Connecting two Avantis' to two stage boxes

[layertheverbParticipant]

Hello all,

I am looking at putting together a system where we have TWO Avantis consoles(FOH and Monitors) as well as TWO GX4816 stage box(I/O expander). How would I be able to make this happen? We need the full 64 inputs, and we also need at least 24 mix buses(for monitors and broadcast and various other needs). Would like to have the hardware to add more on the fly if needed.

Alternatively would it work to purchase a CDM64 and GigaAce Cards for both consoles. Would this work for two Avantis’ like it would for a Dlive system with two c3500s?

I would go full Dlive, but that would be $15k more in all likelihood. And that is with a C1500 at mons, which gives very few faders to work with.

Thanks!!

[SteffenRParticipant]

2 GX4816 in one system do not work the easy way…could be tricky…

1 GX4816, 1x DX168 and a GigaACE Card for split would work with two Avantis consoles

the dLive mixrack makes no sense in here
you have no remote control from the Avantis to the dLive

[BrianParticipant]

The best way is to get advice like this is to talk to Allen and Heath directly.

That being said, here is my best guess on how to make it work (but I’m not sure if it will really work or not):
– FOH Avantis connected to a GX4816 via S-link
– Monitor Avantis connected to a GX4816 via S-link

Then you have to connect the two consoles together. The S-link port is already taken so you will have to add an I/O card to each console. The cheapest is probably the Giga-ace card, but you could also use Dante (probably the 128×128 card is best here to ensure you have the capacity to pass channels and multi-track record or process effects, etc) or a Waves card to pass the audio channels between boards. In theory (or at least in my head) this should allow the two consoles access to all 96 channels available in the GX4816. Of course you can only mix 64 at a time at each desk and you will need to take care in patching these channels at each desk since it will be a mix of slink and i/o connections at each desk (and opposite at each desk – so a slink connection at FOH will be a I/O connection at monitors and vice versa).

[BrianParticipant]

PS – according to the Allen and Heath website, up to three GX4816 can be added to the Avantis system. So it should be possible to connect both GX4816 to one console and then send all of the channels over to the second console via the I/O card. This will make patching and routing much easier and consistent although it might take another I/O card to be installed in one console to handle the second GX4816. It might be more economical to hang a DX168 or two off the GX4816 (like Steffen suggested) to get your channel count where it needs to be.

[SteffenRParticipant]

to connect more than one GX to an Avantis there is a gigaACE card/SLink port needed for every connection

1. GX connects to SLink
2. GX connects to a gigaACE in Port 1
3. GX connects to a gigaACE in Port 2

then there is no connection left for the split

[conradParticipant]

Sure you can do it.
You can either add one gigaACE card to each console as Brian suggested and connect one GX4816 to each desk using either the SLink card or a gigaACE card (they both support GX) and then connect the desks together using the other card, or you could add two gigaACE cards to one of the consoles and connect the two GX4816s to those two and connect the consoles via the SLink cards.
It all depends on where you want your IO to be located.
You can expand either setup even further if required by daisy chaining up to four DX168s to each GX4816 (two to each DX port), or only use one of the DX ports if you want to use the DX2 port for an ME system.
In the second scenario, however, if using extra DX168s you may find that you run out of channels on the desk to desk link as that only provides 128 each way and you could end up with 238 inputs at the heavy end.
Probably better to split the IO evenly at each end if possible.

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