help plugging Rode Go mics into Vision Assist

Hello,

I hope that people don’t mind a very basic question about plugging a Rode microphone into a Vision Assist.

I own:

- 7 inch Vision Assist 12G
- Rode Wireless Go 2 (one base station and two wireless microphones)
- Canon c100 mark 2

The c100 supports a maximum of two audio channels. Therefore, I purchased the 7” Video Assist so that I could use the mini-XLR ports to include more audio channels. However, I can’t figure out how to make that work correctly.

I would like to make some home movies of my daughter playing ultimate frisbee. I have a shotgun mic on the c100 which plugs in via one of the bulit-in XLR ports on the c100. I can record one of the Rode wireless microphones by plugging the base station into the other XLR port on the c100. However, I can’t use the second Rode wireless microphone because of Canon’s two audio channel limit.

My preference would be to plug the Rode wireless base station directly into the Vision Assist. I purchased a mini-XLR in order to do that. However, when I plus the mini-XLR directly into the Vision Assist, no sound is captured. The audio bars do not move.

If I plug an HTML cable from the c100 into the Vision Assist, the two audio channels recorded by the c100 are picked up by the Vision Assist. However, nothing plugged directly into the Vision Assist is picked up.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I’ve read the manuals and tried searching various Video Assistn reviews, but haven’t found (or at least haven’t understood) any answers.

Thanks for your help.

First of all: I do not own the Video Assist, so I can't try this out.
This is just my interpretation from the manual of how you could make it work.

1. Per default you will see the audio levels for channel 1 & 2
   You can change the monitor channels in the menu -> AUDIO -> MONITOR CHANNELS
   Audio meters display up to 16 channels of audio. The channels will be enabled or disabled
   based on how many recorded audio channels are selected.
   
   
2. According to the manual: When you are recording more than two audio channels you can assign which channels will record your XLR inputs. For example, when recording 8 channels of audio, you can record your XLR inputs to channels 7-8 by tapping the arrows. If you are not using XLR audio, simply select the none option.
   
   
3. Set your XLR inputs to MIC for the Wireless GO. You will need some kind of 3.5mm Stereo to two XLR split adapter cable for your Wireless GO receiver to get both channels into the video assist, because 3-pin XLR is carrying a mono signal only
   
   
4. According to the manual: Blackmagic Video Assist can record up to 16 channels of audio at a time. Select how many channels of audio to record from 2 to 16 channels. On some models you can find this setting via the record tab in the dashboard menu.
   I haven't found a screenshot in the manual showing where these settings are located exactly or what they are looking like.

Hopefully someone owning the Video Assist can chime in to verify.

Hi Robert,

Thank you. I think I skipped step 2. That may also explain why I can record two audio channels, but not three (the third being the shotgun mic via the c100). Somehow I missed that in the documentation, so I really appreciate you pointing it out. I’ll try it out tomorrow morning. Brilliant.

Great. Hopefully this solves your problem.

Hi Robert,

I hope that you don’t mind a follow-up to my earlier question. I studied the manual again, but became a bit more confused as a result, rather than less so. I appreciate your patience with these beginner questions.

As I understand it, the Vision Assist can record up to 16 channels of audio. It defaults to four, but there are options to expand the number if necessary.

There are two mini-XLR ports on the Vision Assist. As well, the Vision Assist can receive up to two audio channels from the connected camera via the HDMI interface.

So to my simple understanding, 2 HDMI channels + 2 XLR inputs = 4 channels.

However, when I read the manual (page 7), it states:

—-

When plugging in your video, audio is also connected as it’s embedded in the SDI or
HDMI video signal. However, 7” video assist models also have built in mini XLR connectors so you can plug in external balanced analog audio as well.

NOTE On the 7” video assist model, you can set the audio settings to record analog channels 1 and 2, or choose one channel analog audio and one channel SDI or HDMI audio, depending on your source video. For more information about analog audio and adjusting levels refer to the ‘audio’ section later in this manual.

—-

So my basic understanding is that I can choose to record a maximum of two channels (i.e., the two XLR ports, the two incoming HDMI ports or one from each). Does this make sense? If so, I don’t understand why the limitation is there.

Later in the manual, it states (page 33):

—-

To bypass the XLR analog inputs and maintain the embedded SDI or HDMI channels 1 and 2 from your source video, on 12G video assist models you can set to record your xlr inputs to none. On 3G video assist models, select video.

—-

Again, if I understand this correctly, recording via the XLR ports somehow over-rides the incoming HDMI audio.

If this is true, why does the Vision Assist manual state that up to 16 channels can be recorded if I can actually only input either two XLR channels or two incoming HDMI channels or one of each? I’m completely confused.

Thanks again for all your patience with this. I think the manual writer assumes more knowledge of audio channel recording than beginners (or at least me) have.

Regards, Doug

I think the wording in the manual is a bit confusing indeed.

Unfortunately I cannot give you more advice here, as I have no hands-on experience with this device and it seems the manual is a bit vague about what works in your case.

I'll point the user Rick Lang onto this topic as he owns the same device you might be able to advise.

Good on you. Thanks Robert.

Apologies, somehow missed this message request from Robert.

As Robert mentioned you can record up to 16 channels of audio.

On the Audio tab of the BMVA12G7, you define the number of “Recorded Audio Channels” as either 2, 4, 8 or 16. You may have inadvertently left that on 2, but you need to set it to < 4 >.

Audio channels 1 and 2 will use audio signals from the two channels embedded in your video signal from the camera.

On the Audio tab of the BMVA12G7, you define the channels you want to “Record XLR Inputs To”. You need to select < Channels 3 and 4 >.

You can record from external audio sources by inserting the Audio cable(s) in the physical XLR 1 and/or XLR 2 connector(s).

On the second page of the Audio tab of the BMVA12G7, define the XLR 1 and 2 as Line or Mic as appropriate and if it is a Mic input, be sure to set Phantom Power On or Off as appropriate to your sources. You can also set XLR Levels to be the same or different.

On the third page of the Audio tab of the BMVA12G7, the meters you want to display and whichever padding you prefer.

Hope that works and sorry to take so long to answer. Good luck with your recordings of your daughter!