LMS Recommendations

[GC1971]

Hi Peeps,

I'm looking to change my venerable Omnidrive on analogue desk days (anyone remember them?), and have used the DBX / Soundweb, and luckily a LAKE; but was wondering what you have and what you like/dislike about it.

I'm freelance and don't get the luxury of time in most gigs to actually piss about with the gear. I also don't have any warehouse work days to get to grips with the stuff, so although I've used it, I've not got an expert informed opinion.

Where would you bung £3K

2 in 8 out preferred, but 2/6 can be used regularly too.

Especially interested in System Techs advice who Wifi their GUI.

Ta, 0:)

G.

[BlueShift]

Hi G,

 

I am a FOH engineer / System tech, and I've used most systems. Here are my thoughts:

 

There are 2 ways to approach this. One is to get a dedicated processor like an XTA or Lake that is specifically designed for this purpose. The second, is to get something like a Soundweb or Symetrix processor that is a freely assginable DSP platform, that you can use for this, and other things.

 

Which way you go really depends on what you intend to use this for. Is it strictly for crossover & EQ duties? or does it more for a variety of 'after the console, before the PA' duties? Also, do you need a digital audio distribution platform? or just analogue in and out?

 

If I was buying a dedicated speaker processor, I'd buy either an XTA (lots of good, cheap, secondhand options here) or a new lake LM. In order to get 2 in 8 out with lake, you'd need 2 processors, so I'd go for an XTA. The 548's are amazing, but you can probably pick up a good second hand 448, or a pair of 224/226. The nice thing about XTA is they are industry standard, and lots of manufacturers have XTA presets pre-rolled. Not to mention the remote system works really well, and is great for wifi as you can use a moxa rs485 to ethernet converter and a wireless windows tablet. RS485 runs for ages on mic cable, so typically you can leave the XTAs at the stage end, and just run 485 back up the multicore either direct to a USB serial interface, or to a moxa at FOH.

 

If I wanted a more flexible DSP though, I'd get a soundweb. They will happily do speaker processing duties, but also a lot more. A BLU16/160 with 8 in and 8 out could do matrixing from multiple consoles and speaker processing in 1 box if you wanted it to. The BOBs are also a cost effective way to get audio into your amps over a cat5 cable.

[GC1971]

Hey BlueShift.

Thanks for the reply mate. Just what I wanted.. I never really got on with the Soundweb , but to be fair I never spec'd them after the first batch in 1999. I assume they sound a lot less brittle now.

I would be using the LMS as a dedicated speaker processor, I have a rack of clean and sweet analogue outboard for insert type duties so I like your XTA route.

Have you noticed any extra noise floor with the Wifi link?

Thanks fella (I assume).

G