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[John M. Roll]

Looking for suggestions for a backup for my 32sc. I want to be prepared in the event that the board goes down. 

[Thomas Le]

Not sure of Presonus' implementation but in MT land, I can have my x32 rack act as a stagebox to my m32r. Sweetwater has a bundle where they sell the 32sc with the 16r so I guess that may be the same approach?

[Matt Vivlamore]

are you not confident in the Presonus?  Might be time to sell it and buy something with a better track record.

[Brian Jojade]

are you not confident in the Presonus?  Might be time to sell it and buy something with a better track record.

All digital boards are computers, and can unexpectedly fail.  If you don't have a backup plan and the board goes down, it's show over time.

I had a show last year where there was a lighting strike nearby that ended up completely taking out 2 out of 3 of my X32's in use for the event, and one AES port on the 3rd.  Had I not had a spare in the truck, the show wouldn't have gone on.

Now, I do really like the X32 implementation where you can use X32 racks as stage boxes.  If you lose one piece, you can scramble and use one of the other pieces as a fully functioning system.  Each of my amp racks contains an X32 rack for that reason.  Worst case scenario I can usually patch things in a way to get sound flowing again when crap hits the fan.

[John M. Roll]

Looking for suggestions for a backup for my 32sc. I want to be prepared in the event that the board goes down.

Do you think an MR18 would be overkill for this task? I looked at the Presonus 16r, but am having a hard time justifying the cost for something that'll basically be there on standby.

[Brian Jojade]

Do you think an MR18 would be overkill for this task? I looked at the Presonus 16r, but am having a hard time justifying the cost for something that'll basically be there on standby.

What's your game plan to get the backup in place?  If you've got to drop in an entirely different mixer, are you going to have a mix ready that you can simply load up and go, or are you going to have to start from scratch?

If it's going to take too long to get the backup in place, your show may be over before you can get back online.

I'm not completely familiar with the current presonus line, so I don't know how compatible they are regarding show files and whatnot.  With the X32/M32 line, it's as simple as saving your show to a USB stick once you've done soundcheck, and if you had to load that onto a backup console, it's a 2 minute process and you're back in business exactly where you left off.  Note that the MR18 is a completely different family, so it doesn't play along the same way.

If you start mixing and matching things for backup, you might save a few dollars, but then when time comes to implement said backup when seconds count, you may end up regretting that decision.

[Craig Hauber]

Do you think an MR18 would be overkill for this task? I looked at the Presonus 16r, but am having a hard time justifying the cost for something that'll basically be there on standby.

Can't the 16r serve stage box duty for your mixer?  (Or is that only the newest models?)
 
That would be ideal for backup.  If surface goes down just jump on PC or tablet and continue because everything is still patched exactly as you had it for the big surface.
-You can even do a quick soundcheck in that mode so switchover will be minimally painless if it happens.

[Sean Anderson]

Yes it can. It will load files from the bigger boards but only the first 16 channels and 6 mixes. Nothing wrong here if you only ever use 16 channels. I would get a 24r, that'll be a straight load if you use more. This is what I do.

[Scott Holtzman]

What's your game plan to get the backup in place?  If you've got to drop in an entirely different mixer, are you going to have a mix ready that you can simply load up and go, or are you going to have to start from scratch?

If it's going to take too long to get the backup in place, your show may be over before you can get back online.

I'm not completely familiar with the current presonus line, so I don't know how compatible they are regarding show files and whatnot.  With the X32/M32 line, it's as simple as saving your show to a USB stick once you've done soundcheck, and if you had to load that onto a backup console, it's a 2 minute process and you're back in business exactly where you left off.  Note that the MR18 is a completely different family, so it doesn't play along the same way.

If you start mixing and matching things for backup, you might save a few dollars, but then when time comes to implement said backup when seconds count, you may end up regretting that decision.

It's even easier there is a utility that backs up your console and restores it to another machine.  I think the latest version allows you to do changes to routing and some scene safes. IIRC.  https://sourceforge.net/projects/x32livetoolbox/


Wow it's really been updated since the last time, You should be able to script exactly what you want with this. 

[John M. Roll]

It's even easier there is a utility that backs up your console and restores it to another machine.  I think the latest version allows you to do changes to routing and some scene safes. IIRC.  https://sourceforge.net/projects/x32livetoolbox/


Wow it's really been updated since the last time, You should be able to script exactly what you want with this.

Scott,
Are you saying that I can backup the Presonus and restore it to an MR18 with this utility?

John

[John M. Roll]

What's your game plan to get the backup in place?  If you've got to drop in an entirely different mixer, are you going to have a mix ready that you can simply load up and go, or are you going to have to start from scratch?

If it's going to take too long to get the backup in place, your show may be over before you can get back online.

I'm not completely familiar with the current presonus line, so I don't know how compatible they are regarding show files and whatnot.  With the X32/M32 line, it's as simple as saving your show to a USB stick once you've done soundcheck, and if you had to load that onto a backup console, it's a 2 minute process and you're back in business exactly where you left off.  Note that the MR18 is a completely different family, so it doesn't play along the same way.

If you start mixing and matching things for backup, you might save a few dollars, but then when time comes to implement said backup when seconds count, you may end up regretting that decision.

Brian,
I have never had a need for a backup before, however, maybe in my old age, I'm worrying more about a potential failure at a show. I understand your concern regarding mixing and matching, but it's more than a few dollars difference between the Presonus 16R or 24R and the MR18. If I understand Scott Holtzman's response it seems that the utility he references will allow me to convert the Presonus show file to be compatible with an MR18. I've asked him if that's what he meant, so we'll see. The MR18, won't be available until 2023. I might just have to invest in the 16R or 24R, but that's at least ~1K or more for something that will be used as a backup. I might just reverse the roles of the two, making the 32SC the backup for the 16R or 24R. Aesthetically, I don't like the Presonus layout, having the "extra" channels and Aux send on the rear panel. I would have to make a patch panel to get everything out front. The MR18's connections are all on the front panel. Time will tell.

John

[Tim McCulloch]

Scott,
Are you saying that I can backup the Presonus and restore it to an MR18 with this utility?

John

No.

[Brian Jojade]

Brian,
I have never had a need for a backup before, however, maybe in my old age, I'm worrying more about a potential failure at a show. I understand your concern regarding mixing and matching, but it's more than a few dollars difference between the Presonus 16R or 24R and the MR18. If I understand Scott Holtzman's response it seems that the utility he references will allow me to convert the Presonus show file to be compatible with an MR18. I've asked him if that's what he meant, so we'll see. The MR18, won't be available until 2023. I might just have to invest in the 16R or 24R, but that's at least ~1K or more for something that will be used as a backup. I might just reverse the roles of the two, making the 32SC the backup for the 16R or 24R. Aesthetically, I don't like the Presonus layout, having the "extra" channels and Aux send on the rear panel. I would have to make a patch panel to get everything out front. The MR18's connections are all on the front panel. Time will tell.

John

No, the software linked is only for the X32/M32 platform.  The idea of migrating settings from one platform to another seems like an enticing option, but reality is since each platform may have significant differences in how they operate, workflows, routing, etc., it's not going to be a simple transfer.  It would take significant effort to create software that would be able to do such migrations without introducing potentially catastrophic results!

Even transferring between families of the same brand isn't possible. Eg, the MR18 and X32 use completely different software packages.  Behringer doesn't offer transferring between the units, and they're the manufacturer!

If you're looking to save a few dollars for your backup, the cost of that savings is that you'll have to prepare your backup system and create scene files as needed.  Either you have to set it up with a generic show that on the fly you can drop it in and get a mix rolling, or you'll have to take the time to prepare a show on it each time knowing full well you'll probably not need to use it.  Essentially, either you do more work every show to be ready for a nearly seamless transition, or you accept the fact that going to the spare is going to take more time to get back online.

Neither is a really good option in my book.  While I can operate different brands of mixers, if my brain is set up to use one for the night, it can become pretty jarring if in the heat of the moment I not only have to scramble to get things online, but I also at the same time need to get my brain to shift into using the different console.  Not a lot of fun in that.  Totally worth a few hundred bucks to not deal with it.

[Scott Holtzman]

No.

Tim is correct, I missunderstood what you were trying to do.  It would be very difficult to translate from one console to another with different features and data structures.  The X/M32's OSC exposes a ton of variables, does the Presonus have a similar documented API?

[Russell Ault]

{...} but reality is since each platform may have significant differences in how they operate, workflows, routing, etc., it's not going to be a simple transfer.  It would take significant effort to create software that would be able to do such migrations without introducing potentially catastrophic results! {...}

Even at that I think you might be underselling the difficulty, since even simple things like EQ settings don't typically translate one-to-one (i.e. setting a Q of 1 centred on 1 kHz with a level of -6 dB likely won't produce quite the same filter on different consoles), and compressors would be even worse (let alone "effects"). I think about the only things I'd entrust to a piece of cross-brand showfile conversion software are channel labels.

-Russ

[Rob Gow]

I wasn’t aware of the 24R. I think that would be a good solution and also a handy throw and go mixer for small gigs. Myself I have the Presonus Series III 16. I also have an RM32AI that I use as a backup. I was thinking of getting a 32R for a stage box or backup just from the smaller form factor. Maybe the 24R would be more up my alley.

You’d need a new patch snake as the Aux outs on the 24R are TRS instead of XLR.

[ProSoundWeb Community]