I’m a hobbyist at best but the DBX 500 is pretty good! Hope it works out for you!
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Cheers, it feels like a good direction. I have the 160a in the studio and really like them so just have to decide on some eq
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Why the Drawmer EQ? That’s on my gas list, but for very different reasons (studio mixdowns).
Let the venue’s sound engineer reign in dodgy frequencies, they know how the room sounds & should have the right tools (like 31 band graphic EQs, not parametric). If you’re using only using an ARmk2, get the patches filtered/EQ’d right in advance & in the AR, not when you’re meant to be performing & interesting.
For FX look into something hands on, fun & inspiring. The happy accidents I got out of a Kaoss Pad 3 are more immediately entertaining than the carefully dialled in room sounds made in my Lexicon MX300. Think about this from an audience perspective. If you’re doing stuff they can quickly grasp like ‘ah, when he touches that thing the sound turns weird’ you’re more entertaining. Slowly turning dials on stuff they can’t really see with less obvious results isn’t as entertaining.
^Speaking from experience there. Back in the day I opened for a few mates. They played psytrance Ableton sets, I did live illbient on a couple of samplers. It was a terrible combo, but we did it anyway. Nobody at a doof wants to hear my feel bad downer shit, but waving my hands over a d-beam like a wizard to warp no context Simpsons quotes always got a reaction.
Like the EQ, don’t bother with reverb in rooms you don’t know. It’s too easy to wash out the mix & have it sound like mud. Try distortion, delays, chorus etc. A few basic Boss pedals can go a long way & are easy to replace if shit happens (+ run on batteries).
Dunno why you’re averse to a mixer but are considering bringing rack units. Mixers like the Yamaha MG06X are really light, small & replaceable. Rack gear isn’t.
2nding a compressor though, use it to limit signal going to front of house. Think of it like cheap insurance.
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Check out the SSL ultraviolet 500 EQ. Looks awesome and crazy low price!
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All fair advice, so appreciate the perspective there.
Eq is pretty important for me as a performance element, as is reverb structurally and less about space, although i agree it depends somewhat on the space, but then I’d adjust accordingly across the board there, not just in reverb.
Front desk (if there is one) can help with dialing in what i send, but unfortunately, as good as the Rytm is, it really had no eq within it.
I think there is space for a small mixer on occasion, so probably more to separate the fx and the dry sounds in the Rytm, maybe tor simple eq but honestly, just being able to have a separate volume for each, beyond the limits of gain in the Rytm is huge, so probably a small Mackie is good enough.
You mention some interesting stuff about entertainment. So, i really am not worry about entertaining anyone, ideally they are into me for what i do, or not. Gestures are really not my thing personally, although obviously nothing against that type of performance which can certainly work very well. I relate more to say a builder, plumber or mechanic, just doing my job, and for some people watching that is interesting enough, for others they are probably waiting for me to finish, and that’s fine for me haha.
The 19” rack route was really about lightweight and higher quality. It’s not ideal, although have set my mind on a 500 series lunchbox, the Heritage Audio OST-4 v2 some dbx eq and compressors. The whole thing would be around 3kg with a pelicase, sound amazing and easily be upgradable and integrated into the main studio, which is amazing. Backpack with Rytm, maybe a small mixer should I need it, as the lunchbox, and and only two audio cables for the whole setup.
I think the Drawmer route was thinking more it’s a good eq, kettle lead, shallow enough to carry, but 500 series is a better choice for sure.
Thanks for your perspective, really interesting to hear a different take on it which I’m sure will work for many people. Nice one.
Yeeah, definitely. I keep looking at this as cheaper than two dbx, and has trim, the SSL has a solid punch as well.
I also have been thinking about ease of getting to knobs, and even eq that is easy to dial in without too much hassle, which the SSL would sit well in being super solid tons or sweet spots but also clinical if needed and has a thump to boot.
The Heritage has auto button push connectors between 1-2-3-4 which means if i do the 2 wide SSL eq I’d have to patch cables between each module instead of using the button although to be fair they would be super short so a big deal at all.
Definitely a good shout for sure. Its officially on the list.
I’m struggling to find good demos of electronic sounds, or similar that i can hear the dbx and ssl etc
I do have Console 1 though so… but dbx is a tough one to find to hear online.
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Have you thought about utilizing overbridge? You could use any vst and assign any individual channel from the AR to be applied to anything you would like within a daw for example. You could use a controller like a faderfox or midifighter twister to assign vst parameters to so you still have some tactile control.
It could be very ideal for a compact solution, perhaps saving you from lugging around some of what you have discussed above. I don’t currently use vst’s but I do know there is most likely a software version of the hardware you are considering. And the emulation these days are pretty dang good.
Just a suggestion you may not have consider.
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I’m not too familiar with the ipad ecosystem but maybe audio interface such as motu ultralite mk5 and ipad running AUM or something can be a solution, it would be pretty compact overall with plenty of eq/compression/other fx/recording options
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Yeah definitely it’s a good consideration. I actually bought the Rytm to move away from the Laptop in a live setup, although i have found overbridge to be an amazing tool for sure, and it really comes in well doing remixes etc.
I think if a specific performance or maybe a super long set, potentially that could work well. Unfortunately my laptop is getting a little tired presently, and needs upgrading. I used to do basically, laptop, Motu, and mixer performance approach, which was great, although I struggled with being at the computer for long periods of time, mainly as i worked with them in my day job at the time before doing music/mastering based work full time.
The other part is i really struggle with controllers, although i did see a super interesting setup using Ableton and the faders/controllers you mentioned, essentially using it as a digital mixer to do dub, super cool. I could see that happening in the future money depending.
Yeah definitely a good suggestion.
Yeah for sure, i have considered using my Motu Ultralite stand alone in the past, as it has all that stuff on there, it’s not easily usable live although definitely worth exploring as a temporary solution in a small form factor.
A recent performance my wife did they had their basic PA using iPad to control everything, which seemed useful, after they eventually got it working 
Good idea though thx 
the new mk5 has a really nice app for ipad actually, you have dsp eq, reverb, compressor and gate, but yeah not sure how much the app itself will be usable live, what I thought is using something like AUM, you can have main outs + 6 individuals (out of 8). it’s not as tactile as knobs/faders but pretty powerful and potentially compact… the thing is you can use different eqs, compressors and whatnot on every channel, you basically load any AUv3 plugins there… anyway, just an idea, if you already have an ipad and UL you can test it see if it works out.
btw this is how the new Cuemix5 for the ULmk5 looks like on iPad, pretty good actually, easy access to eq/comp/levels and pretty easy to use:
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Oh wow, the version 5 really is improved. That’s really good to know about, especially with iPad support. The version 3 i have felt old when it came out
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