Hello Augustine, There are currently three readily available portable ambisonic microphones that are usable with the DR-680. Two are from Soundfield Ltd - the ST350 and the SPS-200, and one is from Len Moskowitz's Core-Sound company, the TetraMic.
Your choice will depend entirely on your budget and how light you want to travel. Both the TetraMic and the SPS-200 output their signals as A-Format with software transcoding to B-Format available as DAW plug-ins. The ST350 comes with a separate controller that outputs B-Format and stereo simultaneously and would therefore suit the six inputs of the DR-680 perfectly. I own an ST250 (the original mobile soundfield microphone) a TetraMic and an SPS-200SB (which is a modified version of the SPS200 with an integral suspension mount and windshield. All of them work well with the DR-680, which I also own, but if I was wanting the most complete (and the most expensive) answer and didn't have to worry about size and weight, I'd probably opt for the ST350. Next would be the SPS-200SB and finally the TetraMic, not because it isn't a good microphone, but because it is slightly more problematic in terms of handling noise transmission than the others. In fact, I'd probably take a TetraMic as well as one of the others as it's so small it hardly takes up any room at all. I have mine, with a slightly modified body, mounted inside a Rycote Baby Ball-Gag, and mounted on a boom using the Rycote Lyre suspension mounts, which works pretty well. What I'm not sure about is how well the DR-680 might stand up to this kind of location work: it's not exactly built to the same standard as the Sound Devices machines. Anyway, I'd definitely invest in the PortaBrace case for it and a couple of external 12 volt battery packs, or a back-pack full of AA cells. There are other microphones available and other setups that you might consider, but these are probably the most immediate and tried and tested solutions. Regards, John On 3 Dec 2010, at 10:48, Augustine Leudar wrote: > What I really would like is few recommendations of ambisonic > microphones available on the market (if their are any !) , _______________________________________________ Sursound mailing list [email protected] https://mail.music.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/sursound
