Tentacle Sync Guide

January 9, 2020By Posted in: RTV Production Classes

A guide from the site of tentaclesync.com, of all the necessary information to use the tentacle sync with Media School gear.

SOUND DEVICES MIX-PRE 3 / MIX-PRE 6 AND TENTACLE SYNC WORKFLOW

This is a short description of the workflow and the settings you have to do, when you want to use a Tentacle with a Sound Devices Mix-Pre 3 or 6.

Setup Tentacle:                                                                                          

  1. Open the Tentacle Setup App
  2. Set the Output Volume to Line
  3. Make sure that your Tentacle device is in “Green Mode” and outputs timecode (for more info on the Tentacle Setup look: here)
  4. Connect your Tentacle with the Tentacle to DSLR Mini jack cable to the Aux IN jack of the Sound Devices Mix-Pre 3 or 6 on the right panel.

For more information on the Setup App go here.

Setup Sound Devices Mix-Pre 3 and 6:

  1. Go to the Main Menu > System> Mode > Advanced > press OK
  2. Go to the Main Menu > Input> Aux In Mode > Timecode > press OK
  3. Go to the Main Menu > Timecode> TC Mode > Aux In 1

Now you can see the running Timecode on the display of your Sound Devices Mix-Pre 3 / 6.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

As soon as you pull out the Tentacle cable, the Timecode disappears on the display and won’t be recorded anymore as well. So in order to sync your Mix-Pre with a camera you have to keep the Tentacle connected to the Mix-Pre 3 / 6 all the time.

CANON C100 AND TENTACLE SYNC SETUP

This is a short walk through the settings, if you want to use a Tentacle with a Canon C100 camera.

Setup Tentacle:

  1. Set Tentacle to “Green Mode”
  2. Set the frame rate (same as Canon C100)
  3. Set the Output Volume to Mic or Line depending which Input is being used
  4. Connect your Tentacle box either with the provided Tentacle to DSLR Mini Jack Cable to the 3.5mm Mic Input of the C100 or with the Tentacle to XLR Cable to one of the XLR Inputs of the C100.

For more information on the Setup App, go here.

Setup Canon C100:

  • If you are using the 3.5mm Mic Input of the camera select Audio Input>  at the top handle. Set the correct volume either on the top handle or in the audio menu. For that go to Audio Setup > Audio Input > MIC Level > Manual. Then set the volume.
  • If you are using the XLR Input go to the audio menu Audio Setup> Audio Input> XLR Rec Channel > Ch 1 or Ch2

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Be aware when using the 3.5mm Mic Input of the C100 without the top handle, that the built-in microphone of the Tentacle will not be supplied with phantom power and therefore won’t work. Also without phantom power the option “Auto Mic Level” of the Tentacle does not work, so you have to set the level of the Input manually.

CANON C300 AND TENTACLE SYNC SETUP

Setup Tentacle:

  1. Set Tentacle to “Green Mode”
  2. Set the frame rate (same as camera and sound recorder)
  3. Set the Output Volume to Line level
  4. Use the Tentacle -> BNC cable to connect to the TIME CODE terminal of the C300

For more information on the Setup App, click here.

Setup Canon C300:

The camera automatically recognizes the timecode signal and shows an E on the display when the Tentacle is connected to the BNC timecode input. This indicates the time code is coming from an external source.

CANON C200 AND TENTACLE SYNC SETUP

Setup Tentacle:

  1. Set Tentacle to “Green Mode”
  2. Set the frame rate (same as camera and sound recorder)
  3. Set the Output Volumeto Mic or Line depending which input is being used
  4. Connect your Tentacle box either with the provided Tentacle to DSLR Mini Jack Cable to the 3.5mm Mic Input of the C200 OR use the Tentacle to XLR Cable to one of the XLR Inputs of the C200.

For more information on the Setup App, click here.

Setup Canon C200:

Please note that you can assign the audio channels on the C200 in the Menu -> Audio Setup -> Select CH1/CH2 Input OR Select CH3/4 Input.

  • If you are using the 3.5mm Mic Input select for CH3 and CH4 the MIC Terminalas input. Set the recording format to RAW or XF-AVC, or set it to MP4 and then set  the correct volume in the C200’s Menu-> Recording/Media Setup -> Audio Setup -> Audio Rec Level CH3/CH4
  • For the XLR setup use the audio level switches and dials on the back of the camera body to adjust the audio timecode level so that it is not clipping.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Be aware when using the 3.5mm Mic Input of the C200 the built-in microphone of the Tentacle will not be supplied with phantom or another kind of plugin power and therefore won’t work. Without phantom/plugin power the option Auto Mic Level of the Tentacle does not work, so you have to set the level of the input manually.

WIRELESS SYNC WITH THE TENTACLE SYNC E

With the latest update of our Setup Software comes the new firmware version 2.0 of your Tentacle Sync E. This firmware version allows you to wirelessly sync your Tentacle Sync Es with each other. You can get the new firmware here.

Wireless Sync – All Tentacles:

To do the Wireless Sync just open the Setup App on your phone, link all your Tentacle Sync Es with your phone (find a description here). In the Monitoring View of your Tentacles you’ll find a new button on the bottom of the screen “Wireless Sync“.

  1. Tap on “Wireless Sync”  and a small window will pop up.
  2. Tap on the frame rateand select a frame rate
  3. Select a starting time for the timecode. If you don’t, it will start with time of day
  4. Press Startand all Tentacles will be syncing up within a few seconds

Wireless Sync – One Master Tentacle:

If you want to feed one Tentacle with an external timecode source and sync all other Tentacles to that “Master”, do the following:

  1. Select the “Master” Tentacle in your Monitoring View and go into that setup
  2. Scroll all the way down in your settings and press “Wireless Master Sync“
  3. A window will pop up and you can choose between “Sync All”and “Sync only Red Mode” and the Tentacles will be syncing up to the “Master” Tentacle in seconds

Cable Sync:

If you don’t want to sync your Tentacle Sync Es wirelessly, you can still sync them up with the provided black 3-pin Mini Jack to Mini Jack cable.

  1. Set your Tentacles frame rate
  2. Start ONE Tentacle in Green Mode
  3. Start the other Tentacles in Red Mode
  4. Connect the Sync E in Green Mode with one of the Sync Es in Red Mode
  5. Wait until both units are blinking green and disconnect them
  6. Do so with all the other Tentacle in Red Mode

 

HOW TO SET A CUSTOM TIMECODE AND TIME OF DAY

If you want a different Timecode value than the one of the internal realtime clock of the Tentacle, you can do so.

Set Custom Timecode or Phone Time

  1. Start your Tentacle in Red Mode
  2. Open the Setup App on your mobile device
  3. Connect your Tentacle to your mobile device via Cable or Bluetooth
  4. Tip on the orange running Timecode and a window will pop up
  5. Select a value for custom timecode > Set custom Timecode or set it to Time of Day > Set to Phone Time 
  6. The running Timecode will switch to that time and change to green.

NOTE:

Please just set a custom Timecode to one of your Tentacle devices. If you did, use the provided black DSLR Mini Jack to Mini Jack cable to connect that “Master” Tentacle to the other Tentacle devices you have and sync them. If you set all Tentacle devices with the phone, you will have an offset in between the Tentacle devices Timecode due to the inaccuracy of the phone time.

Download: tentacle guide