PreSonus Forums

Are there any news about a Presonus digital snake solution. It's one thing that prevents me from replacing our 24.4.2 by a 32.4.2AI. I do not want to buy an additional snake.

Nothing yet. Since Dante has not yet been released for the mixers themselves, I would think you would see that before any accessories.

You can upgrade to the 32ai and keep using your 24 channel snake... You'd not be buying a new snake and you'd still have the 24 channels you currently have.

I'm still very curious on how the ai will control the stagebox headamps.

The gain control on the presonus consoles is analog (at least in the classic consoles) and therefor unable to control any remote headamp.

They may have a trick up their sleeve for this option though...

It will also be interesting to see if the dante enabled stagebox will work with any dante enabled mixer, like the x32, ls-9, etc...

If I'd buy a 32.4.2. I'd like to use the additional channels I have. That's why keeping the 24 snake and waiting (for how long???) is not an option for me. I really can't understand, why a digital snake solution should be that much of a problem for presonus. It's almost standard, even in the price-segment, where presonus is playing.

Well one possibility is that PreSonus is a relatively small company and can only design so many hardware devices at a time. With the new mixers and speakers that recently came out, it may just be they didn't have time yet.

Spirit wroteIf I'd buy a 32.4.2. I'd like to use the additional channels I have. That's why keeping the 24 snake and waiting (for how long???) is not an option for me. I really can't understand, why a digital snake solution should be that much of a problem for presonus. It's almost standard, even in the price-segment, where presonus is playing.

Given the presonus history about announcements and actual releases and also that there is no official word about a digisnake I'd say we're in for quite a long wait until it will hit the market.

Time will tell...

With the release of the RM32AI and RM16AI, there have been numerous affirmations (se the intriductin videios), that the Dante Card will be released Q4 2014 or Q1 2015. I think, they postponed the release to make sure, that the Dante card fits well in All SLs and RMs and works together.

Mavid

The next question becomes price. They have the Dante cards for the speakers set at $199 according to the press release. The mixers will have more channels and will cost even more.

My bank account is crying...

After talking to one of Presonus US representatives.....I was told that Presonus should be releasing the Dante card for the AI mixers, but will not be building a stage box. The question that comes to mind is: will their Dante card be compatible with most manufacturers stage boxes? I am now in a hurry up time frame to move to a digital snake configuration for my venue. If I don´t have this by mid December, I´ll be forced to sell my 24AI and switch brands to Yamaha, Allen Heath, or Soundcraft who already have the technology in place. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! Hurry up Presonus!!!!!!

Jjinplaya wroteAfter talking to one of Presonus US representatives.....I was told that Presonus should be releasing the Dante card for the AI mixers, but will not be building a stage box. The question that comes to mind is: will their Dante card be compatible with most manufacturers stage boxes? I am now in a hurry up time frame to move to a digital snake configuration for my venue. If I don´t have this by mid December, I´ll be forced to sell my 24AI and switch brands to Yamaha, Allen Heath, or Soundcraft who already have the technology in place. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! Hurry up Presonus!!!!!!

While you can use Dante with any 3'rd party stagebox/mixer, dante does not usually provide you with remote control for controlling preamps in that stagebox/mixer. There is also no provision for any sort of remote control on the ai-mixer surface so any remote operation must be done via the vsl software.

This is probably a dealbreaker for many people wanting to use a dante stagebox with the ai...

roblof wrote

Jjinplaya wroteAfter talking to one of Presonus US representatives.....I was told that Presonus should be releasing the Dante card for the AI mixers, but will not be building a stage box. The question that comes to mind is: will their Dante card be compatible with most manufacturers stage boxes? I am now in a hurry up time frame to move to a digital snake configuration for my venue. If I don´t have this by mid December, I´ll be forced to sell my 24AI and switch brands to Yamaha, Allen Heath, or Soundcraft who already have the technology in place. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! Hurry up Presonus!!!!!!

While you can use Dante with any 3'rd party stagebox/mixer, dante does not usually provide you with remote control for controlling preamps in that stagebox/mixer. There is also no provision for any sort of remote control on the ai-mixer surface so any remote operation must be done via the vsl software.

This is probably a dealbreaker for many people wanting to use a dante stagebox with the ai...

Let me make sure I understand. Are you saying that there is no remote for the gain control...only?
Certainly the mixer can still be controlled by an Ipad.

Jjinplaya wroteLet me make sure I understand. Are you saying that there is no remote for the gain control...only?
Certainly the mixer can still be controlled by an Ipad.

I'm not sure that I understand your question...

None of the studiolive consoles can have their preamp controlled remotely. You need physical access to the console to control them.

On the RM-series the preamps can be controlled remotely.

With dante there is no set standard (that I'm aware of) for controlling remote devices. This means that you can't take a yamaha dante stagebox and control its preamps from another dante enabled device.

Dantes primary function is to distribute audio from one device to other(s) and nothing else. This means that it is up to the sending device on how it is processing the data before sending it.

I'm not sure, but I think that AVB addresses this issue. There is also something called aes67 that I know nothing about either. It has big parts in common with AVB. These standards aims to help with interoperability in the future between product by different manufacturers.

I think that we have a couple of more years down the road before before we can mix and match mixers/stageboxes form different vendors, but the future looks good...

Basically you did in fact answer my question. That is, the preamps can not be controlled remotely but the audio can still be sent to and from the stage box. This should work for me. If I need to adjust the preamp (gain) I can still do so at the mixer. Are we now communicating or am I still confused?

Looks like you're still confused. A digital snake is more than just a digital version of an analog snake. A digital snake's stage box must have preamps, A/D converters and the computing power to push all data down a UTP cable. It is the preamps in the stage box that need to be remote controllable. A SL mixer can't do that. From the mixer's control surface you can only control the mixer's preamps, not the preamps in a stage box. At least, not yet.

OK...........still confused. In what instance would I need to control the preamps in the stagebox?

When they are clipping, or when you want them a little hotter.

The thing is that you can't "clip" an analog snake, but you can clip a digital snake. Headroom is limited just like any ordinary preamp/ADC combination. So you need to be able to tweak the stage box just like you want to be able to tweak your mixer preamps.

Actually, with a mixer with digital snake option the mixer preamps and ADCs will be bypassed. The snake data will feed straight into the processor.

Hope that helps

Think of a digital stagebox as a minimalistic mixer. It contains all the basic parts that any mixer has - Including a power supply!

SwitchBack wroteWhen they are clipping, or when you want them a little hotter.

The thing is that you can't "clip" an analog snake, but you can clip a digital snake. Headroom is limited just like any ordinary preamp/ADC combination. So you need to be able to tweak the stage box just like you want to be able to tweak your mixer preamps.

Actually, with a mixer with digital snake option the mixer preamps and ADCs will be bypassed. The snake data will feed straight into the processor.

Hope that helps

Ok, but once again....if I need to adjust (tweak) the preamps, can´t I do that by going to the mixer itself and physically turn the knobs?

Jjinplaya wrote

SwitchBack wroteWhen they are clipping, or when you want them a little hotter.

The thing is that you can't "clip" an analog snake, but you can clip a digital snake. Headroom is limited just like any ordinary preamp/ADC combination. So you need to be able to tweak the stage box just like you want to be able to tweak your mixer preamps.

Actually, with a mixer with digital snake option the mixer preamps and ADCs will be bypassed. The snake data will feed straight into the processor.

Hope that helps

Ok, but once again....if I need to adjust (tweak) the preamps, can´t I do that by going to the mixer itself and physically turn the knobs?

No, because you need to adjust the preamps on the digital stagebox. Therefor you'd need to run to the digital stagebox to tweak the preamp instead of adjusting the preamps on your mixing console, because now your remote preamps are on the stage.

Some mixers from other vendors can control the digital stagebox from the vendors console, but this is done in some propetary way that is incompatible with the rest of the world. This is where aes67/avb comes to the rescue in the future.