In April 2018, I received the announcement from DiGiCo that a new V987 operating system for the SD consoles series was to be released and that with this upgrade, my Waves MultiRacks would no longer run internally on my SD10 consoles. Furthermore, there would be no compatibility between the new V987 version and the previous V929 system. While this announcement didn’t necessarily send shockwaves throughout the audio industry, a collective “WTF” was emitted from users of SD consoles worldwide.
Quoting from the DiGiCo manual, the selling points for the V987 upgrade are:
- Greater flexibility, since it’s easier to swap sessions between host computers.
- Ability to support all Waves SoundGrid plug-ins.
- Greater mobility, since projects can easily be constructed offline on a laptop, which may be the SoundGrid host computer during the concert.
Ch-Ch-Changes…
My take-away from reading the DiGiCo literature is that the main change from V929 and V987 operating systems is that I was going to have to spend money to have a complete system.
I knew I couldn’t avoid making the upgrade to the new OS, but I did put off the inevitable for a few months as I deliberated how to package an external computer as a rental item. Once the requests started coming in for the newest version of the SD operating system, I had to move on it and do the upgrade. While the upgrade process is rather simple, there are costs involved to moving up to V987 as well as the logistics of packaging the new format. The two SD10 consoles in my inventory are not typically used on long-term tours, but rather as daily and weekly rentals, as well as for our own in-house productions. We needed to find an ergonomic solution so both rental clients and my own technicians could easily access and use the new Waves configuration with satisfactory results and with the least amount of moving parts.
Issues and Solutions
A quick call to our local DiGiCo distributor (Farmingdale, NY) gave us some ideas on how to proceed. Jim from Group One recommended the Dell 7450 OptiPlex all-in-one touch screen computer with either an Ergotron arm or the Pro Signal LCD Arm to attach the screen to the console’s case. We also required the computer to have a solid-state hard drive, as the unit would be moved quite a bit and spend a fair amount of time bouncing around in the back of a truck. The Dell 7450 OptiPlex has 24 GB of RAM and its physical specs are 15.5 x 22.65 x 2.5 inches (HxWxD) — barely larger than an LED display alone. With the Ultra HD, weight is 17 pounds, making it a very nice addition to a great console, but also a rather formidable attachment.
On each corner of the SD case, in front of the doghouse, are removable plastic caps that when popped off reveal a bolt that can screw into a DiGiCo mounting pole. When attached, the mounting pole sits at the front corner of the console’s doghouse. For only a little bit extra, we purchased a quick release attachment for the connection between the Ergotron arm and the computer. This quick release would enable us to detach the computer from the arm for easier packaging. When attached to the mounting pole with the Ergotron arm, the computer naturally sits vertically with its bottom edge resting on the tray of the console case. It all seemed to be working until we looked a little deeper into the mechanics of transporting, setting up and striking the system.
As mentioned, the intention of our design was to keep the number of moving (and, all-to-easily, missing) parts to a minimum. The first issue we encountered was that the mounting pole stood taller than the doghouse. For the case to properly close, the pole would need to be removed from the console after every use and then replaced when back in play. As a rental house, one can only imagine how many times the pole would be misplaced or lost or the amount of times the console would be returned to us with the lid skewed or even completely off. We solved the problem with a pipe cutter and removed about one third of the mounting pole, leaving it so that the pole is about three quarters the height of the doghouse. With a little foam cutting on the inside of the case lid, we eliminated the need to remove and replace the mounting pole, but there were still some moving parts that needed to be immobilized.
The quick release device for attaching the screen to the arm was a concern, since it was another moving part that required assembly. For a production team, this might be a non-issue, but as a rental item, this leaves room for mistakes. We opted to hard-mount the screen to the Pro Signal LCD Arm, but not the Ergotron arm. Once we cut the mounting pole to size, we found that the Ergotron arm, with the screen attached, sat a little low for comfort. Our issue initially with the smaller Pro Signal LCD Arm is that, when attached to the screen, the display swivels into a vertical position. With no alternative in sight, we hard-mounted the screen to the smaller arm and watched the screen align itself vertically. It looked a bit odd at first, but we quickly grew to like it, since it took up less space on the side of the console. Also — as it turns out — the graphics of the Waves racks look better and easier to access with the screen in vertical mode, as it fills the whole screen and not just the center section of the screen when in the horizontal position.
The Final Countdown
The last remaining challenge facing us was the transport of our new acquisition. We solved this conundrum with a foam-filled SKB case where we cut the foam so when the screen was placed in a face-up position, the arm would drop below a layer of foam to the bottom of the case, thereby avoiding contact with the screen. Another piece of foam is attached to the lid, so when the case is closed, it protects the screen and keeps it from moving. While this feat of engineering is a relatively minor achievement, it does solve a logistics problem that should serve us well — a least until next year when DiGiCo releases a spring-loaded screen that pops up from the doghouse, a holographic screen that shines above the console, an anti-grav flotation device or some other must-have piece of technology.
