this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
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Generally these days the run from stage to mixing desk is digital.
What you want to avoid is too many conversions. At some point the signal is analog, like strings or vocal cords vibrating. Ideally you'll only have one conversion to digital- say, the stage box you plug the mic into. From there it's digital through foldback desk, front of house mixing desk, effects, recording, etc all the way up to and including amplifiers, which will convert back to high power analog to drive the speakers.
Having a bunch of other conversions in there - eg guitar pickup to digital, back to analog for the amplifier stage, digital to the desk, analog out to digital amps, all introduce latency and quality degradation.
Wow I don't think I've seen that before? Every stage setup for me has been more or less the same. You plug your 1/4" into a DI box which then connects to the mixing board over a long XLR cable. And the mics run directly to the board over XLR.
The board itself may be digital. That seems to be getting more common. But the inputs are all analog afaik? I've seen more exotic setups at recording studios but not on stage. Then again, we are not exactly a big act! lol
I guess it's a function of the kind of gigs I tend to work- The stage tends to not exist before we walk in. And if you've got 32+ stage inputs, it's certainly nicer to run a couple of fibre lines than a chonky stage snake with 32+ XLR lines.
The only difference between the digital boards you've seen is the digital conversion circuitry is not in the same box as the mixing circuitry.
Good point. I've seen some ridiculous snakes in my time! And an optical connection would presumably be less noisy even if it were analog.