Behringer XR18 Network Setup

[DanSteely]

Hi All,

 

I've purchased a Behringer XR18 and am really very impressed with everything about it. The sound is great, the PC software is intuitive and the UI is very polished.

 

So far I have only used it on the bench and connected directly via CAT5 to a PC.

 

Moving forwards to a real world scenario, I'd like to use a laptop and have the flexibility of using mobile devices to tweek mixes whilst moving around venues.

 

I'm going to go down the path of using an external wireless router (so no using the internal one).

I have ordered a TP-Link AC1200. It has 3 antennas and with some 5M SMA cables can raise the antenna to a decent height. It also has 4 RJ45 sockets so can use this as a switch for the hard wired PCs

 

Obviously I'm looking for a setup that's as rock solid as possible and my primary control surface will be a PC at FOH and there will possibly be another PC on stage near the XR18.

 

So my questions are really about the network setup:

 

1. On the XR18 (Setup>LAN configuration) which LAN mode should I use? (Static IP, DHCP or DHCP Server)

2. Would it be more logical to use the wireless router as the DHCP server?

3. Would static IP address's be a better way forwards? And so, would any range be better than any other?

4. I'm assuming that the subnet mask can be something like 255.255.0.0 (default in the XR18)

 

On the wireless channel side of things. Would it make sense to do a quick scan from my phone and then choose a less used channel?

 

Again, I'm looking for a best practice and a robust way forward.

 

Any advise or pointers to perhaps a step-by-step guide would be great.

[alistermorton]

Obviously I'm looking for a setup that's as rock solid as possible

 

Hard wired network, then.

 

We had a show recently where the FOH mixing was done via an iPad connected wirelessly. Ubiquiti access points, worked great, right up until it didn't, when the iPad lost it's connection to the mixer and wouldn't reconnect even when the link came back up. Cue minor panic and sound guy having to leg it back to the physical mixer for the last half ot the act.

 

Wireless is great until it isn't.

 

 

 

 

 

[Shez]

1. On the XR18 (Setup>LAN configuration) which LAN mode should I use? (Static IP, DHCP or DHCP Server)

2. Would it be more logical to use the wireless router as the DHCP server?

3. Would static IP address's be a better way forwards? And so, would any range be better than any other?

4. I'm assuming that the subnet mask can be something like 255.255.0.0 (default in the XR18)

 

1. I would always use static for the mixer. The last thing you want to be worrying about is what its address has changed to when the server has decided to allocate a new one.

 

2. I would use the router for that function yes.

 

3. Mixer static; mobile devices DHCP. Makes it much easier to switch to a backup phone / tablet without needing to do any additional configuration. I'd go for the usual 192.168.0.xxx range.

 

4. Subnet can be 255.255.255.0 as you only have a few devices on a very small single segment of a network.

 

It generally seems a good idea to hide your network SSID so every phone in the venue doesn't keep hammering it in case it has free internet.

 

Be wary of Line6 wireless gear, wireless DMX and other devices in the vicinity. 5GHz is less congested than 2.4 but won't travel as far or through as much.

 

I don't disagree with Alister - it's the Jurassic Park question - just because you can do it, doesn't mean that you should...

[DanSteely]

Hi both,

 

Many thanks for your input on this:

 

Alister: I agree that something PC/network/USB based will always bite you on the ars* when you don't want it to. And you can test and tweek in prep but you have to assume it will happen and you need to have a plan B, C, D.... close to hand

 

Shez: Thanks so much. That all makes a lot of sense.

 

I have a related question regarding the 3 antennas:

 

The mixer will live in a rack with some other bits like the body of the wireless router and some patch. The 3 SMA cables will live permanently connected to the router but at the other end, by the antennas I have a thought to merge the 3 cables together in a 5 pin XLR about a 300mm from the antennas. This will make rigging quicker - as opposed to having to screw the 3x SMAs at the antenna end each time.

 

I'm assuming the the grounds on the antennas will be common so in theory I only need 4 of my 5 pins.

 

Is this a plan or should I think again?

 

 

 

 

[dosxuk]

I'll be impressed if you manage to get any signal at all after that. There's no guarantee either that the shields on the three SMA's are commoned together either. You'll also be reducing your signal strength dramatically by extending the aerials in the first place, so then to go through a general purpose connector is not going to be much help. I certainly wouldn't want to trust my entire ability to mix to such a setup.

 

If you're wanting a quicker, more robust connector than SMA, designed to carry RF signals, you can get adaptors to BNC.

[DanSteely]

The router arrived and the antennas are not on SMA's so ill mount the router itself on mic stand. It's black. It'll be fine.

 

Any other thoughts?

[revbobuk]

Yup. I have a similar system, and because the router (or in my case, access point with DHCP server) is up the pole, I run just a single Cat5 to it, and have a separate network switch at the XR18 end. And that makes it easy to have a laptop plugged in running control software, for those moments when the iPad / Android WiFi link drops - which it hasn't yet for me, ever. I would also add that Mixing Station is a must-have app for control. I use a small rackmount submixer to do drums, which increases the overall channel count, and a couple of 8-way snakes to tidy up the stage cabling. I completely agree with Shez's post.

[DanSteely]

Hi Bob,

 

That's how I've now got it set up too. A small switch in the rack next to the XR18 and the the WAP on a mic stand.

 

What is this Mixing Station you speak of ?

[david.elsbury]

Mixing station is an app for remote control (as is written above...)

 

https://dev-core.org/mixing-station/

Edited July 13, 2019 by david.elsbury