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Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Shane Salmon on June 12, 2013, 05:10:49 PM
Greetings,

I am trying to install a Behringer digital snake (S16) to use with an Allen and Heath analog board. I am experiencing a hissing sound from the S16 that I cannot eliminate. At first I thought it may be due to the fact that I am using CAT5 cable that is unshielded but even when I connect the S16 directly to the mixer I still get a hiss. I have tried adjusting the gain on both the mixer and the S16 but to no avail. I have also ruled out that it was the board due to the fact that we are currently using the board with our old snake and there is no hissing. Any suggestions?
Title: Posting Rules
Post by: Mac Kerr on June 12, 2013, 05:18:04 PM
Any suggestions?

Please go to your profile and change the "Name" field to your real first and last name as required by the posting rules displayed in the header at the top of the section, and in the Site Rules and Suggestions (http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/board,36.0.html) in the Forum Announcements section, and on the registration page when you registered.

Mac
Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Rob Spence on June 12, 2013, 11:08:25 PM
How are you connecting this?

 Analog desks in general don't have connections for digital snakes.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Mac Kerr on June 12, 2013, 11:28:02 PM
Greetings,

I am trying to install a Behringer digital snake (S16) to use with an Allen and Heath analog board. I am experiencing a hissing sound from the S16 that I cannot eliminate. At first I thought it may be due to the fact that I am using CAT5 cable that is unshielded but even when I connect the S16 directly to the mixer I still get a hiss. I have tried adjusting the gain on both the mixer and the S16 but to no avail. I have also ruled out that it was the board due to the fact that we are currently using the board with our old snake and there is no hissing. Any suggestions?

Leaving aside the hiss, how did actual audio sound through the snake?

It seems from your description that there is too much gain somewhere which is bringing up the noise level of the S-16. how are the mic pres set in the S-16? How are the inputs set and wired on your analog mixer?

Without more info there is no way to know for sure where the noise is coming from.

Mac
Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Samuel Rees on June 13, 2013, 12:44:25 AM
Speculation....

If you had gains on a digital snake set extremely low, and the majority of your gain after the snake on the analog desk, your signal to noise ratio from the A/D section could be very bad. For example, if your digital inputs on the snake were averaging -60, and a ton of gain was added on the A&H. The signal would be surprisingly close to the noise floor and then gained up. This would be bad. Get most of your gain from the snake.

That said... How ARE you connecting the S16 to your analog desk? I don't know much about that snake, but I am confused. It seems to be analog in, AES50 digital out.
 
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Jason Lucas on June 13, 2013, 02:30:51 AM
Speculation....

If you had gains on a digital snake set extremely low, and the majority of your gain after the snake on the analog desk, your signal to noise ratio from the A/D section could be very bad. For example, if your digital inputs on the snake were averaging -60, and a ton of gain was added on the A&H. The signal would be surprisingly close to the noise floor and then gained up. This would be bad. Get most of your gain from the snake.

That said... How ARE you connecting the S16 to your analog desk? I don't know much about that snake, but I am confused. It seems to be analog in, AES50 digital out.

Yeah, I can see how he would do it with multiple snakes, one on stage receiving inputs and one at FOH outputting to the console, but even then you'd only be able to get 8 channels to the board...
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Sidney.Pilien on June 13, 2013, 05:54:57 AM
How are you connecting this?

 Analog desks in general don't have connections for digital snakes.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

ADA8000 at the board side? If so, probably needs wordclock to the S16.
Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Samuel Rees on June 13, 2013, 10:01:27 AM
Yeah, I can see how he would do it with multiple snakes, one on stage receiving inputs and one at FOH outputting to the console, but even then you'd only be able to get 8 channels to the board...

Hmmm... Wouldn't they need a x32 ass product to accomplish that routing?

I didn't think the ADA8000s had AES50. If not, I don't follow.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Shane Salmon on June 13, 2013, 10:20:49 AM
Leaving aside the hiss, how did actual audio sound through the snake?

It seems from your description that there is too much gain somewhere which is bringing up the noise level of the S-16. how are the mic pres set in the S-16? How are the inputs set and wired on your analog mixer?

The actual audio sound is fine, comes through clear (no static) and the connection is good. I thought there was too much gain too, but even after turning the gain down on the individual channels on the S-16 there was no change. The gain on the board is no more than the usual that is used with the previous set up which has no hiss at all. I'm not sure if I completely understand how to find out the mic pres set in the S-16 (if it is the individual gain that is set on the S-16 it is -2.). The inputs that go into the board go through amps on the stage side and then through our house speakers and monitors.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Shane Salmon on June 13, 2013, 10:39:07 AM
ADA8000 at the board side? If so, probably needs wordclock to the S16.

Yes, I have an ADA8000 board side. It has already been synced with the S16, and we are getting sound through. Is wordclock any different?
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Shane Salmon on June 13, 2013, 10:41:51 AM
Speculation....

If you had gains on a digital snake set extremely low, and the majority of your gain after the snake on the analog desk, your signal to noise ratio from the A/D section could be very bad. For example, if your digital inputs on the snake were averaging -60, and a ton of gain was added on the A&H. The signal would be surprisingly close to the noise floor and then gained up. This would be bad. Get most of your gain from the snake.

That said... How ARE you connecting the S16 to your analog desk? I don't know much about that snake, but I am confused. It seems to be analog in, AES50 digital out.

I have adjusted the gain on the digital snake stage side but that doesn't take away the hiss, whether its -2 or +20. I am connecting the S16 to the board through an ADA 8000.
Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Samuel Rees on June 13, 2013, 10:46:22 AM
The actual audio sound is fine, comes through clear (no static) and the connection is good. I thought there was too much gain too, but even after turning the gain down on the individual channels on the S-16 there was no change. The gain on the board is no more than the usual that is used with the previous set up which has no hiss at all. I'm not sure if I completely understand how to find out the mic pres set in the S-16 (if it is the individual gain that is set on the S-16 it is -2.). The inputs that go into the board go through amps on the stage side and then through our house speakers and monitors.

1 - In a digital snake plus analog board setup, your gains on the analog board would NOT be what they were before. They would be around zero - the digital snake contains your preamp. In digital systems, the lower your signal level at conversion, the lower your signal to noise ratio is. Place all your analog gains at zero, or low, and use the S16 for most of your gain.

Start by setting your analog gains at zero, gain the S16 em up enough to get signal on each channel (you are going to have to set the gain on the s16 like a sound check on each channel). Let us know when this is fully done,

Also, can you describe the sound further?
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on June 13, 2013, 10:48:47 AM
The actual audio sound is fine, comes through clear (no static) and the connection is good. I thought there was too much gain too, but even after turning the gain down on the individual channels on the S-16 there was no change. The gain on the board is no more than the usual that is used with the previous set up which has no hiss at all. I'm not sure if I completely understand how to find out the mic pres set in the S-16 (if it is the individual gain that is set on the S-16 it is -2.). The inputs that go into the board go through amps on the stage side and then through our house speakers and monitors.

A digital snake is not the same thing as a wire snake.  Microphones put out tiny voltages that wire can pass cleanly, but a digital path needs that signal boosted.

I am too lazy to look up what a S-16 is/does but in general when you run two gain stages in series, you will get the best S/N by putting most of your gain in the first stage. THis is because gain in the second preamp amplifies noise from the first preamp along with signal.

So trim up the gain higher in your first stage (S-16)  and reduce gain a like amount it in your second stage (console).

Does the S-16 have an owners manual? Does it offer any advice for typical applications? Did you RTFM?

JR

 
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Mac Kerr on June 13, 2013, 11:43:37 AM
The actual audio sound is fine, comes through clear (no static) and the connection is good. I thought there was too much gain too, but even after turning the gain down on the individual channels on the S-16 there was no change. The gain on the board is no more than the usual that is used with the previous set up which has no hiss at all. I'm not sure if I completely understand how to find out the mic pres set in the S-16 (if it is the individual gain that is set on the S-16 it is -2.). The inputs that go into the board go through amps on the stage side and then through our house speakers and monitors.

Turn the input mic pre gain down as far as it goes on your mixer. Turn the gain up on the S-16 till the audio level is right at the console. Listen for hiss again.

Mac
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Tommy Peel on June 13, 2013, 12:26:00 PM
Hmmm... Wouldn't they need a x32 ass product to accomplish that routing?

I didn't think the ADA8000s had AES50. If not, I don't follow.

I was wondering how this was setup too so I did some research and the S16s are designed to be usable in a standalone application. They have 16(2x8) channels of ADAT output on the rear of each unit. So apparently you could have one S16 on stage sending 16 channels to a second S16 at FOH which would output 8 channels via the onboard XLRs and another 8 via the ADAT+ADA8000 outputs. I'm sure most everyone here has figured this out but I thought I'd post it in case anyone else was still wondering.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Mac Kerr on June 13, 2013, 12:39:17 PM
I have adjusted the gain on the digital snake stage side but that doesn't take away the hiss, whether its -2 or +20. I am connecting the S16 to the board through an ADA 8000.

How do you connect to the board through an ADA8000? How do you convert the AES50 signal on CAT5 to ADAT? How many S-16 boxes do you have?

Please post a diagram that shows how you have everything patched, including what is the long run from stage to FOH.

For 16 channels I would run an analog multi.

Mac
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: g'bye, Dick Rees on June 13, 2013, 01:20:23 PM
I was wondering how this was setup too so I did some research and the S16s are designed to be usable in a standalone application. They have 16(2x8) channels of ADAT output on the rear of each unit. So apparently you could have one S16 on stage sending 16 channels to a second S16 at FOH which would output 8 channels via the onboard XLRs and another 8 via the ADAT+ADA8000 outputs. I'm sure most everyone here has figured this out but I thought I'd post it in case anyone else was still wondering.

From the horse's mouth:

"Although the S16 was initially designed for use with our flagship X32 digital console, any mixing board with AES50 networking capability can tap into the S16's powerful feature set. So if you happen to work on an analog mixing board occasionally, you could use two pairs of S16 and ADA8000 to form a high-performance, lightweight 16 x 16 digital snake, all on one CAT5 connection, keeping the preamp remote control functionality."

Seems like a lot of hassle and expense for a kludge which may or may not be a stable connection.

Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Jason Lucas on June 13, 2013, 01:27:48 PM
One of these on stage takes 16 analog inputs:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Master_Razor/S16_P0AJA_Front_XL_zps70a1c6f9.png)

Which connects to another one at FOH via AES50:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Master_Razor/S16_P0AJA_Rear_XL_zpsa27fe388.png)

You get 8 analog outputs from the FOH S16.

Then you have an ADA8000 at FOH which gets its 8 inputs from the ADAT outputs on the FOH S16:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Master_Razor/ADA8000_P0187_Rear_XL_zpsa3ce2dab.png)

Then you get 8 more analog outputs from the ADA8000.

The analog console gets 16 inputs from the 8 analog outputs on the ADA8000 as well as the 8 analog outputs on the S16.

And yes, it is an overly complicated way to do it. If they simply made a version of the S16 with 16 analog outputs you could skip the ADA8000.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Lee Buckalew on June 13, 2013, 02:04:38 PM
Greetings,

I am trying to install a Behringer digital snake (S16) to use with an Allen and Heath analog board. I am experiencing a hissing sound from the S16 that I cannot eliminate. At first I thought it may be due to the fact that I am using CAT5 cable that is unshielded but even when I connect the S16 directly to the mixer I still get a hiss. I have tried adjusting the gain on both the mixer and the S16 but to no avail. I have also ruled out that it was the board due to the fact that we are currently using the board with our old snake and there is no hissing. Any suggestions?

I had run into the same issue when I first played with this combination.  I thought that the combination was very noisy.  The noise/hiss issue was actually due to my not understanding the routing in the consoles patching.  I thought I was patching one way when I was really doing something different. 

I can not recall precisely what it was that i did incorrectly but I do know that I sat down with the manual and walked step by step through the patch so that I understood what terminology Behringer was using and what they meant by it rather than going by what I assumed they meant.  After doing this I saw what I had done wrong and, even better, the noise problem was gone.

Lee
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: g'bye, Dick Rees on June 13, 2013, 02:33:00 PM
I had run into the same issue when I first played with this combination.  I thought that the combination was very noisy.  The noise/hiss issue was actually due to my not understanding the routing in the consoles patching.  I thought I was patching one way when I was really doing something different. 

I can not recall precisely what it was that i did incorrectly but I do know that I sat down with the manual and walked step by step through the patch so that I understood what terminology Behringer was using and what they meant by it rather than going by what I assumed they meant.  After doing this I saw what I had done wrong and, even better, the noise problem was gone.

Lee

It seems to me that, in my cursory observation of the X32 threads, Behringer has come out and actually stated that shielded cable is either recommended or required for noise-free connections.

Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Samuel Rees on June 13, 2013, 02:38:08 PM
One of these on stage takes 16 analog inputs:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Master_Razor/S16_P0AJA_Front_XL_zps70a1c6f9.png)

Which connects to another one at FOH via AES50:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Master_Razor/S16_P0AJA_Rear_XL_zpsa27fe388.png)

You get 8 analog outputs from the FOH S16.

Then you have an ADA8000 at FOH which gets its 8 inputs from the ADAT outputs on the FOH S16:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v332/Master_Razor/ADA8000_P0187_Rear_XL_zpsa3ce2dab.png)

Then you get 8 more analog outputs from the ADA8000.

The analog console gets 16 inputs from the 8 analog outputs on the ADA8000 as well as the 8 analog outputs on the S16.

And yes, it is an overly complicated way to do it. If they simply made a version of the S16 with 16 analog outputs you could skip the ADA8000.

Thank you for the step by step breakdown! I follow now.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Lee Buckalew on June 13, 2013, 02:53:00 PM
It seems to me that, in my cursory observation of the X32 threads, Behringer has come out and actually stated that shielded cable is either recommended or required for noise-free connections.

There has been no hissing related noise issue that I am aware of due to shielding or lack thereof.  The noise related to shielding problems has seemed to be a clicking or popping sound.  When I have experienced hissing (like the sound of a mic pre gained too high) it has been due to improper routing causing a bussing problem.

Certainly does not mean that there may not be other possible causes too.

Lee
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: g'bye, Dick Rees on June 13, 2013, 03:04:36 PM
There has been no hissing related noise issue that I am aware of due to shielding or lack thereof.  The noise related to shielding problems has seemed to be a clicking or popping sound.  When I have experienced hissing (like the sound of a mic pre gained too high) it has been due to improper routing causing a bussing problem.

Certainly does not mean that there may not be other possible causes too.

Lee

Yes, you are correct.  I just checked and it was indeed the "clicking and popping" phenomenon that was shield-related.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: John Roberts {JR} on June 13, 2013, 03:13:22 PM
There has been no hissing related noise issue that I am aware of due to shielding or lack thereof.  The noise related to shielding problems has seemed to be a clicking or popping sound.  When I have experienced hissing (like the sound of a mic pre gained too high) it has been due to improper routing causing a bussing problem.

Certainly does not mean that there may not be other possible causes too.

Lee

I nature everything makes hiss. Complaints about too much hiss is generally caused by improper gain structure, inputs turned up with no mic, etc. .

JR

PS: I have actually seen hiss picked up by an unshielded input before but it was a rather obscure case where it picked up a very HF square wave (from a nearby oscillating circuit) that was rectified by the slower input circuitry leaving behind a noise like signature from the square wave's modulation... Think of this like a radio receiver picking up dead air from a crude radio transmitter, but like I said very obscure so an exception to, not the rule. 
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Lee Buckalew on June 13, 2013, 03:22:19 PM
I nature everything makes hiss. Complaints about too much hiss is generally caused by improper gain structure, inputs turned up with no mic, etc. .

Yes, I realize but this was an "Oh my god, what did these people buy?  This is going to be completely unacceptable..." sort of a hiss without any gain being adjusted, etc.  The level did not vary with gain/trim adjustments, etc. 
I discovered that I had misunderstood the patching and it seems, though my memory is not what it used to be according to my kids, that I had patched an S16 back to itself.  I think that in my case it had to do with patching outputs but I can't swear to that.
Amazingly, following the manual through patching showed me the error of my assumptions :-)

Lee
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Sidney.Pilien on June 13, 2013, 10:33:21 PM
Yes, I have an ADA8000 board side. It has already been synced with the S16, and we are getting sound through. Is wordclock any different?

The S16 network link LEDs should be green. If so, clock is ok. Try disconnecting one input at a time at the snake and ADA outs to see if one of the channels is bad at either end.
Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Samuel Rees on June 14, 2013, 12:08:29 AM
I suppose this doesn't matter.... but has the OP explained why they ditched a 16 channel multicore to an analog desk for this strange beast?
Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Tommy Peel on June 14, 2013, 01:20:39 AM
I suppose this doesn't matter.... but has the OP explained why they ditched a 16 channel multicore to an analog desk for this strange beast?

It definitely seems like a complicated and expensive solution to whatever the problem was. I will say that, as someone who regularly deals with a 16x4x100 analog snake, being able to run a single cat5 from the stage to FOH to handle all the audio sounds really appealing, but I won't be making that leap until I have a digital board too(probably an x32 compact or producer). I'm very surprised that behringer bothered to build a standalone capability into the s16 to begin with; I would rather them knock the price down some and ditch the standalone BS.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Brad Weber on June 14, 2013, 06:47:09 AM
I suppose this doesn't matter.... but has the OP explained why they ditched a 16 channel multicore to an analog desk for this strange beast?
Not that it really matters, however I can see a porta-church possibly preferring to deal with one CAT cable rather than a multipair snake.
 
This topic reminds me of the first time I heard the Roland digital snake.  It was at a trade show and they had a demo with a REAC digital snake and an analog snake side-by-side with the sources split to both so that you could listen on headphones and switch between the two.  The factory rep extolled the sound quality of their system while I listened to the analog snake and then switched to the digital snake only to hear noise, distortion and just generally a crappy signal.  Apparently someone demonstrating the control software had misadjusted things and then left it that way without others working in the booth realizing what had happened or how bad it sounded.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Lee Buckalew on June 14, 2013, 07:02:21 AM
Thank you for the step by step breakdown! I follow now.

Here, from the S16 manual.  Are you're two S16's set as master and slave as they are required to be for stand alone?

The on stage S16 must be set to Standard Mode and the FOH S16 must be set to Master Mode.

5.  Standalone Operation
The S16 does not necessarily need to be used in conjunction with the X32 console.
A pair of S16 units can be linked to send 16 channels to and from the stage,
providing a high-quality digital snake that can work with any analog mixer.
In this scenario, a master S16 will be placed at FOH near the main mixing console,
and the other on the stage (see ’S16 as standalone snake’ hookup diagram).
The†FOH unit must be set to SN MASTER mode so that it can control the preamps
of the unit on stage. All sends from FOH to the stage can be connected to
INTPUTS 1-8 on the ’master’ S16, which will appear at the on-stage unit’s XLR
OUTPUTS. Connect all the sound sources from the performers to INPUTS 1-16 of
the on-stage S16. Channels 1-8 will appear at the ’master’ S16’s XLR OUTPUTS and
channels 9-16 will appear at the ADAT OUTPUT. Connect the ADAT 9-16 OUTPUT to
an ADA8000 or similar preamp to provide analog XLR outputs. The outputs from
the ’master’ S16 and the ADA8000 can be connected to any sort of  main console
for mixing, analog or digital.
For recording applications, a single S16 can also be used as a high-quality mic
preamp. Connect the sound sources to the INPUTS 1-16, and send those channels
via ADAT to an interface or ADAT card installed in your computer. For this scenario,
the S16 must be set to SPLITTER mode.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Mac Kerr on June 14, 2013, 12:09:00 PM
It definitely seems like a complicated and expensive solution to whatever the problem was. I will say that, as someone who regularly deals with a 16x4x100 analog snake, being able to run a single cat5 from the stage to FOH to handle all the audio sounds really appealing

Really? 16x4 100'? As someone who generally is running a 48pr + 16pr return + 12/4 FOH power 300'-450' I can see the charm of digital snakes, and I use them when I can.

By the time you mount those boxes they aren't going to weigh less, and they are a lot more complex and have way more points of failure than a 24pr analog snake wired as 16x8.

Before the onset of digital consoles there were digital snakes. The one I used most was the Otari Lightwinder. It was a 48x16 digital snake with a 12RU box at each end. The  FOH end broke out in 4 16pr fanouts, and the connection was fiber. A digital snake used with an analog console that does not break out in fanouts at FOH just seems silly.

Mac
Title: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Samuel Rees on June 14, 2013, 01:41:53 PM
Maybe he meant the digital sounded expensive and complicated?
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Tommy Peel on June 14, 2013, 02:27:29 PM
Maybe he meant the digital sounded expensive and complicated?
Yeah I was refering to using the s16 digital snake with an analog board as being expensive(2x$900 stage boxes+ADA8000+proper ethernet cable) and complicated. As you mentioned the weight savings isn't as much as I was thinking, but it does sound nice to be able to roll out a relatively thin ethernet cable as opposed to a multicore snake(even a 20 pair like mine). The main reason I'll be upgrading(in the probably distant future) will be if/when we need a higher channel count than our 16ch board and snake. We were thinking about upgrading our snake a while back to a 24x8(or 16x8 or 24x4) because we could use more returns(for more monitor mixes), but we decided against it because the next step as far as mixers go is digital(and most likely a digital snake).

Really? 16x4 100'? As someone who generally is running a 48pr + 16pr return + 12/4 FOH power 300'-450' I can see the charm of digital snakes, and I use them when I can.

By the time you mount those boxes they aren't going to weigh less, and they are a lot more complex and have way more points of failure than a 24pr analog snake wired as 16x8.

Before the onset of digital consoles there were digital snakes. The one I used most was the Otari Lightwinder. It was a 48x16 digital snake with a 12RU box at each end. The  FOH end broke out in 4 16pr fanouts, and the connection was fiber. A digital snake used with an analog console that does not break out in fanouts at FOH just seems silly.

Mac

Mac, I'm sure that with the number of channels and distance's you need to run you can appreciate digital audio way more that I can; none of the equipment I've used comes close to what you(and many other people on this forum) use on a regular basis.
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Dave Cox on July 11, 2019, 05:12:55 PM
I know this thread is ancient, but the right guys were here then and hopefully now too!

Having bought an S32 for one of our X32 desks, I decided to try my two S16s and an ADA8000 that had been knocking around for a few years to set up the proverbial digital snake for small analogue mixers.

I set up just as it said with FOH S16 set to Master / ST2 + ADA8000. It worked but masses of hissss as if I was amplifying very little gain.

Although I could appear to adjust the gain with the master at FOH, it didn't actually change anything. The gains were not available on the stage unit working as a slave. After a lot of chopping and changing and fiddling I set the stage S16 to 'Master' and the FOH S16 + ADA8000 to standard or something else anyway.

With the STAGE S16 set to master it showed Gains on -2.5 so swung them all up to 27.5, and (wow!) MASSIVE perfectly CLEAN sound, returns worked fine too, testing with just main outs from ancient mixer to a couple of HK powered cabs.

Of course Gains / Phantom power etc can only be adjusted at the stage end. SO...
...what have I done wrong please guys!
Title: Posting Rules
Post by: Mac Kerr on July 11, 2019, 05:48:18 PM
...what have I done wrong please guys!

Please go to your profile and change the "Name" field to your real first and last name as required by the posting rules displayed in the header at the top of the section, and in the Site Rules and Suggestions (http://forums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/board,36.0.html) in the Forum Announcements section, and on the registration page when you registered.

Mac
admin
Title: Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16
Post by: Dave Cox on July 11, 2019, 05:58:05 PM
Sorry Mac, clearly I hadn't read the rule-book yet :(
Updated now.