ProSoundWeb Community

Sound Reinforcement - Forums for Live Sound Professionals - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Live Sound Forums => LAB Lounge => Topic started by: Al Rettich on March 13, 2019, 07:37:54 PM

Title: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Al Rettich on March 13, 2019, 07:37:54 PM
I come to you asking for advice.  Have a friend who's a tech director at a H.S. looking to upgrade from there M7CL..

Requirements;
Min of 48 channels,
Remote stage box, (prefer it be connected via CAT5e
Easy for H.S. kids to learn,
Can multi-track record,
Waves compatible.

Any thoughts? He'd has a loose budget of low 30's.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Christian Ekren on March 13, 2019, 07:44:54 PM
In that price range, I've yet to see anything best the D-LIVE's feature set and ease of use. Pick your preferred surface and IO boxes as needed.

We run x2 GLD's at many of my local high schools and the students are able to pick up the systems very quickly.

Sent from my LG-H931 using Tapatalk
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Steve Eudaly on March 13, 2019, 09:59:34 PM
Digico S21/S31. Ticks all the boxes and will come in well under budget. Very modern interface that should be quite intuitive for most users.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Mike Caldwell on March 14, 2019, 12:14:28 AM
Must be some high school to have a 30k budget for a mixer!
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Kyle Waters on March 14, 2019, 04:04:05 AM
Since they are already familiar with the M7, why not get a CL3 or 5? Basically the same interface.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Justice C. Bigler on March 14, 2019, 04:32:35 AM
Since they are already familiar with the M7, why not get a CL3 or 5? Basically the same interface.
Should be able to get a CL5 and RIO 3224 and 1608 for right about 35 grand.


The Digicos, even the S21/S31 as well as the A&H are much more complicated to learn than the CL5, which they already basically know since it's the same interface as the M7, just more refined.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: TJ (Tom) Cornish on March 14, 2019, 08:21:09 AM
The Digicos, even the S21/S31 as well as the A&H are much more complicated to learn than the CL5, which they already basically know since it's the same interface as the M7, just more refined.
Unless the students are regularly reconfiguring deep mixer settings, I disagree with this, especially for the DLive.  Our church just switched from an M7 to a DLive and the reaction of everyone has been incredibly positive - the DLive is significantly easier to use especially for monitors from FOH than the M7 was.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Frank Koenig on March 14, 2019, 11:08:52 AM
You can get into a fairly capable d-Live system (C-series) for about $13k. I find the interface very logical. I like it a lot. I also like the open-feeling layout of the control surface and screen pages-- it's not small and fussy like some. It would be good for two people working together in an instructional situation. The knobs feel solid as they always do on A&H stuff. I worry more about the rubber buttons. Time will tell how durable they are. --Frank
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Robert Healey on March 15, 2019, 12:49:41 PM
I come to you asking for advice.  Have a friend who's a tech director at a H.S. looking to upgrade from there M7CL..

Requirements;
Min of 48 channels,
Remote stage box, (prefer it be connected via CAT5e
Easy for H.S. kids to learn,
Can multi-track record,
Waves compatible.

Any thoughts? He'd has a loose budget of low 30's.

How about:

A&H SQ7 with Dante card, new A&H Dante stageboxes, external Dante/Waves bridge. Unless the high school is being used as a pro venue, what features do they need that an SQ can't provide?

Spend the other $20k on something else.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Tim Hite on March 16, 2019, 01:50:41 PM
Other options not yet mentioned:
Digico SD9 with Waves server 
Potentially an SD12 on B-stock

New Midas Pro level console is right around the corner, as well.

I come to you asking for advice.  Have a friend who's a tech director at a H.S. looking to upgrade from there M7CL..

Requirements;
Min of 48 channels,
Remote stage box, (prefer it be connected via CAT5e
Easy for H.S. kids to learn,
Can multi-track record,
Waves compatible.

Any thoughts? He'd has a loose budget of low 30's.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Eric Snodgrass on March 17, 2019, 03:29:30 AM
How about:

A&H SQ7 with Dante card, new A&H Dante stageboxes, external Dante/Waves bridge. Unless the high school is being used as a pro venue, what features do they need that an SQ can't provide?

Spend the other $20k on something else.

Instead of the Dante card he can get a Waves Card (https://www.allen-heath.com/ahproducts/sq-waves/) for the SQ7 and use the built-in SLink port for external stageboxes.  Buy a DX Hub and three DX168 boxes (https://www.allen-heath.com/remote-audio-sq/) for 48 input-24 output channels at 96kHz on stage over a single Cat5e run from FOH. 
The Waves card connects directly to a Soundgrid Server for both plug-in access and Multitrack recording. 
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: BradPinder on March 18, 2019, 07:18:41 AM
You can get into a fairly capable d-Live system (C-series) for about $13k. I find the interface very logical. I like it a lot. I also like the open-feeling layout of the control surface and screen pages-- it's not small and fussy like some. It would be good for two people working together in an instructional situation. The knobs feel solid as they always do on A&H stuff. I worry more about the rubber buttons. Time will tell how durable they are. --Frank

+1 for the Dlive... i'm teaching my 8 year old to use one at our church. should be very easy for a high schooler to pick up
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Frank Koenig on March 19, 2019, 02:41:04 PM
i'm teaching my 8 year old to use one at our church.

Shame on you for leading your child down the path to ruin :)  Actually, the exact opposite. Experiences like this will benefit them their whole lives. Here's the kid of a friend who mixed a children's musical when he was about 10, I'm guessing, on an ancient and storied Gamble desk.  I was one of the "adults" presumably supervising. He showed up a little late for one rehearsal (Little League, or some such) and I had to mix. I really didn't know what I was doing and was so relieved when he showed up.

--Frank

(http://ChildLabor.jpg)


Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Dave Garoutte on March 19, 2019, 03:36:39 PM
When I was in school, the AV kids ran the projectors (film) and that's about it.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: John Penkala on March 19, 2019, 06:37:52 PM
I come to you asking for advice.  Have a friend who's a tech director at a H.S. looking to upgrade from there M7CL..

Requirements;
Min of 48 channels,
Remote stage box, (prefer it be connected via CAT5e
Easy for H.S. kids to learn,
Can multi-track record,
Waves compatible.


Any thoughts? He'd has a loose budget of low 30's.


I know this isn't as new and cool as a lot of recommendations. However, I would go with a Yamaha QL5 with a couple of RIO's and Waves Cards/ Server, and Network Infrastructure. That should come in at or below that number. Get the kids some experience on a console interface that is somewhat of a standard in the corporate world along with the heavily adopted Dante protocol.
 
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Tom Provenza on March 19, 2019, 08:10:47 PM
Must be some high school to have a 30k budget for a mixer!

Yea, the only mixer at my high school was an M68 (mid 80’s).
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Chris Hindle on March 20, 2019, 08:25:09 AM
Yea, the only mixer at my high school was an M68 (mid 80’s).
Ha !
Mid 70's, "we" had a Bogen for the auditorium PA.
Maybe 3  mic and 1 line input? Mono, of course.
Hey, for assemblies, it worked just fine.
When there was a "concert", the band brought their own PA.
Chris.
Title: Re: H.S. Console used by kids.
Post by: Steve Eudaly on March 20, 2019, 10:59:40 AM

I know this isn't as new and cool as a lot of recommendations. However, I would go withYamaha QL5 with a couple of RIO's and Waves Cards/ Server, and Network Infrastructure. That should come in at or below that number. Get the kids some experience on a console interface that is somewhat of a standard in the corporate world along with the heavily adopted Dante protocol.

Despite it being different from my original comment, I totally agree with this suggestion.