Advice on new band setup (DI/stage boxes)

[The Elf]

Tick VG!

Ah dun goooood!

[Dave B]

With that many pre-amp channels on [the XR18], does it therefore negate the need for any DI boxes on stage?

While best practise is to use DI boxes, in a typical practical situation you're likely to be fine plugging straight into the mixer. I've used mine with directly connected guitars and keyboards with no problems at all.

Agreed. It has combo inputs, so is ok as long as you are careful. I would set up a preset / scene in rehearsal (taking care with things like phantom power) then only ever tweak the levels live.

[Mike Stranks]

With that many pre-amp channels on [the XR18], does it therefore negate the need for any DI boxes on stage?

While best practise is to use DI boxes, in a typical practical situation you're likely to be fine plugging straight into the mixer. I've used mine with directly connected guitars and keyboards with no problems at all.

Agreed. It has combo inputs, so is ok as long as you are careful. I would set up a preset / scene in rehearsal (taking care with things like phantom power) then only ever tweak the levels live.

Not going to get into a spat about this - there's enough of that goes on - but after a close-call on on-stage noise I opted always to use DIs from that point on.

I'll readily concede the point that if you're working with known gear with known musos in known venues you could well be fine with direct-to-line, but if you're not...

For me it was 'once (nearly) bitten; twice shy'

[Hugh Robjohns]

For me it was 'once (nearly) bitten; twice shy'

Yep -- me too.

H

[ReedySteadyGo]

With an XR18 on stage and the person operating it some distance away, is there a good way to use the headphones socket for monitoring, either wired or wireless?

[The Elf]

With an XR18 on stage and the person operating it some distance away, is there a good way to use the headphones socket for monitoring, either wired or wireless?

You could use the headphone output, or the line outputs to provide monitoring, but...

The XR18 has an 'Ultranet' port that will let you connect P16-M personal mixers. These will allow each artist to create their own monitor mix on the fly. From the P16-Ms you could take a wired headphone feed, or connect it to an in-ear monitor transmitter.

I connect the XR18's Ultranet port to a P16-D hub, using a Cat 5e cable. Each P16-M then connects to the P16-D with a Cat 5e cable, which provides not only the 16 channels of audio, but also the power for each mixer. It's a neat system and it's been impeccably reliable so far.

[ReedySteadyGo]

Maybe a poor use of the word 'monitoring' on my part. I didn't mean on-stage monitoring I meant for use by the sound guy doing the mixing so he can listen to individual channels.

[The Elf]

He could use the same monitoring system I've described above, either from the headphone/line outputs, or by using a P16-M.

Not sure I'd want to rely on wireless where it's not a necessity, but you have the option.

[shufflebeat]

With an XR18 on stage and the person operating it some distance away, is there a good way to use the headphones socket for monitoring, either wired or wireless?

I've considered one of these (wi audiolink):

https://www.gear4music.com/PA-DJ-and-Lighting/Wi-Digital-AudioLink-Pro-Stereo-Digital-Wireless-Audio-System/1AU4?origin=product-ads&campaign=PLA+Shop+-+GENERIC&adgroup=GENERIC&medium=vertical_search&network=google&merchant_id=1279443&product_id=60700d1&product_country=GB&product_partition_id=56667048760&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIm5O99O3w4wIVSrTtCh2qNwTOEAQYASABEgJxivD_BwE

For a much cheaper wired solution you might consider making up some adaptors; TRSm/XLRm, XLRf/TRSf and run XLR leads between them to the required length.

[Sam Spoons]

I have a LD Systems M1000 wireless IEM set which does the job nicely. If mixing wirelessly from an iPad then wired monitoring seems a bit daft (though I do agree that wires are almost always more reliable than wireless).