Since its announcement at NAB earlier this year, I've been pining to get my hands on a few of these units for guerrilla filmmaking applications. Now with the added functionality of wirelessly recording, this unit just might be a perfect product. Here's Robert Rozak with the update:


The MCU for the wireless receiver sends a slate signal to the analog mixer that is part of the analog preamp chain before the codec. So, this gets captured by the codec ADC and recorded onto the DARling audio file. Additionally, the slate signal is split out (before the codec) to the DARling output jack. So, you can use an additional DARling on the camera, where the DARling slate output goes into the camera and is recorded on the camera's audio track. Now, when you hit the wireless transmitter slate button, all of the individual DARlings being worn by your talent as well as your camera get simultaneously slated, so you've got something to align all of your audio with your video.

We're also working on a PC/MAC program that will automatically rename your files in your computer to something logical, so they can be managed. What you'll do is log the scene or interview name for each clip in a text file on your smartphone. 

This news definitely addresses the main implementation concerns that have been voiced about the product since its announcement. Robert also addresses features that he isn't committing to addressing with the Little DARling, like timecode:

I keep getting asked about timecode. Personally, it doesn't make sense to me. These are not going to be 0.1ppm clocks, so they're going to drift just like your camera. The Little DARling concept no longer makes sense if you're connecting a Lock-it Box to it.

Still no clear release date for the Little DARling units, but it sounds like it's very close! Are any of you planning on using these units? How do these new features change your potential application for the units? Let us know!

Source: JuicedLink Blog