NAB 2019: Sound Devices Scorpio Recorder

A premium multi-channel field recorder, Scorpio represents a culmination, of sorts, of the new territory Sound Devices has been exploring in location sound capture for years. Just a bit larger than a standard Sound Devices 688 chassis, Scorpio blows the doors off of limitations in on-set recording with 16 of Sound Devices legendary microphone preamplifiers–each providing phantom power, high-pass filters and analog limiters. However, in addition to physical single inputs, each mic-pre can accept two inputs, whether from Dante (uncompressed multi-channel audio over standard ethernet) or AES42 (digital audio from microphones digitized “at the capsule”) for a total of an astounding 32 input channels to the mixer. Each input channel can be recorded onto its own track and there are additional buses, plus L/R "field mix" tracks, for a total of 36 individual recorded tracks. Tracks can be laid down to the internal SSD drive, as well as up to two SD cards simultaneously. In addition to these impressive hardware specs, an Android app provides an intuitive and visually rich remote control environment.

Scorpio presents a highly capable, yet comparatively small and light, location sound solution for complex environments like multi-cam, near-live reality shows, or other productions with large, diverse ensemble casts. Watch the video above to dive down into the details with me and see why Sound Devices is one of the most respected brands in filmmaking today.