Roland M400 Mixing System

[Russ (Al) Prat]

Is anyone using the Roland M400? "They" used it for the Rio de Janeiro Carnaval last year, and we checked out the tutorial, seems simple and cheap. Any comments? RAP

[Remoteness]

Well, what did the folks ("they") say about this simple and cheap digital mixer?
Did anyone you know hear it during this event?

[Russ (Al) Prat]

It seems like "they" pulled it off without a hitch, that the system worked perfectly, etc. I don't even know who "They" is, or are, but nobody seems to have complained. I saw it on TV and they didn't seem to be having any audio problems.

The concept seems pretty sound, and the tutorial on the site explains it pretty well, and i seems to be a good product, but I was wondering if anybody has used it enough to find bugs, etc.

The small size and ease of handling are very attractive, and the price reasonable from what I can gather, so some useful critiques would be handy. RAP

[Russ (Al) Prat]

I guess the main question is this: We have been doing remote recordings, but you know the drill, tear down the gear in the studio and throw it in the car, set up somewhere close to the venue if possible, nightmare everything, incredible potential for disaster, etc. But the results have been good regardless, and more and more folks have asked for us to record live (usually with a film crew for DVD). We recently had a request from someone who wanted us to put together a remote truck, with the possibility of financial backing to pull it off. Our question is regarding the technology... is the envelope being pushed a la Roland to smaller and lighter and cheaper, yet maintaining reasonable sonic quality? We have good pre-s which we can offer, but one does wince taking the Millenia pre amp into a dusty dressing room with dubious energy supplies, etc. I'm sure you've been there and done that. Is a big remote truck still a necessity, with room for VIP's and all that, in order to hype the client etc.?

[Remoteness]

I feel it's more about what can work for you and what your client(s) can hear or not hear.

Many of the folks that do remote recording have portable systems that are design to handle the multiple set-up and breakdown scenarios. Multipin interconnections makes this concept as simple as possible.

Putting together a remote truck, with or without financial backing is another story. You must decide how far you want to travel and do a market study on it.
I would call all the local vendors and see where you stand.

Does the world need another remote truck?
It's hard to say, without doing the research.

Everything is getting smaller -- processors, technology, the media we use, the mobile units we work in. Smaller maybe the direction for our industry, but sound quality is still second to none in my book.

Big remote trucks are still needed on large scale events.
It's really more about what your market will bare.

[Remoteness]

I feel it's more about what can work for you and what your client(s) can hear or not hear.

Many of the folks that do remote recording have portable systems that are design to handle the multiple set-up and breakdown scenarios. Multipin interconnections makes this concept as simple as possible.

Putting together a remote truck, with or without financial backing is another story. You must decide how far you want to travel and do a market study on it.
I would call all the local vendors and see where you stand.

Does the world need another remote truck?
It's hard to say, without doing the research.

Everything is getting smaller -- processors, technology, the media we use, the mobile units we work in. Smaller maybe the direction for our industry, but sound quality is still second to none in my book.

Big remote trucks are still needed on large scale events.
It's really more about what your market will bare.

Whatever you do your truck should equal the equipment you use with it.
I don't see the logic is building a large scale remote truck with a Roland M400 as your main console surface.
But you never know, it could work well for you in a smaller scale van rig.

Do the research to make sure which direction is best for you and your possible venture.

[jabney]

Originally Posted by Russ (Al) Prat

Is anyone using the Roland M400? "They" used it for the Rio de Janeiro Carnaval last year, and we checked out the tutorial, seems simple and cheap. Any comments? RAP

I used the 400 this past weekend along with the 1608 snake-head. What was really cool was that the Saturday event (a panel discussion with slides featuring graffiti artists) was 180 degrees 'off' from the orientation of the Sunday event (a pair of klezmer bands). I had run a CAT-5e cable in the ceiling earlier in the week, so changing the set-up was simply a matter of unplugging the M400 and the 1608 and swapping their respective positions.

The live sound was fine. Roland's built-in effects sounded smooth and natural - so natural that a couple of times Sunday I forgot that the reverberator was on the vocalist - until she started speaking between songs :-)

The M400 does allow recording and playback via USB-stick, but it's only two channel and limited to 16 bits. It does allow a choice of 48k or 44.1k.

Multichannel recording is supported in Sonar fed via CAT-5e and the institution I'm working with has bought a computer (while XP Pro is still available) with the intent of adding the Roland recording package later. The M400 does have 8 XLR outs which can be routed to a recorder (although a late start precluded setting that up on Sunday) and the other Roland snake components (1608, 4000s in various flavors) also have 8 (or more) outputs.

I'm pretty impressed with what Roland has done here. I wish the USB stick allowed 24 bit recording; and the numbering system for the trimpots takes some getting used to. But it all starts to make sense after a while.

best,

john