Sound Devices 744T User Manual
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Sound Devices 744T User Manual

High resolution digital audio recorder with time code
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744T
High Resolution Digital Audio Recorder with Time Code
User Guide and Technical Information
fi rmware rev. 1.24
Sound Devices, LLC
300 Wengel Drive • Reedsburg, WI • USA
+1 (608) 524-0625 • fax: +1 (608) 524-0655
Toll-Free: (800) 505-0625
www.sounddevices.com
1.8" HDD
2.5" HDD

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Summary of Contents for Sound Devices 744T

  • Page 1 High Resolution Digital Audio Recorder with Time Code User Guide and Technical Information fi rmware rev. 1.24 1.8" HDD 2.5" HDD Sound Devices, LLC 300 Wengel Drive • Reedsburg, WI • USA +1 (608) 524-0625 • fax: +1 (608) 524-0655 Toll-Free: (800) 505-0625 www.sounddevices.com...
  • Page 2 backside - front cover...

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    Introduction Table of Contents Quick Start Guide ......3 WAV / BWF MP3 – MPEG Layer 3 Powering the Unit Recording and Playback .
  • Page 4 LLC. SOUND DEVICES is not responsible for any use of this information. SOUND DEVICES, LLC shall not be liable to the purchaser of this product or third parties for damages, losses, costs, or expenses incurred by purchaser or third parties as a result of: accident, misuse, or abuse of this product or unauthorized modifi cations, repairs, or alterations to this product, or failure to strictly comply with SOUND DEVICES, LLC’s operating and installation instructions.

  • Page 5: Quick Start Guide

    Quick Start Guide Quick Start Guide The 744T is an extremely powerful and fl exible portable audio recorder. Before recording, familiarity with the product is essential. Several settings should be verifi ed or set based on individual recording needs. Powering the Unit Apply power to the unit by attaching the (included) removable, rechargeable Li-ion (lithium ion) bat- tery to the back panel battery mount.

  • Page 6: Routing Inputs To Tracks

    Routing Inputs to Tracks Before recording, inputs must be assigned to tracks. Each of the 744T’s four inputs (1, 2, 3, 4) can be assigned to any of the four tracks (A, B, C, D). These 256 possible routing combinations are shown on the front panel with 16 blue LEDs.

  • Page 7: Recording

    Files on the 744T can be treated as if they are local fi les, including renaming fi les, copying, and play- ing directly from the 744T hard drive. In general, it is good practice to copy all needed audio fi les from the 744T to a computer before any pro- cessing is performed on the fi les.

  • Page 8: Front Panel Descriptions

    744T User Guide and Technical Information Front Panel Descriptions All 744T settings can be accessed and monitored through the front panel LCD and navigation keys. This allows the unit to be placed in a production bag along with fi eld mixers and wireless transmit- ters and receivers.
  • Page 9 In play-stop mode (indicated by Record Key fl ashing fi lename on the LCD) the key Press to record. The 744T is a record-pri- selects the previous fi le in the record ority device; pressing this key activates...

  • Page 10: Panel Lock

    Panel Lock Press and hold the backlight key then the tone key to bring up the front panel Button Lock Screen. Button lock prevents unintentional changing of settings or record status. The 744T will display the current mode the LCD screen.

  • Page 11: Lcd Display Descriptions

    Flashes in In stop and record, shows the time code playback pause mode. In this mode the generated by the 744T. In play mode, the FF/REW keys will scrub through an display shows the play fi le’s time code open audio fi...
  • Page 12 744T User Guide and Technical Information External Media Space Status External Digital Clock Indicator (space remaining/record ready) The 744T is locked to a valid external digital or word clock source when the L Not available on version 1.xx fi rmware. is in the display.

  • Page 13: Left Panel Connectors And Controls

    Headphone Volume Dual function input connection. Input Adjusts the headphone volume. NOTE: type set with switch above. Active-bal- the 744T is capable of producing ear- anced analog microphone- or line-level damaging levels in headphones. input for input 1. Transformer-balanced Tape Output two-channel AES3 input (1 and 2).

  • Page 14: Right Panel Connectors And Controls

    744T User Guide and Technical Information Right Panel Connectors and Controls Time Code Multi-Pin Word Clock Input and Out Time code input and output on 5-pin Provides clock input and output for the LEMO ® connector. 744T. Word input accepts sample rates between 32 kHz and 192 kHz.

  • Page 15: Back Panel Descriptions

    Hardware Descriptions Back Panel Descriptions Security Slot Compatible with the Kensington ® Secu- rity Slot specifi cation. Useful for secur- ing the recorder to a fi xed object with a compatible computer lock. Compact Flash Slot Insert Compact Flash medium with the label-side up.

  • Page 16: Input Setup And Control

    744T User Guide and Technical Information Input Setup and Control The 744T has four inputs and four record tracks. Inputs are selectable among analog or digital sourc- es. Analog inputs 1 and 2 use XLR connectors; analog inputs 3 and 4 use TA3 connections. Digital inputs can be either AES3 (balanced XLR) or AES3id (BNC) inputs.

  • Page 17: Analog Inputs 3 & 4

    Input Setup and Control pressing the HDD key. If the inputs are in line level mode, phantom power will not activate from the shortcut keys and must be activated from the menus. Input Limiters (mic-level only) Microphone inputs 1 and 2 each have a limiter circuit designed to prevent input overload. In nor- mal operation, with proper gain settings, the limiters should rarely engage.

  • Page 18: Signal Presence And Peak Indicator

    744T. The 744T will clock itself to the fi rst digital signal presented to it. If the 744T detects a digital signal on the BNC inputs and locks to that signal, a digital signal applied to the XLR input will be ignored until the fi...

  • Page 19: Input-To-Track Routing

    In addition, all digital conversion stages have delay. Input-to-Track Routing The 744T uses a simple, yet powerful routing scheme. The microprocessor-controlled matrix allows any input to be routed to any track. Multiple inputs can be routed to a single track to create mono- mixed recordings.

  • Page 20: Outputs - Analog And Digital

    Outputs – Analog and Digital The 744T has two discrete output buses , the Master Output Bus and Output Bus 2. Each of these two-channel buses are assigned their audio sources independently, enabling the 744T to feed mul- tiple sources with unique two-channel program.

  • Page 21: Output Bus 2

    40 dB. Headphone Output The 744T headphone output is a fl exible tool for monitoring audio in the fi eld. The 744T allows the user to monitor inputs, tracks, or post-record tracks. The headphone output is independent of the Master Output Bus and Output Bus 2—audio sources can be routed to headphones independent of...

  • Page 22: Setting Headphone Source Options

    You can exit the selection process by pressing the stop or cancel (backlight) key at any time. If you press (done) in the fi rst headphone slot, the 744T will select a single option (Tracks A, B) for head- phone monitoring. The 10 factory presets will be erased.

  • Page 23: Headphone Favorite Selection

    –20 to –12 dBFS in the setup menu. Metering The 744T features a 76 LED (4 x 19) output meter. The DSP-controlled output meter provides a selec- tion of ballistics and lighting intensities. In addition, peak indicators on input channels show clip- ping activity.

  • Page 24: Output Meter

    300 mS. While giving a very good visual indication of perceived loudness, VU meters gives poor information on actual signal peaks and are virtually useless for tracking to the 744T. In VU mode, the front panel meter labeling is in volume units.

  • Page 25: Tone Oscillator

    (setup menu selected) the LEDs are toggled on and off with the LCD backlight key. Sample Rate and Bit Depth When recording to WAV (and BWF fi les) the 744T generates uncompressed, PCM audio fi les at the user-selected sample rate and bit depth. The 744T LCD calculates available recording time based on the sample rate, bit depth, number of tracks set for recording and the selected storage media avail- able capacity.

  • Page 26: Bit Depths

    16 bit, meaning the least signifi cant 8 bits are discarded. Once a fi le is recorded its sample rate and bit depth can not be changed in the recorder. The 744T can not perform sample rate conversion or bit depth changes. File conversion must be done in another environ- ment, such as an audio workstation.

  • Page 27: Clock Master

    If the 744T is slaved to external word clock, be certain that the source is stable. Loss of the word clock signal during recording can cause the 744T to revert back to its internally set sampling frequency.

  • Page 28: Time Code

    All fi les generated by the 744T have time code numbers begin on the 0 frame (or 02 in DF modes). If necessary, pre-roll is dynamically applied to accomplish this. This simplifi es synchronization in post-pro- duction.

  • Page 29: Time Code Modes

    “jamming value” in the jam menu. Record Run: The time code generator runs only when the 744T is recording. Time code in this mode defaults to 00:00:00:00 at power-up. When switching to record run from another mode, the internal generator will stop at the last number generated.

  • Page 30: Jam Menu

    Jam RX TC External time code is shown at the top of the LCD screen, the 744T internal generator is shown at the bottom of the screen. Frame rate for both external and internal time code are shown on the right side of the LCD screen between the internal and external numbers.

  • Page 31: User Bits

    2 frames = 108 frames per hour. To sync the 744T to a video camera, fi rst determine if the camera is in drop frame or non-drop frame mode. If you, the DP or the producer are unsure about what setting to use, check with post-produc- tion, if possible.

  • Page 32: Mp3 - Mpeg Layer 3

    Absolute Time (A-Time) of the fi le. The 744T can play back MP3 fi les, as well as record them. This is very useful on-set to play a person- al MP3 audio library during downtime.

  • Page 33: Playback

    AutoPlay The 744T can be set to play back all valid audio fi les in a directory. Files will play back in their order in the directory. Autoplay can be set with the following options: • Disabled – auto playback is off •...

  • Page 34: Storage Medium - Internal Drive

    fi les present on the medium. This reduces possibility of directory corruption. Be certain that all fi les on the 744T drive have been backed up to another media before formatting. Once formatted, all data on the drive will be erased.

  • Page 35: Drive Failure

    The mechanical construction of the 744T is designed to minimize the transmission of shock to the hard drive. The drive is isolated from the chassis using special shock-reducing closed-cell foam. This material increases the amount of shock the hard drive can withstand.

  • Page 36: Storage Medium - Compact Flash

    Compact Flash (CF) is a practical, portable storage medium for audio recording. Its speed, reliability, and price continue to evolve to the benefi t of portable recorders. The 744T can write to and read from CF as either its sole recording medium or simultaneously with the internal hard drive.

  • Page 37: Testing

    File Naming After recording to CF has stopped, it may take several seconds for the 744T to fi nish “housekeeping” on CF. When preparing to remove the CF, always observe the amber CF activity LED. If it is lit, wait until it is off before removing the card.
  • Page 38 “-” or “T”. Take numbers can be overridden and a new take number can be set in the setup menu. If the 744T detects a fi le with a duplicate name in the destination folder, a letter suffi...

  • Page 39: File Management And Copying

    HDD key. By default the folder where the last recorded fi le or played fi le is located with be the folder fi rst opened. The 744T knows this fi le name by reading a .txt fi le written to each time the unit records or plays audio.

  • Page 40: File Directory Screen

    File names are listed in the order they were recorded. File types not native to the 744T do not show up in the fi le directory view, although folders without audio data will be viewable.

  • Page 41: Automatic Flag Clearing

    File Time and Date Similar to a computer fi le system, all fi les recorded by the 744T are stamped with the time and date of fi le generation. To ensure that accurate time and fi le generation dates are written to each fi le, make certain that the time-of-day clock and calendar are accurately set.

  • Page 42: File Copying - Between Internal Drives

    Error Conditions: If a fi le is to large for the destination medium, the 744T will give you the option to skip the it or can- cel copying. If an error occurs during fi le copying, the 744T will prompt to cancel the transfer. When the destination medium is full, the 744T will report the error and end the transfer.

  • Page 43: Powering

    Mac or Windows platform as a local drive. Using Windows Explorer, Mac Finder or any other fi le utility, fi les can be copied from the 744T directly to an edit system or to a host system for transfer to a removeable delivery medium.

  • Page 44: Time Code Clock Battery

    744T senses a low voltage condition from an external DC source the power LED and battery voltage display fl ashes, to alert the user. When the external DC reaches 9 volts, the 744T will automatically switch over to the removable battery. If no battery is installed the unit will shut down.

  • Page 45: Firmware Upgrades

    Transfer the fi rmware fi le (it will be named version_number.prg) to the 744T internal hard drive via FireWire or onto a CF card. If there are multiple fi rmware fi les on the media, the 744T will indicate the fi...

  • Page 46: Setup Menu Presets

    The 744T has four built-in presets and unlimited user presets. Built-In Presets The 744T is shipped from the factory with the factory preset applied. Its settings are listed below. Three additional presets, fi lm, reporter, and music presets allow for quick setup of typical param- eters for the defi...
  • Page 47 Menu Presets Factory Film Reporter Music Parameter Preset Preset Preset Preset CF & CF & CF & Media Select Hard drive Hard drive Hard drive Hard drive Marker Mode New file New file New file Marker Pre-Roll Auto File Split Size 4 Gb 4 Gb 4 Gb...

  • Page 48: User Setups

    All of the set parameters in the table above can be saved in a fi le to internal hard drive or to CF card. By entering the Get/Save Setup Menu, the user can save or retrieve parameters to a data fi le. This binary fi le is named 744T.SUP and is saved in the SOUNDDEV directory on the selected medium. firmware v. 1.24...

  • Page 49: Setup Menu

    Setup Menu Setup Menu The setup menu controls a wide range of parameters for the 744T, including all audio routing, recording settings, and time code options. The setup menu is a single, fl at architecture with no sub- menus, easing navigation. Each setup controls a specifi c parameter with several selections. The chart below shows the setup number, a description of the control, and the menu options available.
  • Page 50 744T User Guide and Technical Information Setup Name Setup Description Setup Parameters Rec: Dither Selects whether to dither is added to 24 • Off bit digital signals while recording 16 bit • On (16 bit only) files. Rec: Timer Start Sets a specific start time/date for unat- <enter time, date>...
  • Page 51 File: Max Size Selects the file size where the 744T will • OFF (4 GiB) 3.6 GB close, then start a new file. The 744T will • 4 GB 1.8 GB not record a file larger than the selected • 2 GB 950 MB size.
  • Page 52 744T User Guide and Technical Information Setup Name Setup Description Setup Parameters Time Code: Frame Rate Sets the time code frame rate. All com- • 23.976 – used with high definition video mon time code frame rates are available. cameras •...
  • Page 53 • dd/mm/yy Time/Date: Set Sets the internal date and time of the <time, date> 744T. Clock is not set until <done> is selected Resetting the time re-jams the inter- nal time code generator to the set time. Setting the internal clock during a production day will require time code devices to be re-jammed.
  • Page 54 744T User Guide and Technical Information Setup Name Setup Description Setup Parameters HP: Encoder Switch Function Selects the functionality of the Multi- • Disabled: Function Controller’s button when in push makes no change to the headphone record and playback. matrix.
  • Page 55 Shows the current hardware revision, hardware serial number, and firmware version. Update Software Upgrade tool used to apply new firmware as provided by Sound Devices. Will search all available media for the firm- ware program file and apply the update.

  • Page 56: Specifi Cations

    744T User Guide and Technical Information Specifi cations System Sampling Frequency internal: 32, 44.1, 48, 48.048, 88.2, 96, 96.096, 176.4, 192 kHz external: 32–192 kHz via word clock input Internal Data Path and 32 bit, 192 dB dynamic range Processing A/D, D/A Converters 24 bit, 192 kHz sample rate maximum.

  • Page 57: Dimensions And Weight

    Specifi cations Inputs/Outputs – Digital AES3-id 75 ohm, 0.5 V p-p, S/PDIF compatible with RCA adapter Digital Storage Internal hard drive ATA-5 interface 1.8-in or 2.5-in hard drive 4200–7200 RPM supported, FAT32 formatted, up to 2 TB addressable Compact Flash CF type I, II, and + (microdrive) compatible, FAT32 formatted, up to 2 TB addressable File Types WAV or BWF (AES-31 format), mono or polyphonic, at supported Fs, 24-bit or 16-bit...

  • Page 58: Connector Pin Assignments

    744T User Guide and Technical Information Connector Pin Assignments Each connector type, electrical characteristics, and pin assignment is shown below. Connector Pin Assignments Notes 1 – ground 4000 ohm input impedance, mic level (Analog Inputs) 2 – signal (+) 20k ohm input impedance, line level 3 –...

  • Page 59: Power Consumption Variables

    The best determination of your run time is to experiment with a given record- ing setup. The 744T power consumption varies over a range between 4 W to 20 W, depending on active func- tions. The following functions have the most signifi cant affect on power consumption: Inputs Active analog inputs increase power consumption.

  • Page 60: Mp3 Compressed Record Time In Hours

    1185 The chart above shows recording time available with the 744T when recording to an MP3 fi le. Time is expressed in hours at the specifi ed MP3 supported by the 744T. Note that all recordings are two- channel recordings.

  • Page 61: Accessories

    PortaBrace bag with shoulder strap, holds 744T and RM accessories; mounts onto CS-442 and CS-302 mixer bags XL-1A (sold as pair) • TA3F to TA3F cable, used to connect the direct outputs of the a Sound Devices 442 mixer to the channel 3/4 analog line-level inputs XL-2 (sold as pair) •...

  • Page 62: Menu Navigation Shortcuts

    744T User Guide and Technical Information Menu Navigation Shortcuts To speed navigation the 744T has numerous navigation “shortcuts”. The following is a complete list. acts as an escape key and exits from most menus and functions immediately drops all functions except fi le copy and begins recording press simultaneously to enter the time code jam menu press backlight then tone to lock all front panel buttons except for Record, Stop and Play.

  • Page 63: Warranty And Technical Support

    Sound Devices cannot guarantee that a given computer, software, or operating system confi gura- tion can be used satisfactorily with the 744T based exclusively on the fact that it meets our minimum system requirements. Please check with your software editing application to make certain that it is compatible with the fi le...

  • Page 64: Software License

    Sound Devices, LLC product, even if Sound Devices, LLC has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
  • Page 65 Notes Notes...
  • Page 66 744T rev. 1.24...

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