24 Ins and Outs

[John F]

If you've read any of my past posts, I'm attempting to sell the powers-that-be on a SAC system for my church to replace our aging Roland console system. I've made some progress, and now have an opportunity to show the system in action. The music minister will be taking a band to our local college campus for a performance, and has offered to let me use SAC for this as a demonstrator. I'll need 16 inputs and ideally, 20 outputs (a nine-person band, so 18 stereo in-ear monitors plus two mains). What would be the most cost-effective way for me to put together the audio interfaces needed to build this system? I already have one 8-in/8-out Presonus Studio 1824c, but I'm finding that daisy-chaining interfaces doesn't appear to be as easy as I thought it would be. I'd like to get used equipment if I can, as I can probably sell it afterwards for not too much of a loss if we don't end up needing it later. Thank you for any and all suggestions!

John Francis
Rolla, MO

[cgrafx]

Get an RME RayDAT card and 3-4 Behringer ADA8200

That will give you 24-32 channels In/Out.

Or better yet, find somebody with a SAC rig in your area and have them come and do sound for your event.

Throwing together a piece-meal system that is effectively untested is a sure fire way to make sure that your demo will fail spectacularly.

[John F]

Get an RME RayDAT card and 3-4 Behringer ADA8200

Throwing together a piece-meal system that is effectively untested is a sure fire way to make sure that your demo will fail spectacularly.

Thank you Phillip for the suggestions and the heavy dose of realism. That's one of the things I like about this forum. It turns out I was working under the mistaken assumption that interfaces could be easily daisy-chained together. The key piece I had been missing was that RayDat card. Your suggestion of having someone else come in and run it is even better. It would be nice to have a list of people using SAC around the country available on this site, wouldn't it? Is there anyone in central Missouri reading this that would be willing to help?

Thank you,

John Francis
Rolla, MO

[Wink0r]

I have a MOTU 8PRE-ES for a 24 ch. rig.The drivers are stable.

https://motu.com/products/proaudio/8pre-es

[cgrafx]

I have a MOTU 8PRE-ES for a 24 ch. rig.The drivers are stable.

https://motu.com/products/proaudio/8pre-es

The MOTU units are great. My live rig and most of my studio rig are all MOTU, but for a throw-together test rig they are too expensive.

I would definitely put them on my recommend list for a production system.

[cgrafx]

Thank you Phillip for the suggestions and the heavy dose of realism. That's one of the things I like about this forum. It turns out I was working under the mistaken assumption that interfaces could be easily daisy-chained together. The key piece I had been missing was that RayDat card. Your suggestion of having someone else come in and run it is even better. It would be nice to have a list of people using SAC around the country available on this site, wouldn't it? Is there anyone in central Missouri reading this that would be willing to help?

Thank you,

John Francis
Rolla, MO

yes it would be great if there was a directory. if I were in your general vicinity i’d have been happy to come help you out, but unfortunately i’m on the west coast.

[Wink0r]

New the ticket for a Raydat + 3 ADAs would not be much different than an 8PRE-ES and 2 ADAs.

[cgrafx]

New the ticket for a Raydat + 3 ADAs would not be much different than an 8PRE-ES and 2 ADAs.

yes, but the RayDAT is PCI with rock solid drivers and unless your using thunderbolt the MOTU is USB with all the inherent issues of USB connected interfaces. drivers dont always load, connections dont aways end up in the same order, etc, etc.

Not saying USB doesnt work, but a PCI connected interface is simply more robust. Turn on the system and everything will always work.

[Wink0r]

My objective for the 24 channel rig was light weight and portability. I use an Intel NUC with, as I recall, an I-5 at 2.8GHZ. The computer and accessories are mounted to the back of the monitor. The little computer runs SAC, QLC+ (lights) and WMP simultaneously. SAC runs at 1X32 with no slipped buffers. In case Windows 'forgets' to load the drivers Bob has a handy option in the driver menu to remind the poor cretin. I have not seen the reordering problem, yet, so thanks for the heads up on that potential problem.

[cgrafx]

My objective for the 24 channel rig was light weight and portability. I use an Intel NUC with, as I recall, an I-5 at 2.8GHZ. The computer and accessories are mounted to the back of the monitor. The little computer runs SAC, QLC+ (lights) and WMP simultaneously. SAC runs at 1X32 with no slipped buffers. In case Windows 'forgets' to load the drivers Bob has a handy option in the driver menu to remind the poor cretin. I have not seen the reordering problem, yet, so thanks for the heads up on that potential problem.

I wasn't criticizing the use of USB, just pointing out that if your goal is to have something that always works when you turn it on, the RME PCI solution is more robust.

The reordering problem can happen when you have more than one USB device connected, so I wouldn't expect to see that issue pop up with a single interface connected.

On larger systems some consideration should also be given to not mixing and matching interfaces as that complicates the user interaction. Controls are different, functionality is different, sound is different, etc.

[mr_es335]

cgrafx,

As always, Philip, to the point...

I am very glad that I have abandoned my USB interface - in favour of the RME hardware. This simply means that I have one less thing to be concerned about.

In all honesty, what not stick with something that works - and more importantly, something that is known to work, and to work in all kinds of situations.

"'Nuff said!"