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[Mark Scrivener]

Yep, a new thread on an "old" desk....

I just noticed a few of these in excellent condition selling for $2500 or so and was thinking about picking one up. Then I remembered you need the Dante or M-Waves card if you want to record multitrack audio on this desk (pretty common request these days). Either one of those cards will still set you back close to $2k, used. Anyone know an economical way to get multitrack audio from the GLD? At $2500 a GLD is interesting....at $4500, not so much.

Man there is some serious margin in those interface cards!

[Rob Bernstein]

Yep, a new thread on an "old" desk....

I just noticed a few of these in excellent condition selling for $2500 or so and was thinking about picking one up. Then I remembered you need the Dante or M-Waves card if you want to record multitrack audio on this desk (pretty common request these days). Either one of those cards will still set you back close to $2k, used. Anyone know an economical way to get multitrack audio from the GLD? At $2500 a GLD is interesting....at $4500, not so much.

Man there is some serious margin in those interface cards!

Wow, I'm tempted to yank the Dante card from my GLD80 and double my investment (paid $935 for it).
I am not aware of any other way to do a multitrack recording from the console. The USB ports on the front will only record a stereo mix to a thumb drive (or an SSD drive, which I have done).
Although I don't use a console with actual faders very much anymore (my gigs are mostly weddings with no space to put a console), this is still a really nice board to work on.

[Mark Scrivener]

Wow, I'm tempted to yank the Dante card from my GLD80 and double my investment (paid $935 for it).
I am not aware of any other way to do a multitrack recording from the console. The USB ports on the front will only record a stereo mix to a thumb drive (or an SSD drive, which I have done).
Although I don't use a console with actual faders very much anymore (my gigs are mostly weddings with no space to put a console), this is still a really nice board to work on.

If you don't need the card it might be a smart move....go look on Reverb, used Dante cards are almost as much as the new ones. Not sure why the A&H Dante cards are so much more expensive than cards for other consoles. I also assume each mfg has their own proprietary card interface, though they look quite similar in photos.

I know the GLD 80 will multitrack record with some other cards as well, like the Waves card. But unfortunately those are just as expensive. I don't care what the protocol is (Dante, waves, ?) as long as it allows me to connect a laptop and multitrack record at a reasonable cost. I fail to see what on these cards would demand such a high premium, esp when similar cards for other consoles are much more affordable.

Pity because as you say, these are really nice boards, and now they are quite affordable......unless you need the multitrack option.

[Matthias McCready]

If you don't need the card it might be a smart move....go look on Reverb, used Dante cards are almost as much as the new ones. Not sure why the A&H Dante cards are so much more expensive than cards for other consoles. I also assume each mfg has their own proprietary card interface, though they look quite similar in photos.

Traditionally they have been more expensive as they have a higher I/O channel count than other cards.

For example the older Yamaha cards are only 16 channels, the Behringer Dante card is only 32 channels; while the A&H GLD is 64 channels.

Having a 64 channel card opens up some cool options for the GLD, some things I did with that are:

1) You could record things that are not taking up channels on the console.
2) You could send preamps which are not a console channel submixed elsewhere and set back to one channel.
3) You could do a lot of bus processing or external FX.

Certainly none of those are needed, but for running an event which is close to capacity for the console having an I/O card helped to get a little better mileage out of the system.

[Mike Caldwell]

If you do pick up a used GLD I would change the BIOS battery first thing.
When you open it up you'll see some very off the shelf looking computer parts, power supply and mother board.
They will not boot up with a low or dead BIOS battery.

[Mark Scrivener]

If you do pick up a used GLD I would change the BIOS battery first thing.
When you open it up you'll see some very off the shelf looking computer parts, power supply and mother board.
They will not boot up with a low or dead BIOS battery.

Thanks. Yes, I was just reading about that. Apparently in some cases a low battery can lead to BIOS corruption and even failure of the CPU board. Fortunately the CPU board is a standard industrial unit. Found a website where someone gave links for ordering the part at 1/10th the cost A&H wanted.

[Mark Scrivener]

BTW, can dSnake or Slink be run through ethernet switches and combined with other ethernet traffic?

With my current setup I have a single CAT6 Ethercon running from stage to FOH that carries mixing control (mixing happens in the stage box), DMX, Midi, ATEM control, and just about anything else I might need. I realize with the GLD and SQ (and I assume the Avantis) the stage boxes send audio to/from the console and mixing happens in the console. I believe the DLive mixes in the stage box, but that's out of my price range.

[Geoff Doane]

BTW, can dSnake or Slink be run through ethernet switches and combined with other ethernet traffic?

Not officially, but if you are a Network Ninja, there are some workarounds that might make it possible.  However it's probably still simpler to run another cable.  Here's a short thread on the A&H SQ message board: https://community.allen-heath.com/forums/topic/cable-setup-ar2412-sq5

GTD

[Mike Caldwell]

Thanks. Yes, I was just reading about that. Apparently in some cases a low battery can lead to BIOS corruption and even failure of the CPU board. Fortunately the CPU board is a standard industrial unit. Found a website where someone gave links for ordering the part at 1/10th the cost A&H wanted.

The battery is just a standard 2032 coin battery about $5.
Also if by chance the used board has an admin password set that no one knows what it is anymore the GLD can be hard reset to clear it but you need to open it up and short a couple jumpers on the mother board and then apply power to do a full hard clean reset.

Here's a link that goes into some detail.
https://community.allen-heath.com/forums/topic/gld80-white-screen-no-lights

[Matthias McCready]

If you do pick up a used GLD I would change the BIOS battery first thing.
When you open it up you'll see some very off the shelf looking computer parts, power supply and mother board.
They will not boot up with a low or dead BIOS battery.

^ This. My console wouldn't boot, thankfully it was prep-day before a gig, and I had a friend nearby who had another GLD I could cross rent.

Also A&H recommended swapping a jumper inside, when the jumper is moved it can be booted even if the BIOS battery is low or dead.

Never had any issues after that.

[Mark Scrivener]

Thanks everyone! Glad to see these desks are still being used. The ability to record live multitrack audio is important to me, so unless I can find a dante/waves or other multichannel interface card for the GLD at a reasonable price, the GLD probably doesn't make sense at the moment (a used GLD plus Dante card is more than a new SQ5 at current Reverb asking prices). I know GLD vs SQ isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison, but discontinued a few years ago vs in production and growing tells me the GLD needs to be a great deal before sinking money into it.

[Mike Caldwell]

Thanks everyone! Glad to see these desks are still being used. The ability to record live multitrack audio is important to me, so unless I can find a dante/waves or other multichannel interface card for the GLD at a reasonable price, the GLD probably doesn't make sense at the moment (a used GLD plus Dante card is more than a new SQ5 at current Reverb asking prices). I know GLD vs SQ isn't exactly an apples to apples comparison, but discontinued a few years ago vs in production and growing tells me the GLD needs to be a great deal before sinking money into it.

In all honesty I don't know if I would call $2,500 and great deal for a GLD these days, did that included any stage boxes?

[Mark Scrivener]

In all honesty I don't know if I would call $2,500 and great deal for a GLD these days, did that included any stage boxes?

I found several GLD-80's, Chrome edition (the last version IIR), in great condition for $2500....no stage boxes. For about $4500 I saw a GLD-112 with 3 stage boxes and 3 ME1 IEM/personal mix boxes. That deal might have been interesting but it was local pickup only on the other side of the country.

The SQ5 is about $4k new, so $2500 for a GLD-80 in excellent condition sounds about what I'd expect.

[Mike Caldwell]

I found several GLD-80's, Chrome edition (the last version IIR), in great condition for $2500....no stage boxes. For about $4500 I saw a GLD-112 with 3 stage boxes and 3 ME1 IEM/personal mix boxes. That deal might have been interesting but it was local pickup only on the other side of the country.

The SQ5 is about $4k new, so $2500 for a GLD-80 in excellent condition sounds about what I'd expect.

Keep in mind with a GLD you will need a stage box or two or three as the surface has limited IO.
The Chrome edition is software and they went to chrome fader caps, same with the QU series, they can all run the Chrome software.

The GLD112 deal was not too bad!

[Mark Scrivener]

Keep in mind with a GLD you will need a stage box or two or three as the surface has limited IO.

Yes. A stage box was a requirement anyway, but I realize the GLD has very few local inputs.

The Chrome edition is software and they went to chrome fader caps, same with the QU series, they can all run the Chrome software.

Good to know the software is upgradable. Being the last units built, I still think the chrome series would be more desirable since they should have more years to go before components start failing.

The GLD112 deal was not too bad!

Indeed. Here is the link incase someone near Kentucky wants it.
https://reverb.com/item/67429351-allen-and-heath-gld112-ar2412-ar84-me1

[Jeremy Young]

Used iLive mixers come up from time to time.  Same “dsp in the stagebox” architecture as the DLive, definitely long in the tooth now but I still use my two iLive rigs exclusively and they still do everything I need in a mixer.  Both my stage boxes have dante cards and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

[Mark Scrivener]

Used iLive mixers come up from time to time.  Same “dsp in the stagebox” architecture as the DLive, definitely long in the tooth now but I still use my two iLive rigs exclusively and they still do everything I need in a mixer.  Both my stage boxes have dante cards and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thanks, I'll have to keep an eye out for an iLive ;-)

[ProSoundWeb Community]