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If youydont do this take a multi track recording and feed it back into the desk with the whole band out front listening and turn these things on/off and you'll be impressed by the improvement. Instead of the I didn't have it before so I don't need it mentality.
I’d love to switch to an ampless setup but not with our current PA. We’d need something less knackered and more modern.
Offset "(Emp) - a little heavy on the hyperbole."
Besides, carrying all the heavy gear around is the only exercise I ever get ;-)
One thing I learnt at the NYE gig though - if the iPad is docked in the mixer, DO NOT remove it. You'll shatter people's eardrums with the feedback.
Personally I hate surfaceless desks .... even if the actual digital it's self is beyond reproach it relies on the iPad for control and that's the weakness ... ipad crashes and your in trouble ... yeah you can use 2 iPads for redundency but I much prefer a desk with real faders and ipad control like the QU16
So that leads to the question of what would I be trying to achieve if I dived into this stuff?
I would want to be convinced that implementing a digital rig would give the band a significant increase in impact through better sound, as compared to the same time spent playing together, songwriting, honing individual chops etc
Right now, I can't make a case to do it. We play various venues with our traditional set up and we get good feedback about the sound. We also use in house PAs and I've never been asked to plug straight in or have a quiet stage or anything like that. So for me it's a solution in search of a problem. I'm sure it works just fine for other bands though, so I will try and keep an open mind!
You don't NEED it but if your current desk failed or you wanted an upgrade I'd encourage you to go digital on the replacement. As for the guitar gear, that's just personal preference and I don't want to carry amps/cabs around.
It's a bit like using cassettes for talking books. Most people would think it was outdated, but the story actually stays where you stopped it, unlike CDs.
We (well, I, because no other bugger bothers planning ahead) downloaded Auld Lang Syne onto my iPad for midnight. You need to have the iPad docked for the music to play through the mixer, so I went and docked it before the second set.
However.... I suddenly realised 3 songs in to set 2 that the song I sing was coming up, and I needed the lyrics (just in case), which were on the iPad.
So - and I'm not sure exactly what happened here - I un-docked the iPad which caused HORRIFIC feedback in the PA, which I couldn't control because my iPad was disconnected due to being un-docked (wifi hadn't kicked in), so had to power off the mixer. This led to a chain of events where the drummer and singer / bassist kept saying they can't hear anything (even though i kept telling them it was off). I had to turn off all speakers and basically power it all back on one by one.
When the mixer was powered back on, and the iPads eventually re-connected via wifi, I took it off mute, and the feedback was there again.
I eventually (after about 4 minutes) realised why - the singers mic gain dial on the mixer was at maximum! No idea if I nudged it when I un-docked the iPad originally, which is what caused the feedback in the first place, or if it happened later.... but that was bloody embarrassing (and the other band members were less than helpful!).
Anyway, lesson learned
We don't gig regularly enough these days to make it worthwhile investing in new gear and as someone pointed out earlier we get paid the same now for a pub gig as we did 25 years ago