I currently have a dlive system with floor wedges. I am planning on adding Klang IEM (Konductor). My typical band is lead Vocal + BGV, Drum, Bass, EG, AG, Piano, Synth, and B3. I already have all inputs setup to send direct out over Dante (broadcast sends) . What kind of setup are people running? Do you do group mixes or matrices to send to the Klang processor, or do you use the direct outs a lot?
We are running a similar setup and also I’ve been looking at the Klang IEM system.
When you say that you’ve setup all inputs “to send direct out over Dante” am I correct in thinking you’re sending these channels from the dLive direct to Dante using tie lines? This is often the simplest approach.
In Dante controller, select the dLive is your transmitter and Konductor as your receiver, then create a 1 to 1 mapping between the dLive Dante outputs and the Konductor inputs.
Doing a quick estimate of the number of channels you want appearing in Konductor, it looks like you won’t have more than maybe 20. So you should have plenty of capacity to send the channels individually.
If my estimates are correct, then I doubt you will need to be concerned about group mixes as these are typically only needed if your IEM system is running at or near its channel capacity (E.G. Our drum kit has 5 toms, so in that case, we could conceivably save 3 IEM input channels by reducing these 5 channels down to a stereo group)
That said, given that the defining feature of the Klang system is its ability to create binaural IEM mixes, you will probably want to avoid creating stereo groups so that you have more control each channels’ 3D placement within Kontroller or the Klang App.
Thanks for the info. I am not using Tie Lines, direct outs. When I set that up I thought it would give me more flexibility. I’ve wondered about creating groups within Konductor to make it simpler for basic users. You have given me a good perspective in that you don’t think I should send pre-mixed aux/groups/MTx from the dlive (in most cases). I have 10 mics on my kit.
We thought long and hard about moving to Klang. Honestly if I had found a good deal on a used unit, we would have made the transition. Instead we found a killer deal on a ME system and went with that instead.
If you need 12 or less IEM mixes, the Klang Vokal is a great option especially now that they offer a software upgrade to gives you full accessibility to the 64 inputs if needed. (The base model has 64 inputs, but each musician has to choose a max of 24 sources to mix from those 64 inputs while the optional “upgrade” allows musicians to mix all 64 inputs in their IEM mix). Of course the Vokal unit is just the processor. Musicians will have to mix their IEM using the Klang software loaded on their phone or tablet. This isn’t the end of the world, but I will say that most musicians would rather have a hardware unit to interact with their mix vs having to use a mobile device. If your musicians would rather have a physical hardware device to mix/interact with their monitor mix, Klang makes their Klang Kontroller but they are pretty expensive (something like $1200 per device) and you still need a Klang processor to make it all work. In other words, the Kontroller isn’t a processors itself, it is just a “remote control” for an actual Klang processor.
As far as routing, I think the easiest way to handle it is via “Direct Outs” from the console. If you are already using direct outs going through Dante for recording purposes, you can use the same Dante sources for your Klang processor. Just keep in mind that the “pick point” for the recording and Klang processor will have to be the same if you decide to use direct outs for both uses. If you want a different pick point, you could easily change and start using the Virtual Sound Check setting and route the record sends out through that portion of the console. You would have to remember to “activate” the record sends, but it would allow you to use the direct outs for the Klang system and utilize a different pick point for the audio if that would be advantageous.
As an alternative, A&H offers the ME system. Like the Klang system, using the ME system allows you to have IEM mixes without using up any of the console’s busses which is really nice. As I mentioned, our church uses ME-1s and they work great. However we recently found another killer deal on some IP8s, and I have transitioned over our front line singers back to wireless IEM (which is what they were using prior to us acquiring the ME system). They now have IP8 controllers to mix their IEM instead of having to rely on a software solution which is what they had to do before we got the ME-1. Honestly the singers prefer the IP8 system to the ME-1 or the old system where they had to use software controls. Given the IP8s retail for about the same cost as the Klang Kontrollers, they might be a real alternative to the Klang system. The only downside is the fact that you have to use the console’s busses for this solution.
Obviously the unique thing about Klang is the “immersive” mixing it offers. I’m sure it is easier to build a mix that is clear and full with Klang because you can make sure the individual sources all have their physical “space” in the IEM mix. But using traditional stereo IEMs is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination. I’ll also add that it’s hard enough to convince our musicians to actually pan things in their stereo mix. I can’t imagine training and then trying to convince people to use the 3-D immersive element of Klang. In my situation, I would have to build out their mixes and they would likely never change it.
I’m running Klang Konductor with dLive and Digico. For this I have a SuperMADI card to send DOs to the Klang and receive back mixes to use as mix inserts on the dLive (so I can kill the inserts in case of Klang failure - so far never happened).
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