[abstractnoiseParticipant]

To add some details:

2) FOH hears solo audio that’s fed to the surface over the CAT5 cable along with the control signals and other local audio input/output on the desk. So you can plug in a CD player etc at FOH, or take recordings/local aux feeds from it. We do this all the time and it works flawlessly and sounds great.

4) You could use PL remotes, but a laptop running the iLive editor over WiFi or even a dedicated CAT5 cable will be just fine. We do this for more advanced setups and it’s worked out just fine.

5) Lose the MixWizard and you’ll make life much easier and cleaner. If you carry separate FOH/Mons engineers, feel free to use two surfaces, or just one surface at FOH and give Mons engineer a laptop as described above.

Our iLive has been a real asset, allowing us to run all processing and FX in the board, as well as limiting/EQ/basic crossovers on matrix outputs to manage the system. Learning our way around the system took about a day from a “design and admin” perspective, with most users just needing assistance for the first soundcheck or two to find their way around.

Enjoy!

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

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

I keep a pair of Sennheiser HD25’s for live use. I’ve enjoyed using the HD25SP’s when money’s tight too. There are many “better” or “preferable” solutions out there but I find they tend to be overkill, given that in live mixing I only ever use headphones for signal-checking when a channel goes quiet or faulty, or for checking that a recorder is getting the correct feed without distortion. Not exactly critical, in my experience.

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

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Wooo! Looking forward to giving the new software a go.

Meanwhile – is there any more detailed explanation someone can offer about that speaker matrix thang you’ve put together? Looks intriguing. What’s the idea behind it, and what applications will it be most useful, in your eyes?

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

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

I think those units have SPDIF optical outputs – so you could conceivably convert that to SPDIF electrical with an adaptor and bring it in to the SPDIF in’s on the back of the control surface if you wanted to go that route. Depending how you want your WiFi set up this might be counterproductive.

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

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

You raise some good points in the presentation, but I agree with others here that the content is too complex for the average church member. Keep it to 10 slides or less and don’t too much text/prose in the slides. I would use them as reminders or illustrations, keeping the prose for either for my spoken narration, or to keep on hand as answers to specific questions once I’m done with the presentation.

Our church council is much less interested in fine detail, and most interested in the overview of what we’re struggling with and how what we’re asking for (be it money for new gear, or a new staff member) will solve them. Technology is a difficult area in that we do not want to be the tail that wags the dog, so to speak. This makes “thought leadership” or “provision for the future” a pair of very difficult concepts to get a church to follow along with.

Also – don’t present the computer control option unless you’re really prepared to operate your live system that way. When the powers that be see that a computer costs $1000 or less, and the surface costs $3000 or more, I fear they’ll likely force you down the cheaper route without understanding what that means for those using it.

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

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Okay – so unlike with previous swaps I’ve had to do, this time around the new desk arrived, I archived the show from the main desk and imported it to the new one. And all the “little things” I was referring to came with it.

Looks like this one’s solved then…

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

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Yup, I’d second those…

Work web: https://www.allsouls.org
Home web: https://abstractnoise.wordpress.com

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Thanks Sam.

Just wanted to update this to say that on our setup the 1.71 firmware has sped things up a little, but not enough to satisfy some by the sounds of things. Anything you can do to help with this in 1.8 would be great!

Work web: https://www.allsouls.org
Home web: https://abstractnoise.wordpress.com

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Interesting thought. I like it the way it is, as the HPF is usually separate to any EQ, and EQ can still make a difference even if it’s acting on something below the HPF threshold frequency. On the other hand, some of my guys would find it easier to understand what’s going on if it were made a part of the yellow EQ curve.

I smell another switchable preference request coming on…

Work web: https://www.allsouls.org
Home web: https://abstractnoise.wordpress.com

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

The problem comes if someone has just selected something on “channel 1” of Layer B, then switched to layer A. They then unmute a vox mic and hit the EQ, forgetting that they needed to change the selection first. Why not have an option to deselect the last channel when they left its layer? Even if nothing else is selected, at least the blank EQ LED’s will be an indicator to select something – much more intuitive for at least half my team!

Well, for me, it’s not a problem to have everything available as it comes out of the box. It’s quite easy for me to “know” that I need to select a channel before changing anything. But that logic doesn’t always work in the brains of new users, who would find it un-necessary, or get confused when the hit the select button anyway and then find they’ve actually deselected the channel in error.

Some users of our board have never mixed sound before, and likely never will do again once they leave employment with us in a year or so’s time. The iLive has been a wonderful and safe platform for them to learn and work on, but of course anything I can do to help make things easier/less confusing/less error-prone for them is a Good Thing™. If *I* make the mistake then I know enough about how to get myself out of the hole. Not everyone does, and we “pro’s” would do well to remember it and adjust our attitudes/expectations accordingly.

Work web: https://www.allsouls.org
Home web: https://abstractnoise.wordpress.com

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Hmmm™

So I have had the desk sent of for repair and it’s come back with a new PSU and a new Bank 2 Layer switch PCB. The problem’s still there… Think I’ll try for a firmware upgrade to 1.71 to see if that cures it (not that the temporary replacement desk running 1.70 had the same issues, but worth a thought anyway). If that doesn’t cure it, I’ll try a complete rebuild of the show file in case something corrupted there. I *really* don’t want the hassle of having the desk sent off for repair a second time, and all that entails for us all!

Take it nobody else has seen this issue at all?

Work web: https://www.allsouls.org
Home web: https://abstractnoise.wordpress.com

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Any chance of a similar kit being sold for T-series desks anytime soon?

“A computer once beat me at chess. It was no match for me at kickboxing.”
-unknown.

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

Grrr. It’s gone from doing it once in every 3 weeks or so, to twice today, both at rather crucial times. Managed to clear it earlier today by pressing one of the scene buttons on the bottom right of the desk – no idea which it actually was as they’re all disabled in mix pref’s. Just wondered if it could have been a sticky button, so I went through each one in turn until I was left with the scene buttons. Went through them in turn, no effect. Then a couple of seconds later it responded again.

*Live update:* Just pressed layer C button harder than usual and the switching came back to life. Let’s see if that repeats itself…

“A computer once beat me at chess. It was no match for me at kickboxing.”
-unknown.

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

@sraymond – yup, that’ll work, but burns output busses I’d really rather keep for Aux sends.

“A computer once beat me at chess. It was no match for me at kickboxing.”
-unknown.

[abstractnoiseParticipant]

I can understand why so many find it objectionable, but ours has yet to be a problem in the real world. What can be a problem is the squealing of the PSU – anyone else found this?

“A computer once beat me at chess. It was no match for me at kickboxing.”
-unknown.

[Author]

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