Looking for some input from folks I respect, who do this on a more regular basis than we do. Would appreciate some 'sound' input rather than the "that console sucks" crap some folks tend to love slinging. If something blows, tell me WHY.
In the market for one or two new consoles to replace/supplement the current lineup consisting of an LS9, Soundcraft MH2 and Soundcraft MH3. Digital is the direction and preferably a digital snake due to the constraints we're encountering in venues more and more. First console will probably start its life with me on monitor beach but there's a strong possibility we may look at two so sharing the stage box I/O would be a plus.
We do quite a bit of repeat business with local/regional performers and see our fair share of the national "weekender" bands who frequent many of the fairs and festivals through the region. Some may travel with their own FOH but most don't come with a monitor engineer. Recall is obviously a must so we can check the headliner, check the support, run the openers and pray the girls in the front row are cute. We also have a few venues throughout the area that provide us good repeat business year 'round so the ability to permanently install a 'snake' is definitely a plus. No more lines across the aisle...
Monitor mixes range normally from 5-12 but we did have one aging country performer's rider hit 24 recently. For us that's more of a rarity but it did cost us the gig because of having to rent a desk to handle it. IEMs are becoming more commonplace.
There seems to be a myriad of options but the four that stand out financially and functionally at the moment are:
Yamaha M7 (granted sharing the I/O is difficult digitally)
Digico SD9
DigiDesign SC48
The forthcoming Yamaha CL3
The M7 is the console I'm most familiar with and probably the easiest to have someone from the analog world walk up to and comprehend? Our crowds run in the 4000 and fewer department so we're not doing "arena" work by any means. Open fields and theaters, pole-barns and ice-rinks/sheds seem to be where we find ourselves most of the time.
Thanks in advance for your time. I know there was a similar thread to this in the past couple weeks but I thought I'd give you more of an idea as to what we're doing.
Also, I'd really like to have iPad compatibility if possible. Walking out and hearing someone's monitor mix while I'm setting it up helps greatly.
In the market for one or two new consoles to replace/supplement the current lineup consisting of an LS9, Soundcraft MH2 and Soundcraft MH3. Digital is the direction and preferably a digital snake due to the constraints we're encountering in venues more and more. First console will probably start its life with me on monitor beach but there's a strong possibility we may look at two so sharing the stage box I/O would be a plus.
We do quite a bit of repeat business with local/regional performers and see our fair share of the national "weekender" bands who frequent many of the fairs and festivals through the region. Some may travel with their own FOH but most don't come with a monitor engineer. Recall is obviously a must so we can check the headliner, check the support, run the openers and pray the girls in the front row are cute. We also have a few venues throughout the area that provide us good repeat business year 'round so the ability to permanently install a 'snake' is definitely a plus. No more lines across the aisle...
Monitor mixes range normally from 5-12 but we did have one aging country performer's rider hit 24 recently. For us that's more of a rarity but it did cost us the gig because of having to rent a desk to handle it. IEMs are becoming more commonplace.
There seems to be a myriad of options but the four that stand out financially and functionally at the moment are:
Yamaha M7 (granted sharing the I/O is difficult digitally)
Digico SD9
DigiDesign SC48
The forthcoming Yamaha CL3
The M7 is the console I'm most familiar with and probably the easiest to have someone from the analog world walk up to and comprehend? Our crowds run in the 4000 and fewer department so we're not doing "arena" work by any means. Open fields and theaters, pole-barns and ice-rinks/sheds seem to be where we find ourselves most of the time.
Thanks in advance for your time. I know there was a similar thread to this in the past couple weeks but I thought I'd give you more of an idea as to what we're doing.
Also, I'd really like to have iPad compatibility if possible. Walking out and hearing someone's monitor mix while I'm setting it up helps greatly.
). This console is going to be my next target to get my hands on and try... The Ipad app is out for it, but you can't do see squat without it connected to a desk... I've priced this desk, ready to go tour pack with snake for like 25K USD
