New Music Gear Monday: Sound Devices MixPre 10M Recorder

Sound Devices is well known to location recordists for its super high quality preamps and recorders, but most people in the music side of the audio business are unfamiliar with the company. That’s because the company’s best known products have been primarily focused on the field recording market and lacked the features that musicians need when it comes to creating music. Musicians rejoice, because that’s all changed now with the new MixPre 10M 12 track portable recorder.

Anyone that’s ever dabbled in songwriting knows that it can take way too long to get your DAW up and running when you need it, and frequently technology gets in the way of getting that idea recorded. Not the case with MixPre series of recorders, as it’s up and running in a flash with everything that you need laid out in an intuitive fashion.

The MixPre 10M is a 10 input device with 8 of Sound Devices discrete Class A Kashmir preamps on XLR inputs, each with its own analog limiter. Sound Devices states that these inputs are “virtually unclippable,” which is good news to anyone who just wants to power up and go to get that idea down without worrying about getting levels. There’s also a 3.5mm 2-channel Aux/Mic input, as well as USB-C input for four channels from a MAC or PC. All inputs can easily be routed to the 12 tracks from the front panel display. The USB port also means that it can be used as a 12 in/4 out DAW interface as well.

The 12 track recorder also features a built-in metronome, punch-in/punch-out ability, cue points, built-in Vintage Reverb and Vocal Air controls, the ability to overdub, mix down and export, and powering options via AC, a AA battery pack (it needs 8), or a Lithium ion battery pack.

The Sound Devices MixPre 10M is a surprisingly affordable $1,499 (you’d expect to pay that for either the mic preamps or the recorder alone) and carries a full 2 year warranty as well. Get more details here, or from the video below.