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[Thomas Lamb]

Im looking to purchase new desks for FOH and Monitors. Pretty much decided on Midas. However im having a hard time deciding on a PRO2 or a PRO3? Both fit my input count and output count. Riders are not a issue its about whats best for me! The cost difference is not a big deal either. I don't ever see needing the power of a pro6 or the optical and if I did it would either be a one off and I  would crossrent or be ready to purchase another desk at that time. So what are your preferences for FOH and monitors and why? Im really trying to figure out workflow for monitors more than FOH. It looks like the PRO 2 may actually have quicker access to "ALL" of the available aux sends by having 24 actual control knobs and solo/select buttons. so whats better pro 2 or pro3?

[Tim Padrick]

IIRC, The Pro 3 gives you 2 more DCAs (and MCAs?), a (small) B section, and a second screen.

The Pro 2 gives you more 4 more channel faders.

The Pro 2 has 24 select/solo buttons for faster mix access (the Pro3 gives you 3? layers of 8 mixes and 3? layers of matrixes).

The Pro 3 gives you instant access to any channel's comp, gate, or EQ band w/o having to select the channel first.

I'm sure each has a few other advantages over the other, this is just what I could think of.

[Josh Hana]

If 24 mixes and 56 inputs fits your bill, the Pro2 is a great choice for MON or FOH. It takes a while to get used to the Midas workflow in general, but after that, it translates pretty well throughout the Pro series. If you're leaning more towards a monitor desk, I would say the Pro2 would be a better choice over the pro3.

[Kyle Van Sandt]

If 24 mixes and 56 inputs fits your bill, the Pro2 is a great choice for MON or FOH. It takes a while to get used to the Midas workflow in general, but after that, it translates pretty well throughout the Pro series. If you're leaning more towards a monitor desk, I would say the Pro2 would be a better choice over the pro3.

My feeling as well.  You quickly get the point where you leave the console in sends on fader and GEQ modes and your right hand lives in the top right, your left hand on the faders.  Its a pretty quick pop from mix to mix... and you have 8 mixes at the ready if you have a channel selected.  We have actually had a few BE's in that prefer the Pro2 because of its compactness over the larger format desks... you can get to everything quickly without much fuss.  Personally, I have never really liked the "far away" feeling that you get on the larger desks screens.  My only real wish is that the Pro2 had a second screen or you could do something like it with the iPad...  Either way though you won't be disappointed with one in either position.  Just be prepared to spend some time with it when you pull it out of the box... those desks come totally clean. 

Get an iPad for both consoles.  They just did a release that really improves how you work with graphs on the iPad... makes working with graphs much easier. 

[Anthony Bowe]

Im looking to purchase new desks for FOH and Monitors. Pretty much decided on Midas. However im having a hard time deciding on a PRO2 or a PRO3? Both fit my input count and output count. Riders are not a issue its about whats best for me! The cost difference is not a big deal either. I don't ever see needing the power of a pro6 or the optical and if I did it would either be a one off and I  would crossrent or be ready to purchase another desk at that time. So what are your preferences for FOH and monitors and why? Im really trying to figure out workflow for monitors more than FOH. It looks like the PRO 2 may actually have quicker access to "ALL" of the available aux sends by having 24 actual control knobs and solo/select buttons. so whats better pro 2 or pro3?

Hi Thomas, it's been some time since this was posted. Can you advise which desk you decided to get?

Also, I'm hoping you or someone else (it would be nice if Kyle Chirnside sees this) might be able to help my dinosaur analogue brain. Midas quotes "156 inputs and 164 outputs" capability of the Pro2, but only "64 simultaneous input channels".

What the hell does this mean? I'm only starting to put my brain through an A/D conversion process  , so some of these specs leave me a bit confused.

Regards, and thanks for any help.

[Peter Morris]

Hi Thomas, it's been some time since this was posted. Can you advise which desk you decided to get?

Also, I'm hoping you or someone else (it would be nice if Kyle Chirnside sees this) might be able to help my dinosaur analogue brain. Midas quotes "156 inputs and 164 outputs" capability of the Pro2, but only "64 simultaneous input channels".

What the hell does this mean? I'm only starting to put my brain through a A/D conversion process  , so some off these specs leave me a bit confused.

Regards, and thanks for any help.

The Pro 2 has – 48 input channels on the rack + 8 on the surface + 8 EFX returns = 64 in.

The AES digital multicore system connected to the Pro 2 can support 156 in and 164 out – think in terms of the Cat 5 cables connected to the Pro 2 as being an analogue core with 156 in and 164 out, but you can only select 56 (plus EFXs) of those channels Eg. You could connect 2 racks to the Pro2, but you can only select 56 inputs from them.

FWIW I own a Pro2 and a new Allen & Heath dLive ... I would check out the dLive before you buy anything else in this price range.

[jason misterka]

Also, I'm hoping you or someone else (it would be nice if Kyle Chirnside sees this) might be able to help my dinosaur analogue brain. Midas quotes "156 inputs and 164 outputs" capability of the Pro2, but only "64 simultaneous input channels".

What the hell does this mean? I'm only starting to put my brain through a A/D conversion process  , so some off these specs leave me a bit confused.

This means that there are enough AES50 connections (6) to connect to multiple stage boxes with that number of Ins and Outs.  You can't use them all at one time, only 64 inputs by 28(?) bus outputs. 

But they can all be on network and you can access different inputs per scene. 

Imagine a show where you have three large bands, each with a 48ch stage box.  For each band you make a scene and access different preamps and XLR outputs in each scene.

Does that help?

PS each AES50 can do 24x24 at 96K.   But on a Pro2, you typically run three AES50 lines for a 48x16 box (DL251) so the third is a redundant.  So you can get to those huge numbers of IO but it is without an active redundant Cat5e run.

Jason

[Erik Jerde]

Also, I'm hoping you or someone else (it would be nice if Kyle Chirnside sees this) might be able to help my dinosaur analogue brain. Midas quotes "156 inputs and 164 outputs" capability of the Pro2, but only "64 simultaneous input channels".

What the hell does this mean? I'm only starting to put my brain through a A/D conversion process  , so some off these specs leave me a bit confused.

Regards, and thanks for any help.

Think of it like there's a router on the front and back end of the desk. A 156 in 64 out router on the front.  Yes you can have 156 inputs attached but you can only play with 64 of them at a time. 

I'm not a Midas guy these days so I can't say how they are controlled.  But, if input route is snapshot-able then you could use all of those across a show via automation.  Might be able to use more than 64 via external inserts too.  Midas experts can chime in here.

[John durisko]

Think of it like there's a router on the front and back end of the desk. A 156 in 64 out router on the front.  Yes you can have 156 inputs attached but you can only play with 64 of them at a time. 

I'm not a Midas guy these days so I can't say how they are controlled.  But, if input route is snapshot-able then you could use all of those across a show via automation.  Might be able to use more than 64 via external inserts too.  Midas experts can chime in here.

You are correct. In Midas world, all routing follow scenes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Anthony Bowe]

Thank you gents, I think I have my head around this now. I had some basic maths wrong (I forgot about the EFX returns). Being able to have 2 separate stage racks is just brilliant.

Sent from my C6903 using Tapatalk

[Árni F. Sigurðsson]

I'd get the Pro2 (or Pro2c, which I personally like better.. don't really use those extra 8 faders because I don't have the rotary encorders or the on screen display)

Mostly because, with the Pro3 you're getting pretty much the same channel count as the Pro2.. Also the Pro3/6/9 is at an end of life point. Midas have announced that they'll stop adding new features to the Pro3/6/9 because the processing power of the DSP is full (because the product is getting rather old), however the Pro 1,2 and Pro X are still in development with new features being released regularly.

I've been working with Midas Pro 9, Pro2c and Pro1 very much for the last 4 years, and I love the products. Both the workflow and the setup of the system (ohh.. need more outputs, lets just add an output rack)

156/164 router is how many channels can actually be connected to the console, altough you can only put 56 of them on an input channel, you could still be patching the other ones trough your desk.

I have also occationally used the "Matrix Mixer" to Premix 8 inputs into two channels, when I had to do a 72 channel gig on a Pro 2 (I skipped a few channels tough)

You could also have say, 48 inputs for the first band, inputs 49-96 for the second band and inputs 97-144 for the third band, having a seperate scene for each ones and storing a different input patchs in each scene.

If you have any specific questions with the Midas Pro series feel free to send me a message, I hope I should be able to answer most of them.

[ProSoundWeb Community]