|
|
Post by andersmv on Apr 2, 2024 10:01:10 GMT -6
Being honest, I saw them announce this last year and thought it was too ambitious to ever get a lot of manufacturers on board. Boy was I wrong, this looks really promising (especially with the routing options). It looks like they're going to have an analog card as well if you want to avoid digital and just use it as an easy way to patch in and out. Looks like it's easy for tracking, I'll be interested to see how they'll integrate this in DAW's for outboard mixing.
|
|
|
|
Post by Darren Boling on Apr 2, 2024 10:22:44 GMT -6
First I heard of it today with the Locomotive announcement. Looks interesting
|
|
|
|
Post by Blackdawg on Apr 2, 2024 14:12:20 GMT -6
Looks super cool. Price of modules will make or break it IMO. At least for the average studio. Live/touring rigs I can see it getting used a lot.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,092 
|
Post by ericn on Apr 2, 2024 14:34:10 GMT -6
It’s interesting a step in the right direction but it is missing the one thing besides price that will make or break it; direct intergration in the DAW or console.
Live I have to many different platforms running don’t need another screen.
|
|
|
|
Post by subspace on Apr 2, 2024 15:12:50 GMT -6
I'm a candidate to pre-order a $2k 6U chassis depending on the partner module price points. Already have a 500 rack with a Wes Audio dione in it, so the Smart and Serpent options aren't too exciting, but the tube Culture Vulture and Locomotive options are intriguing. Been using modular tube guitar preamps for years and have racks from Egnater, Randall and Synergy that are all compatible, so this is right up my alley with recall in the analog domain.
|
|
|
|
Post by Locomotive Audio on Apr 2, 2024 15:22:45 GMT -6
Oh hello Folks!!!!!!!!!!
So, yes, this is pretty fun and exciting. Especially from a designer's standpoint. Something new! And yes, it will be able to integrate directly as a DAW plugin, control surface or digital console. I'm sure Karno has that all figured out.
As for my module, its going to be a beast (actually very small, haha) and will be pretty great to use across your mix or on individual sources. Lots of flexibility there. :-)
I'm aiming to keep this baby under $1600 or $1700. We shall see if I can get there! Most modules that are single-channel / single-space I'm sure will be less. I don't know what other companies' costs will be, but I imagine they won't be that far from what a normal 500 series module is.
-Eric
|
|
|
|
Post by lowlou on Apr 2, 2024 16:13:33 GMT -6
Amazing. At least six modules I'm directly interested in.
|
|
|
|
Post by drbill on Apr 2, 2024 19:37:11 GMT -6
Looks like fully loaded to be in the $8000+ range.....
|
|
|
|
Post by andersmv on Apr 2, 2024 20:23:07 GMT -6
Looks like fully loaded to be in the $8000+ range..... I still am interested in checking it out and have reached out to a few companies (as well as Karno), but it's looking like it's going to be a little too rich for my blood. They're obviously going for high end here and seem to have thought it out really well, I'm sure this wasn't cheap to implement. If companies like Locomotive are able to get a real vari-mu tube compressor in there without compromising, and you're able to do full recall and digital routing/patching, it all adds up and could be well worth the price tag. |
|
|
|
Post by Blackdawg on Apr 2, 2024 21:40:31 GMT -6
It’s interesting a step in the right direction but it is missing the one thing besides price that will make or break it; direct intergration in the DAW or console. Live I have to many different platforms running don’t need another screen. it is. They only briefly showed the plugins for daws and have said it will work in all digital consoles. |
|
|
|
Post by Blackdawg on Apr 2, 2024 21:41:02 GMT -6
Looks like fully loaded to be in the $8000+ range..... yeah thats a bit painful. But probably not that much different from a well built up 500 series chassis. |
|
|
|
Post by suicity on Apr 3, 2024 0:43:55 GMT -6
Blackdawg, exactly. For a 500 series rack, one is looking at $500-$800 for a rack, and preamps going anywhere from $500-$1500. So a 500-series rack could easily hit $8k. I so wanted to hate this thing, because the first post on the purple site was nothing but marketing jargon with no meat to it. But seeing Locomotive, API, Useful Arts, Thermionic and others in the list actually has me excited. And I really didn't want to be.
|
|
|
|
Post by EmRR on Apr 3, 2024 10:16:38 GMT -6
Hard not to feel, even with a great selection of 3rd party modules, that this is a very limited market…..and all that entails.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,092
|
Post by ericn on Apr 3, 2024 11:38:44 GMT -6
Hard not to feel, even with a great selection of 3rd party modules, that this is a very limited market…..and all that entails. Yeah it’s cool but honestly wouldn’t it make more sense to simply develop a protocol and let hardware manufacturers build in what ever format fits the design as well as use the I/o of console or Daw? |
|
|
|
Post by andersmv on Apr 3, 2024 11:40:07 GMT -6
Hard not to feel, even with a great selection of 3rd party modules, that this is a very limited market…..and all that entails. Yeah it’s cool but honestly wouldn’t it make more sense to simply develop a protocol and let hardware manufacturers build in what ever format fits the design as well as use the I/o of console or Daw? I think they’re pushing harder for the live sound world right now, so space is a big concern. |
|
|
|
Post by EmRR on Apr 3, 2024 12:43:25 GMT -6
Hard not to feel, even with a great selection of 3rd party modules, that this is a very limited market…..and all that entails. Yeah it’s cool but honestly wouldn’t it make more sense to simply develop a protocol and let hardware manufacturers build in what ever format fits the design as well as use the I/o of console or Daw? Either way, bleeding edge new protocols are a great way to take a bath, so it's for those who can afford a bath or those feeling lucky enough to avoid one. The cost/risk ratio doesn't look attractive for the level of recall/performance I need, and the capabilities of the processing in the digital consoles I use for music broadcast are more that good enough. I would think most touring rigs with outboard analog are gonna be driving that analog in a fairly 'preset' sort of way anyways. Be interesting to see what adoption plays out to be. |
|
|
|
Post by lowlou on Apr 3, 2024 12:57:42 GMT -6
Can't wait to automate a small Culture Vulture  ! Worth the L6 price + Thermionic module alone (well the module price is still unknown). And then there is... all the other killer modules. Super excited. What I'd like to see is a straightforward midi implementation (not a proprietary data protocol) for totally future proof digital support. |
|
|
|
Post by drbill on Apr 3, 2024 13:23:00 GMT -6
Either way, bleeding edge new protocols are a great way to take a bath, so it's for those who can afford a bath or those feeling lucky enough to avoid one. The cost/risk ratio doesn't look attractive for the level of recall/performance I need, and the capabilities of the processing in the digital consoles I use for music broadcast are more that good enough. I would think most touring rigs with outboard analog are gonna be driving that analog in a fairly 'preset' sort of way anyways. Be interesting to see what adoption plays out to be. I wasn't aware that live touring was their push. Yeah, for that application at this price, I can't see that being a huge win. Almost everyone I know doing live sound (not my gig) is 100% digital "ITB". |
|
|
|
Post by drbill on Apr 3, 2024 13:25:50 GMT -6
What I'd like to see is a straightforward midi implementation (not a proprietary data protocol) for totally future proof digital support. I'm not sure how they are implementing that, but I'd be willing to bet some real analog that it will be a proprietary format - otherwise there will be dozens of "competing" boxes / software implementations with a cheapest one wins mentality. |
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,092
|
Post by ericn on Apr 3, 2024 14:14:28 GMT -6
Yeah it’s cool but honestly wouldn’t it make more sense to simply develop a protocol and let hardware manufacturers build in what ever format fits the design as well as use the I/o of console or Daw? I think they’re pushing harder for the live sound world right now, so space is a big concern. The push to live, is a move to a fairly limited market. In large scale touring and Broadway shows there are but a handful of players and the ease and simplicity of plugins rule. Yes on most highend tours you will find a couple of specific pieces sitting in racks but you’re going to have to get the manufacturers of various FOH mixers pet analog gear to adopt this standard. The smaller guys who do regional and one offs just are not going to spend the $, already talked to a couple and it’s a very hard no, unless it’s a must on riders and nobody see’s that happening. The regional guys see this producing a bigger push for quality plugins. Nobody see’s FOH guys carrying this in a gig rack, it’s expensive and probably to big to take as a carry on. |
|
|
|
Post by EmRR on Apr 3, 2024 14:45:54 GMT -6
check and check ^
I could only see the bigger live players at most having a couple for use on the premium gigs, with all the employees working the smaller ones never once getting to use it.
The routing and linking options look like the most interesting part, but again I think for most people that's done once and hardly changes again, so it's big on bells & whistles but I'm not sold on need for such.
|
|
ericn
Temp
Balance Engineer
Posts: 16,092
|
Post by ericn on Apr 3, 2024 16:45:05 GMT -6
check and check ^ I could only see the bigger live players at most having a couple for use on the premium gigs, with all the employees working the smaller ones never once getting to use it. The routing and linking options look like the most interesting part, but again I think for most people that's done once and hardly changes again, so it's big on bells & whistles but I'm not sold on need for such. Don’t get me wrong the effort is to be applauded, it just reeks of a couple of guys who an idea, then found a bunch of guys who are in total agreement, often the most valuable opinion is the one who completely disagrees with you. Oh did you notice the API is a 212 not a 312/512? The output transformer is optional on a regular 212, my hunch is this won’t have the option. |
|
! Worth the L6 price + Thermionic module alone (well the module price is still unknown). And then there is... all the other killer modules. Super excited. What I'd like to see is a straightforward midi implementation (not a proprietary data protocol) for totally future proof digital support.