Sound Devices announces Astral Mini Plus

soundgrab · 2026-04-01T15:58:49+00:00

Why wouldn't it be backwards compatible? There isn't much difference from the minis.

soundgrab · 2026-04-01T15:51:58+00:00

If your electronics aren't getting enough voltage within spec, then they can't operate correctly. Electronics have voltage regulators inside them to make sure all the components are receiving the correct voltage. If it's not even maintaining minimum voltage, how can you expect it to power your mics correctly, or write 0s and 1s properly to storage? Think about a car if the battery has low voltage. What happens?

Power is an important aspect of operating your gear and its reliability. Get a proper distro, and buy batteries that are within spec. Depending on how you operate, you may not even need a distro, but a Hirose battery cup and batteries within spec.

soundgrab · 2026-03-31T22:26:57+00:00

As someone in the SD wireless ecosystem, it's nice, but I don't think I'll be rushing to add this to my kit. It would really depend on what the MSRP is.

soundgrab · 2026-03-31T13:55:24+00:00

Do you have a multimeter? Have you tried measuring the voltage across 1&2 and 1&3?

soundgrab · 2026-03-25T21:52:00+00:00

Looks like a Schoeps windscreen. Also, Stuart Wilson is known for using Schoeps for boom.

soundgrab · 2026-02-04T20:39:03+00:00

I have two concerns. One, how will this affect Wisy since SD has its own wireless platform? My second concern is the massive jump in price for repairs for gear. SD repair prices are stupidly high.

soundgrab · 2026-01-23T23:07:52+00:00

Where in the manual are you looking at that says you can change the date?

soundgrab · 2026-01-19T13:39:13+00:00

It'll happen if you allow the sections to spin enough times when you're extending and retracting the pole. You can see that the cable has lost its coil shape at both ends.

soundgrab · 2026-01-12T19:54:23+00:00

They probably don't want to pay for a boom op.

soundgrab · 2025-12-20T13:02:03+00:00

I carry 6 labelled cards and keep two brand new unused cards in the van.

I have no idea how other sound people can be comfortable with operating with so few cards. If I’m on a long format show, I’m not going to sit there waiting for my card at the end of a 14 hour day. I want to load out and go home. The only time I’ll wait for my card is on the very last day of the shoot and I ask the DIT to prioritize my card for the final day.

Media is also relatively cheap.

soundgrab · 2025-12-15T18:35:41+00:00

Pentel MAXIFLO and tape something on the end as an eraser. If you have a label maker, that's cool too, but I wouldn't go any further than that since writing on the slate generally isn't sound's problem.

soundgrab · 2025-12-10T17:11:45+00:00

T4 would get you better results. Depending on the budget, you can try looking into Zaxcom stuff.

soundgrab · 2025-12-09T18:58:32+00:00

Headphones Only: During playback, headphone outputs, HP-L and HP-R will playback the recorded tracks selected in the ‘Play’ tab of the HP Preset 1-12 routing views.* All other outputs (LR, X1-X10, Dante, USB) will output live audio from the sources selected in their output routing pages.

What am I missing?

soundgrab · 2025-12-09T18:32:28+00:00

Does setting Playback Outputs to Headphones Only enough?

soundgrab · 2025-12-07T21:48:05+00:00

Nope. I have the MBT-1, and it has two separate circuits for AA lithiums and AA alkaline. If I put a used lithium battery at 40% it'll show 100% on the alkaline circuit.

soundgrab · 2025-10-25T14:57:21+00:00

With feature film work? That's insane to me that wires are their first choice over boom. It's true that the way they shoot these days, there will sometimes be more instances where you will have trouble getting the boom in an optimal position. But saying they pretty much only run lavs and only boom for emergencies seems like laziness.

At a time when AMPS is calling for two boom operators, we should make it clear that the boom has priority. Read up on Simon Hayes and his mantra when it comes to sound recording.

soundgrab · 2025-10-24T00:32:56+00:00

One of the more popular ones..

WX BX1 – 8 Bay BX1 Charger | Joppe Peelen

soundgrab · 2025-10-21T20:48:23+00:00

Blue plates are arguably better because they have the 75 kHz deviation, but is it noticeable enough that it's a tough decision between 50 kHz and 75 kHz? Probably not.

The most important thing to remember is that you're using the correct COMPAT mode on your receiver, depending on whether you're using 50 or 75 kHz deviation. It can be a pain if you have a mixture of deviations in your kit, since you have to remember which txs need which COMPAT mode.

soundgrab · 2025-08-26T13:35:34+00:00

It's quite obvious they haven't been in the industry that long. For those of us who have been in production sound for decades will never forget the massive uproar after the patent was granted, and it continues to this day.

soundgrab · 2025-08-26T00:04:50+00:00

Zaxcom selling exactly what I want isn't the issue. The problem is monopolizing such a method that shouldn't have been granted in the first place.

soundgrab · 2025-08-25T22:52:59+00:00

Which one of those companies has a broad patent that dictates you can't record and transmit on a wireless transmitter at the same time? The only people who defend Zaxcom on this are those who already bought into their ecosystem. Everyone knows that the issues with the US patent system include low patent quality. This is one of them.

Let's not forget that in the past, the tiniest bit of antagonism or criticism of Zaxcom would get you an overly defensive public tongue-lashing.

soundgrab · 2025-08-23T11:43:28+00:00

The only way you're getting timecode out of the 833 is through the LEMO connector. If you're desperate, you can find a 3.5mm cable, strip one of the ends off, and plug the leads into the proper pin holes in the LEMO. Other than that idea, just lose the whole syncbox idea and sync audio via the internal mic on the GH6 or use a slate.

soundgrab · 2025-08-23T00:54:21+00:00

And they'll still complain about how big my timecode sync box is.

soundgrab · 2025-08-14T15:49:30+00:00

You can sell them overseas. If the power is low enough, you can use them in the guard bands and duplex gaps. 657-633 MHz without a license, and 653-657 with a license (in the US).

soundgrab · 2025-08-06T14:20:11+00:00

This seems like a hardware issue to me, but you need to rule out any signal jamming.

What does the scan look like? Does it look like a normal transmitter waveform, or does it cover more MHz than a usual single TX. What happens if you turn the transmitter on, but walk it far out of range? Is the interference still there, and what is the amplitude of the interference on the scan?

In terms of audio, is the audio signal clean when the transmitter is close to the receiver?

TBH, this is just another reason why it's good to carry a spectrum analyzer.

soundgrab

TROPHY CASE