My Review of the Schoeps SuperCMIT Digital Shotgun

tyreeford said:
FYI,

http://tyfordaudiovideo.blogspot.com/2013/02/schoeps-supercmit-dsp-steered-digital.html

Regards,

Ty Ford
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Interesting and I'll read it fully, shortly.

But I have to take issue with your comment at the beginning:- "...Since then no one has bothered to take a serious crack at DSP-powered mics or digital mics."

This is so untrue! :angry:

Four microphone manufacturers make digital microphones to the AES42 spec. and Neumann were the first with the D-01 (the earlier Beyer and other mics are non-compatible and were released before AES42 was agreed between all the manufacturers).


  • Neumann make 14 digital microphones, including two gun microphones (KM-D modular series plus 6 dedicated digital mics).
  • Sennheiser make 6 digital microphones in their MKH 8000 series, also including two gun microphones (all use the MZD 8000 module).
  • Schoeps make about 16 digital microphones, including a single gun microphone (CMD2 module + capsules and the SuperCMIT).
  • Microtech Gefell make a single digital microphone in their measurement series, MV 230, with interchangeable capsules.


The leaders in AES42 digital microphones are definitely Neumann Berlin as they pioneered AES42 and were the very first to bring out a digital microphone to the AES42 standard.

Neumann and Sennheiser digital mics are all Mode-2 which clock via the AES42 system and are locked together with absolute phase coherence. Schoeps and Gefell use Mode-1 which means that you need a sample-rate converter to clock them and you don't get the absolute phase accuracy (though I have heard rumours that Schoeps are now working on Mode-2).

I have written a couple of AES papers (designed to be readable and not overly technical) and you can download the PDFs below:-

Digital Microphones - What's it all About? (130th AES Convention, London 2011)

Digital Microphones - AES42 and all that (AES UK Conference at Surrey University, 2011)

Both these papers include a complete list of all the AES42 digital microphones available at the time and also list all the recorders and equipment that was designed to be compatible with AES42 digital microphones.

I hope this makes things clear.

Yes, I agree that the SuperCMIT is a great mic., especially with the rear facing cardioid capsule to help cancel the rear out-of-phase lobe. But, unfortunately, it's still a Mode-1 mic.

I would say that Schoeps are behind Neumann and Sennheiser in AES42 design (as they still use the simple Mode-1 method), but they are definitely ahead at the moment in incorporating DSP in the microphone.

I have been recording with digital microphones since 2006 and have a choice of four different digital pairs from two different manufacturers. I also have recorders that can record digital direct-in or via mobile Mode-2 interfaces (AETA 4MinX and also a Nagra VI + two Neumann DMI-2P).
 
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Thanks John,

*2/4/13: John Willet reminds me that I need to re-read my reviews that were published some time ago for timeliness. Of course Neumann has followed up with digital mics and I have reviewed two of them.

Here's one from my blog: http://tyfordaudiovideo.blogspot.com/2012/04/neumann-tlm-103d-intelligent-mic-with.html

He also reminds me that Gefell released a digital mic. That one got past me. I don't think the Sennheisers were out at the time I wrote this.

I did mention beyer in the Schoeps reivew. I guess you just blew over that.

Regards,

Ty Ford
 
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tyreeford said:
Thanks John,

*2/4/13: John Willet reminds me that I need to re-read my reviews that were published some time ago for timeliness. Of course Neumann has followed up with digital mics and I have reviewed two of them.

Here's one from my blog: http://tyfordaudiovideo.blogspot.com/2012/04/neumann-tlm-103d-intelligent-mic-with.html

He also reminds me that Gefell released a digital mic. That one got past me. I don't think the Sennheisers were out at the time I wrote this.

I did mention beyer in the Schoeps reivew. I guess you just blew over that.

Regards,

Ty Ford
Click to expand...

I had noted that you mentioned the Beyer - I did mention it but highlighted that it was not to the AES42 standard as it pre-dated the standard.

In fact, it pushed the manufacturers into getting togather to make a standard so that any digital mic to the AES42 standard could be plugged into any AES42 input.

If every manufacturer had gone his own way it would have been chaos and everyone would have lost out.
 
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