On 10/1/2011 1:55 PM, Gregory O'Drobinak wrote:
> Mitch:
>
> A friend of mine has a PMD661 and it seems to be a nice unit.
> However, I am not aware of how one might use the built-in mics simultaneo=
usly
Your question confuses me slightly in the sense that you mention both
the built in mics and the XLR jacks being used with the line inputs. To
clarify, the PMD661 has line input function on the XLR jacks depending
on where you set the input selector switch. The PMD661 also has a line
input2 jack, a 3.5mm TRS so its possible to have microphones on the XLR
jacks and a preamp such as the MixPre or "302" plugged in at the same
time. In my operation, as I have and use SD MixPre preamp/Mixer units,
I use the XLR jacks for the line input. On occasion I have used the XLR
jacks and internal mic preamps with a pair of Sennheiser ME66/K6 or pair
of ME64/K6 microphones and found the internal mic preamps to be very
adequate.
As to using the internal mics at the same time as external mics or the
Line inputs, I have no idea if that is possible as I have no need to
use the internal mics and have never explored that possibility. I have
also read where others have written that the PMD661 internal mics are
not as good a quality as the built in mics of Sony M10 and Olympus Ls-11
recorders however I can not vouch for that information. As I have a
LS-11, if I were to go into the field using a shirt pocket recorder, it
would be the LS-11 due to its size and excellent recording capability in
a shirt pocket package that can be easily operated with one hand while
operating a camera with the other. The PMD661 is not a shirt pocket
recorder but more of a semi fixed location operation device, something
it is excellent for.
Greg wrote:
> The advantage of the Tascam DR-680 is that you can record 6 channels of a=
udio
> simultaneously with very good quality preamps that have phantom power, ea=
ch to
> its own separate track (normally as 3 stereo tracks, but you can also mak=
e them
> 6 mono channels). No extra cables and stuff to juggle or extra batteries =
to
> worry about. I don't find the OS of the DR-680 to be unusually problemati=
c.
My trial of the DR-680, actually two DR-680's as the first one was
replaced by the distributor who initially thought I had received a
faulty one and sent me a second DR-680. As I recall, this was during
August/September of 2010 and I was working on a project requiring long
period night time recordings. The problem initially was the unit would
record for some unpredictable period of time and lock up. As I recall,
this was firmware version 1.11 but am not sure if my remembering
correctly. The 2nd DR-680 did exactly the same lock up. Tascam thought
it was a memory card problem and the distributor sent me a new memory
card tested in a unit on the bench they were sure was Ok. End result
was it didn't fix the problem and it turned out they only tested for 30
minutes... You know Murphy and his laws, I put the card in the unit I
had and it ran for 36 minutes and locked up. The good news is the
problem eventually proved not to be memory card related.
After a number of phone calls, some of which were conference calls
between the distributor, myself, and a tech support person at Tascam,
shortly after the first of those, I was sent a firmware update which
fixed the lockup problem. Once the DR-680 recorder would keep recording
long enough to get recorded files to process, I found there were
85ms-100ms holes in the recordings when the autostart function happened.
I can't tell you much more about the DR-680 problem, I gave up in
frustration as after two months of beta testing firmware upgrades, I
gave up at Version 1.15 and sent the whole mess back to the distributor
and moved on. In part that decision was based on Tascam not responding
for weeks at a time. It was a very hard choice to make, I liked the
DR-680 recorder however it wouldn't do the job I needed it for and the
PMD661 performs flawlessly in my application. Fortunately, a two
channel stereo output satisfies my present needs however a true 6
channel recorder would be ideal and I may yet get another DR-680 if I
need another recorder and I am convinced Tascam has worked the bugs out
of the DR-68 0 and it will work as expected. I don't have he time and
patience to get on the merry-go-round of beta testing firmware again.
In my case, I simply ran out of time and chose to go in a different
direction as a means of getting on with my work. I do think the
DR-680 is a recorder with a lot of potential if Tascam gets the bugs out
of it...
--
--
Mitch Hill
(Sent from HP DV6T)
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