It is a bit problematic that you can’t do pre-production work in Director if you are using GX boxes. You can’t set gains and do routing etc.
For DX boxes you can choose ‘DX32’ and set the in and out cards for that DX port. So that sort of technically works but it should obviously show options for the other DX boxes as well.
If none of that is possible, then simply add the option to save and recall gains for ‘channels’ in scenes. That way at least you can do set preamp gains using DX32s or a larger mixrack in Director and then recall them when the correct boxes are connected later.
I was able to setup our new system in Director before the hardware was even purchased let alone installed. I set gains, routing, everything for a “rough start”.
The only thing I had to do before I could upload my show file was to update the Firmware on both the surface and main rack so they matched.
We are using 2 DX168 boxes(cascade connection) connected to our S5000 surface and a remote DM48 main rack.
While you can’t set preamp levels, you can do routing and all other channel setup. In offline mode, you just need to manually assign a GigaAce card in Director for the appropriate slot where it is physically installed in the Mixrack or Surface. Once that is set, you can do routing, etc. Your routing (whether online or offline) will be “I/O slot 1-5” and then “input/output X”. The GigaAce card should be available in both the routing screen as well as a dropdown option in the channel routing, insert routing, etc.
I have to assume the system doesn’t allow preamps to be set offline when using a GigaAce card because currently the system doesn’t know what device (stage box, DX hub, another console, etc) is going to be connected to the card. Obviously the root of this request is to add some mechanism to allow users to indicate what is going to beconnected to the GigaAce card and for the system to then allow access to any “missing settings” (like preamps controls when a stage box is going to be connected) accordingly.
We use a GX4816 with our DLive and I created my base Show File in Director long before I actually got the equipment setup. It’s been a while, but I think I set up all the other setting for each channel (routing, naming, channel processing, FX or Dyn8 inserts, etc, etc, etc) and then I had to set the actual preamp number the first time that the system was all connected.
Just to provide some context in the form of an example:
I have a show file for a fully mic’ed symphony orchestra. A lot of channels in play. Last show was a DM64 + GX4816. Before that it was a DM48 + GX4816 + DX1608. Ideally, the show file would recall gains regardless of what is connected. The problem is that there is no way to make the show file compatible with a different setup that doesn’t invovle pen and paper + manually setting gains. (or saving channel presets which is what I am doing now) I’m also worried that if I edit a show file that uses GX4816 etc. in Director, then the preamp settings could be lost. And usually they aren’t, which means that the information is still there, it is simply not displayed.
As I said, I wouldn’t mind solving the last part by having to recall a scene with my preamp settings for all channels, but that obviously doesn’t work since preamps are not connected to the channel as such…except of course when using library presets, then preamp settings CAN be recalled on the channel regardless of what boxes are connected. (it also wouldn’t allow me to change the input list in any way without messing up the gains upon scene recall)
You can use the ABCDs. Use A for all channels with the old setup. B for all channels with the new setup. I would use it for all channels, even if A and B are the same for some, for overview reasons. Then you see what gain is setup on A and can quickly transfer that to B.
Check your scene and global filters for that input preamps!
It’s a bit of a pita, that gains are not recalled. That strict “analog” preamp is not connected to the input way is anachronistic.