Aimed squarely at the midrange sound reinforcement market, the Midas Verona comes with a number of attractive features. Available in a whopping six different frame sizes, the Verona ranges from 24 inputs to 64 input channels. Our evaluation unit, the Verona 320 (Retail $14,230.00) accepts 32 channels of mic inputs; eight of those channels accept stereo line inputs on each strip.
Each of the stereo channels can be used simultaneously with the mic pre on the same input strip, with separate gain control for the line inputs and the mic input. This was interesting to me because I have found the dual use (multi-function) channels helpful in many ways. For instance, if effects are returned in stereo to the desk but there is no need to adjust the gain structure of the channel – leaving a fader at zero – I may choose to double up on this input with a talkback or a voiceover microphone saving channels and frame size. Really, when you hear that a Verona 240 is 24 inputs, it really is 40 inputs in total if you have the stereo modules in the desk layout.
I want to talk about the target market for this console a little bit, and I will tell you why: you may not find everything you want on this desk, but this is not necessarily a negative in my book. Midas took into account what customers were saying about console design, and built a desk around those requests. One of these requests was to have a cost-effective console for the mid range market that landed somewhere between the Midas Venice Series and the Legend Series. To accomplish this without sacrificing the sonic quality available on Midas’ higher-end consoles, the manufacturer used the same engineering team that designed the XL4, a top-of-the-line standard for concert engineering.
The engineering team decided to forego a few options in favor of reaching a price point affordable to many sound companies and houses of worship. First off, there are no VCAs (voltage controlled amplifiers) on this desk, which came as a bit of a surprise. Matt Larson, Midas’ U.S. sales manager, explained that the company discovered that mid-market consumers were not using VCAs correctly or at all in mixing, and the added cost of including VCAs would have pushed the price point above what people were willing to spend. Instead, the engineers designed an eight-buss desk with subgroups that can be used as swap faders with the eight auxiliary sends, depending on the application (i.e. FOH (front-of-house) or monitors).
There are a few other departures from the more expensive Midas Heritage and Legend Series that make this product unique. To meet mid-level price points, the console features only unbalanced inserts instead of balanced sends and returns.
Insert points can be found on every input and almost all of the outputs except for the group/auxiliary buss pots. There are only insert points on the group/aux fader outputs, the theory being that the console is used for either FOH or monitors and either way, you normally do not use inserts on all of the groups and all of the auxiliary sends. This took me awhile to get my head around, as I like having the inserts on all outputs.
When using the console in monitor mode, you swap the group faders to auxiliary mode so you can have fader control over individual mixes, inserting your external graphic EQs on each output buss. The groupassign switches on the channel strips then route to the pots without inserts in the master section, because you will probably not be using these as groups in the monitor mode.
When used as an FOH console, the auxiliary sends are typically for effects – not an output on which you would want to insert an external EQ or compressor.
I agree with this decision on Midas’ part, as I want a console that I can afford to buy for the application I am using it in without sacri- ficing the sonic quality that I desire.
All input channels come in banks of eight; an additional feature that saves you cost through fewer interconnections inside the desk. For each bank of eight channels there are only three connections with multi-pin ribbon connectors, making removal an easy proposition. If each channel were its own individual strip, the number of connections within the desk multiplies accordingly, costing much more. This also can provide greater reliability: with fewer connections, there is less possibility for failure.
The Midas Verona comes with a number of features that are unexpected. This is a left-center-right (LCR) console with Midas SIS (spatial imaging system) technology built in to it. The console can be operated as a stereo desk with a mono assignment to each channel; depress the SIS button on an input and the desk turns into a true LCR console.
The matrix section creates a 12x4 matrix mix derived from the eight subgroups or eight auxes depending on the position of the changeover switch. When interfacing another console with the Verona, use the direct inputs on the matrix instead of taking up input channels. Another neat feature is the fact that the LCR busses can be assigned to the matrix, a feature not always included in the mid- range desks. Here’s another very strong benefit of the Verona: If you buy a 40-channel desk or larger, the console comes with dual internal switching supplies for faultless backup operation. These internal PSUs are current-sharing, voltage-sensing, auto-switching power supplies that may just save your show should one PSU take a hit in voltage.
In addition to the internal power supply, all Verona consoles feature a multi-pin for an external linear power supply, should you use this configuration.
A step up from the Venice series, each input channel on the Verona has a 20-dB pad, phase reverse and +48v phantom power, as well as an EQ in/out switch and an EQ pre/post fade insert point switch.
One of my favorite things about the console was the auxiliary section: Midas set this console up to be able to globally switch auxes 1-6 pre- or post-fader, and aux 7 and 8 have switches on each channel for you to decide. In consulting with the XL4 engineers about this cost-effective console, Midas came up with a design that would not compromise the sonic quality found on other Midas-series consoles. The engineers worked on their tried-and-true XL4 mic pre-amp circuitry and found a way to achieve a lower CMR (Common Mode Rejection) ratio than even the XL4 mic-pre (by 20 dB).
The EQ section features a four-band sweepable EQ with a fixed Q of one octave in each bandwidth. At the top of the strip is a high-pass filter with an on/off switch and variable frequency pot for dialing out unwanted low end on podium or lavalier microphones. The EQ and mic preamp sound great and the desk is whisper-silent with a rock solid grounding scheme within.
The one thing I missed on the Verona was a pink noise generator. There is a tone generator, but in this day and age of acoustic analysis programs, I find it easier to have this feature included on the desk.
There is, however, very little that I would have asked for differently on this desk.
If your church is looking for a mid-priced mixing console definitely consider the Midas Verona.
Pete Tidemann is principal of Linear Velocity, an audio consulting firm based in Minneapolis, MN. He can be reached at hans@linearvelocity.com.
