Not meant to be a downplay of an amazing platform. However, Dlive turns 10 years old next month and it had me thinking what’s next for the tech lineup? Obviously I’m not expecting any official answer but I do wonder what speculations our community has for the future of the flagship line. Any thoughts?
I’d be curious as well, our iLive is getting long in the tooth and after a brief scare a couple of months ago when it wouldn’t boot the touch screen I think I’ve finally sold the management on upgrading to the Dlive this upcoming year. But if it’s going to be replaced I might rethink my options.
I would say nothing for quite a while. A&H just released the RackUltra card and firmware 2.0 last year. Those two things have breathed a new life into the DLive and brought it in line with it’s current competitors IMHO.
I honestly think the DLive can go nearly decade before it needs to be replaced.
Some more IO options and a more flat surface (kind of like the SQ) would be cool. For a lot of events, even the C1500 is too big, mainly in height. But that’s all no deal breakers, basically dLive can do anything you’d need for live music.
In terms of the system, two dynamic slots per channel (instead of gate/comp) with all gate/dynamic options on both slots would be cool. 76 into LA for example. Also a nice gimmick.
More interesting to me would be UI upgrades, like a refined action/soft button system, a rudimentary media player with a “setlist” where specific audio files or “next file” can be triggered by actions, soft buttons or scenes. Little things like that, that makes our life easier. 
That’s the thing. It’s been a decade already.
You missed the point of my post. With the recent RackUltra FX card and firmware 2.0 release, the DLive is like a new console. It doesn’t matter that it is a decade old already. With these new changes, it will be a competitive option in it’s price range for years to come.
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I understand. That’s the beauty of FPGA. Pretty much inline with DiGiCo’s upgrade model. Curious to see if we’ll ever see a higher tier of Dlive to compete with the new Quantum’s and Avid’s.
the dlive platform is 10yrs old but not the line itself. just look at digico for example. their platform is basically over 20 years old at this point, from D to Quantum.
the whole console game already finished years ago thats why you will not see any big steps in future. and a&h wise i think they won’t go bigger because audiotonix has digico as next step if you need to get bigger and ssl if you have too much money.
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Think so too. It will stay at 128 channels. So the only thing they can improve is the actual system and UI, which is great imho.
I could see them launching a new console that doesn’t replace dLive, but sits above it in the product lineup. It doesn’t seem likely that they would completely ditch dLive since they just released the Rack Ultra FX cards.
I would like to see them continue bringing new features to dLive. Namely:
- Full bus-to-bus routing
- Flexible channel strip (changing positions of inserts, PEQ, and dynamics)
- UI refresh
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I would like to see a “Prime” version. A rack with built in Prime in/out (maybe all modular) along with surface upgrades. Oled scribble strip screens. Along with screens for soft keys. A lot of tour folks I have talked to would appreciate a more upmarket surface feel. The platform has always punched higher than its price point. Which is amazing for a lot of users. But a nicer surface to go head to head with the PM and Quantum desks would be great.
I wouldn’t mind a “rev b” release for the surfaces, with the scribble strips showing all 8 characters and having more color options, maybe eight layers per bank instead of six, and a lip under the right screen on dual screen models so that you can put your phone there in landscape mode without having it slide down over the scribble strips. There’s probably some minor tweaks I’d make, but I’d have to think about it more.
For the MixRacks, off the top of my head, I can only really think of three things. First, right now, you can’t bring in a DX Hub and Dante and have two gigaAce splits for monitors and broadcast without using a surface I/O slot, so one more I/O slot would be nice (it’d probably let the DM0 use the same modular power supplies as the rest of the line, too). Second, a dedicated input for talkback mics would be nice, both for testing and for surface-less setups. It wouldn’t even be hard to find room if there were four I/O slots instead of three. Lastly, for what these cost (especially the S-class models), GPIO really ought to be built-in.
I wouldn’t mind a…well, I guess it’d be a “DX3232”, so that we can actually utilize the full DX protocol’s channel counts for both inputs and outputs, but I don’t know how much demand there really is for something like that.
Relatedly, I wish the DX32 AES cards were 8x8 instead of having different cards for inputs and outputs, but I don’t know if the DX32 hardware can support simultaneous input and output on one card or whether the market would accept the higher cost.
Building on the DX012, a DX024 or DX032 might be nice for monitors, but I don’t know how that’d compare to just a DX32 loaded with output cards.
Yes, please…
Oh yes, please!!
I’d love a full secondary layer with a long press on the layer buttons, then we would have 12 layers.
Don’t need a new DLive. Just a refreshed surface with Higher resolution Screen and LCDs, actual working external touchscreen option, more compact layout. Other than that all i want for Christmas is OSC. DLive is good as is otherwise. Sounds great and does most of what i need at a very competitive price.
Rumor has it that some sort of buss to buss routing is coming in the DLive 2.1 update - along with several new and greatly requested plugins (like a Distressor clone). I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
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Dude, that would be epic!