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Roland VM C7200 Mixing System


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I witnessed a guy using this mixing system live last night and I gotta tell ya, I was quite impressed.  I know this system has been discontinued.  No longer in production, but the idea of it was facinating to me.

For those who don't know about it, it consists of 2 main parts.  The actual mixer resides on the stage and looks like a big stage box.  The part that looks like a mixer that you have at FOH is just a digital controller.  The beauty of this system is that you connect the 2 pieces together with just 2 long cables that have XLR connectors!  That's it!  No cumbersome heavy duty snake required.

I hear back in the day, this system sold for around $6000 - $7000 depending on if you got extras, like the optional meter bridge, etc.

Anyway, like I said.  I was VERY impressed with it and the sound I heard.  Got me thinking big time.

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agedhorse wrote:

 

I have a friend that used one for a few years and he really liked it. You have to buy j to the Roland way 100% however.

 

Yep, that's true.

It uses the Roland proprietary system for mixing.  That wasn't a deal breaker for me since I used to record in the studio using Roland VS systems.  The VM C7200 uses the same technology.  So when I was going through the screens last night, I actually felt right at home.

The thing for me is that I really want to get away from my audio snake.  I know the StudioLive can be controlled with an Ipad, but that idea has never interested me.  The last thing I want to be doing is mixing a live gig on an Ipad.

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Miko Man wrote:

 

I seem to recall that it used Cat 5 cables, but with a "ruggedized" housing and a Neutrik connector that had an XLR-like body ... Not that it really matters much. Mark C.

 

 

Yes!  That was the thing that got me.  The 2 cables were so small.  Looked exactly like Cat 5, but with these big rugged XLR type connectors on the ends.  I thought that was the coolest thing ever.  I hear you can use up to 300 feet of cable for this system with no problems.  That is way more than I'll ever need.

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PureSoundEnt wrote:

For those who don't know about it, it consists of 2 main parts.  The actual mixer resides on the stage and looks like a big stage box.  The part that looks like a mixer that you have at FOH is just a digital controller.  The beauty of this system is that you connect the 2 pieces together with just 2 long cables that have XLR connectors!  That's it!  No cumbersome heavy duty snake required.

My DL1608 is basically like that except the connection between the two parts is wireless - no cat5 cables needed biggrin.gif

I do believe the Roland has some small number of inputs on the control surface and a headphone jack for monitoring and soloing on the control surface? The DL1608 has very limited audio connectivity between it and its control surface.

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They used AES/EBU mic cables ... although you could use regular mic cables up to about 100 feet (maybe longer).  I used to own a few of them.

 

You could also use two controllers ... one for FOH and one in monitor world on stage, each controlling its share of the input procesor(s).

It was a pretty cool system for the price in the late 90's but it did have a few quirks

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agedhorse wrote:

So the real total cost of ownership is maybe 4x the initial cost over 20 years...

True. You do have to factor in all that it replaces plus decreased transportation and labor costs to fairly compare if to a truck full of "stone knives and bear-skins" wink.gif.

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How many folks have UPA's, PM's, MA's, JF's that are still making good money after 20 years. Would the investment been good if they only lasted 5 years? How about power distros, feeder cable, snake and splitter systems, and such

 

My point is that if you had to replace your system with zero resale value every 5 years, nobody's business model in use today would be even remotely profitable.

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So first, I think 5 years is off the mark. I would expect the gear to last at least double that. And you'd probably be reasonable safe that you could get repair parts for that length of time in most cases. Second... How many years do you amortize your gear? It's probably a write off after 5 anyway.

 

In this case VM mixers are more like 20 years old and still going. That said the future from here on out isn't particularly bright.

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agedhorse wrote:

 

How many folks have UPA's, PM's, MA's, JF's that are still making good money after 20 years. Would the investment been good if they only lasted 5 years? How about power distros, feeder cable, snake and splitter systems, and such

 

 

 

My point is that if you had to replace your system with zero resale value every 5 years, nobody's business model in use today would be even remotely profitable.

 

And this is exactly why I think that some of the new mixer business models may be in trouble!  What happens to the Mackie DL1604 when you can no longer get an iPad that fits and yours is broken?

Now, Behringer's new X32 Rack concept may be OK.  The interface to the computer is Ethernet wireless (802.11n I believe).  As long as there is a client software that can interface to it on the other side, it should be OK.  Behringer is also going to be supporting android tablets as well as iPad.  This will also open up the potential for a long-lived useful life.

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