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[Jim McKeveny]

Everyone has a show file for M/X32.

Used to say that about the M7CL..

[John L Nobile]

Really? At this point how can anything sound "a lot" better, or even different, than anything else. Especially between two consoles that share a parent company and ostensibly a good chunk of r&d and hardware? I've been on both, albeit not at the same time. I'd be interested to hear the basis for this conclusion.

3 weeks ago I rented an SD10 for the band. The difference between the sound of trax played through that board compared to what I was used to hearing through my X32 was night and day. That's why I'm looking for a new console now. I really don't want to use an X32 again.

I just got a Profile delivered for this Saturday's band. Hoping to find some time to play with it. I'll probably have to re eq the mains as they're setup with the X32.

The BE has an SL6 and no other options in his rider but he's good with the Profile so that saved us a few bucks. Hoping Profiles/SC48's are still acceptable for a few more years.

[Brandon Wright]

Try mixing a few shows on them in controlled listening environments and listen to the basic operation of EQ and comps. (Not talking about reverbs here,  that has it's own can of worms).
To my ears, they behave differently, and they are voiced differently.
Good/bad? Depends on your application.
Digico SD, as an example, has a super clean EQ. Perfect if you want it, I just find it plain boring for mixing music.

Sure, I'll buy all of that. There are certainly personal preferences that may steer an individual one way or the other. But to say that an s21/s31 sounds "a lot" better than   a d-live (insert any professional desk du jour) is sensational. Maybe I just don't have the golden ears, as I'm sure my mix sucked equally on both/all of them.

[Helge A Bentsen]

Sure, I'll buy all of that. There are certainly personal preferences that may steer an individual one way or the other. But to say that an s21/s31 sounds "a lot" better than   a d-live (insert any professional desk du jour) is sensational. Maybe I just don't have the golden ears, as I'm sure my mix sucked equally on both/all of them.

To my ears, d:live has all the features you want, but not all the sound quality.
Mixed hundreds of shows on them, can make it do what I need it to do, but it doesn’t get any praise for it’s sound quality. I find it pretty meh, very boring and uninspiring to mix on.

S31 OTOH was a very pleasant suprise once I got comfortable with the GUI.
Not a SD, but not bad at all.

[Scott Holtzman]

Thanks for that info

Reason I'm asking is that I may finally get some money to spend on my rig next year and 1st on my list is replacing the X32's. I'll never get enough of a budget for an SD10 etc, but a pair of S31's might be doable. I'm wondering if that would fulfill some of the riders I get. 3 weeks ago I had to rent 2 Digicos. They sent an SD10 and a Quantum for monitors. Nice but not cheap. This Sat I'm renting an Avid Profile and I'm sure I'll be getting SL6 requests in the future.

Digico's seem to be the most rider-friendly board in this area so I'm curious as to whether S21/31 would be acceptable for bands that ask for Digico/Avid and need up to 40 inputs.

I can't imagine it would be, it's totally different.  Let me ask you this because we are also looking at consoles.  Has anyone ever called you and asked you to rent a Digico?  Have you ever had to cross rent one to fill a rider?  One of our close competitors we cross rent a ton of gear from has a pair of Avid Profile's and three mix engines.  We get a great rate on them and nobody complains.  If you shop well I think you could get a decent surface and a loaded Mix rack for under 10k.  It's old though so back to the discussion. 


If someone just had their heart set on a DiGiCo 8th day is right down the street and I can get anything I want, know it's been taken care of, updates are done right and it will be at the dock within 30 minutes of a call.  I can make a few bucks and move on. 


Going back to our purchase, most of the time we are not filling riders.  Bigger consoles are really nice on festivals with quick changes.  I think the Allen and Heath C series of the D-Live fill the bill, the only issue is they are not dual power supply.  So maybe the big bod D-Live then a SQ-7 for monitors.  What I probably will end up with is the Aventis and the SQ and a selection of interface boxes. 


Very interested in your selection process and how it progresses.

[John L Nobile]

I can't imagine it would be, it's totally different.  Let me ask you this because we are also looking at consoles.  Has anyone ever called you and asked you to rent a Digico?  Have you ever had to cross rent one to fill a rider?  One of our close competitors we cross rent a ton of gear from has a pair of Avid Profile's and three mix engines.  We get a great rate on them and nobody complains.  If you shop well I think you could get a decent surface and a loaded Mix rack for under 10k.  It's old though so back to the discussion. 


If someone just had their heart set on a DiGiCo 8th day is right down the street and I can get anything I want, know it's been taken care of, updates are done right and it will be at the dock within 30 minutes of a call.  I can make a few bucks and move on. 


Going back to our purchase, most of the time we are not filling riders.  Bigger consoles are really nice on festivals with quick changes.  I think the Allen and Heath C series of the D-Live fill the bill, the only issue is they are not dual power supply.  So maybe the big bod D-Live then a SQ-7 for monitors.  What I probably will end up with is the Aventis and the SQ and a selection of interface boxes. 


Very interested in your selection process and how it progresses.

I'm not seeing anything that excites me in my budget. Right now I'm leaning toward the S31 but it's at least 5 years old. As of now, I'll just keep using the X32 and rent consoles for the riders. We don't do many shows here and the ones coming up next year will all need rentals.

[John L Nobile]

To my ears, d:live has all the features you want, but not all the sound quality.
Mixed hundreds of shows on them, can make it do what I need it to do, but it doesn’t get any praise for it’s sound quality. I find it pretty meh, very boring and uninspiring to mix on.

The guy that owns the soundco that dropped off a Profile yesterday was raving about the sound of the A&H boards. He said that he couldn't afford the new SL6's so he's bought some A&H consoles. Not sure about the model. He still has a few Profiles and SC48's so I can rent them from him if their acceptable to the BE's. Personally, I like the Profile.

But I am curious as why you find it boring and uninspiring to mix on. Those are qualities you don't hear when describing a console.

[Helge A Bentsen]

The guy that owns the soundco that dropped off a Profile yesterday was raving about the sound of the A&H boards. He said that he couldn't afford the new SL6's so he's bought some A&H consoles. Not sure about the model. He still has a few Profiles and SC48's so I can rent them from him if their acceptable to the BE's. Personally, I like the Profile.

But I am curious as why you find it boring and uninspiring to mix on. Those are qualities you don't hear when describing a console.

In lack of a better term, I’ll call it «very corporate sounding».
You want something that sounds clean, adds no character on it’s own and with a bit of air on top?
D:Live is your desk

I think the D:Live is very much like Yamaha CL, but the CL can add some character on it’s own when you dive into the premium rack. Haven’t found anyting similar on the D:Live yet.
Except the Bus Comp (SSL clone) that came with one of the later fw upgrades, I rather like that.

[Scott Helmke]

You want something that sounds clean, adds no character on it’s own and with a bit of air on top?

That's what *I* generally prefer!

[Tim McCulloch]

That's what *I* generally prefer!

^^^ This. I want the console to mix the audio.  If I want my audio colored, I will use other tools to accomplish unless I want only the same color on everything.

[ProSoundWeb Community]