[guyharrisParticipant]

You do mean over the internet, not over WiFi?!

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

Never had any problems running several editor sessions, together with Tweak and MixPad.

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

Thanks Joe!

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

@ Wouter: exactly. I don’t think it’s right to charge for the iPad app. The Editor software is free, iTweak is free, the equipment itself is not cheap. The Yamaha M7CL Stagemix is free, and the 01V96 is €12.

I am NOT a cheap arse in any respect: I think this should be free and part of the package, and I am not, in any way, impressed. We would need more than one copy of this, (probably 4) and I think it’s bang out of order to have to pay €320 for this app.

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

Do you ever feel like you’re having a conversation with yourself?!

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

€79??????? WTF?!

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

I have no speaker matrix available at all.

Quite annoying, as I was planning to actually use it!

1.81?

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

First gig carried out successfully.

I put Logic / Mainstage on minimum latency, and streamed 4 samples (including Ivory) out of Mainstage, whilst simultaneously recording 6 tracks (5 stereo and 1 mono) back into Logic from MADI. There was no noticeable latency in the audio output to the iDR, although I thought I heard a couple of strange digital anomalies, like a reverse gated ‘whoop’. I increased the size of the buffer from 32 to 64 samples, and this appeared to cure this problem.

This gig was only piano and drums, but I was very happy with the performance of the MADI / iDR / Logic system.

We have a much larger gig on Friday, with 2 pianos, drums and 3 brass, so that will prove a tougher test.

Only one negative point: the routing within the iDR. We wanted to set up an extra PL10 for the drummer, for him to control / pre-mix the in-ear monitor mix, through a Stereo Group, but it’s seemingly not possible to assign PL10 rotary faders to this task with the bus set-up we have:

5 x Stereo Groups
2 x Stereo FX
6 x Stereo Aux (for in-ear mix)
0 x Matrix
Main: LR Sub

The only way to get this bus set-up is to lose the ‘sub’ mix, and make an extra Stereo Aux, just for the drum in-ear sub mix.

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

Good news!

We found out the problem with the latency, which was the Mainstage output. By reducing the sample rate to 32, we have ‘zero’ latency.

I have not done a full gig with the new set-up yet (that will be tomorrow and Friday), but I am extremely pleased with the way the MADI runs. The response / feeling from the keyboard samples running from the Mac is faultless: if anything, it will take a little getting used to, because the latency is so low. When we were running the MOTU896, the response was very good, but there is a very noticeable improvement. On top of that, being able to separate the different layers as tracks in the iDR32 means that the FoH engineer has proper control over the mix, without having to affect the in-ear that the player is mixing himself.

I will also try simultaneous MADI in and out, sending samples and recording the entire show in the next few days, and hope it doesn’t crash Logic / Mainstage! Perhaps Reaper would be a better bet for getting the WAV data in …

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

Big disappointment with the MADI set-up … Unacceptable latency, almost certainly in the Mac Pro.

I haven’t measured the latency yet, as we didn’t have enough time, but it was initially in the order of 70 – 100ms, and we got it down to around 40 – 50ms, by tinkering with different sync settings and the internal latency settings in Mainstage.

Had contact with TMAudio, the importer for iLive and RME here in Holland, and they’ll get on to RME in Belgium, to look for a solution.

One thing that the PC users might be able to assist with: the TMAudio guy said that the Windows software had the ability to choose latency. In the manual, it states that there are 8 different buffer sizes, from 0.7 to 93ms. The control software for the HDSPe seems not to have this option, at least with the OSX software. Is this correct, or am I missing something?

We have some time to fix this issue, as we have several fallback solutions, including the MMO card.

Thanks!

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

We take delivery of our MADI system today … I’ll post an update in a few days.

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

Personally, I think Dante is going to take longer than people think (it’s been promised for quite a while now), and I need a solution now, not in 1 month, 3 months, after NAMM … etc. Dante will not allow me to get digital information into the system, if we decide to go for the AKG digital mics.

The reason I want to avoid the analogue outputs from the soundcard is latency and the occasional problems we’ve had with Firewire, overheating, etc. The soundcard is an unnecessary link in the chain.

We have considered using iPads to control monitor mixes; it’s not that much of a price difference to the PL10 when you buy smart and in bulk. However, once again, the iPad app is not yet available, and it will always be subject to the whims of wireless ethernet. Additionally, I would really need to lock down the ability of users, so that they can access only their own mixes: not sure that’s really practical at present, and especially not until I’ve seen the iPad app working! I would love to lose the CAT5 cables on the stage – it would be one of the last major ‘clutter’ sources sorted.

I think I’ve learned that although iLive is a great system, we are nowhere near ‘everything talks to everything’. That’s going to take at least another couple of years. Until that time, I can afford the MADI solution, which I think is at least 3 years future-proof, and more expandable than Dante.

And thanks for your answers and input …

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

Iklip – I like!

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

I follow Kenlowt on this one.

However, I suppose you could source the feeds into the MMO and Aviom from groups and just mute the appropriate groups, either through a physical controller (i.e. desk), through the iLive software, or as Martijn says, through a PL10 or 6 …

It is, by extension, actually something we’re thinking about, as we have people plugging into our system, but without an engineer standing at a physical desk, it’s hard to cut the mains quickly enough to stop stupid plug-in acts; I have taken to putting a very hard limiter on anyone plugging into our system.

http://www.pianojam.nl

[guyharrisParticipant]

We are of two minds about security. We have a wireless access point with password protection, and then the iDR with password, but I also find it a PITA when I want to administer from my iPhone, because iTweak doesn’t multi-task, at least not on iPhone 3GS running 4.1 software, which means I have to tap in the password each time.

The question I ask myself: is it likely that an audience member is going to have the nouse to download iTweak, break through the wireless AP and then log on to the iDR and f*ck around?

I think the answer is that it’s highly unlikely.

I don’t want to go to the trouble of entering MAC addresses, although that’s the most secure solution.

I hope the new iPad app has some more custom functionality for different users; apart from the security issue (‘basic’ logons having too much functionality), it would be good to have a custom screen for the sound engineer to access when moving around the venue.

http://www.pianojam.nl

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