[MichaelParticipant]

Hi Dave,

If I understand your question correctly, you’re looking to be able to record audio from a channel strip to a track, and also playback/monitor that recorded/recording track back from that same channel strip?

The dLive is quite flexible. While I don’t know that it can do exactly what you’re asking, it can probably get quite close. Assuming a Dante-style multitrack setup, you could set up adjacent faders to be:

1 – Channel 1 Input (with tieline/direct out to Dante channel 1)
2 – Track 1 Return (return from Dante channel 1)
3 – Channel 2 Input (with tieline/direct out to Dante channel 2)
4 – Track 2 Return (return from Dante channel 2)
etc….

Bus your inputs to one mix and use that for monitoring your inputs. Bus your returns to a different mix. Or just PFL as you like and mix and match.

The dLive has very high channel counts, so bussing inputs to groups to tracks isn’t necessary from a channel count perspective.

(On direct outs vs. tielines: we use our dlive in a live application and use the direct outs for our ME-1 IEM system with a post-eq pick-off point. So we record to Dante using the dLive’s tielines, which are DSP-less and immediately post-pre-amp, and therefore great for recording raw, unprocessed audio for virtual soundcheck. Your application may be different, but the dLive allows you choice.)

The patchbay lets you be very flexible in routing sources. Perhaps others may have more creative solutions for emulating an inline mixer.

[MichaelParticipant]

Hi Brendon,

The Firmware Reference Guide can be a little hard to find at first since it doesn’t show up in the list of documentation for the surfaces or mixracks, but it has a wealth of information about operation of the console. Fortunately, once you are aware of its existence, it’s the first hit in a Google search for “dlive firmware reference“.

The block diagram on page 85 shows that aux mixes have a per-aux pick-off point selectable between: Post-Preamp, Post-Ins-A/(Pre-PEQ), Post-PEQ/(Pre-Dynamics) or Post-Delay. Then each source feeding the aux can additionally be set individually to pre-fade or post-fade. (Post-fade being after the mute stage in the signal chain.) So now we know it’s possible, but how do we achieve it?

A quick search on the word “aux” in the firmware reference manual will get us there. See page 30 for instructions on setting the source for a mix. (Hint: it’s available on the Routing screen, with the relevant Aux mix selected.)

[MichaelParticipant]

It would also be lovely to rename channel libraries from the popup, rather than having to pop into the utility->memory menu if you make a typo and accidentally hit submit.

[MichaelParticipant]

Wonderful idea. We run the PAFL bus and an omni reference mic at FOH into Spectre to achieve something similar, but having it right on the EQ would be great.

I really like Spectre for ringing out systems, since the feedback frequency shows as a nice bright horizontal line on the spectrogram at the same frequency over a period of time. We use the FOH mic to find the feedback. The traditional RTA spectrograph view is harder to use to identify the offending frequencies.

SMAART can be made to do something similar, but is overkill for our needs.

[MichaelParticipant]

As someone who moonlights occasionally as a stage manager, it makes me nervous to hit go and then verbally count down the delay. It seems an unusual way to handle cues. Why not instead verbally count down from the triggering event and then hit go at the end of the countdown?

This question is more for my own curiosity than anything else. 🙂

[MichaelParticipant]

Hi Jacob,

In my admittedly limited experience, the preamp gain control will not display for purely digital signals. Were you using a digital or an analog source on the affected channel strip?

I’ve also experienced issues with ME-1s that were on an older version of firmware, especially in terms of inheriting stereo linking, which doesn’t seem to be your issue. Are your ME-1s and ME-U running the most recent firmware? Or perhaps is that ME-1 on a different version of firmware than the rest of your units?

Also note that ME-1 units can be daisy chained, but each unit after the first one would require its own power supply, as only the first unit can receive power from the ethernet cable.

[MichaelParticipant]

With the meter strips on the dLive sampling many parts of the signal chain, how do you set the first gain stage (the pre-amp) without the ability to meter only the pre-amp? I tend to leave trim at 0 and comps bypassed. Is that the best practice?

[MichaelParticipant]

Unfolding VCAs/Groups would be very nice.

Solo-in-place is often very risky, especially without a dedicated hardware control/indicator to alert that it’s active.

[MichaelParticipant]

Hi Rob,

Glad you sorted your issue. Have you seen the Firmware Reference Guide? It can be somewhat tricky to find. Page 43 explains the talkback function.

https://www.allen-heath.com/media/dLive-Firmware-Reference-Guide-V1.02.pdf

[MichaelParticipant]

This question was also discussed in depth (with official replies) at this topic in the general discussion forum:

Channel-based DEEP processing models (compressors, GEQ and more) won’t add any latency to the channel path. DEEP ’embedded plugins’ are available on all channels on the fly.
Inserting a RackFX from the FX rack (such as a pitch shifter or transient controller) will add latency dependent on the FX type.

Inputs and groups are all delay compensated and phase coherent to the Mix Outputs.

—————

In dLive, everything except the FX is delay compensated. You should not experience any comb filtering no matter what combination of mixes and inputs you have feeding another mix. The only exception is that if you have a signal mixed post delay, with the delay not set to zero, this manually added delay will not be compensated for.

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