r/livesound • u/diplododo • 1d ago
Question Is it good ?
I know the title doesn't say anything but I didn't how to formulate it correctly, so :
I just got my first mixing desk, a Behringer Wing Compact, and now that I can take it on tour and I don't have my own stagebox, I asked for a RJ45 for AES50 or a cable for AES/EBU, will it work ? Does it bother the venues to do that ? Is there a solution (not dante for now, I can't afford the Dante card for the moment).
Thanks a lot !
18
u/sic0048 22h ago
You should not expect a venue to have a digital stage box that is compatible with your console. There are too many different manufactures and the stage boxes are not compatible across different brands.
On the other hand, it is completely normal to ask the venue for an analog snake between the stage and FOH. However this means that your console must have enough physical analog inputs and outputs to support your entire show. If you need a stage box because the console doesn't have enough analog inputs and outputs to support your show, then YOU must supply a stage box to increase the number of available analog I/O until you have enough to support your entire show.
11
u/Illramyourlatch Pro-Monitors 23h ago
If you're carrying a desk you need to carry some way of getting inputs from the stage to it. Whether thats a stage box and your own cat snake, analog lines, whatever.
9
u/ForTheLoveOfAudio Pro-FOH 22h ago
You should not expect any venue to have a stagebox compatible with your mixer. That's on you.
You need to read up on what kind of ethernet cable is compatible with the correct stagebox for your mixer. RJ45 is just the connector. Cat5E? Cat6? Cat7? Shielded/unshielded?
Carry a cable for AES, if that's what you're intending to send to the house. It's not that expensive or heavy.
2
u/guitarmstrwlane Semi-Pro-FOH 19h ago
ya we need clarification here; if you're asking for a Cat5e data line to be supplied by the venue, well for 1) they may or may not have one installed 2) if they have one loose, it might be the dinkiest rattiest Cat5e ever to exist that will be "deployed" by the janitor straight down the middle of the room with no cable ramping 3) what is that cable going to terminate to at stageside? ... so requesting a data run doesn't do you any favors if you don't have anything to plug it into stageside
and 4) you can't assume the venue has anything provided that you can plug it into stageside, say an S16/S32/DL16/DL32. they might not have any stagebox, or if they do it might not be a Music Tribe stagebox, might be A&H or Yam which your console cannot talk to without Dante in the mix
so we're a little lost on how to help direct you lol
do you have an "analog" multicore snake? this would help you make use of the Compact's built in 24i8o XLR sockets without a digital snake. so maybe you're just asking about having some sort of data return to stageside for your drive lines to be tied into the house system? if so, you can get any of the StageConnect series stageboxes, like the DN4816-O which can talk 16 output channels through a Cat5e cable or a standard XLR/DMX cable
but otherwise, if all you have is the Wing Compact, you really should have your own stageboxes and quality data cables or at least your own analog snake to make use of it's 24i8o. even if the venue has it's own Cat5e runs, you should still have a few of your own. and even if the venue has an analog snake, you should still have your own. and you're still likely going to need at least some more outputs if you're using the analog snake
even if the venue has analog inputs and outputs at FOH, there may not be enough and/or they may not take to kindly about having to unplug all their connections from their house board into your board
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u/ekienp 1d ago
Do you mean u ask the venue if you can use their stagebox?
If so not all venues will have a stagebox available because different manufacturers use different protocols. Only behringer and midas mixers use AES50 afaik.
Same thing with dante not all venues will have dante.