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Author Topic: Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet  (Read 58450 times)

Bennett Prescott

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Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet
« on: September 07, 2006, 07:17:53 PM »

A few of you know that I've had the Dolby Lake processor out for a quick spin. There's been surprisingly little talk about what looks to be an incredibly powerful box, so I think it's about time to get it going.

Ervin Grinberg with Dolby Labs out in California took time to pull a bunch of strings and make sure that I'd have this processor to play around with. Unfortunately, they needed it right back for PLASA, so I didn't get much time with it. My local rep is making sure I've got a different one to use at the Wedge Fest this weekend... and beyond!

In any case, the DLP (as everyone "in the know" seems to call it, makes me think of digital projectors) arrived in a hefty Pelican case containing the processor, a tablet PC, and a Cisco access point... no skimping on quality here. I ordered it loaded 8x8 for monitor use, and I had an extra output card in case I wanted to switch it over to 4x12.

Show day, my monitor hombre Geoff and I roll in to the venue, roll stuff off the truck, and set about patching things in. The DLP gets racked in my monitor amp rack along with a few other toys, Geoff cables it up to the inserts on the MH2 (more on that in another review), and turns it on.

Here's what it looks like sitting pretty:
http://campuspa.com/images/dlp/index-Thumbnails/5.jpghttp://campuspa.com/images/dlp/index-Thumbnails/9.jpg

The tablet PC Dolby provided finds the access point and the Dolby Lake Processor easily. By default the DLP is configured as four three-way crossovers and EQ. Since we were running everything passive, Geoff needed to configure the unit to run as an 8x8 monitor EQ. As we'd never seen it before, I had him give Chris Bratveit at Dolby a call to get the 5-minute rundown and be all prepped for the upcoming show. I feel I need another photo here:
http://campuspa.com/images/dlp/index-Thumbnails/1.jpg

I'll have to pass you over to Geoff at this point (Arrr! A cliffhanger!), since I was out patching and finishing FOH as well as greeting and setting up the band. If it seems our timing was a little close, well, it was... but this is a show I've had for several years now, and I know the band well so they don't mind me using them an guinea pigs. Yes, I had a backup plan involving analog EQ, don't you worry.

I'll hop back in after Geoff's filled you in with what I saw in the few brief times I dicked around, and then after Wedge Fest this weekend I'll have a lot more to add, I'm sure!
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-- Bennett Prescott
Director of North American Sales
ADRaudio d.o.o.
Cell: (518) 488-7190

"Give me 6dB and I shall move the world." -Archimedes

Chris Hinds

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Re: Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet
« Reply #1 on: September 12, 2006, 03:29:05 AM »

I look forward to reading the rest of the review on this one Bennett - I thought it was a fantastic unit at PLASA.

Regards

Chris

Rob Burgess

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Re: Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2006, 09:47:52 AM »

Bennett, where are the pictures?

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Rob
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Bennett Prescott

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Re: Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2006, 10:18:36 AM »

They're loading for me, just slowly... maybe my host is throttling traffic forwarded from psw because of the 60MB worth of WedgeFest photos? I'll look into it.
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-- Bennett Prescott
Director of North American Sales
ADRaudio d.o.o.
Cell: (518) 488-7190

"Give me 6dB and I shall move the world." -Archimedes

Geoff Smyton

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Re: Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet
« Reply #4 on: September 26, 2006, 01:41:17 PM »

Hi all, Bennett’s monitor hombre for that evening Geoff here.  With Bennett still needing to patch FOH and the band loading in he hands the phone over to me with Chris on the line.  I had yet to blow sound through the rig and the DLP was still configured for a bunch of 3-way crossovers so I was getting a little nervous.  I had already done all my patching and had the Toshiba tablet hooked up to the DLP via the Cisco Aironet so I was all set there.  Chris talked me through it and I was able to reset the processor to a Mesa EQ, which is a simple process just not obvious trying to navigate through the front panel.  Once I was able to do this the software controls became much more intuitive.  Chris ran me through the basic functionality of the processor and I felt comfortable enough to drive it myself within 5 minutes.  

http://www.campuspa.com/images/dlp/index-Images/7.jpg

The software interface was easy for me to pick up very quickly.  I especially like how well the software lends itself to use on a tablet pc, even a keypad pops up on screen to name outputs so use of the built in keyboard is not required.  The EQ section is great, one screen of PEQ and one of GEQ, with the availability of multiple screens of PEQ if it gets too crowded.  For the PEQ a filter just need to be dropped onto the screen then the frequency, gain, bandwidth and slope (in the case of the mesa filter) dragged into place.  High shelf, low shelf, and standard peak/notch as well as the mesa (with the ability to change the center frequency and slope of each side independently) filter types are available.  Lake’s ideal graphic EQ is available as well on a separate page.  A feature I really like is that the total EQ overlay is shown when you are on either screen so the whole curve is viewable whenever making adjustments.  In both PEQ and GEQ screens each filter can be bypassed by dragging the above bubble down or the filter deleted by pulling the bubble up.  Each EQ screen can also be bypassed independently by dragging the above tab down to the bottom.  High pass and low pass are also available.  Switching between outputs was easy as well, simply by going to the home screen and selecting another output.  Metering was also available on the home screen instead of the bubble icons which is a nice feature.  Input mixing is also available for each output so it can really be a 8x8 matrix if required.

With this knowledge in hand we proceed with sound check.  Luckily the band was very easy to work with and was not very demanding with what they needed in their wedges.  Little tweaking was required with the Audix mics and Adamson and Community wedges (early arrivals for wedgefest).  The little work was very easy on the DLP, as easy but maybe not quite as quick as analog EQ’s.  Bennett got himself all set out front and we were ready to go for the show.  Things went smoothly and I was able to give Bennett the run through on the DLP midway through the show.  During the end of the show I even let him take the tablet out front to play with it.  I figured there was no problem with him controlling my monitor EQ since I had control of his preamps on the RSS snake.  ; )  He seemed to get the hang of it just as quick but I’m sure he can tell you more on that.

That pretty much sums up my experience with the DLP from this show, which was great overall; I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to use it on another gig.  The price may seem expensive but considering the price of 8 channels of quality 31-band GEQ or the price of two 2x6 DSP’s I think it is very reasonable and actually has a good bang/buck bearing in mind the huge feature set and flexibility it has.  I’ll pop in later and give some more impressions from my experience with it at wedgefest.

Geoff Smyton

Email: smytog at rpi dot edu
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Scott Helmke (Scodiddly)

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Re: Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet
« Reply #5 on: September 30, 2006, 09:46:27 AM »

Any word on how the EQ actually worked & sounded for monitor applications?  I'm somewhat intrigued by the graphic EQ, since they apparently don't have the EQ band overlap of a conventional graphic.

Mac Kerr

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Re: Dolby Lake Processor w/tablet
« Reply #6 on: September 30, 2006, 10:53:05 AM »

Scott Helmke (Scodiddly) wrote on Sat, 30 September 2006 09:46

Any word on how the EQ actually worked & sounded for monitor applications?  I'm somewhat intrigued by the graphic EQ, since they apparently don't have the EQ band overlap of a conventional graphic.
Without the eq overlap of a conventional graphic, how do you adjust for feedback frequencies that do not fall on exact ISO 1/3 octave centers? This is one of the advantages of parametrics instead of graphics, but they take a little getting used to.

My experience with the Lake Mesa eq is that the Mesa type parametric is so powerful and easy to use that you'll never want a graphic again.

Mac


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Michael 'Bink' Knowles

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Perfect Q
« Reply #7 on: October 02, 2006, 03:35:25 AM »

Quote:

...Without the eq overlap of a conventional graphic, how do you adjust for feedback frequencies that do not fall on exact ISO 1/3 octave centers? ...


Answer: You pull down the two faders on either side, just like before.

You and I and the guys who've been around the block a few times know how much more precise a parametric EQ is versus graphic EQ. Unfortunately and whether you like it or not, the graphic EQ's speed still trumps parametric when the shit and the fan show up on your gig.   Confused

AFAIK, Rane, Behringer and Lake (what a grouping!) shoot for Perfect Q algorithms on their digital GEQs. The Rane DEQ60 with its analog faders is the fastest of the bunch, though I've seen Miguel Hadelich get some super fast moves down on the tablet interface of the Lake. It's all in the wrist...  Very Happy

Back to your question of freqs NOT close to the ISO centers: in testing GEQs back in 2003 I found that the Proportional Q setting on Rane's DEQ 60L was able to cut a 'tweener freq 3dB more than the Perfect Q setting--this with the two flanking faders jammed all the way down to -12. In real world usage, though, you wouldn't want your one 'tweener freq cut like crazy if it killed the surrounding 'good' freqs--you would want your graphic EQ to fix the badness and retain as much of the goodness as possible. In the case where I made the GEQ cut exactly 6dB of the 'tweener freq, I found that the Proportional Q style robbed you of about 1.3-1.5dB more 'good' sound than the Perfect Q style. Perfect Q topology gives you the in-between ISO cut and still retains all the music power you were looking for. Goal!

-Bink
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Mac Kerr

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Re: Perfect Q
« Reply #8 on: October 02, 2006, 12:12:21 PM »

Michael 'Bink' Knowles wrote on Mon, 02 October 2006 03:35

Back to your question of freqs NOT close to the ISO centers: in testing GEQs back in 2003 I found that the Proportional Q setting on Rane's DEQ 60L was able to cut a 'tweener freq 3dB more than the Perfect Q setting--this with the two flanking faders jammed all the way down to -12. In real world usage, though, you wouldn't want your one 'tweener freq cut like crazy if it killed the surrounding 'good' freqs--you would want your graphic EQ to fix the badness and retain as much of the goodness as possible. In the case where I made the GEQ cut exactly 6dB of the 'tweener freq, I found that the Proportional Q style robbed you of about 1.3-1.5dB more 'good' sound than the Perfect Q style. Perfect Q topology gives you the in-between ISO cut and still retains all the music power you were looking for. Goal!

-Bink
Using equal amounts of each filter gets you the center between them, what about a quarter up from one? Does the center of the "phantom" filter sweep up and down as you use proportional amounts of each flanking 1/3 octave ISO filter? if this is true, is all that adjusting really faster than sweeping a sharp cut on a parametric like you're tuning an old AM radio? A trick I learned in the 70's with a UREI 560. It's not for me.

Mac


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Jake Scudder

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Re: Perfect Q
« Reply #9 on: October 02, 2006, 05:09:56 PM »

Seek and destroy.  That's what I call it anyway.

Jake
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