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Audio Review: Roland RSS V-Mixing System
Digital mixers are rapidly becoming a must-have for churches these days. There was a time when the cost of digital mixers was still prohibitive enough to dissuade all but the most adventurous churches (and those with the largest budgets) from pursuing them. In recent years, however, a host of manufacturers have started offering increasingly inexpensive digital consoles with increasingly sophisticated features. Several years ago, Roland Systems Group introduced its S-4000 digital snake, leveraging RSS’ Roland Ethernet Audio Communication (REAC) protocol, and this paved the way toward their most recent introduction, the M-400 V-Mixer.
The REAC protocol facilitates the real-time transfer of up to 40 channels of 24-bit/48 kHz digital audio over a single Cat5e cable, and the M-400 has two REAC ports, which facilitate a total of 80 channels. I test-drove a V-Mixing System, which includes an M-400 console and two S-1608 stage boxes, for a maximum compliment of 32 channels from stage to front of house (FOH), and 16 going back the other way.
I mix in a portable church situation, and one of the unhappy facts we face is the heavy inch-diameter snake that must be run about 100 feet every Sunday. When I walked up to the stage with a 300-foot Cat5e snake reel in each hand, I was first quizzed as to “what’re those?” and then enjoyed the jaw-dropping, eye-popping surprise when I explained what I had. At the very least, the reduction in back-aches is a most welcome development, but what of the mixer itself?
Under the Microscope
The purpose of two REAC ports on the M-400 is two-fold, either for splitting inputs between two different parts of the stage, or for providing redundancy, transmitting mirrored audio on two cables. The M-400 is a 48-channel, 18-bus mixer with a four-band EQ on each of the 48 input channels and 18 output channels. There are also 24 gate/expander/compressors available for each of the 48 input channels (or at least as of the time you read this, RSS has released a revision of the operating system facilitating this―previously these dynamics processors were only available on channels 1-24). The console also features four effects units that can be used in either a send/return application or as inserts. These are good, high-quality effects as well, not an after-thought. Up to 12 31-band graphic equalizers are available for insertion into output channels (counting eight channels of GEQ available via the four effects units).
The M-400 includes eight XLR input and output jacks on the console’s rear panel, facilitating the insertion of up to eight external effects as well (or whatever other reason you’d need I/O right at FOH). Another really cool feature that made me smile was the capacity for recording to and playback from a USB jump drive plugged directly into the console. I thought about it, and realized that this would also very easily facilitate immediate publication of CDs―I would simply unplug the jump drive from the console, plug it into a computer attached to a CD publisher, and commence the process. Very slick.
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