Guidance Required.

[via]

I now own a CTi1500 + CDM48 Dlive. While the CTi1500 looks great, is light and compact. I am considering upgrading to either the C2500 or the C3500. As the increased number of Faders, would give me more flexibility.

Considering the Price Difference between the C2500 & C3500 (Approx. $5000). Does the 2nd Display make a huge difference in the Operating of the console?.
I have never used a Console with 2 Displays, I never had a problem with the QU or SQ.
But at times, some of the visiting bands have their own sound engineer and they insist for Dual Display. So was wondering if the $5000 is worth it.

[Erik]

As someone who’s used C1500 and S5000 both as house consoles and on tours – I’d say it boils down to your use case.

If you’re mostly on one band/setup, you can dial the 1500 to suit your needs and be pretty quick with the one screen. BUT – that’s after the initial setup and dialing in process.
If it’s a house rig the extra screen is VERY valuable, as you’ll likely be messing with PEQ, Comps, Routing and Scene Management on a nightly basis. Still easily doable on the C1500, just takes that little bit longer.

For *ME*, the S3000 is a better bet than either the C2500/3500 because of the dedicated encoders for HA, HPF, PEQ, comp, Gate, etc.

Bottom line, the extra screen is nice, but you don’t get extra knobs/buttons.
So is ONLY the screen (and fader count) worth the cost? only *YOU* can answer this for yourself.

[msteel]

Don’t forget the VGA output. It might be an in-between option for you.

I have not used anything except the C2500, but we do have one set up with a regular VGA monitor, keyboard, and mouse. That requires a USB hub since there is only the one real USB port. It doesn’t seem like it is as nice as the built in screen with its dedicated knobs would be. The VGA output requires a reboot to change views, which is inflexible.

But, since you have the C1500, give it a try and see how you like it.

[Dave]

Wait, what? When did the surface start needing a reboot to change views? Is this an S vs C thing?

[via]

Thank you all for your valuable guidance. I will give VGA a try and respond back.

[msteel]

Sorry, not a reboot in the strict sense of the word. I think my original thought was along the lines of “requires something like a reboot,” which got edited too many times before posting.

The big deal is that even the internal screen (at least on my C2500) becomes unusable while the change is being applied, and it takes enough seconds that I would think hard about changing it during a show.

[Brian]

Also, don’t forget that you can set up a device running DLive Director to provide a “second screen” if you are using a surface with only one screen. Obviously this requires more hardware (computer & touchscreen for example), but it is certainly much less expensive than “upgrading” to a two screen surface.

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