Rode Wireless Go II

[nathankw]

Has anyone experienced a problem accessing the RWG2 files on Windows 10? My Windows is 21H1 with Windows Defender. Whitelisting RodeCentral did nothing.

RodeCentral hangs when I connect a TX that has OGG files. If I reset the TX which deletes the files then the empty folder opens and RodeCentral correctly reports no files.

I can access the files in Windows Safe mode but that is a very clunky work-a-round. A fresh install PC does not show the problem.

Rode Support don't seem to have a silver bullet.

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

I've not had that problem. I've had the situation where Rode Central crashed the moment I try to export certain recordings.
I did end up getting my units replaced by the retailer. The new ones have been better though not perfect (and hard to know if the improvement is the units or the new software)

Overall they're performing much better now that I follow the RX turned on first rule. How is everyone else getting on with their units?

 

[Maxzoom]

Overall they're performing much better now that I follow the RX turned on first rule. How is everyone else getting on with their units?

So I've been on a voyage of discovery. I only purchased my kit four weeks ago. Possibly I got old stock.
I've not resolved the Rode Central problem but did discover that the 12dB pad on the TX is not enough for an unamplified male solo singer even with the TX far down on the jacket, about 250mm from the mouth. This means the internal recording is blown out of it on the loud notes. Advice from Rode was use the Lavalier Go to gain about 10dB more headroom because of lower sensitivity. When I checked that out I found I'm getting RF noise from the TX with the pad function turned on but all is good if the pad is off. Am I just wildly unlucky?

 

[Christobella]

I've had one particularly enthusiastic contributor who did distort a little here and there - using Lavailier Go mic, with pad enabled and level all the way down at -30dB. I think they could defnitely give us a bigger pad option via a firmware update - not mention completely redesigning the Rode Central app!

 

[Maxzoom]

I've had one particularly enthusiastic contributor who did distort a little here and there - using Lavailier Go mic, with pad enabled and level all the way down at -30dB. I think they could defnitely give us a bigger pad option via a firmware update - not mention completely redesigning the Rode Central app!

Glad it's not just me. I'm trying to figure out a workaround, if I ever have to cover a strong singer again. If as you say the Lavalier Go caused overload with the pad on then none of us have a solution. I can't find a reliable number on how loud in terms of dBFS someone singing like this would be. A-weighted RMS figures for someone shouting or talking don't seem helpful. An extra 8db by switching up from 12 to 20dB pad would be a good start by Rode.

I have some less sensitive microphones but maybe there is a bump-in-the wire solution I could dream up if Rode don't fix this by firmware.

As an aside, I was recording the singer in a church and the RWG2 did record his comment that he does not need this thing pointing to the church microphone but he knew his voice was not strong enough to reach the internet without it. LOL

 

[Christobella]

There is a "safety channel" option which records internally at a lower level, but only in mono mode. From the Rode website:

The safety channel can only be activated in 'Merged' recording mode (when the transmitter channels are being combined into a single summed output). These recordings contain two channels of identical audio. However, enabling the safety channel will reduce the volume of one channel by 20dB.

 

[Christobella]

There is a "safety channel" option which records internally at a lower level, but only in mono mode. From the Rode website:

The safety channel can only be activated in 'Merged' recording mode (when the transmitter channels are being combined into a single summed output). These recordings contain two channels of identical audio. However, enabling the safety channel will reduce the volume of one channel by 20dB.

This would be much more useful of course, if Rode released a phone app so that we could choose to activate this mode on location! Duh.

 

[Maxzoom]

There is a "safety channel" option which records internally at a lower level, but only in mono mode. From the Rode website:

The safety channel can only be activated in 'Merged' recording mode (when the transmitter channels are being combined into a single summed output). These recordings contain two channels of identical audio. However, enabling the safety channel will reduce the volume of one channel by 20dB.

So that's not really what happens. Rode support agreed with my interpretation of what the safety channel feature does so the following is probably correct.

The safety channel has no effect within the transmitter. The internal recording and transmitted data are identical and if clipped then both will both will be clipped.

There is only one data stream coming from each transmitter.

The in the receiver the safety channel feature is just using one transmitter data stream. Within the receiver the analogue output of the single data stream is presented at nominal and nominal -20dB level so one analogue input on the recording device has extra headroom on loud transients.

Hope this helps. I hoped for a magical second channel until I thought about it a bit more. In my mind the only true safety channel would require using both TX to cover the same source but with one TX greatly reduced in amplitude. You would then need to set your record levels based on the loud channel.

 

[Throwback]

So I've been on a voyage of discovery. I only purchased my kit four weeks ago. Possibly I got old stock.
I've not resolved the Rode Central problem but did discover that the 12dB pad on the TX is not enough for an unamplified male solo singer even with the TX far down on the jacket, about 250mm from the mouth. This means the internal recording is blown out of it on the loud notes. Advice from Rode was use the Lavalier Go to gain about 10dB more headroom because of lower sensitivity. When I checked that out I found I'm getting RF noise from the TX with the pad function turned on but all is good if the pad is off. Am I just wildly unlucky?

I'm puzzled. As per my post #243, Rode have said the pad on the TX units is 4dB, and this fits with my own observations: where are you getting this 12dB figure?

I don't get any RF noise with the pad on with my TX units...

Cheers,

Roland

 

[Maxzoom]

I'm puzzled. As per my post #243, Rode have said the pad on the TX units is 4dB, and this fits with my own observations: where are you getting this 12dB figure?

I don't get any RF noise with the pad on with my TX units...

Cheers,

Roland

I've been exchanging e-mails with Rode support for a few weeks. Going back through the correspondence I see I was the one who suggested the pad was -12dB and the support person did not correct me.
My kit is currently with a service agent in the UK for investigation and it could be weeks before I get the kit back. When investigating the noise with the pad on vs off I did get the impression the pad was less than 12dB. If the pad is indeed only 4dB then it is no wonder my signal was too hot. I plan to do some proper measurements when I get my kit back so in all probability your 4dB figure is accurate.

 

[Throwback]

I've been exchanging e-mails with Rode support for a few weeks. Going back through the correspondence I see I was the one who suggested the pad was -12dB and the support person did not correct me.
My kit is currently with a service agent in the UK for investigation and it could be weeks before I get the kit back. When investigating the noise with the pad on vs off I did get the impression the pad was less than 12dB. If the pad is indeed only 4dB then it is no wonder my signal was too hot. I plan to do some proper measurements when I get my kit back so in all probability your 4dB figure is accurate.

It's certainly nothing like -12dB. I must admit I rather accepted the Rode technical support description of the pad as being -4dB (I have been working through various bugs with the same very helpful contact at Rode) as experience showed it was certainly a very subtle pad and not something I have found needed.

I have, however, just tried a few tests with the two TX units (one with pad on and one without) set 3ft away from a single coaxial speaker playing test tones at 200Hz and 1kHz, then whitenoise and pinknoise. I then swapped over which TX unit was padded, in case the internal mics were poorly matched. As I thought from use, the pad is subtle to say the least: with the test tones and whitenoise I only got one 1dB lower on the padded TX and with pinknoise I got 1dB higher on the padded TX. OK, the mics were, say, 15mm apart and thus not perfectly coincident so I then tried using a single lav, fixed in position, and both the padded and unpadded TX units had EXACTLY the same level: this also ruled out the pad being applied to the external input only. Finally, I checked the level reaching the RX unit - just in case in some weird/erroneous way the pad was only applied to the transmitted signal - and again there was no difference between the padded and unpadded channels.

So a disturbing result. I will be interested to hear what you find in your tests, but meanwhile I will raise this with Rode.

Cheers,

Roland

 

[Maxzoom]

So a disturbing result. I will be interested to hear what you find in your tests, but meanwhile I will raise this with Rode.

Cheers,

Roland

Yes this definitely need Rode's attention. Thank you for doing the test.

 

[Christobella]

So they finally brought out the Rode Central phone app! Haven't managed to get it to communicate with the units yet, I'm guessing my USB-C to USB-C cable isn't compatible. Ordered another, so we'll see.

 

[cyvideo]

Heads up notification!! Possible bug warning!!

Had a strange experience after installing Rode's "Connect" podcast software. https://rode.com/software/rode-connect

It insisted I connect the units for updates. I did this and Connect saw the three units and proceeded to go through the firmware upgrade... supposedly to v1.8.1. Immediately after the upgrade it prompted me to connect the units again. Again it proceeded to go through the update process. It again prompted me to go through the update. Nah! Enough I said. So I shut down Connect, rebooted the PC and then connected the Go IIs. Connect only saw one TX. It had updated to v1.8.1. No way in the world would it see the RX or the other TX??

Right so I thought I would now try Rode Central. It now couldn't see the RX and the errant TX? At the same time I realized I had totally lost all audio output to my speakers in any other app?? What is going on? When I checked my Windoz audio output settings the selection was now set to Rode, not speakers. Reset that and had audio back. Uninstalled Rode Central and Connect with Uniinstaller Pro which did a complete clean up of the bits of detritus that the normal uninstaller misses. Long story short. Reinstalled Central and Connect and still both apps could only see one TX. Again my audio output had been reassigned to Rode. In short some unforgiving issues.

The only way I could resolve the problem was to go to another Win 10 box. My old NLE hardware which basically has a clean Win 10 with all current updates. Installed Central, plugged in the two TX units and the RX. It prompted me for updates so I allowed that to proceed. This rime I got the update successful notices. Great! Back to my current NLE. Reinstalled Central. Plugged in all three GO II units. Same problem! Only one TX was seen. Enough! I rolled System Restore just prior to the Connect install. Rebooted. Bingo! All three units now recognized. Wasn't game to install Rode Connect again as that seemed to be trigger for this weird behaviour. Go figure?

Chris Young

 

[Maxzoom]

So they finally brought out the Rode Central phone app! Haven't managed to get it to communicate with the units yet, I'm guessing my USB-C to USB-C cable isn't compatible. Ordered another, so we'll see.

I tried to install but my Samsung (Android) phone is not a compatible device.

How stupid is it that every time someone brings out an app you are supposed to go out and buy the newest phone.

Rode are really in my bad books now, but I'll explain that in a separate rant.

 

[Essami]

So they finally brought out the Rode Central phone app! Haven't managed to get it to communicate with the units yet, I'm guessing my USB-C to USB-C cable isn't compatible. Ordered another, so we'll see.

I had the same issue with my iPhone 13 iOS Rode Central app. Can't get it to connect to the Rode Wireless Go II. Weird if the official apple USB-C to Lightning doesn't work...!

 

[ahalpert]

I tried to install but my Samsung (Android) phone is not a compatible device.

I recently bought a cheap android so I could have an extra phone to control my gimbal remotely. To my surprise, it wasn't compatible with the zhiyun app even though the version of Android was recent enough. (But it works with the ronin app and Sony imaging edge mobile.)

then I found an apk online of the zhiyun app and was able to download it along with an apk loader app. So now the phone runs the zhiyun app no problem through this 3rd party loader. I'll look up the name of the loader when I get a chance

 

[Maxzoom]

...then I found an apk online of the zhiyun app and was able to download it along with an apk loader app. So now the phone runs the zhiyun app no problem through this 3rd party loader. I'll look up the name of the loader when I get a chance

That would be awesome, thanks.

 

[Grug]

Can anyone speak to how easy is it to offload the internally recorded files on the Transmitters?

Can you just plug the units into the computer and drag and drop the files? Or is there more to it?

 

[Throwback]

Can anyone speak to how easy is it to offload the internally recorded files on the Transmitters?

Can you just plug the units into the computer and drag and drop the files? Or is there more to it?

It is easy enough, but a little fiddlier than it could be as a) they aren't wav files to start with, so b) you need to do it via Rode Central (which will turn them into wav files) and c) you can't do a batch, but have to copy each file in turn. In short, the software could be much improved, but the process shouldn't put you off using/buying the Rode Wireless GO ii.

Cheers,

Roland

 

[Christobella]

I've tried 3 different USB-C cables, but I still can't get the Android app to recognise that there's a Rode unit attached. Is anyone else having this problem?