Karaoke Forums

Hey guys, looking for the pros here. I currently have a 266XL set on the inserts of the mic channels. I've gone through three different compressors and I'm trying to get it dialed in where I need it. I was thinking about giving the Presonus Comp16 a try with its vocal presets.

Anyway, I was taking a look at the Driverack PA and it looks incredibly attractive. It's subharmonic processor seems to do what my BBE 882i does and, better yet, you can use an RTA mic to EQ the room for you which is huge for me. I have two nightmare venues I work right now (one dead room, one highly reflective room with overly involved bar owners who like the sound of a DJ with two Radio Shack Optimus speakers produces on another night) and to be able to use the RTA mic and have the the system EQ itself and then tweak from there appeals to me.

I'm worried about the compressor though, I would like compression on my main mix since there is definitely a range of audio quality between brands (DK levels are a bit low compared to Sound Choice it seems to me) but I'm afraid it won't do what I need it to do with the screamers and the whisperers on the mics. Anyone use the Driverack PA and have any thoughts?

--Guy

The Driverack is a sweet unit but is only going to be good if you plan on tri amping (or more) your system - otherwise it isn't going to be of any use to you. With the speakers you talked about, those aren't even bi-amp capable so you may not want to consider this.

I would keep the compressor on the mic channels & the BBE on the main mix. The Presonus isn't as good of a compressor as the dbx. You may want to consider a good 31 band eq with a built in RTA (or a separate RTA) to tune the room & not so much for tone control. You don't want to compress the main mix (you can for speaker protection only) as when you get a screamer singer, it will compress the singer but in so doing, it will also compress the music so it will still seem as the singer is louder than the music. When you compress the vocals only, this will blend better with the music.

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Thanks for the response Lonman. Do you have your 266XL dialed in one way or is it something you're playing with throughout the night? I think what appealed to me about the Comp16 is it had settings for a weak singer, a strong singer and a "screamer" that basically plays with the ratios I think. Right now I have Overeasy on and going automatic on attack and release. I have the compression at nearly 4:1 and I'm thinking that might be too high, I'm putting back +10db.

Do you think there's any practical use for the expander/gate section or are you mostly just using the compression settings.

I'll look into the EQs some more, having some feedback problems that are irritating me right now and that was another thing about the Driverack that was appealing to me. I hear what you're saying on the crossover, I would be in 2x2 mode with it since the Matrix sub/sat has its own crossover.

--Guy

Here's the other thing I'm looking at though Lonman -- cost. I think I have $250 into my 882i, $120 in the 266XL and a decent EQ with RTA is not gonna be cheap.

I spend $500 (although I'm sure I'll get it lower with my guy at Guitar Center) on the Driverack PA and I've got all those in one RU. Better yet, it's programmable so I can set up programs for each of my venues once I have it dialed in.

I suppose one option would be to hang on to the 266XL for the vocals though.

--Guy

Again, the Driverack is a tri-amp minimum system so you wouldn't be able to use it. Now whether you can use the other features without the crossover option, that I don't know - no one I know has tried, but you are spending money on a killer crossover that will do you no good.
If you already HAVE the 882 & 266XL then I would either get a good 31 band eq for feedback control & dialing in the room, or a good feedback supressor (although different speaker & mic positioning will generally fix most feedback situations). The dbx AFS224 is a very nice unit & actually works without noticable audible results like the cheaper units.

On the compressor, I adjust it for every singer because not all singers are the same. The Presonus unit just isn't that great, it does work but the sound will be noticeable. It's nice having the presets for certain type of singers, but it's just as easy to turn a couple of knobs on the dbx unit. I run a base setting Threshold at approx -10, ratio anywhere from 2:1 - 4:1, auto attack/release & output pretty much at 0, higher if needed. Don't much need the expander/gate for vocals so those I keep turned off.

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Well I got the Driverack PA and am very pleased except for the subharmonic sythesizer, that needs some heavy adjustment or something. It gets really annoying when vocal low ends go through it, I didn't think it would hit that frequency range.

Other than that it's stellar -- using the RTA Mic to auto-eq the room is fantastic, gives you a great sound that factors in the room acoustics. The feedback suppression is also top notch and kicks in pretty quickly.

I kept the 266xl for the vocals and think I have it nicely adjusted now, turning off the expander and keeping the ratio from 1.5:1 to around 3:1 (4:1 for screamers) is working very nicely and adds a nice smoothness to my vocals.

I'll have to play around with it some more on the subharmonic or a BBE Maximizer might be finding its way back into my rack.

--Guy

The subharmonic synth is designed more for the music side & not for vocals so much. Generally you don't want vocals to have that low of a frequency.

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