Close

Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 48
  1. #1

    Default What a brilliant piece of kit!

    I'm just writing down what great results I'm having from using SAC so far....

    I supply the house PA system for a venue over here that does quite an eclectic mix of different music styles; from folky stuff to indie rock. The venue itself has always been a bit awkward to set up in, as it's constrained by the ability to easily run a multicore out to a good mix position. Until I started using SAC there, I was mixing off to one side and too close to the speaker stacks for my liking.

    I can now set up the SAC host at side of stage and have been using a ProMix 01 and laptop on top of it as SAC remote and fader pack and am able to get right out to the back centre of the room, away from the hordes of punters and in a much nicer mix position for stereo spread. Last week was the first run with SAC on one of the larger rigs and it went really well apart from a glitch where I was initially connected to the network but then it dropped out (this was all pre sound check), so I needed to run out about 25m of Cat 5 in a small panic.... I actually realised later that I had just connected the host and laptop together, bypassing the router, so I'm guessing that I had maybe just set up an ad-hoc connection? Anyway, it all worked fine from that point on and apart from the band being ridiculously loud on stage, the night went fine.

    Last night everything worked flawlessly (I had moved the router to a better position I think), I was able to spend some more time tweaking the FOH SAC paragraphic EQ (I'm still amazed it sounds great with just 7 bands!!) and my monitor mixes EQ. I had an indie rock band headlining, a kind of gypsy folk / trad band with double bass, acoustic guitar, stomp box and border pipes, and an acoustic duo.....

    I've found that I'm having to approach how I do things a bit differently. Normally, I'd sound check FOH first and then do monitors, but with SAC having totally independent EQ settings available for mons, I'm standing at the host machine and dialling in the monitor mixes first; letting the bands play with just the monitors running and I'm able to hear myself how the stage sound is, and tweaking where necessary. I have them play through a song like hat and then I head out to the remote, and have been able to get the FOH mix up really quickly. One thing I've noticed is that my channel EQ settings are flatter than previously. I've had kick drums running flat EQ (Audix D6) and sounding amazing and punchy. Vocals have just tended to be taking some of the low mid out.... I felt last night was the best mix that I've ever had in that room. It was just sounding really sweet.... Had some really god comments from the musicians about the clarity of the monitors especially, which I had noticed myself when I was up on the stage, very hi fi sounding....

    I really am so, so happy with SAC. I feel like I'm some kind of crazy evangelist when people ask me about the computer at the side of the stage with the fancy software!!

    I had one doubting Thomas last night who was all concerned about it running on a PC and that it was going to crash.... I just gave him a knowing look....

    I can't wait to have the ability to control my FX patches remotely, properly within SAC. That's about the only gripe that I have at the moment, and an integrated media player would be fantabulous too, save me patching winamp into 2 of my inputs and running browseamp, but these are just minor issues and they have current workarounds in place...

    So... I guess I'm mostly preaching to the converted here, but I just wanted to post a big THANK YOU to Uncle Bob, saviour of me having to lug around a huge analog beast, 2 FX racks and multicore - NO MORE!! YAY!

    Just amazing.... more power to you, Sir....
    Looking forward to this new ouput / LMS module you're developing!
    Steven.
    www.diablosoundhire.com
    --------------------------------------------------
    SAC Host: Rack mount PC with Intel E7400 Core 2 Duo, RME HDSP9652 soundcard. 3 x M-Audio Profire 2626 preamps. Main SAC Remote: Toshiba Tecra laptop with Intel T7600 Core 2 Duo CPU (Doubles up for use as back up host via FW to Profire).
    3 x CM Labs Motor Mix control surfaces.
    SAC Wireless 'wander the room / stage' Remote: Asus EeePC HA1101 Netbook.

  2. #2

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    Quote Originally Posted by sjpaul View Post

    ... and an integrated media player would be fantabulous too, save me patching winamp into 2 of my inputs and running browseamp, but these are just minor issues and they have current workarounds in place...
    Steven,

    Glad to hear all went well. But I'm curious; are you successfully using Winamp to play back digitally (S/PDIF out) back into SAC with HDSP 9652 Hammerfalls? I can't get this to work with my machine.
    Richard
    Green Valley Recording
    My cats have nine lives; my life has nine cats.

  3. #3

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    Richard,

    I'm not using S/PDIF as I don't have the breakout cable. I'm coming out of the PC's onboard soundcard in analog in to 2 inputs of my ADA8000's. This works just fine, but I'd like those 2 inputs back....
    Steven.
    www.diablosoundhire.com
    --------------------------------------------------
    SAC Host: Rack mount PC with Intel E7400 Core 2 Duo, RME HDSP9652 soundcard. 3 x M-Audio Profire 2626 preamps. Main SAC Remote: Toshiba Tecra laptop with Intel T7600 Core 2 Duo CPU (Doubles up for use as back up host via FW to Profire).
    3 x CM Labs Motor Mix control surfaces.
    SAC Wireless 'wander the room / stage' Remote: Asus EeePC HA1101 Netbook.

  4. #4

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    Quote Originally Posted by sjpaul View Post
    Richard,

    I'm coming out of the PC's onboard soundcard in analog in to 2 inputs of my ADA8000's. This works just fine, but I'd like those 2 inputs back....
    Got you... my sentiments exactly.
    Apparently this works (the SP/DIF option) flawlessly with the RayDat.
    So close, but so far.
    Richard
    Green Valley Recording
    My cats have nine lives; my life has nine cats.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Bainbridge Island, WA
    Posts
    2,064

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    Quote Originally Posted by Richard Rupert View Post
    Got you... my sentiments exactly.
    Apparently this works (the SP/DIF option) flawlessly with the RayDat.
    So close, but so far.
    I've been reading about this "loopback" solution in these threads for awhile. I had always assumed users were doing a "virtual loopback" using the TotalMix matrix, not an actual, wired loopback. My mistake, I guess?

    Ira
    Currently using:
    T43p Thinkpad w/XP SP3 for FOH, Subs and Front Fill Mixes (20% CPU load);
    T500 Thinkpad w/Win7 SP1 for 6 Monitor Mixes (15% CPU load)
    Running at 2x32
    2 Digifaces, 1 w/CardBus, 1 w/ExpressCard
    3-Octamic-D for mic inputs - using the dual outputs to split the ADAT signal to the Digifaces;
    1-RME ADI-8 Pro for all FOH sends; 1-RME ADI-8 Pro for all Monitor sends;

  6. #6

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    Quote Originally Posted by IraSeigel View Post
    I've been reading about this "loopback" solution in these threads for awhile. I had always assumed users were doing a "virtual loopback" using the TotalMix matrix, not an actual, wired loopback. My mistake, I guess?

    Ira
    Yes Ira, my understanding is that it's a physical connection between the S/PDIF out looped back in through S/PDIF in with a double male rca cable.

    Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. It's happened once or twice before in my life.
    Richard
    Green Valley Recording
    My cats have nine lives; my life has nine cats.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Westminster, CO
    Posts
    2,460

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    I can do it with either SPIDIF or I typically use the AES/EBU connectors because they just plug into themselves on the back of the RayDAT.

  8. #8

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    Quote Originally Posted by gdougherty View Post
    I can do it with either SPIDIF or I typically use the AES/EBU connectors because they just plug into themselves on the back of the RayDAT.
    Is anyone getting this to work with anything other than a RayDAT card? I have it working with my RayDAT, but it wouldn't work on my notebook with a Presonus Firebox. I'm wating for my Fireface 800 to come back from repair to see if that works with the loopback. The only reason I'm trying to get this to work on my notebook is so I can have a minimal test "rig" that I can play snare loops and vocal loops to create FX presets while the main SAC rig is sleeping in the truck between gigs.

  9. #9

    Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    Quote Originally Posted by dbarrow View Post
    Is anyone getting this to work with anything other than a RayDAT card?
    I've still not been able to get this to work with the HDSP 9652. I really do think it's a RayDAT-specific capability. Sadly.
    Richard
    Green Valley Recording
    My cats have nine lives; my life has nine cats.

  10. Default Re: What a brilliant piece of kit!

    remember seeing this touted as a 'difference' between Raydats and Previous models, simultaneous use of spdif that is...

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •