Digital Sound Board Recommendations
- Thread startersarahsliefie
- Start date
iLive is the allen and heath products
There is a lot of really bad advnice here, I'm sorry to say, but honestly you need to find something that works for you. What sound system are you running through? The M7 is not a very good sound console acoustically (it sounds worse than the LS9) however it's very common.
Given the way you are forced to work, and iLive system would be perfect. Unlike the Yamaha gear, you can configure it any way you want, faders wherever you want, and each layer switches independently. Now, the EQs and so on are still accessible from the selected channel only, but the ilive editor app is fantastic (for ipad or for computer, computer one is better) .
What about groups, mute groups, or things of that nature? Director won't let you use them?
If you are on budget constraint, and not using scenes anyway, the presonus gear might be really good as well. It's by far the best for the money you can get.
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A pet peeve of mine but when people say something like this then unless they are referencing everything offered previously I wish they would identify what advice they are referencing, otherwise people may assume they are referencing everything.
You probably mean sonically rather than acoustically. Different consoles definitely have different sonic characteristics but what actually matters is how much of a factor those characteristics may or may not be in actual use. For example, when one considers the wiring, signal processing, speaker system, acoustical environment and especially the operation related with many school, worship, club, etc. sound systems, the sonic differences between various mixer preamps is probably not much of a factor in the overall result. Just one of those cases where you may need to maintain a 'big picture' perspective as well as considering the details.
While continued discussion may aid others with similar situations or questions, I think it is important to note that the OP was over a year ago and has hopefully already had some resolution. It may also be relevant to note that the venue is apparently a gymnatorium, we don't know what they currently have, I don't think a related budget was ever established, we don't know what type or level school is involved and there was apparently a major renovation of the sound system in process. There seem to be a lot of unknowns that perhaps should be clarified before offering specific product recommendations.
I will also offer an alternative perspective regarding not using scenes or presets, one that considers the educational aspects. Scenes/presets are great tools, but like any tool one may be able to apply them more effectively, and better appreciate them, if you more fully understand their use and what they do. Learning how to work without scenes may make people think a bit more about when to use scenes and what to include in them, to consider what is most effective rather than what is easy. Then when they are ready to progress to the next level perhaps they can do so with a better understanding. I do not know if that is the case here, but I can see the approach noted being related to the potential educational aspects.
Just a caveat to look at how the linking works and how that relates to the envisioned use. For example, is it a matter of a submix on one console to the other or of actually linking them? Will presets/scenes work across the consoles or would recall be independent for each? Are aux sends and subgroups commmon or independent? If the console has multichannel USB or FireWire recording and you are using that will it support the linking? Linking or submixing can be a very effective option for many applications but rarely is it directly equivalent to creating a single larger console, so you may havee to consider the differences and if they matter in your application..
tdeater
Member
We recently got a presonus 24 channel digital board and it is growing on me. I am starting to really like it, and the ipad remote control works great. They do say they can be linked so you can get more inputs, but I don't know how that works. Linking 2 might work well for 2 board ops. We also have a Yamaha LS9 that works great, but would be hard for 2 people to use at once, unless you went the 2 console route there too.
Chris Chapman
Active Member
We just upgraded to an M7 in our space and I love it. Your directors will need to educate themselves on the advantages of a Digital Board. The Use of DCA's in the CentraLogic control space and recall-able scene Memory is one of the main bonuses of these boards vs. their analog brothers. If they are REALLY stuck on this bad idea of 2 operators, I'd suggest a second running StageMix on an iPad. But that still will cause confusion and problems with flying faders, mix on faders, and other settings. If your facility is serious about this upgrade, there will need to be changes in how they expect to run it. Old school rules need not apply to this situation.
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