact sheets for the MIXPRE and the MIXPRE-D, they both list 66 dB of gain from mic in to line out, and over 110 dB of dynamic range, so there doesn't seem to be any evidence that the MIXPRE-D does anything to squash dynamic range, compared to the MIXPRE.

The MIXPRE-D offers mic/line/AES out over XLR (great for pro camcorders or pro recorders), consumer mic out over a TA3 to stereo miniplug (very useful for DSLRs and prosumer and consumer camcorders with mic in), and also an AUX out, which can be sent to a consumer level line in on numerous consumer level flash memory audio recorders. I would use most of these features.

I don't have an A-D conversion device for bringing high quality audio from my XLR mics into my computer live, and therefore the MIXPRE-D having this feature via USB would be a big plus for me, as opposed to buying and learning a separate piece of equipment to do this.

Having said all of that, I currently have a SD 302 mixer, and I will probably sell it to buy a MIXPRE-D (I don't need three mic inputs), but I will wait to see when the MIXPRE-D manual is online, to see what features it has via setup menu in comparison to the SD 302, and what features it is missing.

Different users have different needs, but the MIXPRE-D really fits my needs, assuming it has decent setup features.

[Jonathan Plotkin]

With it's smaller form-factor and optional DSLR mounting kit, it looks like an attractive competitor with the JuicedLink and Beachtek products, no?

[Kirk Candlish]

Originally Posted by Tom Morrow

This reminds me of when high end home audio companies started confronting the massively integrated receivers that were essentially special purpose computers, and realized they had to either go out of business as pure audio companies or turn into computer companies.

That's what it feels like is happening to sound devices. They're trying to play the computer game but their core competency, and the reason people buy their mixers, is for the analog audio.

Quite to the contrary. The engineers at SD are amongst the best in the industry and they're wisely moving into a new market that builds on their current premium quality products. The MixPre D and their new Pix 220/240 video production recorders will be industry standards just as the other products have been.

This is a company that has never produced a product that was anything less than excellent. There is now a market for them to expand wisely into with HDSLRs, AF100, NEX FS100 and GH2.

[Kirk Candlish]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Plotkin

With it's smaller form-factor and optional DSLR mounting kit, it looks like an attractive competitor with the JuicedLink and Beachtek products, no?

Yes, with a much higher build quality.