New to the forum, and relatively new to the Allen&Heath family in general. Previously in the venue I’m in, we had the Digidesign Profile, and recorded via ProTools HDx1 card. I then bought an SQ5 for myself and put that in to the venue when the Profile died after 17 years. Obviously we could easily multi-track via USB from that.
Now we have the dLive S3000 with a DM64U MixRack. Apart from a couple of very minor quirks, I am loving this system, but I am trying to get the bosses to buy something to facilitate multi-track recording for touring acts and myself.
I know I will need something like a Waves or Dante card to do this, but even with reading previous topics, I am still a little confused. I was leaning towards the Waves card for this purpose, but am not certain just how simple the setup is. I had the understanding that you could (basically) just hook a laptop with a suitable DAW up to the mixer via ethernet and things would somewhat talk nicely and record beautifully. Someone said to me though that to do this you would still need a Waves Server or something connected too so that the card would operate. This isn’t true is it?
Can someone dumb things down a little for me and explain what is needed for simple multi-track recording set up with what I have - dLive s3000 and a laptop with something like LiveTrax or Tracks Live perhaps.
It’s my understanding that Waves has a driver that you can install on the computer and the Waves system will basically function like any other audio device on the computer. You do NOT need a Waves Soundgrid server to simply multitrack record with the DAW of your choice.
The Waves is a nice option because the Waves driver allows for the full 128x128 I/O on the computer. If you use the Dante card and expect to use Dante Virtual Soundcard, it only allows 64x64 at 48k and it drops down to just 32x32 at 96k. In order to get 128x128 you would have to use a Dante hardware device ($$$$), or pay for the new DVS subscription that allows for 128x128, but costs a pretty penny each year.
That is pretty much what I thought based on what I could find online. It was just that one person that told me otherwise was an A&H dealer which confused me since it appeared to contradict anything else I read, including what you wrote.
I’m half tempted to just directly get in touch with A&H as well as Waves so I can get it straight from the horse’s mouth so to speak.
I did also find this page that seems to correlate with our thinking on it:
And with that link I think I just answered my own question once I noticed a couple of tabs I overlooked before
I went through this a while ago and had trouble figuring out what was needed. Here’s what it turned out to be: It’s true that you don’t need any paid Waves software (like SuperRack SoundGrid) for multitrack recording/playback, but you do need to install a free piece of Waves software called SoundGrid QRec to patch between your A&H Waves card and the DAW.
In total, you’ll need to configure your patching in three places: in your dLive, in QRec, and in your DAW.
Fantastic. Thank you. Was literally in the process of installing it just in case when your notification came through.
I had found another user who was having issues with BSODs on Windows when trying to install the soundgrid software, and suggested a better alternative of installing the drivers through Waves Central. Took me a while to find what I was looking for but am grabbing (hopefully) all I need now.
Oh yeah, you do need to install Waves Central in order to access any of their software to download.
To my knowledge it’s not possible to get multitrack playback/recording to work by just installing the SoundGrid driver without also installing QRec (which will install the SoundGrid driver as part of its install process).
You probably already found it, but this how-to from Waves is helpful.
I always thought that Waves Central was just for processing plugins. Never knew until today that it also looked after software and drivers. Though I also don’t use it often anyway.
Regardless, I now have all relevant drivers and software installed I believe, and so far no more BSOD’s. Now I just need the Waves Card for the console so I can test it all and see what works and what doesn’t.
I hadn’t found that page you linked to, but it is now saved and will be read multiple times to get it into my simple brain.