Understanding Digital Stageboxes 

Awesome to hear you liked it. If there's anything else you're wondering about just let me know and I'll take a dive into it

Aw thanks, I'm so very glad to hear that :)

You're very welcome, I'm really glad it's helpful. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to cover and I can probably get to it fairly quickly.

Manufactures put in the manual the right way to the most generic user cases. As long it works and don't damage the equipment, what's the big deal? Just take into account the conditions, distances, desired speed and possible interferences such as light conduits. Then you can find the ideal cable for each situation. You don't need a shielded cable to run for just 30cm. But maybe you're close to a RF transmitter, so now the shield its necessary.

Good question. Short answer:Not really. You should be able to do it theoretically but then you would need a usb dongle or software or something to translate the digital audio signal (AES50) to wav for Ableton. You would also probably not have control of the preamps since that's what the mixer does. But I could be wrong, there might be a plug in for this. There's certainly a lot of people that ask these questions

@@OffshoreAudio understand….Because it really sounds like an opportunity to simplify both on logistic, cutting out a device, and also keeping costs down, avoiding a 3k mixer (or a mixer anyway). Thanks for your help anyway! I start to see the light.

@@matteomelfa It's probably doable but I'm afraid I'm not very helpful with this stuff. This is exclusively a live sound channel and I haven't worked in a studio in many years. You could try asking Kyle at the Audio University RU-vid channel.

Hey, check out these videos: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-gpX9fU9mvPg.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_NGmXH7WBvg.html They're on an X32 but the software and process is the same. If you want longer videos and more detail about setting up and mixing on an X32 I have a course: www.offshoreaudio.no/unlock-live-sound

Thanks! Glad it was helpful

You are most welcome

Thanks! Good question. You do still need power amps for passive stage speakers, if I understood your question correctly. I've never come across a stagebox with a power amp built in at any rate. The power in your digital stagebox powers the AD/DA converter as well as providing things like phantom power. The signal level that comes out of the outputs is line level, at least in every stagebox I've ever used. I've come across mixers that have a power amp stage built in but they've always had a speakon cable as an output. I'll make a video covering the signal levels if you'd like? I thought I had one but it seems I've not made one yet.

Thanks!

Thanks! Yeah you could totally send an iem mix out them

Glad you enjoyed it

No, as far as I'm aware presonus mixers use AVB instead of AES as a standard for transferring the digital audio. I made another video on how to know what stagebox you can use: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yJ-DxCdRzs4.html broadly speaking you pretty much have to use one manufactured by the same manufacturer as the mixer, though there are exceptions.

Hey, thanks for the comment. www.offshoreaudio.no/free-workshop

Hey, I had a look at the manual for the QSC Touchmix 30 pro - 32 channel mixer. It doesn't have any digital connectivity (the ethernet port on the back is just for wifi) so you would need to use an analogue stage box. Usually, these are labelled w-according to how many inputs and outputs are needed. For example, a 24/8 stage box would allow you to connect 24 channels of audio from the stage to your mixer and return 8 mixes from your mixer to the stage for the main LR mix, monitors etc. Did that answer your question?

Yes thank you

Hey, thanks for the comment. Yes, that's right. Stagebox, snake, multicore and loom are often words used interchangeably for more or less the same thing.

Hey, thanks so much for the comment! Couldn't agree more, there's lots to unpack in digital stageboxes. I hope to get into more detail in a future video :)

Very good question. It depends what standard you're using to transmit the audio data. A Midas dl32, shown in this video, is good up to 100m according to the manual. I'd definitely test it if you're going over 80 though. 100m is what most digital stageboxes are rated for but always check the manual.

Thanks a lot! Really simple was essentially what I was going for so great that I hit the mark. As for the accent, I have no control over that so thank you haha

Hey, good question. The Mackie pro fx12 is an analogue mixer so you won't be about to use a digital stagebox with it. You would need to get an analogue one. I've got a video that explains a bit about this here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yJ-DxCdRzs4.html

Hey, good question! The difference is in the preamps as far as I'm aware with the Midas ones being considered better though I would say that unless you've made that decision yourself, based on what you hear, then you won't really notice a difference. Long story short it's common to find midas stage boxes with X32s but a behringher will work just fine. Hope that helped!

Hi, good question. The short answer is no. The S32 stagebox communicates using a different language (AES 50) than the studio live iii mixer (AVB). The long answer is that you could send 2 channels of digital audio using the AES/EBU connection between the mixer and the stagebox. Did that answer your question?. I could make a video on how to know if you can use a digital stage box with a mixer and the different standards that are used if that would be helpful

@@OffshoreAudio thanks for the reply. Yeah a video would be helpful. Also did some reading cos we wanted to eventually expand into using personal mixers and IEM for the 5 member band we have. So we were looking at the Behringer P16 since it’s the most affordable. But our hands are tied cos we have a Studiolive board. But behringer has a converter that can take 16 analogue inputs and convert them into digital for use with the P16 mixers. So perhaps we might explore that option

It’s the Behringer Powerplay P16-I Module

No you don't need to use them both. Depending on what mixer you're using you could use either one.. I've got a few more videos about stage boxes here: ru-vid.com/group/PLwvkPlNXGXW6xDASuGVWfS092KCAu180z

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ScMcpCVEgoI.html This might help you

short answer: no. Longer answer: you might be able to make a dante stagebox work but they're designed to work with mixers and it would probably end up being more hassle than it's worth. I've got a few other videos on the channel that explain why if you're interested. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-yJ-DxCdRzs4.html

It depends. I'd probably recommend just using a di box but if you don't have one then you could just use whatever adapters you need to make it work. E.g. Jack to xlr adapter- stagebox input - xlr to Jack adapter- Jack input on the mixer.

@@OffshoreAudio di box won't swap line to mic level?

@@OffshoreAudio i have a bunch of TRS to XLR adaptor but this would need a straight up 1/4 to XLR (Not trs) then the opposite at the other end yes?

Yeah, I should've been clearer. Into a di box then into a mic input on the mixer. I think that would be the solution 95% of the time. So the answer to the question is " usually you don't, usually you use a di box" If you need to use a jack input because you don't have any xlr inputs left on the mixer then you use whatever adapters you need to get the signal there. The most important thing then is that the output is balanced, and all the cables and adapters are balanced. Otherwise you'll get noise.

@@OffshoreAudio can you use a TRS 1/4 Into the out of a keyboard though? I suppose I'll test this all when I get back home haha. Cause yes exactly, we ran out of XLR ports

Unfortunately the midas stagebox in this video will not work with yamaha mixers. It uses a proprietary protocol that can only be used with behringer and midas products. Hope this helps.

If you get a compatible stagebox, you should be able to select what input/output goes to what channel. That's the cool thing, they are completely customizable.

Thank you. Yeah. But what I don’t like is that I have these amazing preamps in the ql5 (20k console) and when I use it with cheaper digital stageboxes I can’t use these preamps from the Yamaha ql5 but I have to use the cheaper preamps

@@forisraelforever yeah, I feel like if you want to use the good preamps, you may be better off either buying a higher end stagebox that will work with your console, or just run a big analog stagebox from your console to the stage, that way you are using the better preamps.

Thats AES/EBU, also known as AES 3, which is quite different from AES50 which the stagebox in this video uses. It's 2 channels of digital audio. Since it's a digital signal you would need a mic preamp and then an converter stage before you could feed audio into the RME unit. You could use it for example to record a stereo output of a live console like an m32. It's normally on an XLR connector in the live environment so you'd need some kind of cable for that. Maybe RME have some equipment that interfaces with it? I mention AES3 a little more in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_aDJzUpHekQ.html

I'm afraid I couldn't say. Are you able to monitor the signal at the box before it goes up the mixer? Is gain too high? That's about the only way you could somewhat compress the signal before it reaches the mixer. But it would just be distortion

You are so welcome

Thanks! It's not a problem I've come myself. Try switching the AES cable or port. My other advice would be to get in touch with the place that sold you the box or try music tribe support.

You need to press the mute button twice or once or long press to deactivate it on the S32 stagebox

Hey, You do not. It just uses a network cable to communicate directly with the mixer

Thanks!