[MichaelParticipant]

Thanks Nicola, I figured it out today.

When I connected only the surface to the network and activated DHCP on the surface, it all worked marvelously. It seems that while both the MixRack and Surface have network settings pages, it is important to activate DHCP on only the device that is directly connected to the local network?

Could some of this be added to the network section of the getting started and/or firmware reference guide(s)? Especially the risk of a network ring with GigaAce bridging? Or am I missing the existing documentation somewhere?

It can be very disconcerting to mess this up and frantically figure out how to get the MixRack to boot up. I can’t remember if the network reset button was documented or if I just managed to muddle through it, but the lack of the reassuring startup click/phantom LEDs on the MixRack nearly gave me a heart attack the first time it happened.

[MichaelParticipant]

Like Yacob, I plugged my Mixrack and dLive on to a network and they were both unable to connect to each other.

I had use the physical reset button on the Mixrack to resolve the issue and I haven’t tried it since. It seems strange to me that a network issue could take out the GigaAce direct connection between the two devices.

It’s maybe/probably a DCHP / IP assignment issue, but heck if I can find the MAC address on the devices themselves. A networking guide could be a great idea. (P.S. Shouldn’t the GigaAce work regardless of the broader networking situation? It’s a point-to-point direct connection. Is the dLive’s reliability inextricably linked to network reliability – even with a direct point-to-point GigaAce connection that is physically separate (but evidently not logically separate) from the network ports? Doesn’t seem like a graceful failure mode.

I’m sure I can solve it with sufficient motivation and trial-and-error, but it’s perhaps harder than it needs to be with the current lack of documentation in the Firmware Reference Guide.

-michael

[MichaelParticipant]

No problem! An interesting feature of the ME-1 units is that they can receive audio from an Aviom A-NET 16 source, so you could replace your Avioms with ME-1s, even prior to purchasing the ME-U hub and switching over to the Allen & Heath ME Protocol. We ended up replacing the Avioms in batches as they neared the end of their life. Then we added the ME-U for POE, and finally upgraded to the dLive which gave us the full 40 channels.

Very flexible!

[MichaelParticipant]

No problem! When we were considering the purchase of the S5000, we had initially been leery of the lack of physical MIDI ports, but we are very glad MIDI support is implemented. 🙂

[MichaelParticipant]

Hi Soundguy1600,

Depending on which Aviom hardware generation they’re on, another option would be to use the Aviom AN-16i with 16 analog outs (direct outs, groups, whatever you like) from the stage rack. Note: this inserts a D/A and A/D step unnecessarily.

This is what we did with our old digital console until we migrated completely to ME-1s, since we had the AN-16i already. We had migrated to ME-1s completely (using the AN-16i as the input to the ME-U) before upgrading to the dLive. You’re coming at if from the other approach, but it should still work.

Either way you’re buying hardware for an interim use. The question will be what gets you the most long-term utility at the most appropriate price. A Dante card is a great thing to have.

-michael

[MichaelParticipant]

Hi Friddi,

Have you seen this post on the TCP/IP Midi implementation? I’m on Mac, so I’m not sure if A&H have since updated it to be compatible with Win environments.

[MichaelParticipant]

Hi German,

Any source can be patched to any input channel. Then, any pair of odd/even channels can be made stereo. (Please see page 26 of the manual for more on patching.) You could for example, patch the first two inputs of the surface to channel 1 & 2, and then pair them stereo. You could then place those two channels as a stereo single fader strip anywhere you like on the surface.

You can absolutely set surface sockets to form a stereo pair, just as you can from the mixrack.

[MichaelParticipant]

Hi GerMan,

If you’re looking to combine channels outside of stereos and gangs, would DCAs or Groups do the trick? (Manual page 32).

[MichaelParticipant]

So:

Short press on a layer button makes just that bank switch to that layer.
Long press on a layer button makes all banks switch to that layer.

Is that a correct summation?

[MichaelParticipant]

Interesting! I don’t follow the audio networking world that closely, but today I learned that Dante has pin-based lock/unlock capabilities for crosspoint subscriptions at a device level. Neat! Thanks for the heads up, ddf_lv.

So far the dLive is our only Dante-enabled device (aside from PCs). Is this widely implemented yet in OEM equipment?

[MichaelParticipant]

The new “peak hold” and attack/release options for metering ballistics are welcome additions to the metering side of things! Nice to see this in Firmware 1.2!

Thanks A&H. 🙂

[MichaelParticipant]

No problem! One caveat to note is that “Ext In” is only available on mixes (groups, FX, auxes, matrices, main mix, etc), not on input channels.

[MichaelParticipant]

Thinking about this some more, you may also be able to use the “Ext In” feature of the channel strip. If your DAW doesn’t monitor each channel live, you could set the relevant monitor return path to the “Ext In” on each input channel, which would sum it with the recording input. You wouldn’t have independent control of each path though, but this could let you switch between recording and playback modes.

If the monitor path and recording path will never pass the same audio at the same time, this could work. If, however, your DAW monitors the audio live as it is recording and passes that back to the “Ext In”, than this would instead be a recipe for instant feedback.

[MichaelParticipant]

A DCA acts like a remote control for the channels that are assigned to it. No audio passes through a DCA, so when you mute the DCA, it’s basically just muting the drum channels on your behalf. When you move the DCA fader, it likewise is virtually adjusting the the faders of its constituent channels proportionally.

According the block diagram on page 85 of the Firmware Reference Guide, auxes can be pre- or post-fader, but always follow the channel/DCA mutes.

So: assign your drums to a group instead of a DCA. Unroute your drums from the main mix, and instead put the drums in a drum group and route that drum group to the main mix. Then you can mute the drum group without muting the drums themselves. You can also apply some processing to the drum group, like applying some bus compression to glue them together and ensure nothing sticks out too much from the kit.

I don’t sell audio equipment or work for A&H and I have no commercial interest in saying this: Perhaps consider replacing your Avioms with a system like the Allen & Heath ME-U & ME-1s. You can assign up to 40 channels directly to the mixers, and place your drums in a group on the personal mixers. Then each musician can control each drum individually, and/or the drum group as a whole. (Bass player needs kick to lock-in on the groove. Singers need more snare and hi-hat for rhythm.)

When using the full system, each channel on the ME-1s will inherit the names of channels automatically from the dLive. We use post-EQ direct outs from the dLive to our mixers and it works very well for the musicians. We moved from a 16-channel Aviom system and it’s just no contest. If you can’t afford it in one go, the ME-1 personal mixers will work with an Aviom A-net system (albeit limited to the Aviom’s 16 channels), so you can start retrofitting your Avioms with ME-1s, and buy the ME-U brain later to get the full 40 channels digitally from the mixrack and skip the digital-to-analog-to-digital conversion of the An-16.

[MichaelParticipant]

I’m an android user through and through when it comes to mobile phones, but when it comes to tablets, Apple is still king from a hardware perspective. (Don’t get me started on the closed ecosystem, though.)

I would be very happy to mix on an iPad.

[Author]

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