Toggle phantom power

[Dave Meadowcroft]

Is there a quick way to toggle phantom power off on all connected input sockets?
Hot patching before/after a show with phantom on is never a good idea and it would be good to disable it temporarily and then re-enable on the relevant inputs after patching. Individually pressing and holding is far too long winded after a gig!

If not, I’ll add to feature requests – a soft key that overrides the channel settings for phantom so it becomes an intelligent channel aware toggle.

[nottooloud]

What’s the danger?

[tourtelot]

“What’s the danger?”

Some say there is, even to the newest dynamics and condensers. Some say there isn’t.

It is quite a jarring jolt to plug a mic into an input with active P48 I would think but is it softer with pushing the button? Unknown to me. I used to never concern myself with it as a problem, but my boss and mentor insists on never hot-patching a mic and I have taken up the habit.

All this and $4.98 will buy you a Starbuck.

D.

[Dave Meadowcroft]

I’ve just had a second input on my GX4816 lose around 13dB and go a little noisy – my tech is sure it’s caused by ‘hot plugging’. The two inputs are both ones that normally have phantom on.

It’s a quick, easy fix to swap out the op-amp (it’s one side of a dual that goes), but I’d rather avoid it if possible.

[nottooloud]

You’d have to drain the caps somehow, no? I don’t know about SQ specifically, but on systems with a global phantom switch, the voltage doesn’t just disappear instantly.

[Dave Meadowcroft]

True about the caps, but the mic, still connected after toggling off, should drain those in a few seconds at most.

[Tom]

After the show last night I just pulled the power cable from my DT168 stagebox before plugging out the mics.
This is very quick but makes sense only after the show of course.

I’m not at the console right now, but played around in SQ MixPad..
You can add a scene to your show with phantom power turned off on all input sockets, and scene recall filters for that scene that block everything but the preamps:

• Input/FX … Preamp
• Mix/Main .. Ext In Preamp
• Mix/Matrix .. Ext In Preamp
• Other/Input Sockets .. Tie Line Only Preamps

Then assign a softkey to recall that scene, and e.g. one to “Scene Previous” for getting back the scene with phantom powers on.

The problem is this might only work with consistent patching. If your scenes change the patching of input sockets I think this would not work.

A “global phantom power on/off” feature like in some analog consoles would be great in the situations you described.

[SteffenR]

There is no global switch needed.

[Tobi]

mmh… always a pleasure to see how people know what other people need…

[Dave Meadowcroft]

There is no global switch needed.

Do you have an alternative solution that you might like to share Steffen?

[MarkPAman]

Workaround:

Save the scene – recall another with no phantom – patch as much as you like – recall the scene you want.

[Dave Meadowcroft]

Thanks Mark.

I had thought of that, but I need to check it will turn it off on all connected sockets. I’m not sure but I think it will just do those currently assigned to inputs. If an input from a previous show/scene has phantom left on, but the new show/scene doesn’t patch that socket to an input then it may get left on.

I’ll test this weekend.
A global override toggle (on sockets where it’s on) or ‘kill phantom’ so a scene reload is required to turn it back on would be easier – but happy to use any workaround!

[Dave Meadowcroft]

So tonight at a rehearsal I had another socket exhibit the same problem, this time on a DX168 that I use to drop on stage for support bands. Again, a socket that normally has phantom power applied as it’s generally used for a SDC for an overhead.

This is a problem. 3 sockets now gone faulty on boxes that, let’s be honest, are pretty expensive pieces of kit.

Love the desk and the GX/DX boxes sound amazing, but this is getting very worrying!

[Dean]

I have an input socket on my SQ5 that is exhibiting the same problem as of a month ago. The gain has to be cranked up more than 20db to match other sockets, making it noisy and therefore unusable. Could this be from unplugging a phantom powered channel? Sounds like a design flaw.

End of gig has me muting all channels, unplugging all inputs and outputs (singers and musicians are anxious to get out of there!) then powering down. Powering down requires all outputs to be disconnected (or all speakers and amps off) to avoid horrible noise blast generated by the SQ.

I also have frequent situations where changes need to be made on the fly with mics being plugged in and out in the middle of a live job. Does this mean I have to remember to check phantom power each time this needs to happen? That would be a PITA and tough to remember in the heat of it.

Dean

[tourtelot]

“Does this mean I have to remember to check phantom power each time this needs to happen?”

Well, I think I have been clear in my opinion on that question.

If I can, I will power off P48 before I unplug a mic, any mic. And I try and always plug the mic in before I power up (mostly just by powering up or down the panel). But if I forget, or turning off P48 isn’t practical in the moment, I have little fear about hot patching my mics. Just a matter of risk/reward and my current (sorry!) path works for me.

D.

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