Question

It's time to upgrade the church sound setup. I'd love to get a series 3 at FoH with NSBs stage left and right, but I'm on a church budget. So I'm looking to create this setup with the Ai series. One CS18Ai at FoH and and two RM16Ai on stage would have to be on an AVB network to communicate (why are AVB switches so expensive?), so I'll probably have to do a single RM32Ai. But would connecting a PC (for Universal Control and Studio One) to this setup require that t it be connected directly to the RM unit (i.e. ON STAGE) via firewire, or on an AVB network?

Answer 1

I think I found my answer. I would love confirmation though. Maybe I should take this to forums instead of answers?

I found this document promoting AVB recording coming to RM mixers in 2015 (pages 6-8), just what I want to do. Then I found this release from PreSonus saying it's not possible due to a chipset limitation on the Ai platform. So I think my answer is that the computer must be connected via firewire for Studio One. Solutions would be (1) a KVM over ethernet to give keyboard, mouse, monitor to FoH; (2) a second PC at FoH and screen sharing software; (3) a super long firewire cable, probably a bad idea because max cable length in firewire spec is ~15 feet; (4) another RM at FoH just for the firewire port; or (5) a Dante card for the RM unit, but it's very expensive and renders the audio i/o on the CS18Ai unusable.

Answer 2

Well aside from the RM...the CS is pretty much unusable (thanks Presonus).
But that's another rant....

You are correct that the firewire connection needs to be as short as possible.
Depending on what your interface goals are, you could load a lightweight remote desktop at the firewire PC and hit it from house.
I've done that for VST processing on the RM32 with success.
If you're just trying to record use the capture app.

I'll probably go X-32 next.
That whole no-MIDI business on the RM is a dealbreaker.