Multicore Question

[acidbass]

Hello all,

Not really 'Amps and Cabinets' material but I figured this is probably the place best suited to my question! It's a simple question, so hopefully someone can help me out!

I'm buying a multicore snake to connect my band's mics, DI's etc etc to the desk, probably 30m in length, and I'm looking at a 16/4 version (ie 16 sends and 4 returns)

My question is this - would 4 returns be enough for an average band or would I need more? It would be used to feed 2 powered tops and 2 powered subs as well as a couple of powered monitors, and although maths is not my speciality I believe this would require 6 returns? Or am I wrong?

Can I roll with the 16/4 and get some sort of signal splitter on stage to feed all 4 FOH speakers from the same return? Or is there a simpler solution?

I hope I've made myself clear!

Thanks for reading,

Danny

[NJW]

Yup, place your crossover at the stage end, this would use 2 of your returns for tops + subs, and give you 2 monitor mixes.

It all depends on whether you intend to use this rig for other bands too... I know it probably isn't intended for it, but if you ever had your rig hired out to a band with touring engineer, I'd be fairly certain he wouldn't be too happy with having to run a mono rig.

Also remember that a multi is just a cable + some connectors, so you could always modify it a little and give yourself an extra return if needed (whilst sacrificing a send of course).

[Boy Thunder]

My band has the same stage snake setup... 16/4

I have the crossover on the stage with the effects so I run 2 sends for that.. my other 2 sends run the monitors..ope thats a help...

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='Boy Thunder' post='80195' date='Oct 27 2007, 01:18 PM']My band has the same stage snake setup... 16/4

I have the crossover on the stage with the effects so I run 2 sends for that.. my other 2 sends run the monitors..ope thats a help...[/quote]
With the crossover on the stage you can't run an aux feed to the subs, which is far more versatile. Get the 6 returns or get a few extra mic sends, all you need to convert them to returns is an XLR gender adaptor.

[ZPQ]

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='80220' date='Oct 27 2007, 07:54 PM']With the crossover on the stage you can't run an aux feed to the subs, which is far more versatile. Get the 6 returns or get a few extra mic sends, all you need to convert them to returns is an XLR gender adaptor.[/quote]

If you only have one monitor mix you could have the subs from an aux and the tops in stereo.

I'd probably go for a mono mix, (subs from an aux), and 2 monitors mixes. If you need more than that you'll be playing bigger stages and probably needing 3 or 4 monitor mixes anyway.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

[quote name='ZPQ' post='80224' date='Oct 27 2007, 03:02 PM']If you only have one monitor mix you could have the subs from an aux and the tops in stereo.[/quote]True, but never buy to suit only your current needs, always plan for future system expansion.

[synaesthesia]

[quote name='ZPQ' post='80229' date='Oct 27 2007, 07:12 PM']Absolutely - assuming Danny is buying the multicore from Thomann then it's so cheap that it's worth finding a "workaround" - which is probably converting a send to a return or running (part) of the rig in mono. 16 sends from stage should leave you at least a couple spare.[/quote]

look into:
[url="http://www.audiospares.com/home.php"]http://www.audiospares.com/home.php[/url]

Not sure if their prices are more competitive than Thomann.

I had my snake custom made and even then I modified mine to have a few more TRS 'returns'. Depending on the venue and the act, I sometimes use an on stage in ear wired system, which for us is effectively and additional parallel system to the FOH signals. We draw the drum mix from FOH mixer and I find that you can never have enough spare returns.

Edited October 30, 2007 by synaesthesia

[Phaedrus]

Can't two (assuming it's just two you need) of the snake's 16 inputs be used as sends rather than inputs (if you can sacrifice the inputs)?

Either swap out two of the input XLRF sockets on the snake for two XLRM sockets (effectively resulting in a 14/6 snake) or replace one end of each of two XLR cables so that both ends of each cable are XLRM.

FWIW, we have a MusicStore 16/4 30m snake. We were going to do exactly this (first option above), but then stopped using an engineer and we run sound ourselves from the stage now, so no longer use it.

IMO, do aim to run aux-fed subs if you can and don't already. I don't know your rig, but the difference to mine was serious.


[url="http://www.prosoundweb.com/install/tech_corner/auxsubs.shtml"]http://www.prosoundweb.com/install/tech_corner/auxsubs.shtml[/url]

[url="http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/mv/msg/28004/8685/#msg_258669"]http://srforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/...685/#msg_258669[/url]


Mark

[colda]

I also use a 16/4 as my main snake, also have a 10/2 (modified 8/4). I do things a little differently in the fact that I keep the amps FOH and use 6 long cables (2 for tops, 2 for bins and 2 for monitor groups 1 and 2), monitor groups 3 and 4 are using active speakers and take two return channels on the snake.

Works for me and means I have two space channels in reserve on my main snake