calypso
(Planeteer)
03/16/20 03:58 PM
Alternative relationships, VS2480, Win 10, Live theater

How nice to find this place still alive and well. I’ve enjoyed catching up. The last time I was active here, CD’s were still the thing. (I still have a boxload of my old band’s discs from 2010. Can’t even give them away. I suppose insufficient talent may be an issue along with the “obsolete” format.)
My VS 2480 tasks have evolved… We used it for gigging quite a lot from 2006 to 2015. It’s a good live mixer with adequate aux sends for monitors. The band fell apart, but the Roland survived. I never really got onboard with the online music scene. Showing my age, I guess; prefer live audiences to “virtual” ones.
Now I find myself doing live theater sound. The guy who was at our local arts center moved on, and I sort of inherited the sound board job. We do several shows a year in two different venues (proscenium and “black box”), with one or two big musicals each season. Twenty wireless mics, with canned music provided by the licensing agency. It has been a fun learning experience. And it’s a performance challenge trying to minimize number of open mics with actors moving all around the space. Gain before feedback is my new holy grail.
I’ve used the 2480 to trigger sound effects for shows. The “phrase pad” option is perfect for that job. I’ve also run loops through the Roland to take advantage of some of the effects processors in it. Makes a good “vampire” sound, also “walkie-talkie” effects, etc.
However, the Roland is still big and heavy. So I’m looking at more portable options.
I have windows 10 running on a cheap laptop. Using an analog to USB cable (Behringer line 2 USB), I can take audio output from the Roland into the laptop using the “voice recorder” app in windows. It works pretty well. I’m pleasantly surprised at the quality of the recording (two channels at 16 bits, 44.1 sample rate and it produces an MP4 audio file). The app has a “trim” function, but no other controls besides “start” and “stop”. Perfectly adequate for making sound effect clips and “voice-overs”.
Bonus: I can reformat my CD collection into MP4 for web storage using the 2480 CD player.
The only issue I’ve encountered so far is the app’s automatic gain adjustment. When the signal goes to zero it raises the noise floor to an audible hiss. I can work around it. I know that digital to analog back to digital isn’t optimum, but I really don’t hear much degradation.
Anybody else using the 2480 in ways you didn’t expect? How about feedback on the cheap and easy Win 10 “voice recorder”?
Best wishes to all!