First SAC gig and feedback on Focusrite OctoPre MKII

[Tom Blazek]

Did my first SAC gig last night in Monterey as drummer and sound guy (with some help from my wandering partner in the cowd) and in spite of my own shortcomings, it was, in a word, "fantastic!". What a great, great tool. Never had a gig sound so good (and yes, I sold my Midas).

No fader packs, just the mouse, keyboard and those great little "F" keys. I'm hooked, can't imagine using anything else on a gig now......

Of course, there was a gotcha. Like a dumbass, I didn't wait to get my Tripplite UPS/voltage regulator before I took it out so when someone bumped the AC plug.....restart. Fault - all mine. Will defintely use the UPS from now on. Other than that it worked flawlessly and man do I love the "I don't need any outboard stuff".


As a musician (well ok, drummer but I can read music), engineer and physicist, I am very impressed with it. Great stuff Bob! Doing the Dramatics show tomorrow night with it in Salinas, CA and can't wait.

:)


Changing Interfaces......

I am giving some serious thought to switching to the OctoPre MKII from Focusrite just because all of the interconnect is on the back. I have no issue with the Behringer sound quality but it is kind of a pain with all those connectors on the front. Any feedback would be appreciated.



SAC 2.8 32 x 24, SAC Reverb, Levelizer, Frequency Analyzer, WinXP E8400, RME HDSPe Raydat, ADA8000 x 4

[Sound Machine Inc]

a cheaper bet is the ART Octopre.. all on back plus 2 1/4" up front.. sound is clean and nice

[gdougherty]

I'm a fan of the M-audio Profires over the focusrite. Similar layout and Randy has bumped his switch that toggles outputs between preamps and Adat inputs. There are some physical mods you could do to help prevent that but the compressors also supposedly have auto makeup gain, which I'm not a fan of. That makes the compressors fairly pointless in my book and you might as well save a few bucks and go with the Profire.
While some like the ART products, they've always struck me as being just a hair above Behringer or Sampson in build quality. Not to mention, tubes and one more knob to fumble around. I occasionally keep my eyes on the screen while adjusting gains in the rack below. It's much easier having one large knob to grab for each channel and nothing to confuse my fingers. My priorities don't match everyone's but I'd rather have clean preamps that don't color the sound anyway. I have no need for a tube drive to add distortion perceived as warmth.

[Donnie Frank]

Ahhhh....another drummer/sound engineer. Wait until you start using the TapeIt plugin to get killer recordings. Though I have mixed with a touchpad (while performing), I definitely recommend a control surface. You might consider a wireless laptop so your screen and F-Keys are in one, neat little package. I'll have to dig up a picture, but I simply use a small table next to me and a wireless laptop and BCF2000. Here's a video that kind of shows the rig:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSMQ03UJrIA

The host is at FOH. I was actually mixing using a tablet in this video, but I usually use a Dell 700m and a BCF2000.

Edit: I found a picture using the tablet:

http://drummerdonnie.com/temp/SAC/SAC_Remote_DHG_HardRock_Sm.JPG

[RandyHyde]

Of course, there was a gotcha. Like a dumbass, I didn't wait to get my Tripplite UPS/voltage regulator before I took it out so when someone bumped the AC plug.....restart. Fault - all mine. Will defintely use the UPS from now on.

I would be remiss not to point out that I had a "Battery Backup" (not UPS) fail on me. It brought down my machine even though power to the unit was good. Probably not a common occurrence, but if you get a UPS, make sure you get a *real* UPS, not the common "Battery Backup" units you find at OfficeMax, et. al. Expect to pay in the $300-$400 range for something worthy of a mission critical application (as SAC is).



Changing Interfaces......

I am giving some serious thought to switching to the OctoPre MKII from Focusrite just because all of the interconnect is on the back. I have no issue with the Behringer sound quality but it is kind of a pain with all those connectors on the front. Any feedback would be appreciated.

Realize you want the Octopre Mk II DYNAMIC units. The straight octopre units have two XLR connectors on the front and don't support D/A.

OTOH, in the new rig I'm building, I am putting two OPM2 Dynamics and one OPM2 (not dynamic) in the rig. 16 outputs is enough (4-6 stereo monitors plus stereo FOH) and having two XLRs on the front is nice for talkback mics or iPods.

I'm also mounting my OPM2 units at the top of the rack case to avoid the "accidentally hitting the D/A button with my knee" problem that has happened once or twice now.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[Donnie Frank]

Of course, there was a gotcha. Like a dumbass, I didn't wait to get my Tripplite UPS/voltage regulator before I took it out so when someone bumped the AC plug.....restart. Fault - all mine. Will defintely use the UPS from now on.



My girlfriend - who was taking video at the time - walked around behind me at one of my shows and, sure enough, tripped the plug right out of the wall. Because my UPS connects to my computer via USB, a notification of "state change" immediately popped up on my video monitor. I was not only grateful for the UPS (which will run my entire FOH rig for roughly 4 minutes), but for the notification. The UPS battery switchover is so seamless that I would never know if something didn't pop up on the screen to tell me. Just reached back and plugged it back in. A potential disaster averted.

[Tom Blazek]

Thanks to all for the feedback and yes Randy, I mean a UPS/power conditioner and the Octopre MK II dynamics. (wonder why they didn't make the regular one with AD and DA.....)

Donnie, I was wondering which UPS you are using and is it also a line conditioner?

[Donnie Frank]

Thanks to all for the feedback and yes Randy, I mean a UPS/power conditioner and the Octopre MK II dynamics. (wonder why they didn't make the regular one with AD and DA.....)

Donnie, I was wondering which UPS you are using and is it also a line conditioner?

It is an MGA Pulsar Evolution 500. Here's a picture of one in my rack (at the bottom):

http://drummerdonnie.com/sound/SAC/Pictures/SAC_RACK/12U_SKB/FullSm.jpg


And here's a website that has them.

http://www.pacificparts.com/vends/mge/pulsar.evolution.htm

I got mine during a clearance sale at geeks.com for 50 bucks!...which included shipping! So I purchased 2 of them. I've been extremely happy with this unit. The monitoring software is awesome.

[Jim]

Why does the unit at the top say 116V when you are using the MGE UPS? Is that the input voltage to the UPS? The MGE UPS has AVR to 120V right?
If so, I presume the UPS AVR is making up the 4 volts?

[gdougherty]

Why does the unit at the top say 116V when you are using the MGE UPS? Is that the input voltage to the UPS? The MGE UPS has AVR to 120V right?
If so, I presume the UPS AVR is making up the 4 volts?

An online UPS should feed constant stable voltage. Regular AVR UPS's do not. There's a small voltage swing before AVR kicks in, AVR operates over its own range saving battery use and then a range outside of that where it kicks to battery.

[Donnie Frank]

Why does the unit at the top say 116V when you are using the MGE UPS? Is that the input voltage to the UPS?



Correct.




The MGE UPS has AVR to 120V right?
If so, I presume the UPS AVR is making up the 4 volts?

Yes. I believe it does power regulating as well as conditioning. It takes care of voltage spikes and brown-outs as well as black-outs.