I recently had the opportunity to become acquainted with the new Nagra VI prior to its wide release. There is much to like in this new recorder but no machine is equally well suited to all applications. I’ll examine the relative strengths of the Nagra and try to evaluate how it fits into the mix of available digital recorders.

My first impression was, “Boy, it’s a big thing.” Actually, it’s slightly smaller than the Fostex PD606 and only a bit larger than the Aaton Cantar. But the design layout in a square-sided box, about 12” x 9” or the size of a boxed shirt from your haberdasher, makes the machine look larger than it really is. The impression is more like the Fostex 824 rack mount machine although the Nagra is actually smaller. At 3.8 kilograms with battery, it is surprisingly light.  But it’s not too big to use over the shoulder or in a harness and the size permits a comfortable layout of controls.

An integrated Lithium-ion battery clips on to the base of the recorder for power. This is a particularly well-implemented system. When affixed, the battery becomes one with the recorder. External power may be applied to a connection on the battery, providing continuous float charge. There is also a standard 4-pin XLR on the recorder to supply power when a battery is not mounted and this provides redundancy in the system.

Two battery capacities are available, a light weight battery rated for 4 hours of operation and a heavier unit rated for 12 hours. The battery housings are the same size; only the weight and capacity vary. The ratings seem quite conservative; we ran the recorder well over four hours on the small battery and didn’t touch bottom. And it ran cool the entire time. There are also two Hirose connectors available to supply power for radio receivers and the like.

Default screen shows selected frame rate and recording configuration
mouse over to display alternate screen
Note that the default screen, in addition to project name, metadata, record parameters [24/48 5 ch poly] etc. also shows the selected TC rate. [30FF]
The recorder can be programmed to simplify the display in "Record" mode and use all the real estate to display levels.

Three buttons above the quadrant (U1, U2 and U3) can be assigned to particular screens that may be recalled directly at any time.

Another indication of the thought and care in the design is that moving the function switch from the “Off” position uncovers the built-in slate mike. When the recorder is shut off, the mike is nicely protected from dust by the function switch.

The heritage of the system is immediately apparent when connecting a mike and listening. We tried it out with two microphones, a Sennheiser MKH 8050 and a Grado holographic stereo microphone. Clarity, detail, and absence of noise or coloration are all outstanding. Nagra claims that these pre-amps are the best they have ever made and I take them at their word.

Navigating menus and implementing choices is simple and logical. Up to six operational configurations can be saved, assigned a descriptive name, and recalled at any time. There is a provision for indicating a false start and the metadata can easily be corrected or altered after a recording is made. There are two USB ports for connecting to a computer and to a keyboard for data entry but the task can also be accomplished quickly from the front panel controls. 

Nagra quality in a competitively priced machine, graphic displays that rapidly convey essential information, flexible and dependable power management, full size XLR connectors for all inputs, switches and controls that accommodate full size hands, and a very clean audio path all make for a desirable recorder. But everything is not perfect and there are some limitations that may inhibit its adoption by the film and video community.

Presently there are only two ways to get the recorded audio from the machine to a deliverable format: transfer through a USB port or pulling the Compact Flash card and uploading the files to a computer. The software does not presently support a DVD drive so any copying requires the use of a computer. This is essentially the situation of the Sound Devices recorders of a few years ago. One would record on both the internal hard drive and the CF card and periodically pull the card to upload the files to a laptop. It was a bit cumbersome but people were able to cope with the arrangement. Circumstances have changed a bit since the Sound Devices recorder first came out and the cost of flash memory is now significantly less. Nagra believes that flash memory can be used as a delivery medium because the cost per megabyte of storage is now less than the cost of DAT tape. But other things have changed since DAT was the norm in production and delivery of multiple track recordings is now expected. So while a day’s work might have fit on a single 125-minute DAT tape, with a data storage capability of about 1.5 Gigabytes, today a single day’s work with multiple tracks might easily exceed the 4.7 GB capacity of a single DVD. Still, the cost of flash memory does seem to be falling faster than memory demands are rising. A Sandisk 2 GB card can be had for only $18 and a 2 GB A-Data card is available from Fry’s as cheaply as $9.99. So even if flash media isn’t quite a disposable yet, it probably soon will be. Another limitation on flash card delivery is that post houses here in the US are not presently set up to work from flash memory. Before beginning a conforming session, but not before starting the time clock, they will make a transfer to another medium.

The least expensive cards shown here, the A-Datas, do not enjoy the reputation of SunDisk or Kingston cards but they seem to function well in 4-track Sound Devices recorders at 48 kHz. Higher track counts and higher sample frequencies represent greater challenge.

Prices in effect in September 2008. Fry's advertised prices are only in effect for that week so specific cards listed here may not be available at the rates quoted here.

The data capacity of DAT tape is estimated from the recording time at 16-bit and 48 kHz. More relevant is that fact that a single tape holds 2 hours of material and this typically represents a day's work.

There is an ongoing discussion of the use of Compact Flash cards as a delivery medium on the discussion forum hosted by Jeff Wexler. From some of the contributions, it appears that the practice, common in Europe, is growing here in the U.S. However, it is still far from a common practice in post houses here. For a link to the discussion, click here.

Comparing the Nagra to the other recorders now available, I find that it neatly straddles a divide between the mini-recorders (Sound Devices 744, 788, Sonosax SX-R4) and full size portables (Fostex PD 606, Aaton Cantar, and various Deva configurations from Zaxcom). The bigger (and typically more expensive machines) offer the capability of an on-board DVD burner. They also have the facility of using built-in mixing facilities so that one does not need an ancillary mixer except for the most demanding or complicated assignments. The small machines may be very small and compact, and are often packed with features, but may not have integrated capabilities to produce deliverable media. And track level controls are often so tightly jammed together that they are really useful only for setting up levels from a mixer.

The Nagra shares with the larger machines the ability to be effectively used without an ancillary mixer. The four microphone preamps, each with a transformer wound in the Nagra factory exactly to fit this circuit, are entirely suitable for most applications away from a sound cart. Indeed, they set a higher standard than we really need in film production but that may be because these recorders are often used to record music in remote venues. Software within the recorder permits flexible assignment of faders and tracks.

The large, detailed display on the Nagra is another advantage in regular film production and, especially valuable in any circumstance where the integral mixing capabilities of the recorder are being used. The large color bar graphs show accurate recording levels for each track in a manner that can be apprehended in an instant. This larger screen is also useful for clearly delineating track assignments and other essential information. For ease of use only the Deva competes with the Nagra.

So many of the capabilities of modern recorders are software dependent that any conclusions are vulnerable to being outdated with the next software release. Every few months each manufacturer releases a new version that enhances the available features, often at the urging of users. At present, if I were working exclusively in documentaries I would choose either the Sonosax or, possibly, the Sound Devices for its ability to burn DVDs. For use on a sound cart or in a feature and television production environment, the Nagra is the better choice for convenient metadata editing, for its elegant information display, and for its suitability to be used as a stand-alone machine in many situations.