Roland M400

[SoLiEn]

what does everyone thinkg of the whole Ethernet multicore idea. I this it is and awesome idea, in stead of having to lug around a loom just have ethernet ports all around your theatre or venue and you can just plug straight in using a cat5 cable and boom. you got all your inputs from stage!

 

can anyone see any downsides on this?

[Simon Lewis]

can anyone see any downsides on this?

 

Latency is the oft quoted problem, but in a well designed system, this may not really affect you.

 

You might also consider the suitability of the cable and connectors (you would need Ethercons and flexible cable that meets the CAT5 [or better] specification).

 

Also, there are issues to do with duplicating the preamps in your existing desk, if the ethernet multicore isn't part of a digital desk system.

 

Lastly, a single CAT5 cable might be viewed as a potential single point of failure - although it isn't hard to replace it if needs be!

 

 

Simon

[MarkPAman]

You asked about "the whole Ethernet multicore idea" so this is not specifically about the Roland.

 

Problems are:

 

You need pre-amps & A/D converters and a multiplexer at the stage end.

You want to have control over the gain of the pre amps & be able to turn phantom on/off from your mix position.

You need a desk that can take the digital signals you now have or a de-multiplexer & set on D/As

You'll also want more A/D & D/A for you returns.

These A/D & D/A boxes can take up as much van space as the copper multicore they replace by the time you've racked them up.

You may need a system that can split signals, who controls the preamp gain then?

 

All of this stuff adds latency & alters the signal (though possibly only a little) and good stuff costs a lot.

 

There are working systems out there, eg the Roland, that work, but I don't really see this taking off until we all have digital desks that speak the same language. That's not going to happen any time soon.

 

I would love to have a CAT5 multicore from the size/wieght aspect, but can not justify the cost on something that would be desk specific.