Thank you, David for pointing us to this new "mic amp."
I read the whole article and I think that Stephan Flock (ex DG I think) says it right. Paraphrasing. . . In the future there will be good things in store with the digital mics.

There are several ways to work with these new Neumann KMD series. This RME is expensive, but looks fully implemented.

I am still curious to try out a stereo pair of KM183D's. I bet some will land on my doorstep sometime in the next few months.

As of now, however, in order to feed my fetish for separate mic amps and mics, I am still investing heavily in regular old analog mics. Am I to be viewed as a fool by the new guard?

p.s.-- I have yet to see or hear of any heavy duty German mic jockeys using any digital mics.

Thanks for the heads up David!

I'm going to keep a very close eye on this one!

My first question to John Owens, the international sales rep for Nagra, when he visits SMPTE conference next month in Sydney, is going to be, when is Nagra going to implement AES42 into the recorders?

The RME box looks interesting, but I am after portability, something that the all digital mic signal chain can really assist with. At present, mains powered boxes can be purchased that are still superior to a tiny very high quality portable rig like the Nagra V, but with digital mics and AES42 interfaces, this might no longer be true.

Went to a multitrack gig last week on my own, had to schlep big rack cases around, A/D's, Genex recorder, 8 channels of preamps, really brought it home to me about the advantages of small portable rigs in location venues, where the great acoustics are. Combine this with running up into the concert hall ceiling, 5 stories up, five or 6 times in the night to hang drop cables, fishing line tethers, mics, all that adjusting, I need Oxygen off side stage like MeatLoaf to survive the night.

Oh my root! What a good idea!
I too will join the chorus insisting that Nagra take a look at putting this option on the machine. David, you are a visionary.

Plush wrote: Oh my root!

My root, too! (Whatever it means...)

I'll be hassling JO with the same question.

The state of digital microphones at the moment is promising. Neumann have announced more capsules for the KMD series, Schoeps are talking about a digital mic, and Sennheiser have announced a new range of modular MKH mics that promise a digital body. With a manufacturer like RME getting in on the action, this technology might actually go somewhere.

Adding such a capability to the Nagra V would be fantastic. It could use one of the D type connectors on the left side for all I care; even if it meant losing a few pins from other functions I never use (like the insert points for the noise reduction system). The appropriate controls could all be done from the menu system, with the possible option of making the line out pot act as a stereo gain control for rapid on-the-fly adjustment.

But it MUST have the capability to connect two microphones at once...

Actually... with a digital mic, who needs a Nagra? Maybe Zoom or one of those guys will realise that a digital mic takes all the analog circuit out of the equation, so all that is needed is a $500 pocket-sized hard disk or CF with two digital mic inputs and an LCD, and the job is done.

Nagra schmagra!

[Good heavens, did I really type that? Wash my mouse out with soap...]

When JO objects to our requests (and he will tell you it can't be done) we need to address the problem of real time sample rate conversion for the AES 42 input on the Nagra V. This is required as you know. If Kudelski Nagravision can address and solve that bugaboo, then we are looking good.

Right now, one can use a Lake People sample rate converter and use the mics that way. However, one spends their money on some kind of a box in any case. It can be the Neumann box that converts AES42 to AES/EBU or the Lake People sample rate box which is about the same price.

I do still have mild interest in digital mics even though I have paid a large bill recently for new Sennheiser (analog) mics. (MKH 800)

For those muttering, "Nagra-Schmagra," let it be known that I have never lost any recording done on a Nagra and never had a failure of a Nagra machine. I made my reputation with Nagra and that is why I continue to spend my money on the Swiss machine.

Plush wrote: For those muttering, "Nagra-Schmagra," let it be known that I have never lost any recording done on a Nagra and never had a failure of a Nagra machine.

My experience has been the same; I have never lost anything on my Nagra V. To the contrary, its portability and ruggedness have allowed me to capture much more than one would think possible (considering the places it has been and the conditions it has had to work under).

'Nagra Schmagra' schmagra.

Plush wrote: Stephan Flock (ex DG I think)

Stephan still records for DG regularly.