ME personal mixing system

NicB · 24 January 2013 12:45

Launching at NAMM, the new ME Personal Mixing System from A&H, a next generation personal monitoring solution. Check it out now on https://www.allen-heath.com/!

woutert · 24 January 2013 13:05

In the video, it is stated “ME1 works out of the box with our GLD and iLive Range”.

For GLD this is demonstrated, for iLive how is this possible without an option-card?

Wouter

IDR32, R72, Dante, Mixpad

laptop, TP-Link TL-WR1043ND

woutert · 24 January 2013 15:04

Found the answer, at least ACE option card needed.

Wouter

IDR32, R72, Dante, Mixpad

laptop, TP-Link TL-WR1043ND

ahjeff · 24 January 2013 15:08

That’s correct, wouter. If you have an MMO or Multi-Out card, you could also use the Aviom® socket on that.

Jeff, A&H

woutert · 25 January 2013 10:44

quote:
Originally posted by ahjeff
That’s correct, wouter…

I was wondering. Are ME1’s only consumers of ACE data?

If so, I was thinking that the ACE downstream could be copied using a level-2 switch with VLAN capability and the capability of setting up a port as receive-only (to avoid conflicts) on the same VLAN.

Wouter

IDR32, R72, Dante, Mixpad

laptop, TP-Link TL-WR1043ND

ahjeff · 25 January 2013 11:50

Hi Wouter

Yes, the ME-1 is a consumer of data only, with ‘Link Out’ retransmitting whatever is being received by ‘Link In’. It accepts ACE, dSnake, or Aviom® 16-channel A-Net®. Any system that provides this should work; We have had ME-1s running with a managed Gigabit PoE switch using VLANs, and with an unmanaged 100 megabit PoE switch.

Hope this helps.

Jeff, A&H

woutert · 25 January 2013 12:31

So, in theory you could use a switch that supports port mirroring, connect that between the MixRack ACE in port 1 and your MixController, and use SPAN-out ports to feed the ME1’s?

If this were true, fixed MixRack users that already have Dante installed in port 2, could also benefit from ME1 without a major investment in an extra Dante option card + ME-U.

I would then be interested, for instance

PS Switch with Port Mirroring | SPAN Port Mirroring | MiaRec

Wouter

IDR32, R72, Dante, Mixpad

laptop, TP-Link TL-WR1043ND

NicB · 25 January 2013 14:38

quote:
Originally posted by woutert
If this were true, fixed MixRack users that already have Dante installed in port 2, could also benefit from ME1 without a major investment in an extra Dante option card + ME-U.

Fixed format iLive does not allow to route any audio to the integrated ACE port (except surface local I/O, PFL and TB). You can use ME-1 on Port A ACE of modular iLive though.

Nicola

A&H

woutert · 25 January 2013 15:51

quote:
Originally posted by nicola
…Fixed format iLive does not allow to route any audio to the integrated ACE port…

Ah, that’s good to know

Is this a hardware restriction or is it just not implemented in the firmware (as there is/was little need)

Wouter

IDR32, R72, Dante, Mixpad

laptop, TP-Link TL-WR1043ND

stix · 25 January 2013 21:02

Good question Wouter! (hardware restriction?). Is there any affordable way for fixed iLive users to get signal to them if already using a Dante card in port B? That 10 port hub with a Dante option card looks like it might be expensive?

ME system certainly looks good! Just as a matter of interest I see Aviom have also got a new model A360 out at NAMM with more channels etc: https://www.prosoundweb.com/article/aviom_introduces_new_a360_next_generation_personal_mixer/

Cheers

Richard Howey

Audio Dynamite Ltd

IDR48/IDR16/T112/R72/Mixpad,Tweak,

Dual M-Dante/DVS, 17"MBP/Logic 9/Custom Mackie Control

jvancleef · 30 January 2013 17:58

Does the ME1 require a Gigabit POE switch or will it work with a 10/100?

James Van Cleef

Zamar Media Solutions

http:\www.zamarmedia.com

Phone: (408) 226-4323

Fax: (408) 226-8677

Address:

138 Martinvale Lane

San Jose, CA 951193

tk2k · 30 January 2013 19:02

quote:
Originally posted by jvancleef
Does the ME1 require a Gigabit POE switch or will it work with a 10/100?

James Van Cleef
Zamar Media Solutions

http:\www.zamarmedia.com

Phone: (408) 226-4323

Fax: (408) 226-8677

Address:

138 Martinvale Lane

San Jose, CA 951193

This has already been addressed in an above comment. 100mb is fine. Also the ACE link is only 100mbit so there’s no way that downlink could be gigabit.

iDR-48, T-112, Mixpad

College

jvancleef · 30 January 2013 19:22

Sorry, I missed that part of the discussion. Thanks for the reply.

elphie007 · 31 January 2013 13:25

They look great. Even more glad I bought an MMO card when we did! When do they ship?

elphie007 · 21 February 2013 06:15

I got to play with these at a trade show in Australia yesterday. Very nice gear. I was advised that it’s shipping quite soon. They are much nicer to use than an Aviom. The ambient mic works really nice too. Time to go shopping!

woutert · 4 June 2013 16:38

quote:
Originally posted by nicola

quote:
Originally posted by woutert
If this were true, fixed MixRack users that already have Dante installed in port 2, could also benefit from ME1 without a major investment in an extra Dante option card + ME-U.

Fixed format iLive does not allow to route any audio to the integrated ACE port (except surface local I/O, PFL and TB). You can use ME-1 on Port A ACE of modular iLive though.

Nicola

A&H

Nicola, in the news section, I found this:

https://www.allen-heath.com/UK/News/Pages/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsId=672

quote:

An iLive iDR-16 MixRack was employed as a system management hub for the multiple ME mixers, using the Rack’s MADI interface to connect to the main monitor mixer. 40 channels of MADI fed the iDR-16 giving access to a full blown iLive DSP system if adjustments were needed to the MADI stream.

The iDR-16 was controlled using iLive Editor leaving the ACE connection free to feed the ME-1’s.

How does this go with what you said earlier?

Since a fixed rack only has one slot and this was used for MADI, this seems that the integrated ACE-port was used, isn’t it?

I’m very very interested!!

If this works out-of-the-box, I would strongly consider of connecting my surface via network and use the ACE-port to drive some ME’s !!

Wouter

IDR32, R72, Dante, Mixpad

laptop, TP-Link TL-WR1043ND

NicB · 5 June 2013 09:53

quote:
Originally posted by woutert
How does this go with what you said earlier?

Since a fixed rack only has one slot and this was used for MADI, this seems that the integrated ACE-port was used, isn’t it?

I’m very very interested!!

If this works out-of-the-box, I would strongly consider of connecting my surface via network and use the ACE-port to drive some ME’s !!

Hi Woutert,

You can cheat the iDR by preparing a Show offline with Editor. Start with an iDR0 or iDR10 and a modular Surface equipped with output modules. This way you can patch signals to Port A 33-62, and to the Surface outputs which would effectively go out of Port A 1-32.

Since ME-1 will pick up channels 21-60, your patch to ME-1 would be the Surface outputs 21-32 and Port A outputs 33-60.

When the Show file is loaded into a fixed format iDR the Port A patch will stay in place until any overwrite is made. Hence ME-1 will work.

However this is not a recommended nor supported setup. Changes to the Show file or output routing, as well as Scene recalls might compromise the patch to ME-1.

It’s a workaround which happened to be useful in a few permanent installations where access to the iDR was limited once the initial setup made. I would discourage this approach in a live situation.

Hope this clarifies,

Nicola

A&H

dburris · 5 June 2013 12:51

Very interesting!

I hadn’t really considered the logical infrastructure underlying the iLive types and the network protocol on that level. I assume that there are practical reasons for A&H not to publish this information, as it could lead to all sorts of unsupported configurations.

All the same, it might be helpful to have an editor “expert” mode that would allow reconfiguration or reassignment for a variety of scenarios for those able to digest the information.

Perhaps there are marketing as well as support reasons for not getting into that level of detail. It would open up all sort of ways to mess up your configurations. However, it would be useful to know what show/scene/editing features would interrupt a configuration put together this way.

I have to assume that the fixed format selections in the editor are “pre-wired” ACE configurations and under the hood are much more configurable than one would initially assume. I hadn’t really thought about it that way, but it makes sense.

Added:

I took a closer look at the iLive system block diagram which shows more about how this all fits together. I’ll have to study more closely

to understand how one might use this information.

iDr48/T-112/MADI/Dante

woutert · 6 June 2013 09:37

quote:
Originally posted by nicola
…You can cheat the iDR by preparing a Show offline with Editor…

Thanks for the info. That also answers my question if there was a hardware restriction, which there isn’t.

Any chance you might consider adding this possibility to the firmware?

I mean, adding the possibility of patching to ACE1 port ch33-64 and also listing the ACE1 ch number next to the surface out…

I’m quite sure that I’m not the only one that might be interested.

ME is very interesting, unless you’re obliged to buy and install an extra Dante Card and a ME-hub.

Especially for people that already work without surface. Quite sure, you’d create an extra market for ME-1 users.

Wouter

IDR32, R72, Dante, Mixpad

laptop, TP-Link TL-WR1043ND