I wish the SQ-Rack had a mode that lets it act as a Dante stagebox, with phantom power, pad, and gain all controllable from the main console—just like the real Dante stagebox.
That would make the SQ a really killer feature, letting it serve as both a stagebox and a standalone mixer, perfect as a backup or a second console.
While this is probably technically possible, I suspect it is actually much more complicated than you imagine.
A Dante stage box has a singular purpose and clearly has the “extra” data protocols embedded/programmed into it’s processors so that it can send out the preamp information in addition to the Dante audio. That is a very different situation than what happens when you add a Dante card to a console. Adding a Dante card to a console does not fundamentally change how the console works. Currently the Dante card simply presents itself to the console just like any other audio interface where audio can be routed to/from the interface. The console doesn’t send any “control” data through the various audio interfaces available on the SQ.
To make this work, I suspect A&H would have to fundamentally change how the SQ system works to ensure the preamp data is both available and controllable from the audio interfaces (including Dante). Because that functionality isn’t currently available on any of the SQ interfaces (including when using GigaAce to link multiple consoles), I suspect there would have to be some extensive re-writing of the SQ’s firmware to allow for that data transmission.
I’m sure you are already aware, but you can use a SQ Rack with a Dante card as a Dante “stagebox” right now. You simply need to use the A&H console control software (like Mixpad) to access the console and therefore have access to the preamp controls. It’s honestly no different than if you used another brand’s Dante stage boxes with an A&H system. I realize this isn’t the “one stop software solution” that you are hoping/asking for, but I suspect it is all you are going to get.
If I could vote for this 10 times, I would. Can’t believe it only had one vote so far.
I am a software/firmware engineer myself, so I don’t mean to trivialize the effort it takes to invoke any new feature into a complex system.
That said, this one seems so obvious and worthwhile that I really can’t believe it wasn’t designed/architected into the system from the start.
Lots of Dante devices I own can be configured to mix control and audio data on the same port.
So I don’t know how everyone else does it, but if A&H’s implementation is physically capable of bridging the two networks (maybe not?), it doesn’t seem like rocket science to send preamp control signals between two boards when one has been put into ‘stagebox mode’.
Even if this control couldn’t (or shouldn’t) be done over the Dante connection, the seems to be very little reason to not make it transparent as long as there’s a ‘normal’ ethernet control connection between the two mixers.
The fact that you can control the ‘slave’ mixer’s gains, etc via iPad is a pretty clear reminder that there is already a bidirectional control protocol in place to remotely change just about anything on a console, including this preamp data. so how much work would it be, really, to use it here?
Granted, as an engineer, that’s exactly the kind of rhetorical question that often gets my hackles up when I get asked it by a sales guy or some upper management type. The answer is often “a lot more work than you think” ;0)
That said, from my safe perch across a nice big ocean, this would seem to be a relatively minor extension of what a console’s UI & communication’s layer is already doing when it ‘knows’ a particular channel is mapped to local IO, DX, DSnake, etc. Namely, “send the relevant UI element’s state to the relevant device using the relevant protocol”.
And you already have the protocol…
Control can be bridged. I use only one Ethernetport for Control and Dante all the time.
I am convinced It is absolutely no big deal to make this happen.
A few Lines of Code, of course.
I definitely share your assessment.
I’m afraid there’s more of a problem with product cannibalisation here. The SQ rack is far too cheap when compared to the Dante Stagebox.