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Crystal Ball: what does the future hold?


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I think you lack imagination. Either that, or you think Behringer is moving far fewer units than I do. :)

 

Behringer is already making $300 control surfaces with motorized faders. I think the first company that makes a really nice $500 control surface that works with Behringer/MIDAS as well as Mackie DL and other competitors will have a winner on their hands. Add a transport also talk to ProTools, Ableton Live, and DMX and you will really see a product walk off the shelves.

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Look how relatively quickly AX FX style guitar processors became mainstream. Not long ago digital processsing wasn't up to the standard of caps, tubes, transformers, point to point, blah blah blah.

 

They're still way expensive, but now mainstream in performance and reliability.

 

They have yet to replace the afore mentioned tubes, caps, etc.. and probably never will.

 

PA on the other hand...

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How about a really "outside the box" idea? Get rid of all speakers. Amps, monitors, mains, etc. Everything is wireless and digital. The audience listens to the sound thru their own personal IEMs. The sound is perfect in every way. No feedback, no reflections, no resonance in the room. The possibilities this opens up are even more out there. Raging rock shows could be put on anywhere. Venues could have multiple acts playing AT THE SAME TIME. Listeners simply tune in to whatever band they wish to hear. Talk about new meaning to Battle of the Bands. What about the ability for audience members to mix their own sound. Bands could literally have 3 drummers, 6 guitarists, 2 bass players, any number of vocalists all playing the same song and the audience/band can select what musicians they hear in their ears. We actually did something kinda like this using a Jamhub. A friend of ours showed up at one of our practices to check out the Jamhub. We plugged him in and he jammed along with us without any of us hearing anything he was playing. He had a blast. It would be a great way for say a backup drummer to learn the songs. Maybe in the distant future when we all have cell phones, heads-up displays, and speakers permanently mounted in our heads, ideas like this will be common.

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$300 surface - BCF2000. Has minimal hardware needed for mixer, hence we know the $500 price point I suggested is achievable.

 

Sweetwater is expecting delivery of some mixer-oriented control surfaces soon, too. X-Touch Compact is $400 and the X-Touch is $600.

 

Holy Crap. The X-Touch series also supports DAWs, HUI (whatever that is) and Mackie. Uli must be reading this forum.

 

All it needs now is a battery, a WiFi radio and the ability to control DMX too.

 

Wes

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A stack of subs vs IEM, lack of that "big sound" some people are looking for I suspect?!? :) Interesting concept though

Haven't you heard? The big bass trend is fading fast. Nobody wants to get their chests thumped anymore. By 2025 the new "in" thing will be treble. Lose the bass bins and load up on tweeters. As much ice picky sound as possible. It's so soothing. Forgotten pop artist Meghan Trainor will make a big come back with her new hits song "All about the treble".

 

 

 

 

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If you are concerned with motorized faders you have already been left behind. You have to think what the future looks like without faders (and without rotary controls too). Think "Minority Report"!

 

Yea I hear you Don and defer to your insider perspective as to what's on the near horizon at least. As you've said before, the tablet is a free interface for console manufacturers and I've no doubt that touchscreens of one flavor/size or another will very likely be a key part of any future UI development. Note that I've been a consistent vocal supporter of mixing from iPad from the beginning but then I go back to my normal venue with a physical FOH console and find myself at times with multiple fingers from both hands riding faders while watching the band -- something that is very hard to do sitting on a bar stool with an iPad between my legs and mixing with both thumbs While I'm not a long time sound guy (growing up on analog consoles) like most here I have spent a good bit of my life working with my hands and feel very comfortable with that sort of tactile control.

 

Hmmm...thinking... Maybe I need to try a stationary larger touch screen surface that I can put multiple fingers from both hands on just to see how that works in comparison. A friend here recently got a new Presonus 32 rack with a large touchscreen so I may get the chance to try that out. This may indeed be the future of surfaces but I just have trouble accepting that sliding my fingers on glass will allow me the same control as a physical fader bank. Of course I'd want my afore-mentioned mythical "laptop-like" hybrid surface to run on batteries and powering motorized faders would work against that solution as well.

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How about a really "outside the box" idea? Get rid of all speakers. Amps, monitors, mains, etc. Everything is wireless and digital. The audience listens to the sound thru their own personal IEMs. The sound is perfect in every way. No feedback, no reflections, no resonance in the room. The possibilities this opens up are even more out there. Raging rock shows could be put on anywhere. Venues could have multiple acts playing AT THE SAME TIME. Listeners simply tune in to whatever band they wish to hear. Talk about new meaning to Battle of the Bands. What about the ability for audience members to mix their own sound. Bands could literally have 3 drummers, 6 guitarists, 2 bass players, any number of vocalists all playing the same song and the audience/band can select what musicians they hear in their ears. We actually did something kinda like this using a Jamhub. A friend of ours showed up at one of our practices to check out the Jamhub. We plugged him in and he jammed along with us without any of us hearing anything he was playing. He had a blast. It would be a great way for say a backup drummer to learn the songs. Maybe in the distant future when we all have cell phones, heads-up displays, and speakers permanently mounted in our heads, ideas like this will be common.

 

No offense but why not just stay home and groove to YouTube? Your proposal sounds a lot like what I saw on the New York subways recently -- everyone grooving away in their own separate world. Just poking fun guy -- sorry -- no offense meant.

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We're only talking about the control surface here, and given the available technology a wireless control surface probably makes sense as far as the industry direction. It solves a multitude of very practical problems both in small scale and larger scale live sound situations. The issue is going to the be the form factor..or available real estate for being able to quickly and efficiently manage the variety of controls in a typical live sound situation. As tablets grow in size this may tend to resolve itself over time.

 

In the case of the Mackie implementation the choice of the iPad is a self limiting factor due to size limitations for larger and more complex live sound situations. But I suspect their target market is more likely a band playing in a bar that either works without a sound man, or want some stage control over the sound.

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No offense but why not just stay home and groove to YouTube? Your proposal sounds a lot like what I saw on the New York subways recently -- everyone grooving away in their own separate world. Just poking fun guy -- sorry -- no offense meant.
None taken. I get the sense that your crystal ball isn't looking as far ahead as mine and that's ok because this is just supposed to be fun thread right? Your comment about staying home and grooving IS going to be the future whether we like it or not. Advancements in virtual reality will eventually allow us to do many things just sitting on the couch. If going to school or the doctor "virtually" is on the horizon I'm sure that going to a rock concert or sporting event isn't that far off.
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