We have said it often enough that it is likely sounding like a broken record (remember those? They sound a lot different than a skipping CD), but the world is getting increasingly digital, and live event audio is no exception. First, digital processing moved from the studio to the stage. Then it was consoles. The only reason someone is not hawking a digital loudspeaker is ‘cuz until we all have direct-inject jacks that go straight into the cerebral cortex, the laws of physics dictate that you have to actually move air to create sound. The latest part of the signal chain to get the ol’ ones-and-zeroes treatment is the venerable snake.
The Gear
We have reviewed a couple of different digital snakes in FOH. In fact, this is the second one from the Roland Systems Group. While we love the idea of a digital snake, right now the whole product category is a little scary — especially for those with limited budgets. The format wars are still raging, and most of the systems are too big and too expensive for smaller providers. This is all part of why we took a serious look at the S-1608 Digital Snake System when we first saw it at NSCA earlier this year. It is still not cheap, but it is on the affordable end of this kind of gear. And the modular “buy 16×8 channels at a time” approach made it something even some anklebiters could consider. Another big plus is the fact that you can split the stage box multiple times for recording or monitoring feeds using a standard off-the-shelf Ethernet switch.
The S-1608 Digital Snake System consists of three parts (four if you count the actual EtherCon–terminated SC-W100S cable): the S-1608 stage box with 16 ins and 8 outs; the S-0816 FOH box with 16 outs and 8 ins; and the S-4000R remote controller for tweaking the mic pre’s in the stage box. Construction is very solid with beefy metal for both input and output boxes (and rack mountable). All ins and outs are balanced XLR. Sam-pling and bit rate are 24 bit and 96 Mhz. Added bonus — the jack on the stage box lights up when it gets a signal. It may not sound like much, but it saved us some time on the gig. Speaking of which…
The Gig
I was scheduled to do a fund-raiser for a large Catholic high school in Los Angeles — a big party for 1,200 paying guests with two bands and a DJ. Jamie Rio and I have done this gig for the past three years. It looked like it would be a cake gig — same kind of bands as before, same DJ, same football field venue. All looked good. Until Jamie got another gig offer, and we mutually agreed that he would bring in the big gear, and I would drive in from Vegas with my Midas Venice 320 in the back of the PT Cruiser and do the gig with a tech who Jamie and I have known for a long time. It ended up being a tough night. New DJ who had no idea how to give us an appropriate signal, new organizing committee that wanted us to — among other things — move the FOH position after it was set up, blown horns on one side of the system, band arrived an hour late and demanded stuff that was not on the input list or stage plot they had provided just two days before the show. And that’s not to mention the plethora of problems related to alcohol consumption common on this kind of gig.
The one thing that was no problem at all was the snake. I — on purpose — threw the manual away as soon as I opened the box, which I did on-site at the gig. (It’s a snake. If you need a manual, then it’s not useful). Stage box went on stage, FOH box next to the console. Our only issue was that we did not have enough short XLR cables to go from the box to the console and ended up using 20-footers in what looked like a snake pit hid-den under the table. Remote plugged in, and the whole thing lit up. Speaking of lighting up, that feature on the stage box rocks. In the heat of a very rushed changeover (remember the band that was an hour late?), it told us right away that we had a bad cable and saved us a few precious minutes of troubleshooting.
The remote is simple. Just dial up the channel, unlock it and adjust gain, engage the pad or turn phantom power on or off. Lock the channel and move on. The pre’s are transparent, the system is dead quiet and there is none of the digital “zippering” you get when adjusting gain on some digital gear. You can even store presets of the gain settings, which we would have done if the band had shown up on time! We actually ran a traditional snake as a backup, but never touched it — until I had to reel it up at two in the morning. Which really brought home what I like about audio over Cat5.
