sandall

Funnily enough I had a follow-up to a hearing test yesterday. The young audiologist hung a pendant thingy round my neck which downloaded how I'd been using my aids (not nearly enough for her liking) since they were last re-programmed. As I had only clicked on the no-compression setting by mistake, & hadn't used the loop setting at all, she was quite keen to remove them, as I obviously couldn't cope with all that choice.... A no doubt well-meaning offer, but one I managed to decline.

Also - a degree doesn't tie you into a particular discipline for life, but it does suggest to a potential employer that you have a brain & are capable of learning. Both of my sons have done well for themselves, but their respective careers owe little if anything to the degrees they took. Having said that, I suspect that mechanical engineering could be a really good choice for anyone interested in the technician side of theatre, as without all the mechanical aspects all you have is actors on an empty floor.

Presumably for those with deep pockets, & where vanity trumps functionality ?

That's news to me. AFAIK they all have a "T" setting or equivalent (usually Option 4 on current NHS aids). What system do you have & what makes it faffy to use? Our theatre has been using a Sennheiser IR system with stethoscopes for decades & the hard of hearing patrons all seem happy with it. E2A: Have you looked at the RNID website?

Perhaps, but it was a different world back then. In the country you spent the evening in the pub & you drove home. It's how things were.

Are you playing music tracks off MP & just looking for a way to unmute selected mics when you hit "Go" & mute them again when you hit "Stop", or hoping to use MP cues for all your mutes & unmutes? Either way it looks like you need some form of digitally-controlled 16-way switch between your mics & the GL2200, unless the GL2200 has enough mute groups for your needs.

Can you not simply change the DMX starting address on the Par 18s to above the highest number you are using on the Alcora or, if this means you run out of faders (I'm assuming this is a 12/24, not a 24/48, in which case you shouldn't), can you combine some of the LedJs and/or Par 18s to reduce the fader count? The Par-cans in the roof must be fed from dimmers somewhere so, depending on the wattage of the dimmers & how they are cabled, it might be possible to pair them up, potentially freeing up more faders. Alternatively you could just run it in Wide mode, which gives you 24 channels. If you don't have a manual for the desk it is on the Zero88 support pages.

Yes it is, though the reference to 3A fuses for dimmers with 5A sockets comes from the Micropack flyer, & was added because of the possibility of 2 packs being fed from a 16A supply & a well-meaning soul fusing them appropriately. Don't forget these were really "budget" packs, dating from the 1970s (in the days when unless your house had been built or rewired since the 1960s it used all-rewirable fuses), at a time when MCBs were still an expensive luxury. The packs wouldn't pass EMC regulations either. They certainly made 20, 12 & 8 channel desks (don't know about 4 or 16). Quite large & flimsy - presumably why people used the built-like-a-battleship Zero88 desks. Like the dimmers they were let down by the appalling Bleecons.

Just to confirm - presumably you have the WallPACK" units, with just the fuses & neon on the front panels. (the "Micropack" units have 5A or 15A sockets on the front). The neon indicates mains supply is present, so it looks as if you have lost power to 2 of the packs. It sounds as if your Level-12 desk has been bodged to replace the original 2x 8-pin sockets with 3x 6-pin. While you are in the cupboard it might be worth checking the 4 fuses on each pack. Assuming the packs are Wallpack 2.0 or 2.5 (10A per channel) the fuses should be 7 Amp (BS1362), but with a reputable brand-name (not something Chinese from the local DIY store - GG recommended sourcing from RS Components) - this is because d0mestic BS1362 fuses are designed to fail at approx. 150% load, i.e. 10A for a 7A fuse. E2A: If your supply really is 16A the dimmers may have been de-rated to 5A, & only have 3A fuses. I've got a manual for these dimmers somewhere, but so far it's proving very elusive.

(a) Fortunately I've never found myself in that position, (b) probably not !! In my youth drove a Triumph Herald packed with Nurses all over Worcestershire after dance-nights at the BBC Club in Evesham after a lot more pints than that (slightly mitigated by knowing the roads, which were invariably empty at that time of night). But yes, good point.

They will be 4-channel dimmer packs. Power for the desk is normally from any (or all) of the packs. I've got some GG paperwork (& a dimmer pack) here - I'll try to look it out in the morning.

You have my sympathy. Whatever was used to replace our suburban sodium lights gave a wide, even coverage, in a slightly pinkish warm white. They were a huge improvement, for both pedestrians & drivers. They have recently been replaced by harsh cold white LED fittings, with too narrow a spread, so our nice even coverage has now been replaced by (not particularly bright) pools of light, with dangerously dark areas in between, & really deep shadows from trees & parked vehicles. Driving is like going along an unlit road with someone flashing a follow-spot in yours eyes every 50 yards or so. I'm sure they are more energy-efficient, though I suspect the pay-back period might be measured in decades, but the pavements are no longer safe to walk at night, & the quality of life has taken a severe hit, As for your query I think you've already had the answer :(

All true, but if someone dies because they, or someone else in the crew, was too tired to function properly, all the above are going to happen anyway, some people will never work again, some may go to jail & some companies & individuals will be hit with eye-watering fines.Would it all have been worth it?

Looks a better bet than a 2nd-hand LA102 from China at £1500 :)

Thanks Richard. When I played your files they cut out at around 23kHz, but when downloaded & imported into Audition both the 96k & 192k were fine (though I obviously couldn't see anything above 48kHz). I had previously tried pink / white noise & tones from Audition & Audacity with everything set at 96k (I should have read your bit about the Windows panel more carefully!) with hoped-for results. All I need now is a cheap'n cheerful way of getting analogue at up to 48kHz into the laptop (I'm sure the analogue Line-in will be bandwidth-limited). Thanks Steff. Back in the day most amplifier testing & design was done with square-waves & a 'scope, though I don't remember all the maths. Sorry Brian, I seem to have hijacked your thread.

Anyone involved in the (TV) lighting for this? Looked to be an all-LED rig this year. Maybe not as bright as in previous years, but much more even coverage, & obviously much more colour. The projection looked brighter as well - maybe cos the "floor" was a bit dimmer?

Thanks both. I hadn't realised I could force the Windows sound panel into 96kHz for record & playback (a bit fiddly to find in Win-7). More experimentation needed......

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.

I was hoping to use Visual Analyser to check out some ultrasonic "nasties" on a piece of gear. The spectrum analyser section can sample at up to 96kHz, giving a display range to 48kHz, but even the decent 96kHz & 192kHz USB interfaces only quote a 20Hz - 20kHz bandwidth. Does this mean the audio gets heavily filtered, or will any of them actually pass a signal of up to 48kHz or 96kHz?

Regrettably my experience was the same as IRW's, but am glad to hear there was at least one satisfied customer.

A bit idiosyncratic, but a superb piece of donate-ware for general audio measurements.Certainly a big step-up from my home-made "mini-Lindos".

Same hardware (apart from the top panel), but very limited firmware compared to the Thomann offering.

Welll spotted :(

Thomann claim to have it in stock (& also seem to know what it does & how big it is!). Operating manual at https://produktinfo....TOR_2_de_en.pdf

I was more concerned with the health hazards of MDF than its durability. I've never seen it used as a sacrificial layer, but am not surprised at Paul's experience.. Our main playhouse uses hardboard over Steeldeck, but our studio theatre, which has the same sub-floor as Riversong's, just has a single layer of pine boarding screwed to the battens, normally painted black. It gets the occasional sanding-down, & that's it. I only recall it being taken up & replaced once.