FOH and Monitor mixers- connecting them.

[James Champer]

Oh, by the way Grant. It just occurred to me that I haven't told you about the cocktail kit I made out of the acrylic drums I built some time ago.

Hopefully I'll remember to show it to you in the near future.

[Grant Bunter]

Not at all. All digital boards run just fine with a standard copper wire snake.

The beauty of the digital board isn't the iPad connectivity - it's the built-in features. I'd just as soon never mix with an iPad again....but, I'll probably have to at some point.

But, I will never rely solely on an iPad as my only mixing surface.....noway, nohow.

Sorry Bruce, the idea of Ipad etc was more in relation to digital mixers like the Berry Air series etc
It seems more and more companies are putting out digital mixers without control surfaces, relying on connectivity with remote devices to control the inner workings.

And yes, I understand the old fashioned multicore is still fine. 100 yard on a cat5 cable is astounding though. Think of the weight savings alone!

[Grant Bunter]

Back to the topic at hand lol...

So, the "best" way to do it is via transformer isolated splitters.
Investigation shows that to be getting into some big $ too, depending on the splitters pricing themselves.

Has anyone had relatively trouble free operation, more often than not, with simply creating parallel splits at the stage box?

Pros and Cons?

[Grant Bunter]

Oh, by the way Grant. It just occurred to me that I haven't told you about the cocktail kit I made out of the acrylic drums I built some time ago.

Hopefully I'll remember to show it to you in the near future.

Please do!

[BrentEvans]

Back to the topic at hand lol...

So, the "best" way to do it is via transformer isolated splitters.
Investigation shows that to be getting into some big $ too, depending on the splitters pricing themselves.

Has anyone had relatively trouble free operation, more often than not, with simply creating parallel splits at the stage box?

Pros and Cons?

Parallel splits will work most of the time, but you may run into problems with ground loops and phantom power. When you use a parallel split, you have no isolation between the stage, the monitor console, and front of house. Only one board can supply phantom power, and while most consoles are fairly tolerant of phantom power being present on a microphone input which is not supplied by the board itself, there is always the chance that someone could activate both phantom simultaneously, which can create a problem. Less frequently, there can also be issues with impedance with certain microphones and direct boxes. A transformer isolated split solves all of these problems, as it does not allow phantom to pass from the isolation tap which is typically used for the monitor mixer, and it electrically isolates front of house from the stage and monitors preventing ground loops.

If you are going to be doing this for hire, have the right tools. Hacking it doesn't work, because there will be egg on your face at the least opportune time.

[Grant Bunter]

Thanks again Brent!