Topic: Minijacks and DI’s begone! | Allen & Heath Digital Community

Minijacks and DI’s begone!

This topic contains 11 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Mr-B 12 years, 9 months ago.

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2011/07/01 at 7:27 am #22855

scruffyd
Participant

Something wonderful just occurred to me that I will try out at the first opportunity. But perhaps someone here has tested it already.

If anyone here is used to corporate events, then you will be familiar with situations where the client needs audio output from x number of laptops situated both on stage and near FOH. Often connected to a VGA cable at the same time. If its a mac the VGA/minijack combo is almost a hum guarantee. So each laptop equals two transformer isolated DI boxes, two XLR cables, and ,more often than not, an unreliable minijack to phono/tsr/xlr cable.

Well, with a Dante card installed one coud simply install DVS (7day version) on each laptop and all you would need is a gigabit switch and some network cables. Two channels of audio coming from each laptop over Dante is negligable.

Has anyone tried this? It sounds too good to be true [:p]

IDR32
Dante card
Macbook pro 17
Aiport express

2011/07/01 at 1:06 pm #28700

abstractnoise
Participant

USB DI with generic interface, such as those sold by ARX, is a much simpler solution!

We use them all the time on Windows and Mac laptops here for situations like yours and not had a problem yet. Transformer/DI functionality built-in, and sounds a lot cleaner too. We either use a Y-split cable to join L&R outputs into one mono XLR run, or just a pair of XLR out to the IDR. 2-way multicore cables are out there too, which might keep things neater.

Work web: https://www.allsouls.org
Home web: https://abstractnoise.co.uk

2011/07/01 at 1:43 pm #28701

Lieven-Dewispelaere
Participant

I would not won’t to install something on someones corporate laptop. Way to risky if it crashes.[]
The usb I/O is the best solution. No need to install a usb driver also.

Lieven

T112/IDR48/R72/IDR16/xDR16/IPad1
Save a tree, eat a beaver

2011/07/01 at 2:12 pm #28703

Biggsounds
Participant

Agreed, and the limitations on DVC in terms of what will travel down the line are too restrictive (I haven’t had any luck with Windows Media Player or iTunes), the ARX boxes are a great bit of kit, but for even less money the ART USB dual pre works a treat too!

iDR32 mixrack
MixRack for iPad & Tweak for iPhone apps
Asus N61 Laptop (x2 wireless)
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
with Belkin PlayMax N600 HD router
Sennheiser IEM (for PFL)
Dante card

2011/07/01 at 3:51 pm #28708

scruffyd
Participant

Ah, I reach too far. My goal is to have IDR stageside and run everything between stage and FOH over Cat cable. Hence the desire to eliminate any regular audio connections on the FOH side. I have no analog IO on that side and would love to keep it that way. Otherwise the Arx would indeed be a great solution.

Lieven you have a point about installing on someone elses laptop, although most of the laptops tend to be macbook pros from the event company I work for.

Biggsounds, I am saddened to hear that windows system audio is not playing well with DVS, any experience with systemaudio on mac?

IDR32
Dante card
Macbook pro 17
Aiport express

2011/07/01 at 4:09 pm #28710

Biggsounds
Participant

Sorry I’m not a Mac person so I can’t comment on media players – one compromise may be a stereo USB interface as mentioned above on both the client PC & yours, run out of one into the other, THEN tunnel the audio down DVC (and an appropriate ASIO compatible program) to your iDR rack… convoluted I know, but probably still cleaner than the old way!

iDR32 mixrack
MixRack for iPad & Tweak for iPhone apps
Asus N61 Laptop (x2 wireless)
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
with Belkin PlayMax N600 HD router
Sennheiser IEM (for PFL)
Dante card

2011/07/01 at 4:58 pm #28712

scruffyd
Participant

That sounds a lot cleaner yes! Thanks for your input people. This is a great place to be!

IDR32
Dante card
Macbook pro 17
Ipad2 + mixpad
Aiport express

2011/07/02 at 11:26 pm #28717

tcacfoh
Participant

What brand/model of USB i/o (DI)are you using?

T112/iDR48

The Church At Covington Front Of House

2011/07/03 at 7:56 am #28719

Biggsounds
Participant

I’ve found the ART USB dual pre to be quite good (and plug and play so no hassles to use with other people’s computers!).

iDR32 mixrack
MixRack for iPad & Tweak for iPhone apps
Asus N61 Laptop (x2 wireless)
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
with Belkin PlayMax N600 HD router
Sennheiser IEM (for PFL)
Dante card

2011/07/03 at 6:05 pm #28726

Mr-B
Participant

Ah dear old Radial engineering for me on that score, if all else fails you can use the Di box to beat the client into submission as they are made from old Panzer Tanks I feel sure.[}]

Mr B.

2011/07/03 at 11:40 pm #28728

Biggsounds
Participant

Radial is best for sure, but expensive here!

iDR32 mixrack
MixRack for iPad & Tweak for iPhone apps
Asus N61 Laptop (x2 wireless)
Windows 7 Pro 64bit
with Belkin PlayMax N600 HD router
Sennheiser IEM (for PFL)
Dante card

2011/07/04 at 6:17 pm #28730

Mr-B
Participant

Sadly Biggsounds, Radial seem to be expensive everywhere which is a shame, still I guess you get what you pay for and I have not managed to break one yet.[]
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