Allen & Heath GLD pricing

[Craig Basten]

Re: May the mouths water

At the listed price and current exchange rates, that pegs this system at $8500ish - LS9 territory.

But, add the touchscreen, digital snake, digital scribble strip and onboard Aviom support....pretty competitive.

 

[brian maddox]

Re: May the mouths water

At the listed price and current exchange rates, that pegs this system at $8500ish - LS9 territory.

But, add the touchscreen, digital snake, digital scribble strip and onboard Aviom support....pretty competitive.

agreed. i think the AVIOM support alone is gonna make a lot of churches here in the US scarf these things up. i'm looking at them myself, but i think we're gonna have to go iLive to get what we actually need...

 

[Jonathan Wiegratz]

Re: May the mouths water

At the listed price and current exchange rates, that pegs this system at $8500ish - LS9 territory.

But, add the touchscreen, digital snake, digital scribble strip and onboard Aviom support....pretty competitive.

Actually, that's their SRP (Suggested Retail Price)... IE, what we call over here, MSRP. Then from that, stores have their 'usual' markdown pricing... I'm willing to bet you'll be able to pick a system up for around $6000.

That said, I'm VERY interested. This fits the bill in nearly every way and will replace an entire rack of equipment for us.

 

[Shane Presley]

Re: May the mouths water

Interesteing indeed, although I'd like to physically put my hands on one... I've never touched an Ilive , but from what I've seen the interface looks very "fisher price" clunky buttons etc... I hope someone here can curb that impression, or I get my hands on one. I say this only because the GLD looks to have an even lesser "grade" of buttons. etc They might be the same as the ilive, again I'm speaking - not having touched one. I've provided racks n stacks for a guy using one, but was not so bold as to start fooling with his console... As other have said as well, it looked like a big physcial surface, for such a small fader count (it was a t112). I'm hoping this console is everything it is claiming because there's an install I have with it's name on it. There's one stumbling block... monitor split - alot of acts are coming in with thier own consoles for in-ear mixes... Does anyone have any solutions for this other than a hardwire split ? - It would be a shame to install the snake head under the desk, only to continue to use the installed split snake... what good is that ?

 

[TJ Cornish]

Re: May the mouths water

If folks are coming in with their own console, I don't see what difference it makes whether you have a digital snake or not - there's still got to be an analog split to the two dissimilar systems anyway. If that's wired at your current FOH location, then yes, probably the stage box under the console is the way forward. There are digital out cards for the GLD that give you Dante, MADI, and others, but they would need to be broken back out to analog, which is completely ridiculous considering there's really nothing wrong with an analog split - particularly if you already have one.

I'm with you - I want to see the build quality before I lay down the green. If street prices are $6K - $8K, this thing is a great value if it doesn't suck.

As far as "Fisher Price" and large surface/fader ratio, I would counter that the Avid Venue has those things in spades. 6' of console for 24 faders?

 

[Shane Presley]

Re: May the mouths water

If folks are coming in with their own console, I don't see what difference it makes whether you have a digital snake or not - there's still got to be an analog split to the two dissimilar systems anyway. If that's wired at your current FOH location, then yes, probably the stage box under the console is the way forward. There are digital out cards for the GLD that give you Dante, MADI, and others, but they would need to be broken back out to analog, which is completely ridiculous considering there's really nothing wrong with an analog split - particularly if you already have one.

As far as "Fisher Price" and large surface/fader ratio, I would counter that the Avid Venue has those things in spades. 6' of console for 24 faders?

Yeah I know, it would be nice to run a couple cat5s through the roof and drop it on stage, and remove the multipair snake. I know one channel is dead on my snake it, so it might be showing it's age... The other option is to buy a couple of "ear splitters" to break into the digihead, and split to the guest mon desk.

The other option is to buy a new desk for yours truly , and install my ls-9. What to do what to do lol. Speaking of splits though, why hasn't a digi-snake head manufacturer made a solution box for that. Seems to me it would be as easy as a cat5 jumping to a box with 48 outputs, and 8 inputs (or whatever configuration). it wouldn't need all the processing (eq/comp/gate/effects) brain associated with the main desk.. just signal source to mix on any other desk..... Beuler, anyone ?

 

[TJ Cornish]

Re: May the mouths water

Speaking of splits though, why hasn't a digi-snake head manufacturer made a solution box for that. Seems to me it would be as easy as a cat5 jumping to a box with 48 outputs, and 8 inputs (or whatever configuration). it wouldn't need all the processing (eq/comp/gate/effects) brain associated with the main desk.. just signal source to mix on any other desk..... Beuler, anyone ?

There are several as far as I know - The Whirlwind comes to mind. The problems are control and gain sharing of the pre amps, not to mention high cost - especially compared to something like the GLD.

 

[Tim McCulloch]

Re: May the mouths water

Speaking of splits though, why hasn't a digi-snake head manufacturer made a solution box for that.

As TJ points out, there are issues with sharing a single control for channel input gain.

This and a few other considerations have been discussed at length (like every time this topic comes up) over on the PSW forums. If you're not using that resource, too, you're missing out.

 

[Jeff Babcock]

Re: May the mouths water

There's one stumbling block... monitor split - alot of acts are coming in with thier own consoles for in-ear mixes... Does anyone have any solutions for this other than a hardwire split ? - It would be a shame to install the snake head under the desk, only to continue to use the installed split snake... what good is that ?

Probably the most cost effective route would be to use one of these guys at the stage as your analog interface before hitting the digi snake.
http://audiopile.net/products/Stage...s/PSX-S_poorman_spliter_snakes_cutsheet.shtml
(You might want something more rugged, the EWI is just one alternative)

Sale of the existing installed split snake will easily pay for the cost of the poorman's splitter, and even if an act is carrying both FOH and monitor consoles you can accommodate that too by quickly patching a regular snake into the FOH tail of the poorman's splitter.

It may not be glamorous but it's inexpensive and reliable. Not to mention that having such a box as the "front end" prevents wear and tear on the digital snake's connectors, which is ideal in a club situation.

 

[Shane Presley]

Re: May the mouths water

As TJ points out, there are issues with sharing a single control for channel input gain.

This and a few other considerations have been discussed at length (like every time this topic comes up) over on the PSW forums. If you're not using that resource, too, you're missing out.

I was on old PSW too, I've let that resource die..lol

I think you're missing what I'm saying... I don't need gain control on the signal, I'd be splitting to a desk WITH gain control (eg, an analog monitor desk with it's own input gain etc)... what I am looking for is just a split signal from the snake head. No gain sharing, just signal - SO console / digisnake makers "make it so !!"

 

[Silas Pradetto]

Re: May the mouths water

I was on old PSW too, I've let that resource die..lol

I think you're missing what I'm saying... I don't need gain control on the signal, I'd be splitting to a desk WITH gain control (eg, an analog monitor desk with it's own input gain etc)... what I am looking for is just a split signal from the snake head. No gain sharing, just signal - SO console / digisnake makers "make it so !!"

If the digital console you're splitting to doesn't have a network digital input (MADI, Ethersound, Dante, etc), then you're better off splitting in the analog domain before it hits the digital snake.

The only snake system I know of that easily has the capability to break network digital audio back out to analog is the Roland S4000 system (which I own). Of course, the system costs about as much as an M7CL...so no one's buying it.

If you are thinking that a digital snake head should have something like an analog pass-through, I doubt that's ever going to happen. Why would a digital console manufacturer add significant cost to their system for the 5% of people that would use the feature, when the 5% of people that would use that feature probably already have an analog splitter snake?

 

[Stuart Pendleton]

Re: May the mouths water

Possible the only advantage of my Audiorail system (using Presonus D8s as preamps) is that they have TRS outputs for each mic on the back of the D8. One stage snake from there to monitor beach and done. I put the snake stagerack by the monitor console and the preamps are controlled there since I don't have remote control.

 

[Silas Pradetto]

Re: May the mouths water

Possible the only advantage of my Audiorail system (using Presonus D8s as preamps) is that they have TRS outputs for each mic on the back of the D8. One stage snake from there to monitor beach and done. I put the snake stagerack by the monitor console and the preamps are controlled there since I don't have remote control.

Only problem is you still rely on the single preamp. If an input starts clipping during the show, you cannot turn it down without compensating the monitor mixes appropriately, otherwise the performers are not going to be happy. When 1 or 2 dB in IEMs matters, with an uncalibrated gain knob on the preamp, I can't forsee that working well.

 

[Jim King]

Re: May the mouths water

Looks like the ACE/DANTE/MADI cards are the way they're envisioning people doing this. You set up the GLD, then you assign the signals out using those cards and send that feed to whatever else you're running. So if your other board has DANTE or MADI in/out you're golden.

I'm curious to see how their concept of FOH/Monitor with just GLD works... from my brief reading, it looks like one board is the master, with an ACE card in it, and you set up either an iLive or a 2nd GLD-80 for the other. That would be a pretty cool setup.

I'm also curious about software control -- you can pretty much run an iLive without a control surface at all. If their laptop/iPad software can be made to work with this it'll be a slam dunk.

 

[Silas Pradetto]

Re: May the mouths water

Looks like the ACE/DANTE/MADI cards are the way they're envisioning people doing this. You set up the GLD, then you assign the signals out using those cards and send that feed to whatever else you're running. So if your other board has DANTE or MADI in/out you're golden.

I'm curious to see how their concept of FOH/Monitor with just GLD works... from my brief reading, it looks like one board is the master, with an ACE card in it, and you set up either an iLive or a 2nd GLD-80 for the other. That would be a pretty cool setup.

I'm also curious about software control -- you can pretty much run an iLive without a control surface at all. If their laptop/iPad software can be made to work with this it'll be a slam dunk.

Jim, I almost guarantee that such software will be available, in fact, it's probably nearly identical (same codebase). A&H knows better than to make a system without network control.

 

[Stuart Pendleton]

Re: May the mouths water

Only problem is you still rely on the single preamp. If an input starts clipping during the show, you cannot turn it down without compensating the monitor mixes appropriately, otherwise the performers are not going to be happy. When 1 or 2 dB in IEMs matters, with an uncalibrated gain knob on the preamp, I can't forsee that working well.

Thats very true. I always make sure that the preamps are well below clipping at soundcheck because of that. I do makeup gain in the digital domain after conversion for each console to suit and we both work from there unless something goes truly bizarre during the night. So far so good. (Remember I am working at a club level with locals primarily, so demands are lower than in the world of many here. If that wasn't true I wouldn't be on my pair of 01vv96's using Audiorails top start with.....) My interest in this thread is based on considerations like this since I am eyeing the A&H as my next possible upgrade.

 

[Shane Presley]

Re: May the mouths water

I was on old PSW too, I've let that resource die..lol

I think you're missing what I'm saying... I don't need gain control on the signal, I'd be splitting to a desk WITH gain control (eg, an analog monitor desk with it's own input gain etc)... what I am looking for is just a split signal from the snake head. No gain sharing, just signal - SO console / digisnake makers "make it so !!"

Sorry , it's a slow day at work...lol

 

[brian maddox]

Re: May the mouths water

Sorry , it's a slow day at work...lol

i saw what you did there...

oh that designing and building it was as easy as 'shopping' the panel...

 

[TJ Cornish]

Allen & Heath GLD pricing

Posted on the Allen & Heath iLive forums by user "papromike":

We are releasing pricing here in the states on Monday. In case you all were wondering, its in the US LS-9 price points.


It will share audio with the iLive via ACE, MADI, DANTE, ETC, but the show files are not the same as its a completely different architechure, DSP is on the surface, simple plug and play operation.

we are very excited about debuting this at NAMM. Come see us booth 6464

National Sales Manager
Allen & Heath USA

I'm excited to see the pricing as well as the product. If it's built well and if Yamaha doesn't have something up their sleeve at Namm too, it will be tire kicking time for me.

 

[Jonathan Wiegratz]

Re: Allen & Heath GLD pricing

Yep... I mentioned this in the other thread... Based off the exchange rate, MSRP, and typical discounts, I figured the pricing to be around the $6000-$8000 mark depending on the options. Looks like that will be the case.

Can't wait to see more vids of this thing from NAMM '12. If it's anywhere close to as good as it looks, this will be my next major purchase.