Usine Hollyhock as FOH PA controller

[gurulogic]

In addition to my use of Usine as a live performance hub in combination with my outboard hardware synthesisers, samplers and drum machines, I have been using Usine as a custom control interface for my PA system, and it has been working flawlessly during the last two music festivals I have been involved in and has given me a level of control usually realized only with thousands of dollars worth of outboard processing gear.

Usine in combination with a 16 i/o audio interface and everything running at a very low latency 32 sample buffer is handling crossover duties, EQ-s per speaker group, a custom compressor style automatic volume limiting mechanism to avoid accidental speaker overload with minimal signal colouration, subwoofer beam forming via delays array to fine tune LF coverage, fine delay controls on all speakers for perfect time alignment between speaker groups and crossover points etc, realtime visual feedback of all levels, stereo width controls, basic limiting and compression, presets for instant recall of different layouts, ie: live vs DJ etc etc, all remote controlled via VNC over a network.

Anyways, just thought I would share as this has been a game changer for how I run my sound system and it also highlights one example of just how versatile Usine can be

Here is a bit poor of a phone camera pic, if you are curious for more info or pics of the event you can look at https://www.facebook.com/events/4438442 ... 882804454/ or http://atmospheregathering.com/

[nay-seven]

Thanks a lot for you kind words Guru, the team appreciate !
And congrats for the performance (man, this festival video bring me 25 years back ! )

if you find any other (better) pictures feel free to share !

[gurulogic]

I was just watching a recap / promo video for this year of the festival and saw that my Usine Hollyhock based FOH Controller interface made the cut

Here is the video: https://vimeo.com/183799950

More about Atmosphere Music Festival:
https://www.facebook.com/AtmosphereGathering/?fref=ts
https://www.atmospheregathering.com/

[gurulogic]

I'll be giving this entire interface a complete overhaul at some point. When I first put the work space together I was on a tight schedule with my only priority being to make it work but there is still a lot of room for improvement at least in the general aesthetics and making it more user friendly for having other people be able to use it.

Could sure use a few more subs though.. Have to push the eight I have hard to fill this space. Maybe we could arrange a little sponsorship deal from Sensomusic? haha :p

[nay-seven]

Congrats gurulogic, and thanks to share,
I've add this to our Facebook page

[La Tenaille]

Nice Gurulogic
Do you use plugin FX ?
How do you control your workspace ? Touchscreen, hardware controller, telepathy ?

[gurulogic]

la tenaille, yes I have an EQ vst inserted per amplified group (subs, low mids, HF, centre fills and side fills). The Yorkville Unity speaker system I run is typically so flat and with separate fine volume control for low, low mid and mid/high frequencies I barely touch the EQ's except to deal with any room specific issues. In the case of this particular venue, the heavy rubber of the circus tent is very prone to the upper mid frequencies slapping back from the walls and ceilings, but this year rather than trying (futily) to EQ out the offending frequencies I assembled baffles on the speakers to prevent sound from from hitting the ceiling so the effect was minimal with no EQ.
Additionally I have compression and limiting VST on the main input signal, mostly so that if there for any live music performances that don't have any additional master processing I have the option to apply a bit of gentle processing at my end.

At the moment the workspace is interfaced on my laptop/tablet via VNC (remote desktop) to the main computer running Usine. I would like to find a less clunky way but the issue is that I cannot find any way other than VNC to view the audio meters remotely. (Shared workspace function could be ideal if remote metering were possible. I should spend a bit more time looking at this option to see if it is possible) Additionally I would like to connect my Behringer BCF2000 at the FOH position for easier and less prone to mistake due to touching the interface in the wrong place adjustment of the low, mid and high balance.

Telepathy link coming in v2

[La Tenaille]

I was thinking of using TouchOSC to remote my workspace, but I'm afraid feedbacking level meters is a knightmare.
Another approach is remoting the soundcard driver. In my case RME totalmix can use MIDI and OSC. But it means 2 controllers to remote both Usine and soundcard...