Strange Problem With DL1608...I think!

[minn12]

 

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brianwohlgemuth wrote:

 

 

Man, this sounds eerily like my band, except we're having a pretty decent time with the 1608.  

 

My big thing is feedback (on occasion) and certain members changing volumes.  Setup/tear down can be done in an hour (or less if we get help) and our gear is new-ish with reliable backups if needed (yes, I essentially carry a backup PA in case something big dies).  

 

The one stupid, can't figure it out problem I'm having with the DL1608 is music right from the iPad.  It's way too hot, signal blown through the roof.  Tried turning it down on the iPad prior to docking, no difference.  Its an iPad1 so don't know if that might be part of it.

 

Otherwise, we get reports that the sound is great and we are trying to take that next step as well. 

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The 'loud music' problem is a known issue.  It's the same for me on my iPad 2, and also on an iPad 1 at a venue I mix at.  Just seems like the signal runs way into the yellow, and I have to keep the virtual fader pretty low to avoid extreme volume levels.  Other than that, it works great. 

Not sure if your feedback problem is with the mains or monitors?  Both have 31-band EQs available, so you should be able to ring it out.  One thing to use caution with is using compression on stuff that is in the wedges.  Seems like adding more than a litte makeup gain can cause feedback if you're not careful.

 

[RoadRanger]

 

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brianwohlgemuth wrote:

 

The one stupid, can't figure it out problem I'm having with the DL1608 is music right from the iPad.  It's way too hot, signal blown through the roof.  Tried turning it down on the iPad prior to docking, no difference.  Its an iPad1 so don't know if that might be part of it.

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http://cacophony.aspinock.com/index.php?topic=209.0

[StratGuy22]

Hey man. It's GREAT to hear you are making so e headway! Simplifying down to 2 iPads sounds like it's helped. Kudos for the good response from the audience etc.

 

Good to hear most of the system is starting to play nice, it sounds like you are definitely making some headway. With a whole new setup it will take a bit if time to get used to everything. Have you checked all your mic cables? Maybe there's something wonky going on with one of the drummers cables.

 

+1 on a new router. Mine has been acting up, so I picked up a cheap D-Link for now. I think I'm going to go with the apple extreme airport (or whatever)

 

Baby steps man. It's good to hear the new bass player is on board, and realizes what you bring to the table. I'm sure you'll get it all worked out, and again, really glad to hear you are making some headway.

 

Keep us updated!

 

 

[agedhorse]

An important part of troubleshooting, which you have still failed to grasp, is that when you start having trouble you need to stop shotgunning and start being methodical. We suggested that you go back to the most basic operation first, no band control of mixes and just the iPod docked with the mixer and no ext. router. If that worked without technical issues THEN add one iPod on one monitor mix with router and see if the system remains stable.

 

If you remember, you were blaming Mackie and the mixer but most of us senior guys were struggling to get through to you that your troubleshooting was faulty and leading you down the wrong path. Please give us more credit than you appear to be giving us. Yes, you do have a lot to learn but you won't recognize this until you take a step back and listen to senior member's reason.

[ChiroVette]

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StratGuy22 wrote:

Hey man. It's GREAT to hear you are making so e headway! Simplifying down to 2 iPads sounds like it's helped. Kudos for the good response from the audience etc.

 

Good to hear most of the system is starting to play nice, it sounds like you are definitely making some headway. With a whole new setup it will take a bit if time to get used to everything. Have you checked all your mic cables? Maybe there's something wonky going on with one of the drummers cables.

 

+1 on a new router. Mine has been acting up, so I picked up a cheap D-Link for now. I think I'm going to go with the apple extreme airport (or whatever)

 

Baby steps man. It's good to hear the new bass player is on board, and realizes what you bring to the table. I'm sure you'll get it all worked out, and again, really glad to hear you are making some headway.

 

Keep us updated!

 

 

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Yep, it's all moving in the right direction, so we'll see what the Airport Express changes, if anything.

[agedhorse]

There is no reason to get angry at anyone or anything. If this is really an issue, you need to get over it, or it will bury you on a gig, and at the worst possible time.

 

You can believe my troubleshooting skills or not, but I have made a very good professional living this way for 35 years, troubleshooting very much the same thing you are experiencing for both the touring industry as well as manufacturers within this industry. I'm the guy the product support guys call when they are stumped.

[Ampli]

Hi been reading about your problem

U say without the drummer every thing works fine.

So the cause of your problem could be here.

Can it be that the drummers mics are to sensetive and pick up other instruments like the gitar. What are the differents in settings channels ,between your wedge and the crappy inear,

Did u try to swap the good sounding wedge with the crappy inear. So if the good wedge is on aux 1 and the bad inear on aux2 just swap the two jacks at the mixer. Dont change any setting! Does the wedge sound crappy then? Or still good. If still good the the problem could be the inear

Are al the inears the same? Mayby they interfere and cause some problem

Srange problem but there should be some kind of solution other then smashing the mixer!lol

 

[ChiroVette]

 

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agedhorse wrote:

 

There is no reason to get angry at anyone or anything. If this is really an issue, you need to get over it, or it will bury you on a gig, and at the worst possible time.

 

 

 

You can believe my troubleshooting skills or not, but I have made a very good professional living this way for 35 years, troubleshooting very much the same thing you are experiencing for both the touring industry as well as manufacturers within this industry. I'm the guy the product support guys call when they are stumped.

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I'm not angry at you. I was (but am no longer) angry at the situation, and knew that responding in this thread at that time was a bad idea. Nothing more complex than that.

It has nothing to do with your troubleshooting skills and me believing it or not. If you were here or at one of my gigs and, for whatever reason, wanted to go through whatever you needed to go through to help out, your efforts would have been more than welcome. For the record, the only thing I disagreed with was the contention by some that "I must be doing something wrong."

You know what? I wasn't, and I think I found the problem and it is narrowed down to either the router, mix, or both, BUT things have worked "well enough" that I was able to battle through with what I have and continue running everything.

If things completely didn't work, or the "sound" coming out of the front end was completely unacceptable, then I would have had no choice but to do it the way people here were suggesting. But then again, at that point, I would probably have paid a pro sound guy a few hundred dollars to come down to a show and figure the giant mess out.

But with what I was getting from the system and the band, I was able to do it myself, at least  so far. Last show (thanks to my admittedly limited troubleshooting skills) was the best show so far with the new gear. I expect the next one to be even better. Actually, the one after that. We are playing next Saturday, but it is in a really weird bar/restaurant in Glen Cove and the owner is a wack job. Basically, the rule is that we are supposed to start playing at 10:30PM (or whenever) but as long as there is even ONE PERSON in the restaurant, we are prohibited from bringing gear in and/or setting up anything until 10:00 PM. So basically the entire band has a half hour to set up, including PA. So to make things simple, I am leaving the subs home, only bringing wedge monitors and the two 612m's on sticks and the side fill lights (the 2 4Bar tri's which take minutes to set up) and will just use the PA for vocals only.

So when I say "next gig" I mean the one after that. Look, as long as things are moving in the right direction, I have gotten rid of the main irritant in an assholic musician who was a huge pain in my ass not only during this time, but long before, and the band is sounding great to venue owners and patrons, I don't mind struggling through this time.

You know what else? Worse comes to worse, the places we are playing in over the next couple of months are small enough, that even if crap really started to go south, I can just do vocals only and let the stage volume carry the instruments. I have options, and I am learning on the job and admittedly under fire. So what's the down side to having done things my way?

I have NOT ONCE failed to put on a show that while I may consider crap, nobody in the audience or the clubs did. I make sure to get to the clubs early enough so I can set uip everything with the contingency that if I can't get "everything" to work, I can start stripping things down one at a time, until I can get it to work. So last gig, the ONLY glitch was one output (this was Aux 4 to the rhythm guitarist's IEM) did not function as expected, so I put a wedge in front of him and was done with it. If none of the IEM's worked, I was prepared to ditch them all, scavenge the old wedges from the backline, and use them for the singers who need to hear themselves. If THAT didn't work, hell, I would have simply played the gig without monitors, which I have done before MANY TIMES. Not ideal, but its doable if the stage volume is lower. If that didn't work, I had a backup analog mixer in the car that I was prepared to toss in instead of the DL1608.

Look, at that point, if I can't get anything to work, then I am screwed. But I had enough alternate plans that whatever happened, within reason, I would be able to put on a show, and that is how I am approaching all my shows since then. Other than that, there isn't a lot more I can do other than not play the gig.

[agedhorse]

Were the mixes controllable from the docked iPad?