USB connection between digital mixer, Behringer x32 and PC. Operate at 30m

Extend the 30m USB line to the Beringer x32 compact mixer

30m connection successful using USB cable between computer and digital mixer

It is difficult to organize video and sound equipment in a conference room or small church, such as budget, space, technology and everything. It is not easy to purchase and install equipment because the price of the equipment is a bit high.

As an engineer, I don't feel too pressured to install and test various equipment. But if I don't like the performance of the equipment I installed, I'll re-construct it. This adds to the cost, time and inconvenience. The following equipment was constructed after a year of process.

As the recent coronavirus situation continues, the worship service should be broadcast live on YouTube, and especially if powerpoint is used a lot during preaching, two screens should be displayed and viewed together in PIP. It's not easy for everyone to set up, but you can easily follow it if you refer to it.

What's special about this installation is that it has succeeded in sending and receiving digital signals between Beringer's x32 digital mixer and PC using a USB cable that is about 30 meters long. There were considerable constraints, but they all overcame them. Reveal this know-how.

A. Conference room and small church restrictions

A-1. There is no separate broadcasting room.

A-2. The distance between the mixer and the computer is 20 to 30 meters away.

A-3. Real-time YouTube transmission is required.

A-4. We are short of budget.

A-5. There are no acoustic engineers.

A-6. The congregation must watch the PPT screen on a large TV.

A-7. PPT and pastor's face should be seen as PIP on YouTube.

B. Benefits of Using USB Cable

I've solved all these problems. In this case, it is characterized by connecting a mixer and a computer using a long-distance USB line. What are the advantages of connecting a mixer and a computer using a 30m USB cable?

B-1. No audio interface is required. ( Digital Mixer to PC )

- Audio interfaces with more than two channels are expensive. Since the acoustic equipment cable sent from the digital mixer is connected through walls or ceilings, the actual cable distance is quite long. If the distance of the cable becomes farther away, the noise becomes worse.

B-2. There is no need for DI BOX. ( PC to Digital Mixer )

- DI BOX (Active Direct Box) is required to send sound signals from PCs to speakers in the conference room. It should be sent to PC = DI BOX = Mixer.

B-3. Noise Reduction Effects

- The digital mixer converts the analog input signal to digital and receives it via a USB cable to PC, so there is no noise in the middle. It sends various sound effects from the mixer.

B-4. No cables needed.

- To input 8 input / 8 output using a 30 m canon jack, the number of cables is 16. If 16 cables were to be extended, the straight line would be 480 meters. This cable can be reduced to one 30m USB cable.

B-5. No gender required

- If there are more cables between PCs and mixers, there will be more gender. Equipment is expensive and requires long-distance cables, but another gender must be added.

It's hard for an amateur sound installer to match 5.5mm jack with 3.5mm canon cable male and female. In addition, there are a number of contact problems and you often lose them when you do something. The price is also a bit high.

C. Questions

Why haven't people used this method in the meantime when everyone has such good advantages? Well, I'm not a person who believes in conspiracy theories, but if I can guess, it's not a good thing for people who sell and install sound devices.

If digital mixers are used in this way, markets for multichannel audio interfaces and active direct box equipment will disappear. Installation costs are reduced because cable gender and others are not needed. Installing 20 strands of Canon cable is no ordinary task and quite expensive. However, it is hard to charge installation fee because just one USB cable can be connected.

The picture below is a direct box sold by Behringer. The same goes for other companies. So many DI BOX markets can disappear. The Audio Interface market may also disappear. Of course, all of these markets will not disappear. However, when data can be sent directly from a digital mixer to a PC, there are not many cases where data can be converted into analogs.

Of course, an analog interface is needed if the distance between a microphone or instrument and a digital mixer is far away, but digital transmission helps improve sound quality if all are sent from a mixer to a PC.

That is, wouldn't Beringer hate long-distance digital sound transmission? Look at the pictures of countless equipment and cable jacks below. Would the sound equipment company like it if that market disappeared by 1/3?

It's just my imagination.

D. Forecasting future sound equipment market prospects

It has been more than 15 years since Beringer released a digital mixer. However, I have doubts about supporting only USB 2.0 on the x32 that has been sold so much as a best seller and study seller.

As everyone knows, USB 2.0 has a speed limit of 480Mbps. The USB 3.0 that was developed a long time ago is 5Gbps, or 5,000 Mbps. It is 10 times faster than 480Mbps. In fact, USB 3.0 is slow. The recently announced USB4 is 40Gbps. It is 83 times faster than USB 2.0.

With this speed, it can be transmitted in less than 1/300 seconds even if 32 channels are exchanged between PC and digital mixer in both directions.

Humans are insensitive to time delays of less than 1/10. What if someone comes out and gets a digital mixer that uses USB 4 or USB 3.0 first?

If someone asks me to design a sound device, would I use USB4? In fact, I don't think I'd use this if I designed it. Because why would I use a wired cable when there is a recently developed wireless WiFi 6?

If you use WiFi 6, you don't even need a USB line. There comes a world where digital mixers, synthesizers, microphones, kits and drums are all connected via a router to WiFi 6. There's no time delay

E. Destructive Revolution

The 6G era is coming. What is the most difficult thing to worship in church these days through Zoom or YouTube? The biggest problem when using the internet for zooming in church is not being able to sing in harmony with the background music.

But there is a solution. 6G targets end to end time delay of 1/1000 seconds. Since it transmits dozens of gigabytes per second, a time delay of about 1 ms is not felt by humans by sending high-speed packets. In other words, if one person plays an instrument with a zoom, the other can sing together online.

Does this really require a digital mixer? It is digitally converted from an instrument to a router. The analog output of all devices, including synthesizers, drums and saxophone, is converted digitally on the spot and connected to the computer.

Why do you need a digital mixer to get digital data input from an instrument to a computer, mix it from that PC to a program, and send it to a speaker?

In other words, only software will survive. The scary world is coming. The sound equipment market will also change the world for someone who is brave.

Love and thought

2021.08.23

https://blog.naver.com/godinus123/222481987221

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