I was going to put it in the "Recommend me a . . . ." thread, but who cares.
I just picked one up out of need for a specific remote gig, and goddamn if it isn't pristine.
Can be wired up for direct outs, has M/S encoding and it even has the ever elusive T-Power.
Real swiss army knife shit.
They can be had for a song, and lots of production houses just sell them when the new ones come out.
your pal
-JM

Any reason to believe that these would be better sound quality than a Midas mixer? I’ve seen these around and wondered

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2026 6:56 pm Any reason to believe that these would be better sound quality than a Midas mixer? I’ve seen these around and wondered

We have a 664 and a MixPre6 at work. Both are very expensive, especially the 664. Both are recorder/mixers and the MixPre can also be a 8ch interface, the 442 is just a little mixer that usually fed a DAT recorder or small tape recorder like a Nagra on Camera shoots. The only real reason to use a Sound Devices over something else like a Zoom or a computer is Time Code. You can sync from or generate TC from on the SD. Other than that they are just really clean transparent preamps. If I could get a 442 for less than $3-400 It would be an ok deal but I usually see them for around $600, sometimes more. Sound Devices stuff is solid, made to use Camera Batteries for power and portable but the interface is often a little cumbersome, especially the 664. It does not make sense without the manual due to the combinations of buttons you gotta push to access a function. It's weird. Outside of the camera world, they make very little sense to me. I'd rather (and most often do) just grab an interface and use a computer that record to the 664 unless I need TC. The limiter sounds terrible so if that thing lights up at all you gotta back it down. It might as well be a clip light.

442 would be cool if you had a little Nagra R2R to record to for sure.

The 422 is the first era of sound devices stuff. Full of xformers and very heavy. Way different than the mix pre and 664.

airloom wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2026 12:24 am The 422 is the first era of sound devices stuff. Full of xformers and very heavy. Way different than the mix pre and 664.

Yeah, I've seen them. They are high quality location mixers. I think they are cool. Great quad box of preamps if you can get one at a good price. Hope I didn't sound like I was diss'n it, I wasn't. I was just adding to the SD conversation with the devices I use regularly. Out of curiosity what did you get yours for because I almost never see anything SD for cheap, but I've mostly shopped for recorders, not mixers.

Kniferide wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2026 12:32 pm

airloom wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2026 12:24 am The 422 is the first era of sound devices stuff. Full of xformers and very heavy. Way different than the mix pre and 664.

Yeah, I've seen them. They are high quality location mixers. I think they are cool. Great quad box of preamps if you can get one at a good price. Hope I didn't sound like I was diss'n it, I wasn't. I was just adding to the SD conversation with the devices I use regularly. Out of curiosity what did you get yours for because I almost never see anything SD for cheap, but I've mostly shopped for recorders, not mixers.

$100

Yeah I’m going to have to try one if I can get one for a few hundred. I love the Midas Venice, wouldn’t want to record without it, but I am starting to get the impression it’s not doing me any favors at mix time. I’m having to redo this long ass mix and am only using the mixer for stuff that needs fader rides and effects sends, which even w/ outdated rack stuff is superior to plugins I think.

Part of that is maybe my fault but live and learn.

Having another option to mix to stereo stems wouldn’t hurt and would get used.

airloom wrote: Sat Apr 04, 2026 11:06 am

Kniferide wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2026 12:32 pm

airloom wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2026 12:24 am The 422 is the first era of sound devices stuff. Full of xformers and very heavy. Way different than the mix pre and 664.

Yeah, I've seen them. They are high quality location mixers. I think they are cool. Great quad box of preamps if you can get one at a good price. Hope I didn't sound like I was diss'n it, I wasn't. I was just adding to the SD conversation with the devices I use regularly. Out of curiosity what did you get yours for because I almost never see anything SD for cheap, but I've mostly shopped for recorders, not mixers.

$100

That is a fantastic deal for a quad of high quality preamps.