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[Tom Burgess]

Reviving this one...

One of my clients has an Exp. 3 / Compact Stagebox (32X16, Cat5 MADI card) and wants to record on to his Macbook.  Is it possible that the aux. Madi port on the SB can be used for this?  Is this sort of converter even available?   I've found some converters for optical and coax but not Cat5.  It looks like we'll most likely end up with a Dante card but I figured it would be wise to search PSW before doing so.

[John Vengrouskie]

...upgrade to the Performer console, with two card slots.
 one card slot for the Ethernet MADI (to connect to the stage rack)
 second card for either the DANTE card when it appears or get the MADI Optical card. then spring for the new and pretty cool RME USB MADIface interface.  64 channels of MADI via USB,  any recording software you happen to record on will work. and you can play back those multi tracks and run a virtual sound check with a few patching changes. 
that's how I hooked up my rig and it works great...so far.  I've little or no experience with Dante.
Also, Soundcraft has a firewire card which can work as well, without the need for an additional interface. I'm not sure what the tracking limitations are with the firewire card.  the firewire card also has an additional 8 ADAT I/O.
happy recording.

DANTE is just so much simpler, elegant, direct.
I had the EXP2 out and, while it worked a treat, I'm glad both that it's intuitive AND that I studied my butt off ahead since for the most complicated and important commishioned last piece of the program, i called up the final preset from 6 hours of rehearsals and tweaking and the board completely reset itself (oddly except for PAN settings)...  An impromptu 6min full-band audience singalong allowed me to restore a working mix from scratch and the finale went well enough.
The real  pain was how I had to record the show for post... not enough outboard splits and convertors to cover the full input list so I xfrmr-split all vocal mics individually, and stemmed a duplicate stereo FOH mix and a duplicate stereo vocals-only mix. Hauled racks of stuff like analog because no FW card available in March (or still... here in dc?). The post production is going fair since I can derive a band-only stereo mix from the 2 stems. 
A year now since promise and 6 months of sitting on this otherwise nice little board, waiting for my recording solution.

[Ian Routley]

John,  have you tried dealers for a Dante card. 

We have one in our Exp 3, recording into Cubase.
Sweetwater shipped it 6 weeks ago.


You can't use a digital snake at the same time (yet) but console inputs with analog snake works for us.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Grant Birchard]

If you haven't made these purchases yet, may I suggest an upgrade to the Performer console, with two card slots. Use one card slot for the Ethernet MADI (to connect to the stage rack) and a second card for either the DANTE card when it appears or get the MADI Optical card. then spring for the new and pretty cool RME USB MADIface interface.  64 channels of MADI via USB,  any recording software you happen to record on will work. and you can play back those multi tracks and run a virtual sound check with a few patching changes. 
that's how I hooked up my rig and it works great...so far.  I've little or no experience with Dante.

BUMP.. This one's worth bumping.. I've spent the last two days investigating recording high track count church service via MADI with our brand new SI PERFORMER. I saw so many cards but no YouTube video or article gave me any real world hook up instructions. Until I saw your post here, Art. Don't know if you're even reading anymore. But this seems like EXACTLY what I want to do. We already have the 32In Stage Box.. and are running and CAT5 cable from it to our upstairs recording console.. Would that mean it already has the main CAT5 card in SLOT 1 of the 2 available on the SI PERF?

I'm both a pro musician/worship asc director at my large church AND a pro recording/mixing engineer of 30 years... but somehow in all that time I never interfaced with MADI (pun intended.. LOL).. So I'm having to learn about MADI and DANTE™ now.. But it's good to hear that all I need for my computer is the RME Madiface (which I'd read about yesterday) on my computer end of things.. And the Option Card for SI PERF for 'optical MADI'.. Did I understand you correctly? Since neither that optical Card nor the RME Madiface have traditional MADI BNC - am I to assume that both the Soundcraft Optical Option card and the RME Madiface have some cable that runs between them that's the same protocol that accomplishes the 64 channels available to recall? And what kind of cable would that be?

Thanks for any info!!
Grant B.

[Michael Grimaila]

BUMP.. This one's worth bumping.. I've spent the last two days investigating recording high track count church service via MADI with our brand new SI PERFORMER. I saw so many cards but no YouTube video or article gave me any real world hook up instructions. Until I saw your post here, Art. Don't know if you're even reading anymore. But this seems like EXACTLY what I want to do. We already have the 32In Stage Box.. and are running and CAT5 cable from it to our upstairs recording console.. Would that mean it already has the main CAT5 card in SLOT 1 of the 2 available on the SI PERF?

I'm both a pro musician/worship asc director at my large church AND a pro recording/mixing engineer of 30 years... but somehow in all that time I never interfaced with MADI (pun intended.. LOL).. So I'm having to learn about MADI and DANTE™ now.. But it's good to hear that all I need for my computer is the RME Madiface (which I'd read about yesterday) on my computer end of things.. And the Option Card for SI PERF for 'optical MADI'.. Did I understand you correctly? Since neither that optical Card nor the RME Madiface have traditional MADI BNC - am I to assume that both the Soundcraft Optical Option card and the RME Madiface have some cable that runs between them that's the same protocol that accomplishes the 64 channels available to recall? And what kind of cable would that be?

Thanks for any info!!
Grant B.

I have the Si Expression 3 and a Mini Stagebox (MSB).  Since the Si Expression 3 only has one card slot, the only option for using both the MSB and recording was to purchase the MADI/USB card ($299 USD).  In this case, you connect the MADI port to the MSB and the USB port to your PC or MAC DAW.  This is much more cost effective and reliable than purchasing a RME interface and having to build a CAT 5 to BNC cable to record.  I have recorded 3.5 hour shows on all 32 channels using Reaper.  Since you have a Performer, you can purchase another option card to sit next to the dual MADI card that came with your MSB such as a DANTE card (way too much money) or the MADI/USB card.
Michael

[Grant Birchard]

I have the Si Expression 3 and a Mini Stagebox (MSB).  Since the Si Expression 3 only has one card slot, the only option for using both the MSB and recording was to purchase the MADI/USB card ($299 USD).  In this case, you connect the MADI port to the MSB and the USB port to your PC or MAC DAW.  This is much more cost effective and reliable than purchasing a RME interface and having to build a CAT 5 to BNC cable to record.  I have recorded 3.5 hour shows on all 32 channels using Reaper.  Since you have a Performer, you can purchase another option card to sit next to the dual MADI card that came with your MSB such as a DANTE card (way too much money) or the MADI/USB card.
Michael

Thanks so much for responding, Michael. I do like reaper. So simplistic and straightforward.

But I need a 64 channel solution. My Christmas show I do each year needs 48 channels recorded at the same time. We also use a designate channel system for all the instruments/vocals on stage which goes beyond 32 channels. We don't want to keep rerouting and defeating certain channels to get down to a 32 pipeline. I want to be able to just route all 56 from our stage to the input of the recording computer and then simply  input enable any channels 1-56 from the stage box without any repatching on stage (or using some Software tool to defeat channels on the stage box) to get within 1-32.

[Craig Leerman]

Please go to your profile and change the "Name" field to your real first and last name as required by the posting rules displayed in the header at the top of the section, and in the Site Rules and Suggestions in the Forum Announcements section, and on the registration page when you registered.

Thanks,
Craig

[Grant Birchard]

Ah.. Will do. I read that to mean only in certain forum sections was real name needed. And nothing in the registration process had a field for first and last name.. On the road today in Tapatalk only.. Can't access profiles.. Will get to it asap. And no problem!

[Grant Birchard]

Since you have a Performer, you can purchase another option card to sit next to the dual MADI card that came with your MSB such as a DANTE card (way too much money) or the MADI/USB card.

When you say "SIT NEXT TO the dual MADI card that came with your MSB" - The SOUNDCRAFT Option cards, from my inspection of my MSB don't get installed in the MSB but in the board itself. All that's in the MSB is one long 14 inch card that is Multimode Fiber. Now maybe we have a larger stage box capable of 64 inputs.. Not sure.. But it's my understanding that we'd hook up 2 optical cables (IN/OUT) from our StageBox to our Performer's MADI CARD -- that I think COMES with the Performer itself. Correct me if I'm wrong..

Then the 'Card 2 port' is on the Performer itself - not on the MSB (or whatever Stage Box we have).. There's where we would install the MADI/USB card or the DANTE card for recording.. right?

Pardon me the 'new to MADI' questions.. But would the MADI USB option card, simply by virtue of it being installed in the Performer - be carrying the 64 channels and spitting them right out the USB jack to your recording computer? If so - why is there a MADI (non BNC) port on the MADI USB Option Card?

Then -- Do I have to make some connection between CARD 1 and CARD 2 installed in the Performer? Or is Card 1 (Optical MADI from StageBox) used for getting the signals from the Stage Box TO the Performer - and then Card 2 (MADI USB or Dante) is already carrying the 64 channels available to my computer for recording?

I also can't help but think the additional AUX port on the main OPTICAL MADI card already in our performer would somehow be carrying the signals and we wouldn't need a 2nd card at all for the Performer.. just somehow connect he AUX OUT optical cable to a computer somehow.. I guess that's where the RME Madiface would come in.. which in more expensive as you said.. I think I'm getting this slowly.. Just answer my main 'hook up questions' above, please, Michael if you get a chance.. Or anyone..  . Thanks!

Grant

[Bob Leonard]

The MADI/USB card can be splir 32/32 MADI/USB, or all 64 outputs can be optioned MADI OR USB. The USB port from this combo card will feed your PC or MAC directly. If using a PC then the supplied driver is installed and your DAW uses that driver for recording purposes utilizing the channels selected through the board and routed to the USB port.

In my case I use the card split 32/32, or 32 channels to the stage box, and 32 channels to my DAW which is Cubase V8. Latency is under 6ms with all channels recording and monitoring the mix in stereo.

Being that you own a performer then your fiber optic option card will continue to control the stage box, and the combo USB/MADI card can be utilized in any manner you feel is correct for your purposes.

More detail can be found here;

http://www.soundcraft.com/products/si-option-cards

[ProSoundWeb Community]