First real gig with DL1608

[seventhson]

I've been playing around and getting familiar with my new DL1608 for a few days and decided to go live with it at Sat nights gig.  I set up my entire front of house system just in case something went wrong so all I had to do was swap out the snake leads into the old system and I would be back up and running.  Everything went smooth and sound check just took a little longer than normal because I was not 100% use to swapping between layers for monitor mixes and setting up comps/gates.  All in all, I am very happy with this little board. 

Just a few things I would change on it (and I plan on putting these down on the wish list if they are not already there).  I do freelance sound for multiple bands but think that these suggestions would work for guys running sound from stage as well.

1)  The "tap" button on the effects needs to be larger.  I kept feeling like I would hit the "mute" button by accident.  I didnt, but it would be nice to make it a larger box instead of just that little tab.

2)  I'd love to see the tap button moved to the top of the main mixer screen.  I use this button just about every song and it would keep me from having to go to the side screen between each song.

3)  Having an "undo last" button would be useful.  A few times I made some changes and did not like the desired effect.  I just went and changed it back but it would be nice to hit an "undo last" button to undo the last action that was done on the board quickly.   This could be a static button at the top.

The following would be hardware upgrade suggestions on future builds (because obviously this cant be added to the current models)

1)  I'd love to have a goose neck light socket.  I ended up buying a clip on reading light because I found it useful to be able to see the top section of the mixer better (input section and gain knobs) especially while setting up in a somewhat dark club.

2)  I'm currently using channel 16 for break music because I have unlimited 3G on my iPhone and use Pandora One.  Just put in the genre you want and go with it.  It would be nice to have a separate input that can feed the iPad channel for people that like to use an external music source instead of the iPad that is docked, but dont want to use up a channel.  On a similar note, the DJ at the club was having problems with his speakers so I just took a feed from his mixer and put it into CH16 so he could use my system to augment his.  The house guy could use this separate iPad input as well to feed house music should the need arise.

3)  I really dont have a problem with them using the TRS outputs for the Aux's.  I just use 3' pigtail cables.  But it would be nice to have the combo XLR/TRS on those outputs (and personally, I would be willing to pay more for that option). 

Those changes, in my opinion, are all minor and does not affect my new love for this board.  I'm planning on using it for my next gig and will probably leave the backup mixer/effects rack in the trailer this time.

[Topsøe]

Ad 2: plug in your iPhone and play through the iPad channel

Ad 3: Xlr male / Jack combo doesn't exist

[seventhson]

Ad 3: Xlr male / Jack combo doesn't exist

That is true.  I was just thinking about my system.  I'm using powered speakers and they can accept male or female inputs, but you're right, would not work with a traditional system with crossover -> amp -> speakers without a turnaround.  Wasnt thinking about that since I haven't owned a traditional system in years.

[sam.spoons]

What Topsøe means is that there is no such thing as an XLRM/TRSF combo connector, the combo connectors on the DL have XLR and TRS both of the female persuasion it is pretty much impossible to make a male gender version or a male XLR combined with a female TRS.

[seventhson]

Yeah, after I put it down I realized that having the female combos would only work for my rig and the guys who run powered systems from side stage (no snake with female returns to deal with).  It would be nice to have XLR and TRS on the AUX outs but I realize that space is an issue, not just expense.

[seventhson]

Forgot to add to the first post....

I was mixing with the board out front and had this feeling that someone was watching me.  Turned around and a guy had his iPhone out videoing the board in action and telling his friend to check it out.  Thought it was pretty funny.  That, and the entire band had to check it out before they started.  I felt like a salesman more than a soundman for a while.   

[Scott Campbell]

Glad to hear you are having fun with it. You'll get quite a bit of that "Gawking" effect when mixing from the floor on the pad, which generally will be fun, and certainly will spark interest.

  I might suggest securing your router, and only allowing specific devices to access the wireless feed. It would be such a pain if someone in the crowd had a myfader app on their phone, wirelessly connected to your router and synced with the DL1608, and decides to pull of some idiocy. In the short term it won't likely be a problem, but over time, it sure as heck will be. I guess Wep will fix it to some degree.

[seventhson]

I do have the network password protected but might make it not visible as well.  It's also named "NoInternet" so hope that may help as well.   Thanks for the tip!

[Wynnd]

My passphrase has 14 characters and I also think that no one will be interested in attaching to a wifi without internet access.  (I wouldn't.)  In our case there isn't even a computer on the network to hack.