Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Electronic Music Production // Dark Arts
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mathias
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Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by mathias »

Hello guys,

I've been working in a live act and im asking myself about the quality of the DA converters in club/bigger systems, as my live will be 100% ITB for now...
You guys that have more experience with Live PA and converters, please give me a direction to go:
A Steinberg UR22 would be enough for don't lose many quality in the conversion? Or maybe a Apogee Duet/RME Babyface would have a good difference?

Thanks! :D

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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by Lost to the Void »

Urgh, had this discussion so many times here.
Basically any pro audio soundcard will have more than adequate conversion for D to A.
From focusrite to apogee to whatever, it makes no difference.
The real thing is reliability, support, build quality etc, but converters you do not need worry about.
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mathias
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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by mathias »

Ah i did a search for Live PA Interface and didn't found anything, maybe i didn't looked that deep in the old threads...
Happy to hear that, as interfaces and hardware are really expensive where i live, now i can focus on some hardware/room treatment!

Thank you :)

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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by Lost to the Void »

Interface is an interface, live pa or not, a soundcard is a soundcard.
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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by rsntr »

Exactly. I've played live with both a NI Audio Kontrol 1 as well as with a MOTU Traveler and couldn't hear a difference. I bought the MOTU used on ebay for about 180€. Since then I would always buy an old and much cheaper interface as long as there's still driver support. An interface that was good ten years ago is still good.

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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by borg »

expensive for what it is, no thrills, bells nor whistles, but built like a tank and reliable
http://www.radialeng.com/usbpro.php
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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by Lost to the Void »

For live my requisite was tank like build quality.
Most recently I was using a Mackie onyx satellite, which has been discontinued.
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Huck Farper
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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by Huck Farper »

UR22's sound great and they are built like a tank, I know because i beat the hell out of one and it still worked perfectly.

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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by mathias »

Yea, my UR22 seem to be built like a tank, buuuut in the drivers they are not the best developers for sure.
I had many problems with audio dropouts and clicks while recording on my macbook after installing OSX Sierra, many others had similar problems as i saw in the forum, specially with newer system versions like Win10/Sierra.
Btw when i downgraded to OS X Yosemite all my problems have gone and the UR22 works perfectly now, ill think twice before updating my system again.

Thanks for the input guys, and about the AD conversion? Some local guys says that i would have a good difference from my UR22 to a RME for example, they are talking sht?

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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by rsntr »

I'm sure that one will find a lot of differences regarding the signal-to-noise ratio, distortion etc. when comparing both interfaces in a clinical test. However, such differences become nearly irrelevant when you consider all the other elements that constitute how something will sound in a club. First and foremost that's the way your sounds are designed and mixed, then it's the way the PA is set up, the room layout, whether the room is empty or full of people etc. Honestly, I've seen one live act who just used the headphone out of his MacBook and connected it with the DJ mixer. Everyone danced, no one complained about the sound and it sounded good because the music was good technically (sound design and mixing) and artistically.

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Re: Live PA Interface (DA Conversion)

Post by Lost to the Void »

mathias wrote: they are talking sht?
Yep, total shite.


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