The MixPre Mk1 came out in 2017
The MixPre Mk2 came out in 2019
Which begs the question…..
The MixPre Mk3 comes out in 2021???
(a two year gap between each generation)
My theory is “No, we will not see a MixPre mk3 in 2021” (or even 2022).
My reasoning why:
1) the initial launch of the MixPre series was rocky (perhaps it was a bit too rushed out in response to the formidable Zoom F8?), thus the stream of many firmware updates, and even relatively quickly a totally updated hardware with the new mk2 series. Thus while the original MixPre at initial launch wasn’t so great at all, the current state of the MixPre series with the new mk2 hardware and many firmware updates later, is really really very good. Thus why rush to put out a mk3 series? What’s the point? That’s my first reason why I think this is unlikely.
2) even ***IF*** Sound Devices had a plan to update the MixPre series every couple of years (highly unlikely, when you consider both how small their company is, and how quickly they historically refresh their product lines. Or even how quickly the industry in general refreshes their product lines, Zaxcom, Nagra, and Sonosax etc you could all say are a lot slower than even Sound Devices are!), the last two years has been far far from normal! Thanks to covid19, which would have massively slowed down R&D, and possibly dampened demand. Plus covid19 (and other factors…. that factory fire) has caused such extra shortages that Sound Devices can’t even make all of their current products! (MixPre3 & 833 has been dropped) Why should they then be pushing out brand new products??? (first, they need to bring back the MixPre3 & 833) Thus, I’d say even ***IF*** you believe Sound Devices has their MixPre series on a two year cycle for refreshing, you should subtract two years from the time elapsed as “not counting” due to the crazy times we live in. Perhaps 2023 you’ll see the MixPre mk3?? (**IF** you believe in this quick refresh cycle of only “2yrs” between generations in “normal times”. But I don’t, we might not even see a mk3 until 2025!)
3) my third and final reason is, “what could Sound Devices add to the MixPre series to justify new Mk3 hardware?” Yes, everyone has a lengthy list of dreams they’d like to see their MixPre do! But whatever can be done by firmware, it would be better they did it via that rather than an entire new range of hardware. And you need to keep your requests reasonable, Sound Devices doesn’t want their entry grade prosumer MixPre series to be stepping on the toes of their core business of selling professional field mixers (the 8 Series). Maybe the ONLY justification I could think of for a MixPre mk3 right now, is so that they can ditch completely the Wingman App, and unify all their current products across the board as using the new SD-Remote App. As that is such a radical change, they might need to do a whole new hardware refresh to the MixPre series. (but if they could achieve this simply with a firmware update that would be so much cooler! And good for Sound Devices too, to only need to support the development of one app, rather than two)