visionz5
I bought one of these last night. A local GC had one as a customer return, completely unopened for $15. I have yet to use it or hook it up but does anyone else use a sound processor?
http://dbxpro.com/en-US/products/gorack
http://dbxpro.com/en-US/products/gorack
Mensajes Tue 17 Jan 17 @ 1:22 pm
DJ Varium
I have the exact same one, normally about £100 in the UK, but i got one imported from US for £40 including postage and taxes a while back. Now you will get many people saying you don't need a speaker management system. You will even get people saying that "your speakers already have DSP, do you think DBX know how to set them up better than the manufacturers" All of which is complete nonsense. Your speakers will likely have DSP, almost everything in the signal chain has some kind of DSP. but its not all the same. You speakers DSP is merely to protect itself with limiters and handle crossover, and to be tuned to be balanced or whatever the manufacturer decides.
A speaker management system is useful. Depending on what you do. The more inputs you have going into your mixer the more useful one is. A rock band would pretty much need one. A DJ.....well, if all you have is your laptop sound and microphone, then you have less need for one than anyone else. But does have a few benefits.
For a DJ gives you the benefit of eq'ing for the room. So you eq for the room, then you can eq each track independently. More important if mobile. It also gives you sub harmonic synthesis (i think its called) which lowers the bass you can reproduce, gives you a real deep stomach churning bass. Make sure the sub can handle it though. If you do karaoke then can be useful to use the feedback suppression. This is the main reason i got one. I work with a vocalist most of the time. It also has compression, but for a DJ this isn't really important. It has limiters, but again you speakers are already doing this.
So, it does have some uses. Not as much as a full driverack, but its a pretty good piece of kit. The reality is though that I rarely use it, because i can achieve the same things by speaker placement and I have everything running through a soundcraft analogue mixing desk.
Most clubs with a static system, will already have a full blown drive rack installed and set to the room. You will never likely see it though, or be allowed to touch it. These offer many more features than then gorack, like being able to set delays on speakers, gating each channel and so on. So the gorack is pointless if you are a resident in a club.
A speaker management system is useful. Depending on what you do. The more inputs you have going into your mixer the more useful one is. A rock band would pretty much need one. A DJ.....well, if all you have is your laptop sound and microphone, then you have less need for one than anyone else. But does have a few benefits.
For a DJ gives you the benefit of eq'ing for the room. So you eq for the room, then you can eq each track independently. More important if mobile. It also gives you sub harmonic synthesis (i think its called) which lowers the bass you can reproduce, gives you a real deep stomach churning bass. Make sure the sub can handle it though. If you do karaoke then can be useful to use the feedback suppression. This is the main reason i got one. I work with a vocalist most of the time. It also has compression, but for a DJ this isn't really important. It has limiters, but again you speakers are already doing this.
So, it does have some uses. Not as much as a full driverack, but its a pretty good piece of kit. The reality is though that I rarely use it, because i can achieve the same things by speaker placement and I have everything running through a soundcraft analogue mixing desk.
Most clubs with a static system, will already have a full blown drive rack installed and set to the room. You will never likely see it though, or be allowed to touch it. These offer many more features than then gorack, like being able to set delays on speakers, gating each channel and so on. So the gorack is pointless if you are a resident in a club.
Mensajes Tue 17 Jan 17 @ 1:41 pm
groovindj
Andy7689 wrote :
All of which is complete nonsense
What's "complete nonsense" is people who've bought a signal processor talking about how useful it is, and all the wonderful things it can do. :-)
Andy7689 wrote :
eq'ing for the room
Seriously? You're not playing the 02 arena with 20KW stacks of speakers. You're a DJ in a small room. EQing "for the room" is complete overkill.
Andy7689 wrote :
sub harmonic synthesis (i think its called) which lowers the bass you can reproduce
Oh dear. Think about it. If you need to resort to this, then your current speakers are not producing enough bass. Why can't they produce it? Because of design limitations. They're not physically capable of doing it. If you force lower frequencies through them, you're stressing both the amps and the speakers.
FWIW I do own several sound processors myself - but I don't use them on my DJ rig. Instead, I have decent speakers and a good quality audio chain.
Mensajes Tue 17 Jan 17 @ 7:54 pm
DJ Varium
He said he had bought one and asked if anyone else had used one and what it was for. I do have one and so explained. I think i gave him a pretty fair and unbaised opinion. I didnt just say its brilliant because i have one. I also said a dj has little need for one and I rarely use mine. I do use it occasionally but I do a lot more than djing. I don't really see why you felt the need to even comment. What was the point, other than to yet again jump in with some futile attempt at self righteous elitism. Well done. Good for you. How did your post help the op?
Mensajes Tue 17 Jan 17 @ 11:11 pm
visionz5
I know what the DBX does. I bought it because it was cheap and I tend to be a little bit of a gear whore. I enjoy having little gadgets like this that I can throw in a bag if I ever need it for something.
Mensajes Wed 18 Jan 17 @ 12:58 pm
DJ Varium
Well its certainly handy for that. I tend to carry mine just in case. Just to clarify something that groovin said though about the sub harmonic synth. It doesn't extend the bass lower than the speakers are capable of, it extends the lowest frequency of the track, not the speakers. So it adds a lower frequency to the track effectively.
Mensajes Wed 18 Jan 17 @ 1:14 pm
groovindj
Andy7689 wrote :
I don't really see why you felt the need to even comment
Because I didn't agree with much of what you said. I believe the idea of a forum is open discussion, and not necessarily just to agree with each other all the time.
Also (something I've said before on various forums) it's better to have accurate information or facts available to others who might read these posts, rather than misinformation or biased opinions.
.......and I know how the enhancement works. I've got a similar processor myself, that also creates extra top end. It adds extra lows to everything that's played through the speakers. If it wasn't there, the speakers would not be producing those frequencies (as they're not on the recordings) so I stand by what I said.
When music is mastered, the engineer removes (if necessary) extreme frequencies that might cause issues with the recording media or with the reproducing equipment when it's played back. If you add synthetic lows that weren't there on the recording, you could damage the speakers and/or the amp.
Using it as a studio tool, to "modernise" old recordings that lack bass or top end, fair enough - but not just to slap across your PA output to affect everything going through it. There's a reason why some speakers cost thousands. If just buying a box of tricks made your cheap speakers as good as top end ones, no one would ever buy them. Just get the cheap ones and an enhancer - job done. :-)
Mensajes Wed 18 Jan 17 @ 6:13 pm
DJ Varium
groovindj wrote :
I believe the idea of a forum is open discussion, and not necessarily just to agree with each other all the time.
Absolutely. And if you have a different opinion i welcome you or anyone else to share it and explain why you think whatever.
groovindj wrote :
What's "complete nonsense" is people who've bought a signal processor talking about how useful it is,
The above is not a constructive opinion. It is argumentative and disrespectful. Yes, you may say you were quoting my words, but i was not directing them at anyone. You were!
It is also not accurate, because i was not saying how useful it is. I was actually saying there is little need for one in the DJ arena.
To the OP. My apologies that this has digressed into irrelevant posturing. I certainly don't intend to perpetuate, other than what is relevant to the post.
Mensajes Thu 19 Jan 17 @ 10:15 am
DJBrandonJames
I have 2 of these units. I use them mainly for the anti feedback protection.
Unit 1: wedding ceremony system: I plug my 2 wireless mics directly in (output to mixer mic channels in) and use some compression (30) and antifeedback setting 3.
Unit 2: Main Mobile Rig: Mixer master out-> go rack->powered speakers: I use a light compression (20), pop EQ and antifeedback setting 1 (2 if the room requires it).
I like the limiting indicators as it lets me know when i'm approaching the upper limit of my levels before my JBL's DSP kicks in. I do not use the sub harmonic on either.
Unit 1: wedding ceremony system: I plug my 2 wireless mics directly in (output to mixer mic channels in) and use some compression (30) and antifeedback setting 3.
Unit 2: Main Mobile Rig: Mixer master out-> go rack->powered speakers: I use a light compression (20), pop EQ and antifeedback setting 1 (2 if the room requires it).
I like the limiting indicators as it lets me know when i'm approaching the upper limit of my levels before my JBL's DSP kicks in. I do not use the sub harmonic on either.
Mensajes Thu 19 Jan 17 @ 4:45 pm
groovindj
Andy7689 wrote :
The above is not a constructive opinion
It's a direct response to your comment (which was the initiating "non constructive opinion") about some people may say this and that but it's complete nonsense.
In other words, you started it :-P
Mensajes Thu 19 Jan 17 @ 5:40 pm