Indeed this is not really to understand, but as long as Smaart@PreSonus needs firewire, there will be no remote RTA. But what you can do is to get a second RM for FOH and conncect your RM's as master and slave. By this you get full firewire functionality at FOH (Smaart, Capture) by one single CAT5 cable. Of course this is also the case if you use a SLxxAI as FOH board.

Good observation. But adding another RM would be impractical. I am just challenging the presonus apps developers to do what other brands already did (RTA on remote controller, I can not say the brand here). If they (competitor) can do it, because I know, RTA on remote controller apps is just the mirror of what is going on inside the RM mixer, there is no reason they can't do it. By the way, I am not talking about SMAART feature, but rather the RTA feature which is a much needed one for us sound guys.

First off, I agree 100% that this needs to be done, the RTA and spectrometers are sweet!

But! I don't think that any of that code is currently running inside of the RM unit itself and that's why they can't just send the info from the rm to iPad or other remote device. The code actually runs on the PC or Mac that is firewired to the RM and the code is embedded in the UC Surface app itself, reading the channel information coming through the FireWire to analyze it. These are actually Smaart features and I believe most of the code was actually written by rational acoustics engineers, in order to port that code over to the RM, they would probably need to bring the RA engineers in to make it happen which would cost money and the other question is if there is even enough processing power in the RM to accomplish it. These are all questions that only Presonus knows the answer to. . .

I am able to run smaart and get the RTA and spectrometer for every channel on my iPad by logging into my rack mount PC (firewired to RM) with splash top a Remote Desktop type program, works awesome! And I have it completely remote and can use it anywhere!

Steve

Networking is cool.

Rwagas80,

I agree with you but if you really want to use SMAART then use the real SMAART V8 which doesn't require the RM. What comes with the RM is like a toy compared with what SMAARTv8 or V7di can do. I know many will dis-agree but once you use the real thing you'll never go back. It's pricey but if you really want to fine tune your system this is the guy you want.


RM16AI
UC Surface
Capture
ELO 27" multi touch monitor
2016 Macbook pro i7
4- QSC KLA181
8-QSC KLA12
4 -JBL PRX715 monitors

I agree, Smaart is the real thing for professional use and what comes with the SL and RM boards is indeed a very reduced version of Smaart. It is meant to be tasty in order to make you buy the real product... (which is a good way to go).

But what we (I include myself) as live engineers really need and what makes Smaart or its alternatives interesting, is the combination of EQ and RTA on any (!) input and output channel. You see what is happening and you know, what is to do! To me this is a great help especially in acoustically critical situations like a speaker in an old church with lots of reflections aka reverb in the building. A RTA working "behind" the equalizer helps me to precisely get the speech right (acoustically, I mean...).

Tuning a system is a totally different thing. I don't need that at all, because my PA is "musically flat" and RTA or Spectograph on mains show what might need to be corrected. Nowadays there are several RTA's available for computers or mobile devices. When PreSonus introduced Smaart mini years ago, there was nearly no competition around. PreSonus was an innovative pioneer in the MI market and firewire was the best way to go.

Times have changed and now our mobile tools need RTA. Sometimes I use a second iPad with just RTA for control or I add another RM at FOH, which lets me use Smaart mini again - there are some workarounds, but the best would be the revival of RTA in any UC Surface!

It's actually very "easy" just use the Ipad's sound input and give us an RTA independent from the Smaart features, I know the Ipad's microphone it's not the best alternative and we would just have a source for the RTA(whatever the microphone is capturing) but that's better than nothing, we could connect an external mike using any IOS sound interface, there is another brand doing it like that and, even with the built-in microphone it's a huge advantage to have the RTA in your (remote) control device.

It's not more than a workaround...

I envy the competitor's RTA on Remote Mixing Software Control. Either on Laptop, IPAD, or Android devices connected wirelessly. No more need for remote desktop or a separate SMAART app. Just RTA on the Remote Mixer Controller App itself. Hope presonus can catch up!

I use 2 laptops, one on stage with firewire plugged into the rm32 that does all the smaart functions, Capture recordings, break music playback, etc. Cat5 rm32 and stage laptop to a 5ghz router .. Foh is where the other laptop is. It hit the router on stage wirelessly @ 5ghz.

I use Teamviewer to log into the stage laptop, can see and control all of its functions from Foh. At the same time, thru teamviewer, I use my android tablet to log into the Foh laptop and can work everything from it too... Life is good

I do the exact same thing by logging into my Windows Computer (at stage) with my iPad.

Life is Good!

No second RM mixer needed. No CAT5 running down the hall needed, just remote desktop over WIFI and it does work with the Touch Screen and all. BUT, with my setup, I must be running at 1024/768 in order for it to all work smoothly with zero latency, higher resolution begin to cause problems, however being on the iPad2 1024/768 is perfect!

Steve

It's all good, but what do you do when your single RM32 fails? What is your emergency strategy and how long does it take to get going again? I always have a second mixer of the UC Surface 1 family (SL or RM) running or ready to be used, which for me is not "luxury zone", but a real must. A second laptop or any kind of remote control does not help, when there is no sound coming out of your RM any more... I have learned my lesson to think and act BEFORE something goes totally wrong. RTA in UC Surface on any remote device would be a wonderful thing, but it doesn't look this dream ever will come true. Firewire helps me to survive...

wahlerstudios, we still carry the old legacy 24.4.2 with us as a backup if the rm32 fails. The laptop on the stage is pluged via firewire and cat5 to the router. The router is placed high on the front of the stage. We use wireless in-ears, and moving router to front of stage eliminated interference between the two.

I have viewed your videos in the past, and just wanted to say thank you for an in-depth look at the daw, touch screen, pros and cons. Very helpful to watch another user go thru it and point out likes and dislikes

sjc193, I'm using an LED Monitor @ FOH that takes the signal from the laptop via HDMI. This allows me to expand the desktop view of the UC software. I can drag it to be longer on the screen and can see 19 channels at a time as opposed to 13 on the laptop screen. The resolution on the laptop is only1360X768. The LED monitor works @ 1920 x 1080 and is really great on outdoor gigs, as it is clear and bright thanks to it being LED. Much better than the laptop screen which is virtually useless outside.

I am looking into an LED multi touch monitor for FOH, because using a mouse causes my hand to cramp. I have read many reviews with pros/cons about using a multi touch outside, mostly saying it is not a good idea. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

Interesting topic as I have recently been realizing touch vs. mouse differences.

Depends on the production what works. If I'm doing a band (or 3) outside that requires no cues, I'm totally happy with the touch screen iPad, I can slowly bring the mix together and within a song or two hopefully I can just about walk away with the exception of bringing up a solo or whatnot.

But I've been doing the Rolling Hills Radio Show which is a live show (performances and interviews) with a studio audience, and there are so many cues for different things coming in and out throughout every minute (announcer, theme music, interview, 2 acts) time is of the essence, I have gone to setting up a monitor and a mouse and keyboard, and it is immensely faster to get around and hit all the cues. I actually was basically unable to hit all the cues with the iPad, though I just started in January and was also learning the show, but used the mouse this last month and was pleasantly relieved at how quick I could mix, the response is just simply exponentially faster than with touch, I've always had trouble grabbing the faders and moving them quickly and we've had discussions about it on here before, with the mouse it's instant. The show is pretty cool, I've already done Jonathan Edwards, Nathan McEuen, The Chapin Sisters and lots of other great lesser known folky types, and I hear we're doing Tony Trischka in January, cool! But doing Butch Trucks band this past August (Chautauqua Belle Bash concert series) takes the cake, tough to hide nerding out over how cool it was for me to work with him and his son and Barry Oakley's son, I'm still buzzing from the experience no drugs needed lol

Steve