Members agedhorse Posted March 10, 2014 Members Share Posted March 10, 2014 One could argue about active speaker PA system recommadation to newbies vs passive tri-amped PA system since it's okay for speakers to have microchips but not mixers. So obviously you totally missed the intent of our comments. Speaker DSP is small, simple, generally reliable, generally impoves reliability of the speaker system greatly over inexpertly configured passive speaker systems, and the entire system does not suffer at the hands of a single failure. Also, the processing is entirely transparent to the user unlike the user interface of a digital console where the user is focused on getting around the control surface rather than paying attention to the band and just mixing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members StratGuy22 Posted March 10, 2014 Members Share Posted March 10, 2014 so for that $350 gig how much equipment are you bringing out? Subs/tops 4 monitors and a center fill Studuolive 24.4.2 3 vocal mics across the front Mic'd drum kit A fab5 on each FOH light. This sort of thing: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sibyrnes Posted March 10, 2014 Members Share Posted March 10, 2014 This drives me nuts. Almost every time I'm at a show big or small, if there's a digital console being used, the heads are down scrolling and clicking instead of actually watching and listening to whats going on. Just thinking about it gets my blood pumping. The majority of shows and large concerts performed nowadays are mixed on digital boards. There are very few big acts touring with analog boards anymore. Skilled users can get better results quicker and easier on a digital board. This is not some "fad". The idea that a soundman is not paying attention or doing his best because he is on a digital board is just some silly form of "Sour Grapes". I've seen too many soundmen that suck on analog boards too. Some of you are on the wrong side of history! . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cappttenron Posted March 10, 2014 Members Share Posted March 10, 2014 Let me think a powered speaker might have a couple of switches you might have to flip once. The other requires some amount of skill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted March 10, 2014 Members Share Posted March 10, 2014 At the full pro level it's not much of an issue, but at the regional level it certainly is. The pro level touring market is very different, there are a lot of hacks still struggling at the regional level and one more thing to take their attention away from the stage is a step in the wrong direction IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted March 11, 2014 Members Share Posted March 11, 2014 Digital is different, not better or worse. Back in the analog days I was never able to reliably grab a specific aux knob on a specific channel without looking, so I think it's silly to claim that digital boards are resonsible for the tech not always watching the stage. And from a music perspective, being able to grab an iPad or laptop and set up monitor mixes while standing next to the performers is a huge leap in improving their performance... if for no other reason than getting that extra attention during the soundcheck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members 6Imzadi Posted March 11, 2014 Members Share Posted March 11, 2014 <P> Maybe the next step will just be a larger controller/board that interfaces with a high powered laptop with a 17 inch touch screen? </P> Software Audio Console: http://www.softwareaudioconsole.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cappttenron Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 Was doing a small private party with my laptop last weekend and I got an error message that basically said backup all important data on your hard drive it will fail soon. So I closed and about thirty minutes later it came up again. Closed it again and it happened a few more times. Luckily I finished without a total crash. Just ordered a new laptop online but that old laptop was about 4 years old so I guess its telling me its reached its estimated life because I used it a lot. Guess I will be carrying two laptops now to play it safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 Only 4 years??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members witesol Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 I've had no issues with digital boards reliability. An analog board can go down...so, should you not bring backup in case either way? If I was doing a one man show, 1-3 bands, mons from foh, , two subs with two tops, nothing complicated, $400 would not be bad... I'm usually $500-600 one man smalls.. If its 1099... A different story! Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wesg Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 It's possible your laptop was telling you that the disk was reporting predicted failures through the SMART system. That is a function of not only age, but also how much the drive gets bounced around. And how well it was made in the first place. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.M.A.R.T. If I was using a laptop for mission-critical work, it would have a solid-disk disk in it. No moving parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cappttenron Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 The hard drive died in the first month I owned it. They replaced it under warranty but this laptop gets used heavily so 4 plus years is not bad. I'm sure a desktop will last much longer as I have two WD Black drives in mine that I clone from time to time so if I have a failure I'm back up easily. Interesting that link about S.M.A.R.T. It said in research that if you get that message you are 39 times more likely to have a failure in the near future. This old laptop will now become a backup for just in case once my new one arrives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneEng Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 Now if I can just find a Mixwiz for 50.00-100.00 Just sold mine for $450.00 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members OneEng Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 The trend in analog gear getting less expensive (used) is sure to continue. I think there is still a decent sized market of people that really just like the feel of analog. I agree with the CRT analogy. Digital is simply going to become too darned easy to use and too inexpensive to ignore for most applications. In the bar gig venues, the features and size will play a huge factor. I can't comment on the pro world since I don't work there. It seems like even the pro level is moving digital though. Andy, I think they will work out reliable ways to use wireless. I do it for assembly plant equipment. You just have to do your own connections over UDP and build in redundancy and channel switching into your protocol so you are never out of wireless ...... unless every channel of every frequency spectrum is out of bandwidth..... which does have a finite probability ..... but then so does a lightning strike. They aren't there yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted March 12, 2014 Members Share Posted March 12, 2014 Plant automation engineering is somewhat more predictable, you don't generally have thousands of people visiting and using their i-devices pinging and crowding your networks. There is a much more robust wireless protocol for automation that is really seeming to make inroads. I just don't know if it's practical for non-industrial environments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cappttenron Posted March 13, 2014 Members Share Posted March 13, 2014 The only thing I think we can count on is that the air waves will get more and more crowded. Even a lot of lighting effects are going wireless? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Scodiddly Posted March 13, 2014 Members Share Posted March 13, 2014 Wireless control for shows... I'll definitely do it for system tweaking and soundcheck. Usually the wireless gets put away for the actual show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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