Live Sound & Production

[nchangin]

Good morning Folks!

I use a 223 for DSP. I hear a lot of good things about the drive rack. I think it's out of this world for price but that's just me. Would I see any benefits to using a drive rack over a 223? I like the 223 as I can tune it quickly by ear for tops and bottoms and can give tops or bottoms a little ooomph or reduction if needed depending upon acoustics\room.

Thoughts?

[RoadRanger]

I have two DSP's. They stay home and I use my 223 . If you only use one set of mains/subs and/or triamp a DSP with the proper settings could sound better. Too much of a PITA for me - the 223 just works with no fuss...

[lonotes]

I use a DR260. I like that it has a 28 band graph as well as parametric eq and AFS. There are also limiters, comps, RTA, and delays, but I don't use them very much.  I monitor it with an old laptop and that makes it as easy to make changes on the fly as if I had hardware units. They're expensive, but if you shop around you can occasionally find a good deal. I paid a little over half price for mine on ebay.

[Coaster]

223 is not dsp

[agedhorse]

DSP properly used is a great tool. Improperly used is a disaster. Since you don't understand that your DBX unit is not a DSP, perhaps the simplicity of the analog crossover might be a huge advantage relative to DSP.

[twostone]

Just echoing what's already been posted about the 223 is not a driverack, but just a external crossover and driveracks require a steep learning curve. Which IMO your never to old to learn. Since seasoned pros where newbies at one time. Just gotta have the desire to wanna learn and not be embarrassed asking silly dumb questions because you can't learn if you don't understand.  Anyway there's lots of great folks over on the DBX driverack forum that can step you through the learning curve if really wanna learn bad enoogh on how to use a driverack.

[nchangin]

I do apprecaiate the advice. What advantages does it give a user over a traditional xover? I do get the EQ part but I have an external EQ already so not a benefit in upgrading for that side.

Also will check out the forum! Thanks!

[RoadRanger]

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nchangin wrote:

I do apprecaiate the advice. What advantages does it give a user over a traditional xover?

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#1 Bragging rights .

#2 If you are using passive speakers that can benefit from some EQ to flatten them out it can do that. OTOH the Rane stereo GEQ I use with my 223 can do that too.

#3 Sharper and different slopes and filter types. Dunno if that makes much difference in a portable rig where you can't use SMAART to tune it to the room every gig?

[twostone]

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nchangin wrote:

I do apprecaiate the advice. What advantages does it give a user over a traditional xover? I do get the EQ part but I have an external EQ already so not a benefit in upgrading for that side.

Also will check out the forum! Thanks!

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Well for those that know how to use seem to swear by them but personally never used one being I use active cabs with a Presonus SL 1642 and pretty much have no probs getting mix that pleases everybody.

[WynnD]

The driveRack advantages include being able to configure for different speaker setups. If you're bi-amping, you can have different crossover points. I have one place I use for setting my Drive Rack PA and PX. It's at my garage with the door open, the speaker facing outward and the cars being parked on the street. There's no functional echo there and the driveway slopes away. Not quite as good as a sound testing chamber, but probably close enough for my needs.

[whataracket]

Advantages of a DSP for me:

1.  Replaces crossovers, post crossover eqs, system eqs, limiters for two main and two monitor channels in a single rack space (Ashly 4.24c), making my rig much smaller. 

2.  Memory capability allows me to easily reconfigure with different speaker combinations, subs/no subs, etc. 

3.  Better sound (to my ears).

4.  Less expensive than the equipment it replaces (assuming decent quality gear), even if all you use is eqs and crossovers. 

5.  It's difficult for others to fiddle with it, so they tend not to try.