I’m curious as to whether anyone is using a matrix router or switcher to connect multiple outboard processors (BPMC, Color Correctors, etc.) to their systems. The central hub would be a Roland/Edirol V-8 and that would connect to the matrix/switcher on one slot and then I could easily patch items to it without having to clear desk space, deal with cables,etc. It could also speed up the exploration of ideas.
I’d like to set up all of my composite devices on a patchbay type of system. I guess that one could use an RCA or BNC patchbay but am thinking that some sort of matrix, with memory/recall, would be pretty slick and useful.
…i am developing a similar setup around an Roland V-8…
…at the moment i have either an Kramer VS-88V or an Sony SB-V3000 available - the earlier is supposedly used by a couple of members here…
…unfortunately i did not yet have the time to really set one or the other up, but the plan is to route some of sources and some of the V-8s direct-outs through the matrix again to gain even more flexibility in mixing effects…
…or i could use them parallel, crossfeeding signals through flexible chains of effects and/or being able to switch between effects-chains - have not decided yet…
I do! I use a Kramer thing that I picked up for 50 quid. I posted about patch bays recently and got lots of good input and advice, so worth having a look about the forum for that for some more suggestions.
related, i was playing a show last week where i had two different composite outputs going to two different destinations and i wanted to be able to swap them quickly but without introducing an excessive amount of additional hardware. i wonder if something like one of those matrix switchers would work to accomplish that in a live setting?
Installed the VS-88V and ran into some frustrations that ended up being due to a bad BNC to RCA adapter. I’ve also found that the 88V is not passing the cleanest of signals. I need to dig in deeper in order to see where the distortions and interferences are coming in.
Honestly, I’ve had a really bad run with the Kramer gear. My VP-727 is locked up and will need to be sent in to have the firmware installed. This is after they counseled me to upgrade. Now it is a boat anchor, although very pretty with all of the LEDs lit up.
…i am sorry for having recommended it - i did not yet get around to use the one i have here so i cannot really contribute anything useful at this time…
…nevertheless there are a lot of people successfully using the Kramer gear and especially this machine; hope it works out for you in the end and just something like a bad cable or false termination is responsible for the problem(s)…
Not a worry. It is likely due to something on my end and I’ll have to dive in later. I appreciate the recommendation and it works as expected except for the fact that it is noisy at this point in time.
I never had any issues with my 88v introducing nose, but that could be because my whole system was so noisy (mostly by choice) that I didn’t noice it.
I’ve DEFINITELY had issues with noise and dropouts from using RCA to BNC adapters, though. I ended up getting a bunch of cheap, Monoprice RCA-to-BNC cables and those were an improvement.
I really like the actual interface of the 88v, though - from a UI perspective it’s pretty much exactly how I would design a matrix switch for myself from scratch - the only things I would change are more memory locations (8 banks of 8 would be pretty convenient and wouldn’t make it any more complicated) and maybe some kind of simple mixing so you could use it to merge input signals to a single output (but even that might introduce enough complexity that it would get in the way of what makes it such a good performance tool). Otherwise the design is, for what I use it for at least, just about perfect.
I figured it out and managed to make it noise free. It was due to a couple of concurrent issues, one of which was the routing/layout of the physical cables in the system. They were picking up noise from some power supplies.
Rudimentary mixing would be great. Fortunately, I’ve got other means for that.
