I wasn’t sure which forum I should post on. Maybe this falls under general discussion.
There is a high probability I will be pefrorming live with my Elektron “trinity” setup. It’s gotten serious enough that I’ve been sketching a tech rider and a stage plot.
This probably is something I should know but I’m unsure. Should I request DI boxes to be used with the main outputs from my Analog Four and Octatrack?
All in all it’s a rather complicated setup involving returning mic signals from FOH to OT so I can play with vocal effects or resample what the audience is hearing.
Thank god my bandmate’s brother has agreed to be our live technician, as he’s got an actual audio engineering degree.
I‘d suggest no DI, it’s a needless complication in this case.
Elektron outputs are balanced.
An active DI can run out of batteries and a passive one can mess with your sound.
I‘ve been through both situations.
Instead, I would consider taking a mixer onstage to control your trinity.
In another setting this might be OK but right now I don’t feel like adding another piece of gear.
Maybe I’ll just add a remark that these certain boxes output a balanced line level signal and no DI is needed if the venue mixer has enough line level inputs.
Depending on the venue’s size and tech installed the DI‘s might simply be needed to get from Jack to XLR. I haven’t seen any venue yet that had jack inputs on their stagebox.
But I have some jack to XLR cables so those could work. In theory at least.
The venue is a mystery for now. We have sent an application to an event that’s a festival spread around the city center (and a usual place for new bands to showcase themselves), so we could end up playing anywhere with whatever worn out gear the production team can gather - or somewhere with proper, fixed PA and stage equipment.
Of course we hoped for the latter because of the complex return routings but you never know…
I used to do tech work for this exact festival and once they had me mix a full evening of bands in a pizza shop, using what was basically karaoke equipment, I swore it was the last time I’m behind the console.
Jack to XLR cables should work but if I had the choice I would still take DI‘s. Live environment is sometimes unpredictable especially if the venue isn’t properly being taken care of.
A DI gives you more flexibility in case some ground loop gets intoduced for no obvious reason or the venue has a cheap mixing desk that doesn’t even have (enough) line level inputs. In that case you‘d be having a red light show at the mixing desk and given your description of the venue it doesn’t sound like it‘s the best equipped
But keep in mind that you would need either 6x mono DI‘s or 3x stereo DI‘s if you want each member of the trinity to be mixed seperately. And you’ll definitely need a battery powered DI for your Octatrack inputs if you want to feed it signals from the main desk.
The Rytm is routed through the OT so it doesn’t need one. So it’s five mono boxes max (A4, OT and Minilogue).
As for the returns, I believe the etiquette is that the venue (or in this case the production team) takes care of whatever is needed for that, because it’s sound coming from their equipment to mine.
Or at the very least our own tech can figure it out with them.
Anyway, I’ve used unbalanced cables from our rehearsal room mixer’s AUX sends to the OT and it has worked fine.
Yeah, I got a little confused with the entire setup, for the OT inputs you‘ll be fine without a DI as long as you’re getting a proper send from the main mix.
if all your gear is on the same ground (same set of grounded outlets) the need for di will be merely for ease of connecting to desk XLR. However if you use a beatstep or anything USB powered you may still need a ground loop eliminator to avoid noise, regardless of solid equipment grounds.
if you have your own mixer like someone else said, it wouldn’t hurt to bring it.
What I’ve learned from playing live (only at friends parties) is: bring as many different adapter cables / adapters as you can + some spare midi and audio cables. You never know what works if you don’t know what gear to expect on the venue.
Last time, I had to connect my DT output to a DJ mixer channel and tried with all adapters I had to eventually find one that worked (think it was a dual 6.3 Jack to RCA cable - adapters doing the same conversion didn’t work for some reason).
Yeah, it’s a bit… unconventional. But working with it has been a lot of fun so we absolutely want to try and have that same fun in front of the audience.
Nope, it’s just the Elektron boxes, a Minilogue and an Electro-Harmonix V256 vocoder pedal. Everything can be powered from standard electrical sockets, the amount of which is specified in both the tech rider and the stage plot.
Well, when partying with your friends, definitely prepare for anything. And I agree that keeping your own spares is a good practice.
But like I disclosed above, I’ve been behind the console a couple of times (despite not having a formal education). If the producer/venue asks for a stage plot and a tech rider, then you can assume they will provide what you need OR contact you to inform that you need to bring something along.
But most professional venues also have a “junk box” with spare cables, adapters, power supplies etc. Or in the case of a bigger festival with multiple venues, there could be a shared one.
I once had an extremely drunken keyboard player show up just before his band’s slot. Despite his nearly heroic efforts going through all of his stuff, he couldn’t find the damn power cable to his keyboard. Luckily it was a standard Euro cord, so I called the producer, who then went through the production team’s junk box and delivered it by running down a couple of blocks.
…if there’s a foh setup, they run a stagebox anyways…that’s nothing but a few di boxes at once…
but never the less…it’s always a good thing to ask for at least two stereo di boxes on ur rider…
But working with it has been a lot of fun so we absolutely want to try and have that same fun in front of the audience.