Option to disable the 8 audio tracks - only stereo needed

[Ole Salomonsen]

By default my Odysset 7Q+ records 8 audio tracks in mono.
I only need a stereo track for my A7S.

Why are we forced the unnecessary time having to cut and remove all the empty audio tracks?
Even when I have the 2 tracks left with audio from the A7S, I have to mute Left channel of one of them and Right channel on the other, and then render out / merge the audio into a single stereo track.

This is really annoying, and I really hope Convergent Designs will listen and implement the option to choose between single stereo track and other audio modes in a soon to be released firmware.

I feel I am spending enough time already converting the Prores files to make them readable on my Windows computer.

PLEASE Convergent Design, fix this!!

Ole

[James Redmond]

I have to totally agree.

And what CD probably doesn't realized in my NLE, it has to create the waveform file which takes a while for each track (and there are 8 tracks). Total waste of time for me.

James

[Jan Klier]

Agreed. I have filed a support request after the 8-track option was added in the 16-06 firmware and they added it to their wish list from what I heard. While the 16-10 firmware had some improvements, this was unfortunately not one of them.

I have found however quick ways of dealing with this both in Premiere and Resolve. After import of the footage, select all imported clips and either use 'Clip Attributes' (Resolve) or 'Modify/Audio Channels' (Premiere) to edit the track assignments. It also allows you to convert the first two channels into a stereo track if desired rather than two mono tracks mapped to stereo tracks as appears to be the default behavior.

That said, I do hope it gets fixed as it's wasteful. Even better would be if the firmware could auto-configure the recorded channels. Clearly the Odyssey does know from the incoming data how many channels are embedded in each SDI signal and if there is an active signal. That would reduce the chance of operator error and forgetting to switch it back.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Friend,

Yes, we agree, we want to improve this in our next firmware release.

We are working to allow you to adjust the number of Audio Channels recorded.

I need to check with our team about the request to make the first two channels a stereo pair.

Respectfully,

[Jonathan Levin]

In your editor, isn't there an option to have empty/ unused tracks not be transfered? I believe this option is available in Final Cut 10.x.

Jonathan

[Jan Klier]

I've come across one more scenario where the inability to edit audio channels is causing issues:

The Sony FS7 has 4 audio channels. Two for the XLR inputs and channel 3/4 which can be assigned the internal room tone/ambient mic.

When the Odyssey is in regular HD mode it can see channel 3/4. If the Odyssey is operating in FS7 RAW mode it is hard-coded to only use 2 audio channels, making it impossible to capture the ambient mic if both XLR inputs are in use.

I'm making an assumption here that the FS7 RAW format does transmit all 4 channels, as there is no way for me to know. But it seems reasonable to believe so.

[Jan Klier]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Levin

In your editor, isn't there an option to have empty/ unused tracks not be transfered? I believe this option is available in Final Cut 10.x.

Jonathan

Yes, there are work arounds available. But all of them require extra steps in post. So why not avoid that by properly configuring the recorder?

If you're on a small project it may come out as a wash. But on larger projects the time to configure the recorder would be minuscule to the extra steps in post.

Also, I've always suggested that by default the Odyssey could auto-configure to the number of channels present in the signal - at least in the case of single SDI feeds.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Jan,

I am researching your questions, so I can answer you accurately.

Our next release will allow one to configure the audio channels to 2 or 8 (as I understand it), but I want to learn more details this morning. This is for Apple ProRes recordings.

For Raw, we currently only support recording two channels.

Respectfully,

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Jan,

In the recording modes where we currently record 8 channels of audio, in our next firmware release you will have the option to select two channels of audio.

This will be controlled via the Setup Menu.

Respectfully,

[Jan Klier]

Dan,

Thanks for the updates and that is indeed good news that this option is coming. Always appreciate how much CD is listening to it's customers.

Jan

[Daniel Epstein]

Might be useful to select 2 and or 4 tracks as well as 8 if you can do it. I could see wanting 4 tracks from my camera if it is capable.

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Daniel,

I understand that would be nice, but I doubt that we could add this for our next firmware.

At this time our code is for 2 or 8, and for a 4-Channel Audio Camera, the current solution is to use 8.
The amount of data that audio uses, compared to video is generally of no real concern.

The problem that we were trying to resolve, was the fact that some NLE's did not handle 8 Channels of Audio well, while they handled two fine.

Thank you for your suggestion.

Respectfully,

[Ole Salomonsen]

How far are we from this fix ?? This is driving me crazy !!! (Need 1 stereo track only!!)

[Dan Keaton]

Dear Ole,

We are close. I will send you a private message.

In the past, when we provided an estimate of when something will be ready, some people took it as a definite firmware release date. So we like to be general.

Respectfully,

[James Redmond]

Dan, what about having the audio as a separate track instead of linked to each video. That would easily solve all my importing of 8 audio tracks for each camera.

A month ago you said you were close with an update. Any news? Thanks, James