[tophfroParticipant]

Thanks Steffen, That’s good info to have. I knew the vendors needed to update the firmware and I wasn’t sure if A&H had done that already or not.

[tophfroParticipant]

Analog would be easy but I sold off my analog split when i got my first iLive way back when… Can’t really justify spending money on another one at this point so I think digital is my option. Is gigaACE backwards compatible with normal ACE? Can you connect the second gigaACE port on a DM mixrack to the secondary ACE port on a iDR mixrack and have the audio pass or do you have to get the ACE card and add that to the DM? for my purposes I’d probably go the route of Dante if I had to buy a card for it.

I’ve considered the MADI option as I also have an SD8 but its getting used less and less these days. The dLive bug has bit me bad and now i just have to get the boss (aka Wife) to sign off on one. Have either of you used the dLive outdoors in the sun? How does the brightness/visibility hold up? The SD8 is terrible (at least the older gold Rev that I have) in the sun because of the angle and the dimness of it. my iLive T112 is dim too but the angle of the screen helps keep the glare down and so it still usable.

[tophfroParticipant]

Thanks. Any feedback on how well the dLive and iLive play together? I.E. S5000/DM64 at FOH and iLive T112/D32 at Monitors.

[tophfroParticipant]

Hi Jeff,
Thanks for the reply. Both iDR units have the network jumpers in place to the port B cards. To my knowledge we’ve only ever had a single cat5 going from the port B to the ME-U. Does it need a second Cat5 from the network only connection also?

I’ll check the settings tomorrow evening and report back.

[tophfroParticipant]

So much for some iLive announcement love on opening day of NAMM… I guess we still have a couple more days to hope but i won’t hold my breath.

[tophfroParticipant]

Thanks for the comments Nicola, Its good to know its still a relevant product as far as A&H is concerned. Though, What concerns me with what you said is the part about “At the moment our R&D resources are fully committed to other projects…“. I suppose I could be nitpicking semantics, but if all of the resources are commented elsewhere, it seems to me that iLive is just another product in a growing line up and not really a flagship, top of the line product. R&D will get to it when they get to it…

I can go spend $10k or less on a GLD/Qu system and get all kinds of R&D support and new features etc. Or i can go drop $50k on a “top of the line” “S” surface with all the bells and whistles and watch the GLD users get the features I’ve been requesting…

I don’t mean to be down on it and I am gratefully for the bug fixes and patches, it just seems like iLive is the forgotten older child while the “newborns” get all the attention.

[tophfroParticipant]

I recently picked up a y****a CL5 to meet more rider demands and to have a dedicated monitor setup off my iLive rig (via Dante, iLive still run FOH when i’m mixing). I have no intention of dropping my iLive rig but it is getting harder and harder for me to want to spend any more money on it or recommend it. In a “bang for your buck” comparison the CL5 seems to be taking the lead (at least in my view) which saddens me. I grew up working on A&H since I was 12 and I enjoy using their gear. I agree, it would be nice to see some sign of life for the continued development of the iLive line. I understand that the original hardware spec is getting a little old and i hope there will be some kind of upgrade path (I’m ok with paying for some hardware upgrades and even a major software upgrade if necessary).

The iLive is starting to feel like the Mac Pro was/is to Apple.

[tophfroParticipant]

here is another couple units you might look into. I have no experience with any of these but thought you might be able to find something to fit your needs. If you get one please post and let us all know how it works out.

https://www.fouraudio.com/en/products/dbo1.html
https://www.atterotech.com/products/dante-d32/
https://www.mc2-audio.co.uk/tibobs-network-audio-breakouts.html
https://www.lectrosonics.com/DNT-Series/dnt0212.html
https://www.lectrosonics.com/ASPEN-Series/bob88.html

[tophfroParticipant]

Hey Ric,
you might consider the Yamaha Ro8-D Dante Output Box. It was recent released to go with the CL3/5 line of consoles.
I haven’t personally used one (in and ilive rig) but have a friend that just got one to try out. If his works the way we hope it will then this is what i will be picking up to go with my Dante based iLive rig.

Chris

[tophfroParticipant]

Awesome! Thanks for the info Leon. Looks like i need to work up an order and schedule some play time 🙂

[tophfroParticipant]

Hi Nicola,
Thanks for the information. If i end up going this route I might as well go all out and get a Dante card for the port B slot. If my thinking is correct, I should also be able to use that Dante card in port B to service my ME units via the ME-U right? (for those events when I’m not running a separate Monitor console). Would I be able to send the port B Dante to a switch and feed the ME-U and the CL5 simultaneously?

My brain is storming with all kinds of possibilities now.

My current network setup uses static IPs so that shouldn’t pose any issues.

[tophfroParticipant]

All of you hoping for an iLive2 get ready. I’m planning to purchase a new iLive system this fall and as things usually go a month or two after i buy something the new one comes out…

here’s my wish list:

– FASTER surface boot time.
– Record Stereo Mix to USB.
– More Streamlined connection & channel access between two MixRacks.
– Ability to use DSP in second MixRack seamlessly with the First.
– Additional FX mixes from second mix rack.
– Ability to have a Dante card along side an ACE card in iLive (non-T) surface for going to recording system. (I’m told that currently it only works with the Dante card in the MixRack).
– Better responsiveness from the touchscreen.
– Ability to gang two surfaces together.
— Ability to have a second surface work as a slave to the first for those times when you need a second operator working on some other channel.
– Along those same lines… ability to “link/unlink” the touchscreen so that it can access a different channel from what the surface controls are currently adjusting.
– More Characters on the channel name labels (8?).
– How about an SPF port for a fiber connection?
– Get AWAY from the crappy Java programming language and write something native for PC or Mac… Either one… please. I’ll even help code it.

Keep up the good work A&H. I’d be happy to beta test anything new

[tophfroParticipant]

Hey Jeff,
I tried out the ACE over a Cisco switch tonight. A new C2960S-24TD-L right out of the box… worked like a champ with no dropouts. I went thru later and configured it without the protocols as recommended in that ACE pdf i referenced before. No change, all still worked.

Are you familiar with WireShark?
Setup a mirrior port on the switch and have WireShark monitor the traffic. If nothing else perhaps the A&H
engineers might be able to give you some insight as to what happening (or not happening).

For completeness sake here’s my testing setup: I have a 3 MOTU 896HD Firewire I/O units hooked up to a mac mini with a 24 channel Multi-track session. I used this as a virtual sound check hooked up via analog out of the MOTU to my iDR32.
– ACE connection over CAT 6 (250′ of it) to a T112 surface.
– tannoy reveal 601a powered speakers (2x) connected to the TRS outputs on the surface.
– Marantz 661 recorder hooked up to the SPDIF output on the surface configured for the mains to record the tested audio.

After verifying that everything was working I inserted the new 2960 between the iDR32 and T112 using a new 15′ cat6 cable from the iDR32 to the 2960 and the same 250’cat6 from the switch to the T112. Once the surface connected to the MixRack everything went smoothly. I ran the test for 30 minutes in each setup. After I reconfigured the switch i only tested it for about 5 minutes since it was working ok.

I know this doesn’t verify if individual channels drop out but I’m familiar with the source material enough that i would spot if something had dropped for any period of time. The switch did report a few dropped packets of the 30 minutes but it was on the order of 50 for the full 30 minutes. I did not inspect it to see if it might have been some “network” traffic or if it was audio.

Hopefully this can be of some help to someone.

[tophfroParticipant]

I’m sure you’ve checked this but are your cables ok? I have a friend with a spare 2960. I’ll try to pick it up this week and play around with it. I’m intrigued that my Netgear is able to handle it but the Cisco can’t. I’ll let you know what I find.

[tophfroParticipant]

I did a little searching and found in the FAQ section of the Understanding ACE pdf this paragraph:

quote:

---

1. Some IEEE layer 3 & 4 protocols can interrupt ACE data or cause audible clicks. We recommend turning of layer 3 & 4 functions in a managed switch or use a
layer 2 switch. The following protocols can interfere with ACE: Spanning Tree, Tagged egress packets, Broadcast storm protection. No other network devices can
be plugged into a switch carrying ACE data unless a dedicated VLAN is set up exclusively for ACE.
2. Suitable managed switches are: Netgear FSM726S, Level One GSW-0841 Web Smart switch (with fibre optic option).

---

I have a netgear switch that I’ve played around with in the past sending ACE over it and had no issues. That wasn’t in a live setup but still, virtual sound check could be just as demanding on it.

Make sure your Cisco doesn’t have some of these protocols enabled and try it again. Please share your findings.

EDIT: Here’s the link to the ACE pdf: https://www.allen-heath.com/UK/CategoryDocuments/Understanding%20Ace%20-%20rev%2018dec12.pdf

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