Time to Upgrade your old Playback Rig?
With live shows returning, post-COVID, now is the time you might be considering dusting off your old playback rig and getting back out and doing shows. In our previous blog we gave you some tips on bringing your old live rig back to life. What if you’re thinking about building a new playback rig altogether though?
In this blog, we’re going to take an objective, hard-nosed look at older redundant playback rig solutions. We’re going to present you with the facts and figures yourself to help you decide whether it’s time for an upgrade!
“Relay Switcher” Style Playback Rig
Relay-based switcher rigs have been around for the best part of two decades. They use a dedicated relay-style audio switcher. These old-style rigs require two separate audio interfaces, and associated interconnect cabling. As a result, they tend to be very expensive and very heavy!
Additionally, relay switcher style rigs offer no native support for MIDI failover, meaning you’ll have to build an additional MIDI rig that may not offer any redundancy support.
Although now largely superseded by PlayAUDIO12 style systems, some of these rigs have still been providing good service. We get it - you invested a lot of money in your rig and you want to get the most return from it!
The fundamental downsides of this kind of relay-switched rigs haven’t changed though, and it could well be false-economy retaining them:
Weight - cannot be flown as hand luggage.
Requires two separate audio interfaces
No MIDI functionality
Maintenance costs
As these rigs age and maintenance costs such as interface replacement and cabling repairs mount, it may be more cost-effective to jump to a rig based around the PlayAUDIO12. The advantages of moving to PlayAUDIO12 are still the same as they were back in 2017.
PlayAUDIO12 Based “Legacy” rig.
PlayAUDIO12 has been the industry standard playback failover solution for the last 3 or 4 years. Typically you’ll find an iConnectivity PlayAUDIO12 at the heart of the system running both redundant audio and MIDI playback.
PlayAUDIO12 will frequently be used in conjunction with an RTP-MIDI network, to which you’ll find attached iConnectivity MIDI interfaces. In a legacy system, you’ll find our old tried and tested stalwart interfaces like the iConnectMIDI4+, mio4 or mio10 employed.
Additionally, if you needed redundant audio inputs, then an iConnectAUDIO4+ interface would provide four analogue inputs to your playback DAW.
The iConnect range of interfaces is now a retired line of interfaces, and the mio4 and mio10 have now been replaced with the mioXL and mioXM.
Now, as iConnectivity’s marketing guy, this is my opportunity to scare you into upgrading and giving us more money. However, that’s just not our style!
Should you be upgrading your rig to our latest interfaces? Well, the simple answer is that if your existing rig does everything you need of it, then probably not!
The biggest single upgrade you can do is to switch to Auracle for X Series, and to make sure your playback rig is fully up to date.
Legacy Rig Pros
No further money to spend (you probably already own it)
Lighter and more portable than a relay switcher rig
Features MIDI failover you won’t find in a relay switcher rig
Legacy Rig Cons
MIDI interfaces no longer in production (direct new replacements not possible)
Fewer RTP-MIDI ports available compared to mioXL/mioXM
Fewer USB-MIDI host ports
Preset recall only possible using legacy software
All new PlayAUDIO 12 rig Using Latest Interfaces
Even though live touring came to an abrupt halt in 2020, our product development didn’t! That means that if you’re looking at building a new playback rig, you can benefit from our latest advances!
PlayAUDIO12 is still the heart of any playback rig, and as a piece of hardware, it remains unchanged and unchallenged as the industry-standard audio/MIDI failover solution. However, we now have an all-new range of MIDI and audio interfaces to offer!
mioXL and mioXM
Let’s first look at the mioXL and mioXM MIDI interfaces; these new MIDI powerhouses outperform our old MIDI interfaces in a number of significant ways. Just take a look at the spec sheet below!
What should immediately be apparent, is the increase in virtual RTP-MIDI ports offered by the mioXM and mioXL. Additionally, the mioXM and mioXL offer hardware-based configuration presets. These two features may be a huge boon if your physical stage setup changes from venue to venue and could save a lot of time in setup.
Undoubtedly, the additional physical USB-MIDI host ports will also save a bunch of hassle! You may now find that you can ditch your USB hubs altogether, thanks to the greatly increased physical port count.
AUDIO4c
AUDIO4c continues the legacy of the iConnectAUDIO4c but crucially incorporates USB-C connectivity to bring things bang up to date. When considering its use in a playback rig, the AUDIO4c’s main use is as an analogue front end for live inputs.
If you’re building a live rig from scratch, then the USB-C connectivity aspect of AUDIO4c is bound to be a boon for interfacing with the latest generation of computer technology.
Should you Upgrade?
So to conclude then, should you upgrade your old playback rig? In a nutshell, let’s summarise things thus:
Relay switcher rig - UPGRADE! Safe weight, save money gain MIDI failover
Legacy iConnectivity rig - POSSIBLE upgrade. If you need additional RTP-MIDI or USB-MIDI connectivity there are clear advantages.
New Rig Build - Use PlayAUDIO12 in conjunction with mioXL, mioXM and AUDIO4c
We hope that’s answered any questions you might have, but if not, don’t hesitate to reach out to iConnectivity support! We’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have regarding your playback rig requirements!