vlfaudio

Looking at the little mixer, I note that the second mic input only has a switched high/low gain control.

If you're happy to mix in software, there are various cheap mics available with USB output such as:-

https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_mb_88u_dual_bundle.htm

https://www.thomann.de/gb/the_tbone_sc440_usb.htm

The second comes with a software bundle including Cubase LE

There's some relevant info from the HSE here

 

21 hours ago, technician-v2 said:

Think I figured it out. I had to raise the channel fader on the main L+R mix, even though the mix was muted, then I got the effect coming through on the mix outputs.

 

 

 

 

The send to the FX is usually Post Fader. You could change it to Pre Fader but this may open up a whole world of headache as the FX level will not track changes in the channel fader. If you're mixing for monitor wedges it's best to have a dedicated FX for the monitor mix.

Have you considered simply using an angled cab stand ?

If you already trust Microsoft with your privates,perhaps the simplest solution would be to use the Outlook app for Android:- Outlook for Android 🙂

 

A bit of google - fu threw up this python project on github.

https://github.com/scheb/sound-to-light-osc

There's a collection of multitracks available from https://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms/mtk/

It includes some stuff from the Telefunken library.

No need to overthink it. Source straight into your branded commodity priced powered speakers of your choice. MI gear is designed for "muppets"

I have a client who dry hires DJ Gear. They've only ever blown a powered speaker when the warehouse manager lent one to a mate who connected the output of an amplifier to the input.

I used to get paid to babysit those muppets. I advised that replacement drivers are cheaper than my day rate in most cases.

 

 

 

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I get what it is but I don't understand how you would use it to make an accurate visualisation - wouldn't you have to model every individual fixture you wanted to use including the optics, gobos, colours etc?

Unreal is an engine, so yes it would be possible to roll your own assets. There's an Unreal Marketplace for "game" assets, and given they are heavily selling Live Events as a use case, I'd imagine that marketplace will contain pre rolled production assets. .

Can someone explain what this would be used for? It looks like the rendering part of Capture or WYG without the fixture library part.

It's a tech demo. There's now a DMX API built into Unreal Engine. Lots of info on the site about it's use in TV and Film production.Apologies the link doesn't work, the site does seem to have disabled hotlinking.. I'll attempt to correct the original post.

 

 

Came across this today while idly surfing. Unreal Engine now has support for DMX and there's a sample project available to download.

 

Unreal Engine DMX Previz

 

 

Have you cleaned the insert points ? Dirt can get trapped in the normalling contacts, sometimes repeatedly re - inserting a jack will shift it, but better to use IPA based cleaner. , Note that switch cleaner will leave a load of oily residue inside your mixer. Canford used to sell a tool for the job, known as a Patchbay Burnisher.

I'm not one for god bothering personally, but a bit of searching revealed this open source project which uses VLC for output and looks like it would suit a lot of the use cases for screen monkey without the security headaches. It also looks to be really well documented...

Open LP

 

I've not found that Windows Update works for codecs...

I'm not surprised.

 

Windows Update absolutely does do codecs;-

 

Microsoft's Codecs F.A.Q.

VLC plays just about everything you throw at it.

VLC

If it won't play, convert it to a known working format.

Handbrake.

 

 

 

 

 

"When installing, select advanced setup on the first screen, and make sure "ffdshow" is selected for both dropdowns below named "Preferred Video Decoder" and "Preferred Audio Decoder""

The linked post points out that ffdshow is an open source project and is available as a standalone download from sourceforge. This is still completely true, with the caveat that ffdshow is currently unmaintained, and hasn't been updated since 0ct 2019.

"And it is not true that an up to date version of Windows will have all the media codecs you'd ever need"

True, but that's a Straw Man argument. It does not follow that you should use K-Lite.

When windows encounters a media format it doesn't have a codec installed for, it will search for one on windows update. A codec installed via windows update will get security patches.

It's safer that way, but do feel free to choose convenience over security .

 

1. Install the KLite Mega Codec Pack First

 

and suddenly we're back in the 1990's...

Unless you're running a legacy version of Windows, this shouldn't be necessary, and likely to expose your machines to vulnerabilities in unmaintained software contained in the pack.

Link

Great, thanks for that. Were those the gloss finish? .

It was indeed the Gloss Black. I just had to check old emails as I couldn't remember. The photos were taken under really harsh fluorescents while the paint was touch dry, but not completely cured; they don't look nearly as glossy under gig lighting.

A DJ managed to gauge one of the tops with a distance pole about a fortnight later. I was gutted.

I've a few snaps of some HK boxes stripped and re painted in Tuff Cab using the textured rollers from Blue Aran. In addition, I had just enough leftover paint to touch up my Thomann Pro Achat 112's. It's quite easy to vary the textured effect. I was fairly chuffed, especially given that I'd never painted a speaker previously. I also did some research beforehand.and I'm pretty sure the Thomann boxes were originally finished in Warnex.

Now that I've typed this out and dumped the pics off my phone, I realise I can't post them directly here :-(For now, I've put them up on Dropbox.

 

 

 

 

 

Phone Studiospares.I've found their staff to be quite knowledgeable and helpful.

Tony caldron from Cadac, now retired was totally opposite and campaigned for close to assassination for any reputable manufacturer if they considered it.

 

In the late 90s, the arguments even spawned a website - still up

My link

 

Hard work reading but Jim Brown was probably the person most concerned about it.

There was a similar Holy War over the correct cabling standard for X32 on the facebook user group. I'm not on fb any longer, but I do remember they had some links to the official spec in the faq ( and any thread suggesting anything other than the official spec was swiftly summarily removed.).Thanks for the link. I'll have to read later, as sadly it's just kicked off in my street again....

 

I'm confused. Wasn't one of the great things about connecting via Cat 'anything' cable that there was no ground connection brought from stage to FOH - which cured lots of the old hums and noises? If we now connect the two via the cable, won't that have a potentially serious problem with fault current when something goes wrong? The audio 'rule' of never connecting the shell and keeping pin 1 aways from the chassis has been turned on it's head?

 

I just found an old John Watkinson article on grounding which suggests pin 1 should always be connected to chassis. That said, in practice I've always stuck to keeping pin 1 and shell seperate and usually have no problem. The article can be found in the back issue here

"...in an adverse ground current environment lifting the screen at one end would reduce the hum. However, in an adverse RF environment, lifting the screen would make it worse..." perhaps this quote offers an explaination for why shell to shell continuity might be needed ?

I used to have a handheld pressure steamer that I used to clean grilles and foams between gigs. Unfortunately it gave up the ghost a while back and I haven't been able to find a replacement. One of the rehearsal places in town would routinely give the grilles and foam a soak in a mild bleach solution once a week ( pre Covid ), and had previously used Milton Sterilising Fluid. I think it's arguable that there's anything to be gained from sterilizing mic bodies, cables and stands as hypothetical performers and crew should be observing good hand hygiene. I say hypothetical because I'm assuming that nothing much is going to be happening untill there's a vaccine.

Hello, I play in a three piece band playing Blues Rock,the PA we currently use comprises 2 Mackie SRM450's and a Yamaha DSR118 sub. Our problem is transporting the Yamaha Sub around as it is very heavy ,My question is is there anything that is lighter and as powerful (800watts) the whole band go through the PA. I have tried a QSC 112 but it just doesn't do the same job. Thanks for any help/advice. I'm in the UK.

Best lightweight subs I've used personally were the KX 1.5s from KV2 Audio. They're 35kg a box, spec says they do 126dB continuous 128dB peak but they completely blow away higher rated boxes I've used. The KX series was an MI range that KV2 brought out circa 2004 and is sadly now discontinued. They rarely come up for sale as folks tend to hang on to them. I saw a pair out on a corporate function just a couple of weeks ago from a very well respected local hire firm. A backline hire firm I work for also has a set that have regularly been out with high end DJ gear for the best part of 15 years and have never required a service.

 

These are equivalents from their current range, they're not cheap though at roughly £2.5 grand a box and heavier than the KX at 43Kg

I just recently became aware of the concept of using square waves for testing amplifiers. Useful PDF here describing the methodology:-Square Wave Testing.

It will depend on the interface, the limiting factor would be the bandwidth of the analogue I/o . If you already have a 96 or 192 kHz interface, VA has a fairly comprehensive signal generator section, so you could generate a sweep and do a loopback test to find out.

Unfortunately I only have a variety of 44.1/48kHz ones, & obviously don't want to buy a high-res one unless it's got the extra analogue bandwidth. The sweep function in VA only seems to work if you have the Pro version. I've noticed that whatever input I apply, the noise-floor drops by about 20dB above about 20kHz, so I wonder whether there is some other filtering going on, in which case I may be wasting my time.

It's likely your interface has a brick wall anti - aliasing filter which would be at the Nyquist frequency; 20/22kHz for 44.1/48kHz. I had a brief look at the specs of a few interfaces, and you're into Focusrite Red territory to get something with a quoted bandwidth above 22kHz. Cheaper in that case to get a PC scope/function generator combo ( which I'd expect would come with better software ) or trawl fleabay for second hand scope and sig gen for what you're wanting to do.

I hadn't used VA in a while. Just tried out the beta and I remembered why :-/ . Couldn't get it to talk to my X32 Producer. It worked fine with an ancient Soundblaster Audigy 2 zs Cardbus I have for my laptop and can generate sweeps, but I stopped carrying that in my gig kit when I got the X32 . AFAIK there is still no Pro version, though it was mooted there would be one in the future.

I'd mostly been using it as a no cost pink noise/ spectrum analyser and I've got all that in my desk these days.