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[Josh Bessom]

Looking to acquire a new digital board for my theatre this year.  We do mostly theatre, with a fair number of concerts thrown in, and cultural variety shows (rentals), graduations, etc.

The competition has come down to Venue Profile vs. SD8 -

Observations:

Venue:
- More FX options and expandability
- More rider friendly
- Better offline editor, faster to patch and label, both on the board and offline.

SD8:
- Better sound?  Debatable I know.
- More flexible layout, more DCAs, or I guess "control groups"
- More encoders
- Better metering, at channel strip
- Touch screens are cool.

Your thoughts?  Any issues with reliability with either board?  Work flow issues that bug you or that you really like?

Thanks for your help -

[Mike Reilly]

My first instinct would be to figure out how many times you actually have guest engineers who are sticklers for the desk specified in their rider.

On a practical ROI level, it doesn't matter how "good" a desk is if you have to spend more $$$ bringing in another desk for 50% of your shows because engineers can't or won't use the house desk.

[Jay Rigby]

Well,  I used to tour with a Profile for the band I do monitors for.  About 4 months ago we were in rehearsal for a week so I brought in an SD8 to try it out while the band was running off the Profile.  In about 10 minutes I had my IEM mixes built and they sounded much warmer and more open compared to the Profile.  The thing that sold me on the SD8 was the mic pre's.  I soloed a guitar mic with no eq, just gain on both consoles and it was night and day, the SD8 sounded much closer to an analog mic pre than the Profile.

I've had the SD8 out on the road since then and have had no problems with the console at all. 

The Profile is just a little bit easier to label but definitely easier to patch.   

Almost everybody knows how to use a Profile, however if someone knows the Profile they can figure out the SD8 in about 2 minutes. 

In my opinion it comes down to who is going to be using the console?  If more than often you are going to have visiting engineers coming through with a venue show file then it would make sense to have a Profile.  If its going to be you mixing with engineers coming through once and a while I would go with the SD8. 

Hope this helps, feel free to hit me up with any more questions.

[Mac Kerr]

Looking to acquire a new digital board for my theatre this year.  We do mostly theatre, with a fair number of concerts thrown in, and cultural variety shows (rentals), graduations, etc.

The competition has come down to Venue Profile vs. SD8 -

What are the criteria you used to narrow the field to those 2 consoles? Using that same criteria does one of them stand out? Maybe there are other considerations. What kind of scene control do you need for your theater shows? Who will be the operators? What are the requirements of most of your visiting acts? What are you upgrading from, and what drove the need to upgrade?

To decide on a console there are more things to consider than you have mentioned here, how did you arrive at this decision?

Mac

[Josh Bessom]

What are the criteria you used to narrow the field to those 2 consoles? Using that same criteria does one of them stand out? Maybe there are other considerations. What kind of scene control do you need for your theater shows? Who will be the operators? What are the requirements of most of your visiting acts? What are you upgrading from, and what drove the need to upgrade?

To decide on a console there are more things to consider than you have mentioned here, how did you arrive at this decision?

Mac

First, thanks all for the great info, keep it coming!

I'm moving from a Soundcraft Series Five, 48-4.  Main consideration is automation - we do a lot of mixed schedules: rehearse renter A, renter B rehearse and show next day, renter A show the following day kind of thing.  It's a pain on an analog desk.  And when we do have to move it to bring in another board it weighs A TON.  I guess either board solves that problem :-)

It came down to those 2 because they are roughly similar in price and IO if you're considering a Mix Rack system for the Venue.  I have mixed on the Venue and quite liked it, I have yet to try the SD8.

95% of the time at my house it's me mixing.  Most visiting act engineers are for rock concerts, and VERY small scale children's theater.

[Mac Kerr]

I'm moving from a Soundcraft Series Five, 48-4.  Main consideration is automation - we do a lot of mixed schedules: rehearse renter A, renter B rehearse and show next day, renter A show the following day kind of thing.  It's a pain on an analog desk.  And when we do have to move it to bring in another board it weighs A TON.  I guess either board solves that problem :-)

It came down to those 2 because they are roughly similar in price and IO if you're considering a Mix Rack system for the Venue.  I have mixed on the Venue and quite liked it, I have yet to try the SD8.

95% of the time at my house it's me mixing.  Most visiting act engineers are for rock concerts, and VERY small scale children's theater.

Under those conditions you should recommend the one you are most comfortable on. The user interface is the most important characteristic of any console. If it was me picking, I'd pick a PM5D. For me, it is far easier to mix on than either the Profile, or any Digico I have used. I find the access to aux sends pretty limited on most digital consoles, with too many buttons to push to get to the mix you want access to. AFAIK only the PM5D and PM1D give you access to 24 mixes at once without pushing a button, PM1D requires one button push to get to the next 24 mixes. It is also much easier to track where a channel is going, and set up matrixes on a 5D. I also find the scene automation, and file management easier on a 5D.

Try both out and decide what you are comfortable with. If you are the primary user, it is your comfort level that matters. If a band has enough juice to get you to provide the exact console they want, the production probably has the money to do it. If they don't have the juice, they should be happy with any of the consoles that fall into that product class.

Mac

[Adam Robinson]

I've spent a lot of time touring with the Profile and the SD8... in many instances right after one another. 

The SD8 wins in audio quality, hands down. 

The SD8 also has a much more advanced automation system that you might find useful for theatre applications. 

Everyone else here also has good points.

[Andrew Moyer]

Under those conditions you should recommend the one you are most comfortable on. The user interface is the most important characteristic of any console. If it was me picking, I'd pick a PM5D.

Since we're throwing out other options, have you considered the Soundcraft Vi4?  When we were quoting consoles I found it to be similar in price to the SD8 and Profile.  Personally, I found the user interface on it much easier to use then the SD8, Profile or PM5D.  If you haven't yet, please have a good look at it.

[Tony Peaker]

I was in a venue almost identical to yours a few years ago. At that time for me it was a decision between a Venue and a D1. I went with the D1.

Touring engineers on our system were always happy with the desk, even the one who complained prior to starting sound check that he hates analog and then praised the desk afterwards! The desk, in my opinion was closer to the feel and workflow of an analog desk and was very easy to get touring guys up to speed. Anyone who needed a particular console either toured it with them or paid the cost to bring it in.

The theatre shows were very easy to program and I couldn't recommend any other desk than a Digico for theatre cues!

I haven't used an SD8 but I have mixed on a Profile and I prefer the Digico layout and workflow.

[Jim McKeveny]

Just spent 4 days on a Profile and I must admit that it was a difficult surface. Too many buttons to push to get where  I needed to go. Between the far left side layer changer and the screen on the right, my neck got a workout.

I find the DiGiCo interface much faster, and the sonics are terrific. Much of Broadway has taken to DiGi's, so its suitability for theater app goes w/o mention..

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