For thousands of sound mixers around the world, Sound Devices’ 8-Series – including the 833, 888, and Scorpio models – is the mixer-recorder they trust most, due to the 8-Series’ pristine sound quality, incredibly durable hardware, and unmatched functionality. Sound Devices has expanded on the 8-Series’ reputation for excellence by releasing a new firmware update, v10.01, that includes a wealth of new features – all at no cost to customers.
Sound Devices takes in feature requests from its customers, and 8-Series v10.01 firmware includes requests that have come in from users over time. One of those is 32-bit float recording. The firmware introduces the ability to record ISO tracks in 32-bit floating point, eliminating clipping in the file, no matter the gain setting. “This has been a popular request, because it is useful when recording audio sources that have unpredictable levels and a wide dynamic range – like dialogue on set suddenly changing from a whisper to a scream,” says Sound Devices Director of Product Management and Design Paul Isaacs.
The new Daylight Mode includes a brighter LCD color scheme, making it easier to see important information and navigate menus, even in direct sunlight. With the v10.01 upgrade, Record folders can quickly be renamed without the need for a computer, directly from the 8-Series Record Folder Options menu. Users can choose whether playback audio goes to all outputs or just headphones, while leaving live audio to pass through to other outputs. This is beneficial for production crews, who can continue hearing live audio without interruption while the sound mixer can check playback of takes.
With the 8-Series v10.01 upgrade, the SD-Remote – a companion app to 8-Series mixer-recorders – now has a new Routing Matrix tab with an overview of all input, channel, bus, and output routing on a single screen, making it much easier to view and control where audio signals are coming from and where they’re going to. With so many inputs, channel, bus, and output routing permutations, this provides an indispensable tool for production sound mixers.
These features and many more are available at no cost with the firmware upgrade. “We know that a lot of our customers are just getting back to work after the strikes,” says Sound Devices CEO Matt Anderson. “We want to ensure that they have access to the right tools to do the jobs they missed for so long. We listened to our customers about the features they wanted, and we put them into this release. We can’t wait to see what they create with these new tools.”
To learn more about 8-Series mixer-recorders and to download v10.01 firmware, visit www.sounddevices.com/8-series.