iLive T Series

[robritchie]

I would love to hear from anyone who is using, or has used, the Allen and Heath iLive T series system. I am considering purchasing a T112 with an iDR-48. I would love to hear everyones experiences and findings, how it sounds, how usable it is, how fast it is to mix on and set-up and anything else. I would be using the system for everything from classical to rock and roll, theater, conference and anything else that comes along.

[Biro]

I love it !

 

 

Its obvious, simple and can be taught to anyone who has used analouge all their lives.

 

 

The offline editor works cushty and it is simple and quick adding gates/comps/eq/effects to channels.

 

 

Go for it !

[Matt Pengelly]

I've only used the T80 in this series and I have to say that it would strongly put me off the range.

 

The sound of the desk wasn't too horrific; although I found myself having to really tinker with the EQ to get the feeling that the pots were actually connected to anything - but goodness me, the processing delay. I'm talking a good 2 or 3 seconds in some instances! Caught me out a couple of times during s/c when I switched in 48V on a channel, saw the meters flicker, pushed up the fader and... BOOM, 2 seconds later the channel springs into life with an almighty 'pop'. NOT impressed.

 

Further to this when I expressed my concerns to the house guy, he told me that so frustrated had he become with the EQ not doing what he thought it should be he'd actually brought in his Smaart rig and measured it. At one point a boost on the A+H of +12dB at 8kHz (according to the desk) was in fact showing in Smaart as a peak of the same magnitude closer to 5.5kHz! Crazy!

 

Saying that, I've heard many people rave about the iLive. Perhaps the baby of the range is just built a little too far down to a budget?

 

Obviously your mileage may vary, but give me an LS9 and a whole load of copper snake over that lemon any day.

[robritchie]

Thanks for your comments Matt, Ive not heard or read about any of the problems that you experienced. It will be interesting to see if anyone else has had similar problems. My main purpose for this system would be to use it where I would normally be using a mid size analogue with the rack of associated graphics, gates, comps, effects etc. I don't expect this console to be used where I would normally be using a large frame Midas, for which I am hoping to invest in a Midas Digital such as the PRO 6, which I have found to be the nicest digital system I have ever used in every way.

[Doug Siddons]

I have the T80 and idr32 and love it, not had any of the bad experiences Matt has . A&H have been really helpful and the ilive forum is also very good . I would mention that the software has been upgraded twice this year, I don't know if you consider this a good thing or a bad thing but it does mean that they are listening and acting upon information recieved.

[mervaka]

matt, if that's your desk I'd strongly suggest you ring up tech on that one. that really doesn't sound right. the ACE link was set up with the proper core I take it?

[TimmyP1955]

Other than an apparent problem with sends on fader selection, pretty much everything I've read on it has been favorable. My only beef - not having driven one - is the restricted frequency range of the channel EQ sweeps. Although perhaps not that likely, I can see needing two bands between 200 and 500 or between 1k and 2k, and the iLive won't do this.

[StevenW2]

I've done almost any kind of gig you can imagine on an I-Live, from award ceremonies to full rock PA to classical concerts. I've used several different surfaces, but I would always go for the 112 surface.

 

It is IMO the most "analogue-sounding" digital desk in it's price range. A bit week in the low mids is how I would describe it, but not harsh like many cheaper digital products.

 

It takes 10 minutes to train any engineer on how to use it and then I just baby-sit them.

At a festival this year an "anti-digital" engineer refused to touch it and wanted me to do the mix with him standing next to me. Within 5 minutes he had taken over and was operating the surface.

The Eq is not as prescise as I have experienced on a Pro6, but we are in a totally different price bracket with the I-Live series.

 

As with any digital desk in this price range latency can be an issue - it is kept to a minimum by using the recommended brands of cat 5. I have tried to use cheaper stuff, but there is definately a difference. Spend the money and buy the cat5 from A&H, then you have one point to complain to if it goes wrong!

 

I'm off today to set up a surface for a charity event this weekend - 2 x solo artists, speeches, a 7-piece band and a 5-piece band. L&R at FOH, delays (for speeches) and 6 - way monitor mix. I reckon I'll have the surface prepared within half an hour ready to roll into the venue and save loads of time on site.

 

My advice - get a demo or two and try before you buy!

[Matt Pengelly]

The desk was not mine, no. It was simply one date of a European tour with a band I was out with recently, so the opportunity to do much troubleshooting was slim at best.

 

In many respects I'm glad to hear that what I experienced seems to be on an isolated piece - I was quite looking forward to trying the iLive and this thread has given me cause to believe that there is still some hope for enjoying them in the future!

 

We can but go off experience though with these things I guess...

[nick7076]

We have a T112 + IDR48 in hire stock. Cant say we've ever had any probs when either we've used it or from any of our clients.

 

Keep the software updated and use the ofline editor as a time saver. If you know the job your going into you can have most of the work done before you even unpack the desk.

 

For small jobs its quite feasable to use the IDR48 and a laptop as a full system without the surface.

 

Technical and service backup from A&H has been supurb.

[Dmills]

I am running a 112T and IDR48 setup in a 550 seater multipurpose room, and apart from the scene recall being slightly laggy (Not a problem for rock shows, but it could be an issue for musical theatre) I have no complaints.

 

I had a demo expecting to find that I needed to find the extra for a SD8, and came away with the conclusion that it was not perfect but what did I want for the money?

Provision for a second surface sharing one rack would be nice (apparently it is coming), and the 112T is definitely built to a price point (the switches feel a bit cheap and no second power supply), but as long as you get a good case for it....

 

The nice thing about this desk is that you can usually teach the unfamiliar how to drive in 10 minutes or so, and I would second the comment about getting the 'analogue only' guys to play.

As usual with computer based stuff a UPS is a good idea at both FOH and the stage rack (The surface takes an age to cold boot (~2 minutes), but as the processing is in the stage rack it will continue to pass audio (this is not always a good thing)).

 

I love the space and weight savings compared to a series 5 and outboard racks!

 

Minor niggles, but nothing serious, and I have certainly never experienced the sort of latency reported above.

 

Regards, Dan.

[TAG1960]

Got to play wihan iLive T80 the other nite and had two issues:

 

1 Desk crashed 5 mins before the walkin. After what seemed like an eternity (probably no longer than a couple of mins) the desk came back to life, and no settings had been lost. Deffinately not power interuption, but possibly power fluctation caused this, but we never got to the bottom of it, which was a bit concerning.

 

2 Huge inbuilt latency between the units, despite a Cat 5 run of no more than 40M. OK-ish on corporate events, but unusable for anything more active eg live music.

 

Overall, never having seen the desk before it was quick to figure out, and the control surface is quite ituative, but the instability and latency issues would worry me if it were my desk!

 

Neil

[robritchie]

From what I understand all of the latency and delay in functions working issues that anyone has suffered is down to the ACE cable choice. It appears that A&H make it very clear that the cable needs to be a particular type yet some people are running cheaper of should I say lower spec cable. As I see it, as there is only one cable transferring all control and data etc it makes sense to buy the best cable possible. I would also look at putting a UPS in, this would limit the possibility of power dropping out and having to wait for a re-boot. This could be said for any digital system without redundancy or back-up. Also some people appear to be expecting this system to compare with much larger, more sophisticated and expensive systems. I am however interested in hearing from anyone else who has had similar latency issues.

[StevenW2]

From what I understand all of the latency and delay in functions working issues that anyone has suffered is down to the ACE cable choice. It appears that A&H make it very clear that the cable needs to be a particular type yet some people are running cheaper of should I say lower spec cable. As I see it, as there is only one cable transferring all control and data etc it makes sense to buy the best cable possible. I would also look at putting a UPS in, this would limit the possibility of power dropping out and having to wait for a re-boot. This could be said for any digital system without redundancy or back-up. Also some people appear to be expecting this system to compare with much larger, more sophisticated and expensive systems. I am however interested in hearing from anyone else who has had similar latency issues.

 

 

You are correct that the cable choice makes a difference - I've tried a variety. Also, the new Firmware V1.53 sorts out some issues which caused some functions to run slow. I've got a gig tonight and have upgraded to V1.53, so I'll see it it helps.

 

SW