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Title: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Brian Wynn on December 23, 2012, 04:17:43 PM
I just started using my first Digital snake setup and I'm not very happy with the look of it. It seems like I have cables spilling out of the front of he rack and finding power for the stage boxes is sometimes a problem.  Should I make a breakout panel??

Post some pictures of your digital snake packages.  Racks, doghouse connections, cables, and connectors. 

I want to find the cleanest way to package this setup.
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: paul bell on December 23, 2012, 04:46:47 PM
Photos?
Title: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Samuel Rees on December 23, 2012, 05:22:48 PM
What snake system?
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Brian Wynn on December 23, 2012, 07:15:33 PM
What snake system?

Any digital snake system.  Mine happens to be a 2 S16 boxes with a X32 mixer.  I was thinking of buying the SC48 remote or a DL251 with a Pro Series desk.

Just looking for general photos of any digital snake system setup.
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Dan Brown on December 23, 2012, 07:30:36 PM
I just started using my first Digital snake setup and I'm not very happy with the look of it. It seems like I have cables spilling out of the front of he rack and finding power for the stage boxes is sometimes a problem.  Should I make a breakout panel??

Post some pictures of your digital snake packages.  Racks, doghouse connections, cables, and connectors. 

I want to find the cleanest way to package this setup.

Brian,

Here is what we did for our CL5
The DSP5D when finished would be similar
Our Digico SD9 we are mounting in seperate wood trays as we feel like that is a better option for that rig.

Each situation is different

db
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Bob Leonard on December 23, 2012, 09:31:46 PM
I could only comment that Velcro ties would help with a cable change if needed, but other than that those racks were assembled with some thought and a lot of care. Nice job.
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Steve Alves on December 23, 2012, 10:14:55 PM
Where did you get the wire pass through plate? I have been looking for something just like that.

Thanks
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Philip Roberts on December 23, 2012, 10:40:53 PM
Where did you get the wire pass through plate? I have been looking for something just like that.

Thanks
Looks like Middle Atlantic BR1's
http://middleatlantic.com/rackac/cablem/cablem.htm#BrushGrometPanel

Philip
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Steve Alves on December 24, 2012, 11:04:39 PM
Looks like Middle Atlantic BR1's
http://middleatlantic.com/rackac/cablem/cablem.htm#BrushGrometPanel

Philip
Yup, thanks
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: kristianjohnsen on December 25, 2012, 10:36:46 AM
Hello Brian.

Here are some snapshots I made of our Yamaha/Appsys/Behringer digital multicore setups when they were built last year. 

These setups are designed more to be used at the "Lounge level" but perhaps the photos can be an inspiration. 
I designed these systems to be used with our Yamaha DM2000 and 01v96 mixers, and they are a great match for the level of gigs that these mixers are applicable for as of today.



In the future the DM 2000 will probably be paired with a Yamaha RIO rack as a step on the way to a CL mixer, but that's another story.



For "LAB-level" gigs we also have Yamaha PM1D with a large stage rack.  I have customized a special setup so that we only need two coax cables and a cat5 cable between Stage and FOH for this mixer, so it's a pretty neat setup, I don't have photos but will try to take some when that rig goes out later this week.



Back to the Appsys-systems:
The racks have 24 mic inputs on the front as well as 8 return lines for mains and mons.  The power outlets on the bottom of the front of the racks are "shukos" that feed power to our active speakers when used with these racks.

On the back of the racks there are additional power outlets as well as special "loop-through" cat5-jacks that allow us to have additional small and handy "drop boxes" away from the main rack (that include a Cat5 receiver/ADAT converter +  an extra Behringer ADA8K). 

Unfortunately, these additional drop boxes can only handle the return channels, so we use analog drop-boxes to get all the mic signals to the main racks. 

Since our speaker setups are all-active it's great to put the main rack behind one PA speaker stack and put a "drop return box" behind the other PA speaker stack.  Anything going on along the "front line" of the stage can be very easily connected directly to one of these two racks, and anything that goes on along the back line gets connected via an analog muticore.

If one is willing to lean into the opening on the back of the rack one will find two additional analog "copies" of each return channel there also, these are on the back of the Behringer units, so each output has it's own "buffered" output.

All the preamps can be remote-controlled from FOH via the cat5 cable connecting stage and FOH.  The Preamps have been modified following Appsys's very clear instructions.

The Yamaha DM 2000 can handle two racks like these, whereas each of the 01v96s can handle one rack.  This means either 24/8 or 48/16 for DM2K and always 24/8 for 01v96.  This comes in addition to all the local inputs/outputs at FOH.

When using the DM2K with two preamp racks we can split them up and place them in different locations on stage, meaning that we can have  one along the "front line" and one along the "back line", for instance.

The catch is that one needs a separate Cat5 run for each 24ch/8ret block, so for the "big" DM2K-setup we need to run two Cat5 cables.  This is a small issue in reality as we are usually running a much thicker power cable to FOH anyway.

In the approxemate year we have owned these racks they must have been out doing 250+ gigs total, with the only problem ever being that the power adaptor for the actual Appsys unit/converters somtimes will work loose in transit, meaning it needs to be replugged at some point during setup.  I just need to tape it in place to avoid this in the future.


Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: kristianjohnsen on December 25, 2012, 10:38:32 AM
01v96 system being constructed:

Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: kristianjohnsen on December 25, 2012, 10:40:08 AM
DM 2000 system being constructed:

Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: David Sturzenbecher on December 25, 2012, 11:32:29 AM


Here is what we did for our CL5

db

Dan
Is there a difference between the Dante in and out jacks on the power panel?  Is there a network switch hidden on the inside?
Title: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Samuel Rees on December 25, 2012, 01:18:14 PM
Brian,

Here is what we did for our CL5

db

Great looking setup! Clean & pretty.
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Ryan C. Davis on December 25, 2012, 02:20:44 PM
Love it
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Brian Wynn on January 31, 2013, 09:45:23 PM
Thank you for the response it gave me some good ideas.  This is what I came up with.  The first pic is the front of the rack and the second is the back side.

Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Aaron Talley on February 04, 2013, 05:38:17 PM
I just started using my first Digital snake setup and I'm not very happy with the look of it. It seems like I have cables spilling out of the front of he rack and finding power for the stage boxes is sometimes a problem.  Should I make a breakout panel??

Post some pictures of your digital snake packages.  Racks, doghouse connections, cables, and connectors. 

I want to find the cleanest way to package this setup.

And is anyone doing anything fancy with their digital snake cables? Our Cat5 just go onto reels that we put in one of the trunks. What are the rest of you guys doing?

Talley
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Ted Christensen on February 05, 2013, 01:02:10 AM
01v96 system being constructed:

What is the midi control set to do for your digital board?
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: kristianjohnsen on February 05, 2013, 03:38:16 AM
What is the midi control set to do for your digital board?

I think it's in the text, but at any rate, MIDI travels through the cat5 leading to stage (next to the audio) and controls the gain of the preamps on stage.

There is an Appsys RGC (Remote Gain Controller) in the preamp racks, which receives MIDI and puts out a proprietary Appsys signal that in turn controls the gain setting of the preamps.  The preamps have been modified slightly to be able to receive the Appsys control signal.

Appsys claim they can provide mod kits for 90% of all preamps out there that have an ADAT output.

I'm working on controlling the preamps directly from the desks, but have been reasonably happy with the gain-controller on top of the desk so far.
Title: Re: Lets see those Digital Snake Setups
Post by: Dan Brown on February 05, 2013, 09:17:56 PM
Dan
Is there a difference between the Dante in and out jacks on the power panel?  Is there a network switch hidden on the inside?

David
Sorry for the delay, it has been a little busy lately.
The Dante jacks are for future.
Dante can be used with a main and redundant and can split via a network switch.  We are currently running daisy chain config with a backup cable only.  The main and redundant is for future.

db