We have been trying to do this Buyers Guide for three years. With the growing adoption and acceptance of digital consoles in the live event audio workplace, a real “have-vs.-have-not” environment had developed for quite a while. Digital consoles are a great tool and increasingly demanded on show riders, but their cost puts them simply out of reach of many — if not most — smaller companies. These local and regional soundcos were stuck either not getting gigs they once did or renting the demanded digital desk.
But with the introduction of the Yamaha PM5D, the landscape started to change a bit and prices were dropping at least to the point where they rivaled a good analog board. Our editorial calendar in 2006 had a Buyers Guide listed with the same headline you see on this one. The problem was that while some prices had dropped, most had not, and there were not enough offerings under our sub-$50K price point to really do it.
We got closer last year, but received a tremendous amount of pressure to raise the price point, which we did. Even in hindsight, it is hard to say if that was or was not a mistake. We pride ourselves at FOH on editorial independence and not allowing advertisers to dictate content, and this was a rare occasion where we adjusted the parameters of a planned piece due to manufacturer angst. The truth is that a year ago there were still not many offerings in the price range we were looking for.
But that really changed this year. And while the sub $50K digital consoles — those made "for the rest of us" — may not be as sexy or have the huge feature sets of their larger siblings, they get the job done and offer many of the same advantages of more expensive units. I have been on half a dozen good-sized gigs in the past month where the monitor board was a Yamaha M7CL. I have seen the Digidesign D-Show Profile on a number of tours and bigger shows; RSS is making headway in the HOW and install markets; the Allen & Heath iLive is out on some good-sized tours (we worked a show on one of them to Road Test the console); and we sent a Mackie system out on a show with a still-touring classic rock band. The sow was for 1,000-plus people and the reviewer was loath to part with the review unit when it was done. There is enough to work with in this price range today.
Some companies are staying in the upper part of the market only and that is a totally legitimate approach. But with times as tight as they are, we are glad we can finally present a list of digital consoles that can do the gig for less than it costs to buy a house. Here is a peek at what is out here for those of us on a bit more of a budget…
Manufacturers included in this month’s Digital Consoles Under $50K Buyers Guide:
Allen & Heath
Digidesign
Mackie
Roland Systems Group
Yamaha Commercial Audio Systems Inc.
To view the Buyers Guide spreadsheet, click here .
