Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

S

Shane Salmon

Freshman
Jun 12, 2013
7
0
0
Springfield MO
Greetings,

I am currently installing a Behringer Digital snake (S16) to an analog board (Allen & Heath GL2400-40) and there is a constant hiss coming from the S16. At first I thought it could be due to the fact that the network cable I am using is CAT5 and not shielded, but even if I just connect from the S16 directly to the board there is a hiss that is constant and can only be eliminated if I mute the channels. I have tried adjusting the gain on both the mixer and the S16 and to no avail. Any suggestions, running short on ideas.
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Shane Salmon said:
Greetings,

I am currently installing a Behringer Digital snake (S16) to an analog board (Allen & Heath GL2400-40) and there is a constant hiss coming from the S16. At first I thought it could be due to the fact that the network cable I am using is CAT5 and not shielded, but even if I just connect from the S16 directly to the board there is a hiss that is constant and can only be eliminated if I mute the channels. I have tried adjusting the gain on both the mixer and the S16 and to no avail. Any suggestions, running short on ideas.
Click to expand...

Okay my turn, a rabbi, and a horse and a nun walk into a bar.....

Digital snake...... Analog board..... What am I missing....
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

... But why was the horse first laughing then crying?

Don't need the num or rabbi for this joke, just a horse, a cowboy and a bar....

================

re: digital snake to analog desk... are there mic preamps in the digital snake ? Are the inputs terminated? gain turned up?

Snakes are supposed to hiss in nature. Digital snakes not so much..

JR
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Sounds like maybe you're trying to drive the mic pres on the GL with the line outputs of the S16. Bad ideal. If that's the case, you need to an XLR to TRS harness and use the line inputs on the channels. The XLR mic preamps on the GL are 1) picking up the noise of the line level outputs and 2) are going to get over driven if you drive the outputs hard. The S16 specs state the outputs are +4dBu nominal outputs that have a max output of +21dBu. Noise is rated at -87dBu A weighted. If that spec is correct, you should be fine if you use the properly padded line inputs.
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Actually, if you look at the block diagram of the unit, the mic and line inputs are paralleled. No need to use 1/4" connectors for line input on the board. On this board, ALL signals run through the mic pre-amp. Line level signals get padded down and then amplified back up. If you have a connector plugged into the 1/4" jack, when you press the Line/Pad switch, it will turn off the XLR input.

Is the excessive noise from the snake because your gains on the board are way too hot? There will be SOME noise, but it should be far below usable signal levels.
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Brian jojade said:
Actually, if you look at the block diagram of the unit, the mic and line inputs are paralleled. No need to use 1/4" connectors for line input on the board. On this board, ALL signals run through the mic pre-amp. Line level signals get padded down and then amplified back up. If you have a connector plugged into the 1/4" jack, when you press the Line/Pad switch, it will turn off the XLR input.

Is the excessive noise from the snake because your gains on the board are way too hot? There will be SOME noise, but it should be far below usable signal levels.
Click to expand...

I am getting audio through the S16. I thought it was the gains on the board too, but I have turned down gains on the snake per individual channel both on the stage side and board side and the hiss still persist. The only way I have been able to eliminate the hiss is by turning the gains all the way down and then that kinda defeats that purpose of having the digital snake.
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

I grow weary of answering the same question on multiple forums.

Like I said in the post above yesterday, are snake gains turned up?

Did you RTFM?

For best S/N you want the gain in the snake front end, not the console where the noise from the snake gets boosted too.

JR
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Dear Shane,

Can you describe your setup in more detail?
You do have one S16 at stage and one S16 at your analog console right?

This is from page 12 of the S16 manual:
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.

I hope it helps.


Send me a PM if you need more help with this.
 
Last edited:
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Joe Sanborn said:
Dear Shane,

Can you describe your setup in more detail?
You do have one S16 at stage and one S16 at your analog console right?

This is from page 12 of the S16 manual:
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.

I hope it helps.


Send me a PM if you need more help with this.

Best Regards,
Joe Sanborn
Manager, Product Support
MUSIC Group
BEHRINGER
Click to expand...

Joe,

I do have two S16s board side which I will be cascading and two stage side as well. I also have the ADA 8000 on the board side. Last night I was working on the set up and the only way to reduce the hiss was to adjust the gain on the S16 stage side, reduce the gain on the board for those particular channels and also use the Line/Pad button on each of those channels. Is it necessary to use the Line/Pad button to eliminate the hiss (I ask because I never had to in the past with the previous set up)? And by setting the S16 board side as SN Master will that allow me to make adjustments to the gains on the S16 stage side? Thanks for all the info on the Standalone Operation!
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Brian jojade said:
Actually, if you look at the block diagram of the unit, the mic and line inputs are paralleled. No need to use 1/4" connectors for line input on the board. On this board, ALL signals run through the mic pre-amp. Line level signals get padded down and then amplified back up. If you have a connector plugged into the 1/4" jack, when you press the Line/Pad switch, it will turn off the XLR input.

Is the excessive noise from the snake because your gains on the board are way too hot? There will be SOME noise, but it should be far below usable signal levels.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info, I tried using the Line/Pad switch and it eliminated the majority of the hissing! I also turned the gains on the snake up and the gains on the board down which helped significantly.
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

Shane Salmon said:
Thanks for the info, I tried using the Line/Pad switch and it eliminated the majority of the hissing! I also turned the gains on the snake up and the gains on the board down which helped significantly.
Click to expand...

Dear Shane,

Great to hear you are getting it dialied in. Each system will have it's own gain structure, glad it is working out.
 
Re: Digital Snake that is hissing (need to eliminate)- Behringer S16

I think it is price based though.

The A&H iLive forum mostly contains intelligent questions, or requests for help solving non user related problems. The forum for the lower priced GLD has this too, but also has plenty of people asking how to route a DCA to the mains or what "post fader" means.

Chris
 
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