When it comes to location recording for any type of media production, Sound Devices has become a leading reference with its astonishingly complete and high quality range of portable recorders and mixers. Now, the company announced a new flagship model with… 32 channels of audio recording and 36 track mixer in a portable format roughly the size of the 688. It’s called Scorpio and it’s an impressively powerful machine, already with Dante I/O, USB-C and Bluetooth 5.
   

Scorpio is the most powerful product ever designed by Sound Devices, and the ideal tool for the new era of production sound. Scorpio elevates the company’s existing product line, which includes the popular 6-Series mixer/recorders and the best-in-class A10 Digital Wireless System.

With 16 mic/line preamplifiers, 32 channels of Dante in and out, AES in and out, 12 analog outputs and multiple headphone outputs, Scorpio is well-suited for any production scenario.  A fully-customizable routing matrix enables sound professionals to send any input to any channel, bus, or output. Up to 12 buses may be individually mixed. Due to its compact form factor, the Scorpio is equally at home over-the-shoulder or in a mobile rig, and users will be certainly exploring the possibilities of the built-in Bluetooth 5.0 BLE module.

It is particularly telling how Sound Devices implemented audio over Ethernet in its latest flagship recorder, going directly for 32 channels of Dante In and Out, which can also be AES67 compatible. The connectivity is provided by two independent 1 Gb/s Ethernet ports. But of course there’s also USB ports - two of those - which include a USB-C (USB 3.1 type 1) used for file transfer of internal SSD and both SD Cards, while the old USB-A port is only for connecting a keyboard, external controller or external USB hubs. So, Scorpio is first and foremost an AoIP audio recorder that will no longer rely on USB as an audio interface.

Scorpio incorporates Sound Devices’ most cutting-edge technology. An ultra-powerful engine with three FPGA circuits and six ARM processors delivers the horsepower needed for the most complex tasks. FPGA-based audio processing with 64-bit data paths ensures the highest sound quality and reliability. The Scorpio also features Sound Devices’ latest and best in analog microphone preamplifier design. These preamps have the smoothest sound and lowest noise of any preamp in the company’s 20-year history and include built-in analog limiters, high pass filters, delay, 3-band EQ and phantom power.

Like the company’s popular 788T, the Scorpio has an internal SSD and adds the ability to simultaneously record to two SD cards for redundancy. For additional flexibility, sound professionals can send different files to their choice of media. The companion SD-Remote Android application allows for control of the Scorpio via a large display.

Great attention to detail has been paid to every aspect of the Scorpio’s design. Most common menus are accessible with only one or two button presses, and many menu shortcuts can be achieved with only one hand. Scorpio features a built-in dual L-Mount battery charger and may be powered with L-Mount batteries or via the TA4 DC inputs using smart batteries, NP-1 batteries, or in-line power supplies. The ultra-accurate, fully-featured timecode generator contains its own battery to hold timecode for up to four hours after power off.

Scorpio is available for pre-order from Sound Devices authorized resellers and is anticipated to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2019.