"Virtual Sound Check" with SAW

[jlklein]

Hey folks,
So, I don't get to do "virtual sound checks" much, some during practices but none live where I need to go back to the live setup afterwards. Since we're running a large Christmas play at church this week with full orchestra I gave it a shot last night. I recorded our rehearsal into SAWStudio Lite with SAC Link and planned to go back and tweak the orchestra EQs, etc, so clicked "send mix data to SAC" to play back everything through SAC.

Two things it did that I didn't like:
1-It set all the inputs taps to SAW, which I expected, but I didn't see a way to set everything back to their original live sources easily. Do I really have to go back and manually do this?
2-It reset all my output routings to 1, so all my group and group latch settings were gone. I assume this is because I had SAW set to the default output of 1.

So, is this the way it is, or is there a better way to do this? I simply want to playback SAW through SAC to tweak things, save the changes, then go back to the Live sources for the show.

Thanks,
Jeff

[FuturoMan]

Set up two scenes. One for soundcheck input from SAW and another scene for SAC input.

[dbarrow]

Set up two scenes. One for soundcheck input from SAW and another scene for SAC input.

I have done this many times. In fact, when I am at home, I have the SAC/SAW rack out in my studio, with an output running into my house to the A/V rack in a closet off my living room. I can mix a previously recorded live show (on SAW) through SAC, as if I was mixing live at a gig. This all comes out the stereo speakers in my living room. It is great for demoing just what SAC/SAW can do or just tweaking parameters and scenes for upcoming shows. I can do all this from a netbook on my home WiFi network.

[brent]

Virtual sound check is worthless unless you are in a huge venue and the sound coming from the stage would not be audible (much) in the house. Your mix is going to change drastically once acoustic instruments and voices are on stage doing their thing.

[RandyHyde]

Virtual sound check is worthless unless you are in a huge venue and the sound coming from the stage would not be audible (much) in the house. Your mix is going to change drastically once acoustic instruments and voices are on stage doing their thing.

+1
I didn't realize this until I purchased SAW exactly for this purpose. Recorded the sound check so the band could hear for themselves what FOH sounded like. Then I realized all those Marshall amps on the stage where a big part of the mix that went away.

Still, SAW is useful for recording the stuff and letting people practice sound checks back at the office. In that sense, it's a useful tool for help engineers learn to anticipate what monitor settings will be like on the stage so they can try to preset fader settings before the band is on stage.
Cheers,
Randy Hyde

[jlklein]

Set up two scenes. One for soundcheck input from SAW and another scene for SAC input.

Duh...didn't even think of that.

And I do get the "virtual sound check ain't the same as the band on stage" comments. However, it's very useful for tweaking the recording feed and even for some stage instruments, like a jangly piano

Thanks,
Jeff

[operationwhat]

Use it for ringing out the PA or place, just to hear how the room works.It's good to hate it...