A watchdog article states....
"Also with 12-bit audio, you can use the microphone mounted on the camcorder plus up to two remote microphones, all recording on separate channels, at the same time."

I can't seem to get both the on camera mic and an external mic to work together. I'm using the Ma-100. I can't figure it out.

thanks
Scott

Hi Scott,

1. Set Audio Mode to 12 bit ST-1,2 (menu)
2. Set Audio 1/Mic switch to MIC (under left side door)
3. Set Audio 2 In to MIC (menu)
4. Plug MA100 Cables into Audio 2 RCA jacks (side of handle)
5. Use Audio Monitor button to select Audio 1, Audio 2 or Mix

This should work. Be sure you are connecting the MA100 to Audio 2 and not Audio 1 jacks. Also, the MA100 does not supply phantom power so if your external microphone requires it, you will need another source or use mics that do not need it.

Thanks for your reply Ed. I have done all that you have said. But still I can't hear audio from the on board mic. I get audio from the external mic though. Maybe it has something to do with step #5. It won't let me select audio1, audio 2 or mix.

anymore thoughts

Scott

never mind. For some reason it now let me select "mix"
Yeah! I have audio!

thanks ED

Hi Ed

You wouldn't know how to capture all of the audio tracks into Final Cut Pro 3.
I am only getting the first two tracks. Anyone else know.

Scott

FCP does not support 4 track audio from the cam. There are some after market products that will do this.

Another NLE, Cinestream from Discreet does support Canon 4-track.

Nathan Gifford

So I guess the 4 channel recording that the XL1 does is pretty useless because I edit on FCP3. That is not very acceptable on apple's part. Considering that FCP3 is only about 6 months old and the XL1 is like 4 years old? I could see FCP 1 not supporting that but why not in FCP3.
I'm pretty disappointed.

Hi Scott, glad to see that Nathan could answer your FCP3 question. I don't use the latest and greatest NLE, so have to do all my 4 channel captures with a Matrox RT2500 running on a Dell PII 450. Maybe some day I can afford to have the same problem you are experiencing.

I am actually surprised at the number of "modern day" NLEs that don't allow capturing the second audio track. You said tha FCP does not. Neither does Premiere or Vegas Video natively. Cinestream(EditDV) has done this for, at least, over 2 years and is also available for the Mac. On the PC side, a program called Scenalyzer Live has just added support for capturing the second stereo track. Some people even capture the second audio track through the PC's audio input jacks using any sound recorder.

Generally, two passes at recording are req'd. The first pass records video and audio tracks 1 and 2. The second pass records audio tracks 3 and 4. Then they are recombined and synced in post.

I've been using Dazzle/FAST 's DV.now AV. It captures all 4 tracks if present and so configured, each to its own .WAV file. It also will transcodes to 48 kHz during capture if you set it to do so.

Another thing I learned the hard way is when you play back on the XL-1s you need to select the track/s you want to hear. That drove me nuts at first because I was hearing the mix as I recorded it, but couldn't hear it when I played it back.

So I went back to the old addage: "When all else fails, read the instructions," where I learned in the VCR mode, one must use the audio monitor button to select ST-1, ST-2 or Mix. Since this controls output, I would assume you could dump whichever track you wanted into the NLE.

I could be wrong about this, but I think the Audio Monitor button only controls analog output and the headphone jack. Both stereo channels are present in the DV output, but not all NLEs can capture both.