Recalling gains to channels after softpatching inputs

[M Van HoutenParticipant]

On the Flip side…
In the event I am the festival monitor engineer and the patch is 1:1 for every act, I would be using the same generic file and softpatching inputs to align ports to channels.

This means every act I would be losing gains and having to reset just to get back to my original starting point.

A simple recall gains from channels would mean that it doesn’t matter what ports the channels come to me on, I can easily start with my desired gain structure every time a new act comes on and the patch is different.

[M Van HoutenParticipant]

Further to the Touring FOH engineer with an existing Show file…

If the Show file is built with Mixrack “local inputs” and then agrees to use a DM0 based setup, the stage rack would have to come in via an IO card slot meaning a soft patch is required and once again gains are missing.
Being able to library gain values on-mass would mean switching between various incarnations of the IO eco system (eg. today we’re going to us DX boxes etc) would be quicker and easier.

The CSV file (via director) in Avantis while not console/library based seems like a potential work-around as far as I can tell it’s also not yet available as a function on D-live

[KanarieVinkParticipant]

Being able to library gain values on-mass would mean switching between various incarnations of the IO eco system (eg. today we’re going to us DX boxes etc) would be quicker and easier.

Agree on the above. The eco system asks for possibility to store gains.

[ChrisParticipant]

Thanks for your clarification. I do understand your predicament, but I also understand from a manufacturer standpoint, the solution you are asking for seems to be somewhat unique and therefore developing a solution for a rare situation becomes an economic decision. I have never worked in an environment where no matter what show I was doing, or where I was, that the levels coming to me were always the same and never changing. Due to vocal status, player exuberance, even temperature and atmosphere has always caused me to need to adjust gains, even if it was the same venue same act but different day. I guess unless all of my sources were coming from say a synth or something that doesn’t rely on any acoustic/analog input somewhere in the chain.

I sympathize with your situation. I see you added a post in the feature suggestion. I hope they implement it.

[M Van HoutenParticipant]

We’re not talking about little touch-ups to gain structure though. Obviously day to day we all make changes as the show progresses, but touring a mic kit for consistency is one of the first steps a touring band engineer makes.
Completely resetting 40 odd channels of gain structure going into a festival where you only have limited time to line-check and go it far from ideal.

It’s not an overly unique issue, every other console in the pro market has a way of doing this (historically this issue was one of the shortfalls of the PM5D). As a System tech having the patch/recall conversion is a very common issue to overcome when walking in and using supplied consoles

From a touring engineer’s perspective it can be the difference between someone saying “sure, we can work with that”, or “no thanks we’ll have the console on our spec”, which means from a PA company’s inventory perspective it means sticking to the consoles appearing more commonly on riders.

It would be great to see D/Live make the transition from a console that people bring them selves in a self contained package to a console that’s well used and commonly accepted as a house board to walk in and mix on.

[DylanParticipant]

“It would be great to see D/Live make the transition from a console that people bring them selves in a self contained package to a console that’s well used and commonly accepted as a house board to walk in and mix on.”
I agree with M Van Houten
Dlive is becoming popular in Australia and slowly becoming an install favourite.
To jump the next hurdle amongst the Avid and Digico competition at festivals and installs
to easily recall “preamps only” after a soft patch will be a game changer!

[Matthew MixesParticipant]

+1 bump to this thread.

The Everything IO ecosystem definitely needs this as an option. Today, I was trying to switch a showfile with everything sourced from a DM48 to 3x DX168’s. I tried saving a preamp only scene with the mixrack and recalling it once softpatched and… nothing. Ended up having to just write everything down and manually input which just seems like a waste of time when these consoles have FPGA chips and 800+ routing paths.

Not sure the best way to do this? Maybe a global input preamp store and recall in the utility section that does a snapshot of all 128 input channel settings.

[riyaParticipant]

Certainly! “Seeking a solution to retain original preamp values after soft-patching a file to adapt to a new input patch. Explored global safe and recall filtering between scenes without success.

[Julian TinaoParticipant]

This is old. But I support this isue, what M Van Houten says is relatable. And the solution is really simple ( the fact he could solve the issue using an excel sheet proves that, but he sould not need to do all that for such a simple matter).
The solution is really simple, in the recall safes there should be two different buttons, one for “pre amp patch” and other for “gain”.
Obviously when you change patch, the gain value will move with the pre amp.
But in a festival situation, you could recall your scene, move the patch to the festival patch, put a recall safe just for the “patch” (not the gain value), and recall the scene again. Now the patch will stay the same, but the gain per channel will be recalled.
Most of the times in a festival situation, you use the “same preamp type” you used in your scene, but just in a different channel order, so being able to do this is really helpful, and can even be a life saver if have almost cero sound check time …

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