Sony DMX R100 and MADI multitrack

[huub]

Anyone experience with this?
Can I contact anyone directly with some questions?

thanks!

huub

[mpdonahue]

Huub,
We've got 3 R100's that we use with madi on a daily basis. Feel free to ask away.
All the best,
-mark

[huub]

awesome!

Might as well keep it public, might be useful information to other people..
I have a job coming up (sir E J in mexico city where I might be forced to use a local truck that has a sony on board.. I very much want to use my own pyramix system for mutitracking, so I wonder: how many card slots does the sony have? how many madi cards can be fitted? coax or fibre?
Can you insert the multitrack right after the preamp (for convenient listening through the multitrack)?
Can you make an analog insert in a subgroup?
How many subgroups?

Thanks!

[mpdonahue]

Originally Posted by huub

awesome!

Might as well keep it public, might be useful information to other people..
I have a job coming up (sir E J in mexico city where I might be forced to use a local truck that has a sony on board.. I very much want to use my own pyramix system for mutitracking, so I wonder: how many card slots does the sony have? how many madi cards can be fitted? coax or fibre?
Can you insert the multitrack right after the preamp (for convenient listening through the multitrack)?
Can you make an analog insert in a subgroup?
How many subgroups?

Thanks!

Well, the first question is what sampling rate are you planning to run?
All the features of the console are halved at 2fs.
So here goes:
Digital I/O:
There are 4 slots on the frame, each has 8 I/O except the last slot where the MADI card goes which has 48 I/O (With MADI Of course, 8 otherwise). The MADI is limited to 48 IO. Both Coax and Fiber madi are available and selectable on the card. It also uses STANDARD not extended. The console will not clock from the MADI stream, but rather needs a separate clock on coax. There is MADI Word clock input on the card as well as on the frame.
There are 3 pairs of AES I/O on the frame as well as all the sync IO.
Analog IO is:
12 Mic Preamps/Line inputs with Phantom power on Seperate XLR/1/4"
12 identical inputs with out phantom on Combo connectors
4 aux I/O on 1/4"
Control room (6 channel) and Studio (Stereo) Outs
MTR monitor inputs (6)
One of the great things about this console is the routing pages, which allow you to route any available input to any fader. All the resources are treated the same, so if you want to use the talkback mic to feed a fader, it is available.

You have 48 inputs and 48 faders on 2 pages. Each channel has EQ and compression/gates and direct out with selectable Prefader/Post EQ/Post fader.
On the 3rd page are the multitrack and aux masters as well as the 8 aux returns. with the aux returns you get 56 channels on mixdown.
There are 8 aux busses that can be either 8 mono, 4 stereo or any combination.
There are 8 Multi track busses
There are stereo and surround mix bus.
There is provision for inserts, but it eats up available IO. Also, it is cumbersome unless you have the insert card. (8 TRS inserts on a card)
It has scene and snapshot recall as well as TC based automation.
Let me know if you need any specific operation details.
Allthe best,
-mark

[huub]

Thank you ever so much!
can the aux busses be set up as subgroups? are there subgroups available?
The show will be 48Khz.
Do you normally record using direct outs?
I would like to insert all channels with the multitrack, so it's easy to play back the soundcheck and fine tune the mix.. although for this job direct outs to multitrack are fine, as the concert will be extremely simple to mix (very little inputs)
Are the madi i/o freely routable to be anything (direct out, insert, channel input etc.)?

[mpdonahue]

Originally Posted by huub

Thank you ever so much!
can the aux busses be set up as subgroups? are there subgroups available?
The show will be 48Khz.
Do you normally record using direct outs?
I would like to insert all channels with the multitrack, so it's easy to play back the soundcheck and fine tune the mix.. although for this job direct outs to multitrack are fine, as the concert will be extremely simple to mix (very little inputs)
Are the madi i/o freely routable to be anything (direct out, insert, channel input etc.)?

Normally when I'm running less than 24 inputs, I have the inputs on the first page in 1-24 and the return from the multitrack on the second page in 25-48.
This way if the multi track crashes, there is still a 2mix from the input page.
The greatest thing about the R100 is the routing. There is a grid that allows you to route any physical input to any fader input and any fader direct out or bus to any physical output on a single channel basis. Also the console is sample accurate across all the direct outs, busses and auxes. This allows you to print a mix and sweeten with microphones later without phase issues. The only issue some people find is that you can't route the auxes and MTR busses to the 2 mix.

All the best,
-mark

[huub]

thanks...

so no subgroups eh? That's pretty lame..

[mpdonahue]

Originally Posted by huub

thanks...

so no subgroups eh? That's pretty lame..

No sub groups to the mix, but, it has Fader and VCA style channel grouping, so most of the time I just set up a VCA group instead. Also, unlike most digital boards, the outputs are all in sample accurate sync at all times..... You'd need to increase the transit delay significantly to be able to route the subgroups to the mix and keep it lined up.
-mark

[huub]

Hmm, so if I want to multitrack record, and monitor a bunch of channels, but also want to make a live mix with board eq and some analog compressors inserted (not going to multitrack obviously), what mixer set up would you suggest ?
Thanks for all your information thusfar b.t.w. !

Thanks again!

huub

EDIT: I guess you already answered that, with one layer of inputs, and one layer of returns..
These returns you can insert in analog right?
But a drum subgroup with analog compressor insert is no go I suppose?

[0VU]

huub, just in case you're not aware (and I don't know whether or not it's still available but) it used to be possible to download from Sony's website, a complete set of manuals, updates, brochures, tech bulletins, and software, including an offline editor program for the DMX-R100.

I found the offline editor useful as it allows one to use a stand alone PC to configure setups for the console which may then be loaded into it on arrival at the job. Things will usually change from there on but it might help save time on some basic housekeeping - setting up routing, etc., and help build a bit of extra familiarity before you have to use the thing in anger.

If you don't have/can't find this stuff, and it would be of interest, let me know and I'll dig it out.


They're nice consoles btw - I found them easier to get around for live work than the Yamaha DMxxxx/02Rxx stuff. The main thing that really irritates me about them is that all the DMX-R100s I've used have suffered from some very small amount of whistle/HF buzz - sometimes acoustically audible in the control room, sometimes electronic (audible in the mic pres when at high gain). It seems to come from the DC-DC converter supplying the display backlight; I might've just been unlucky though. It's never been a real problem as I was always using external pres and converters but it's irritating when the noise is audible in the control room during very quiet parts in the music - rarely that much of problem on live gigs!

[huub]

Thanks all!

I've found the manual on the sony site, the editor software I could not find, if some one has that available, that would be really super awesome..

Quick question: can you make an analog insert post fader on the master bus?

Thanks again..

huub

[gavvyt]

Hi there,

I know this is a very late posting....

How did this recording go for you?

did anyone find the offline editor for this Sony board?


Gav

[huub]

Hi,

The recording went fine, but i discovered that the truck in question also had a Yamaha PM1D onboard, so I used that.. No multitrack recording was necessary, I just recorded some channels to VT machines..

[Roland]

DMX R-100's were great, considering their age, quite a long way ahead of the market at the time. I sold mine a year ago, unfortunately no support for them now, so a little bit too risky to rely on.

Roland

[dBeaz]

I still have my dmx and love it. it is a great sounding board.I wonder who else is still using it?

[Sonicboom74]

I still use mine. It's definitely a great sounding board, but my EQ knobs have become kinda flakey. I will turn them and the values don't change very smoothly. Rather, they are jumpy, and that really sucks since I like to sweep through the frequencies. I tried turning them really fast while pressing down. That will get them to work okay again, but only for a while. From what I hear, the parts are no longer being manufactured. It's gotten to be such a pain that I no longer use them. I only use the eq's in Logic. So now my R100 is a glorified summing box. I don't even use it's automation, as logic's is so much easier- much better to draw lines. Sigh... Anyone want to buy mine?

[leadplayer]

I too currently use an R-100 - no problems. Have the madi card etc.
To all users...Sony extended their support window. They also did a run
of some crucial parts. (not the slot insert cards, though). I found this out
ironically when a near lightning strike took out my board. The support can be had at the Teaneck, NJ repair facility. In case you didn't know, there are some additional fuses unders the boards at the bottom of the mixer. There are 3 obvious fuses to the upper right when you look in. The "under-board"
fuses are impossible to get at without serious dis-assembly. My problem was just one of those fuses. $1.60 for the part, and hundreds in labor.
I think (but not positive) that the support will be good to 2012.

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by leadplayer

<snip>...I think (but not positive) that the support will be good to 2012.

What about support after December 21, 2012?

[niquest]

I have two but only use one most of the time, so I have a nice assembly of spare parts there. Been through different headaches with these desks but still love to work with them. I didn't even know about the 2012 service extension. Nice.

[SiliconAudioLab]

Originally Posted by dBeaz

I still have my dmx and love it. it is a great sounding board.I wonder who else is still using it?

Still use both of mine. At some point you have to stop and ask yourself, do you want to create/mix/edit music or just keep buying the latest "next big thing" hoping that one day you can, all day every day, actually complete this task?

I had the first Macintosh - beige, 128K of memory, floppy, and thereafter, after each and every new Mac I bought, I would call Apple and ask, "Is the new one ready?" Then five minutes after we hung up, I'd call back and ask, "How about now?"

It's great to do with the iPhones and iPads and with mixers, and Logic and compressors. Just don't expect to be on top of the creative process when you're expending far too much of your energy with that.

"OK, how about now?"

[The Saxplayer]

Hello,

I'm not sure were to post a new topic regarding the DMXR100 so I'm tying this way:

I have installed 2.23 today and a Madi Card. All is well
Now I am looking for the companion Madi board for the Mac Pro 8core 12GB to run Protools9 native.

Did I read somewhere here that someone was using the RME HSDPe with success?
Any thoughts?

I had my R100 for a decade now and it still rocks. If someone needs the software 2.23 or the offline editor I still have that as well

Cheers and thanks a lot!

Georges

[jwh1192]

steve, the clock is ticking ....

[tekis]

Originally Posted by The Saxplayer

Hello,

I'm not sure were to post a new topic regarding the DMXR100 so I'm tying this way:

I have installed 2.23 today and a Madi Card. All is well
Now I am looking for the companion Madi board for the Mac Pro 8core 12GB to run Protools9 native.

Did I read somewhere here that someone was using the RME HSDPe with success?
Any thoughts?

I had my R100 for a decade now and it still rocks. If someone needs the software 2.23 or the offline editor I still have that as well

Cheers and thanks a lot!

Georges

I have a DMX w/Madi. I am using a Profire Lightbridge (adat w/Pro Tools 9) into an RME 648 adat to madi convertor. I was going to get the RME MADI card but have decided to get the RayDat instead. Why? Because PT 9 is only 32 i/o capable and I will use the RayDat's aes output to feed to and from the DMX's stereo buss/2 track 1(AES connection). The RME's Madi card not having that connectivity was a deal-breaker. Thanks.

[therealbigd]

I think the R100 is a great sounding console, unfortunately I find it's firmware stuggles to keep up and when you need spares they tend to be costly and hard to get.

I'd defend an R100 that I'd already bought, but be very cautious before buying one.

This is like buying a mansion with a giant hole in the roof. You could be buying a great house that just needs a bit of fixing up. You could be buying a 5 year nightmare.

[tekis]

Yes, as with anything used, buyer beware. Sony still supports DMX's thru the end of this year. I've called them several times and gotten free tech support. A friend of mine has gotten a hold of a spare DMX, so we have access to spares. My DMX has paid for itself a couple of times over! That's a good piece of gear! The latest software (2.23) is available free of charge from the DMX forum. Still a pretty good deal, if you ask me!