7.1 Monitoring Controller & Beyond?

[Cheesehead]

I'm looking for a scaleable monitor controller for 7.1 and possibly beyond
in the future to use with PT HD.

All I've found so far is a Studio Technologies 7.1 controller and the Blue Sky
AMC. Neither of those are upwards scaleable to Atmos etc.

Dante looks promising for scaleability, but I haven't found a monitor controller for multichannel yet.

Someone should make a scaleable controller that works with an ipad app to switch inputs and formats, set reference levels and solo and mute speakers etc.

Is there anything like that around?

What are other people using for immersive formats etc?

[dr sound]

I am using QSY Qsys:
http://www.qsc.com/systems/products/q-sys/
http://www.qsc.com/resources/softwar...-sys-designer/
It does all you want to do.
I can control it from an iPad or and iPhone or more.
In my room we are now doing
Dolby Atmos
Auro-3D
DTS X
IMAX 12.0

[Cheesehead]

Thanks Marti,

That does look like it would do the job and more!
I like the way you can design controllers for ipad and touch screens.

What Q-sys unit are you using and how do you get the output of Pro Tools into it?

Cheers

Martin

[dr sound]

It's AES in and out or Line Level or even Dante In.
I have the 250 and it's rock solid. No issues.
Had it for a few years. We created the first Post Production version of it.
Made it do all the things I always wanted in a Monitor box.
It's quite powerful and very flexible and the units are are tied together via Cat6 cable.

[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

I'm looking for a scaleable monitor controller for 7.1 and possibly beyond
in the future to use with PT HD.

All I've found so far is a Studio Technologies 7.1 controller and the Blue Sky
AMC. Neither of those are upwards scaleable to Atmos etc.

Dante looks promising for scaleability, but I haven't found a monitor controller for multichannel yet.

Someone should make a scaleable controller that works with an ipad app to switch inputs and formats, set reference levels and solo and mute speakers etc.

Is there anything like that around?

What are other people using for immersive formats etc?

Hi,

I've just been through the same investigation. I'm not a mix stage but I wanted a controller that would expand to mini-atmos, that wouldn't be as expensive as QSYS and that I could control with a remote (iPad or hardware) to recall presets, mute channels etc. etc.

I ended up with the Xilica Neutrino. It comes in various setups. I have the 1616ND. It has 16 analogue I/O, 8xAES and Dante. You can freely design your own schematics and freely define the iPad/iphone/Android surface.
It sounds excellent and is easy to config.

And the best thing is I can use it as a stand-alone PT-interface via Dante virtual sound card which saves me tons of weight when I need to move my kit to an edit room abroad which happens once in a while. I have 16 I/O with Dante on a single CAT6 cable from my MacPro. And you can defeat the fan. All that in a one unit box. In that sense it becomes a 16 I/O PT interface when you have the 29$ DVS installed on your DAW computer. Before I needed my 8x8x8, BlueSky BMC, Yamaha 01v96 when on the road. Now the Neutrino replaces all of that gear and I can go beyond 7.1 and it saves me at least about 15-20kg of boxes when traveling. I just need my Mac, the Neutrino and a CAT6 cable instead.

Support is very responsive. I'm very happy and it's significantly less expensive than something like QSYS. But it's not as modular. So if you need it to be further expandable or you need more than 16 analog outs for your speakers then I'd look at QSYS. It's very good too. The market for these things is quite small. There's the QSYS, Peavey Media Matrix, Soundweb. Almost any other so called controllers end at 7.1 or are simple volume knobs.

Frank.



Frank.

[MIKEROPHONICS]

I believe Colin Broad is coming up with such a beast. I suspect Marti and Frank's solutions are most excellent and the most elegant, but another thought is the new DAD box and/or a Trinnov.
I am using Neyrinck's V-mon and an Avid Omni, which is both a cheap and very good sounding solution up to 7.1, but with limitations - but I can't live without stem monitoring, and having been weaned on AMS Logics and DFCs, it's hard to go back without..


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[Cheesehead]

Hmmm, interesting.

Thanks for all the info guys.

Marti, the Qsys 250i appears to be discontinued, so I'll have to figure out what their nearest new option is.

Frank, I like the look of the Neutrino although it does come out pretty expensive for the options you have gone for. If I bought a less fully featured model can it be upgraded afterwards do you know?

As you say these are very esoteric boxes and hard to track down prices or distribution easily.

It does seem crazy to invest £2000.00 in a 7.1 unexpandable controller, which is what my other 2 options were coming out at.

These 2 both seem to be in that ballpark and have a lot more options.

Mike, I had seen the DAD box on my search, I'll have a closer look at that too.
Again, almost impossible to find pricing.

When do you think the Colin Broad unit might appear and what can it do?

Thanks all!

Best

Martin

[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by Cheesehead

Hmmm, interesting.

Thanks for all the info guys.

Marti, the Qsys 250i appears to be discontinued, so I'll have to figure out what their nearest new option is.

Frank, I like the look of the Neutrino although it does come out pretty expensive for the options you have gone for. If I bought a less fully featured model can it be upgraded afterwards do you know?

As you say these are very esoteric boxes and hard to track down prices or distribution easily.

It does seem crazy to invest £2000.00 in a 7.1 unexpandable controller, which is what my other 2 options were coming out at.

These 2 both seem to be in that ballpark and have a lot more options.

Mike, I had seen the DAD box on my search, I'll have a closer look at that too.
Again, almost impossible to find pricing.

When do you think the Colin Broad unit might appear and what can it do?

Thanks all!

Best

Martin

I can assure you that if you need EQ (PEQ and/EQ GEQ), cross-overs, delays, summing etc. etc. (so a real speaker monitoring controller that isn't just a volume knob) you will be well in the 2000GBP ball-park as the minimum. The AMC is about 4000€ over here but it ends at 7.1.

I could be wrong but I think the QSYS with 16 analogue I/O AES, Dante will be quite a bit more. The soundweb London is for sure.

The empty QSYS250 core will be around 5500€ with no output cards installed.

The Trinov will be in the 10k range I think.

The DAD has no DSP processing. Neither does the CB. The latter is just a remote for given controllers. Most of them without DSP (again, please correct me if I'm wrong).

The Xilicas are not modular frames like the QSYS but you can add units as you grow and still control all of them via the same program. It really depends on where you are going.

For me the Xilicas were the best compromise between price and features. For a full blown mixing theatre one of them won't do obviously.

It can do more than the AMC at about the same price-tag

You'll have a hard time finding a system that is around 2000GBP that offers 7.1 out with EQ, Delay, remote as a start and then can expand to a full blown system like the Nion MediaMatrix or a huge QSYS.

In my case I was fine with 16 analogue outs because I have Meyers and don't need cross-overs for the front which eats away outs.

[MIKEROPHONICS]

Frank

CB is making an analogue Xmon and beyond replacement in addition to his remote controller


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[Frank Kruse]

Originally Posted by MIKEROPHONICS

Frank

CB is making an analogue Xmon and beyond replacement in addition to his remote controller


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Cool, but I assume no EQ, delay etc. on board? Just levels and summing like the Xmon?