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PC control over multiple 334's

AuszeroAuszero Posts: 3
in Omnidrive/Minidrive
So I am trying to control multiple 334's via my PC, what is the easiest way to do this? Additionally I would like to run signal from FOH down my snake. I have some XTA's where I use a USB to 485 where I converted the RS485 into an XLR and am able to loop through the XTA's using XLR's so im not unfamiliar with this type of content however the whole combo of RS232 and midi thru's, in's, and out's confuses me. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

  • Dan LynchDan Lynch Posts: 472
    Personally, I'd forget about MIDI and running serial through the snake. Just buy a mutilport moxa box and connect one serial port to each 334. If there are only two 334s, get an NPort W2250 ($380 - 2x RS232, built in wifi). If there are more than two 334s, get an NPort W2004 ($709 - 4x RS232, built in wifi) and then plug in NPort 5410s ($409 - 4 RS232, ethernet) as needed to handle all of the devices after the first 4.

    LA can handle up to 64 serial ports. All you have to do is click on the TOOLS menu, then APPLICATION PREFERENCES, then select the SERIAL tab to enable the ports you want to use.

    Dan

    moxa.com
  • AuszeroAuszero Posts: 3
    For this to work I would need to have support for 12 334's. If I'm understanding you correctly it would cost in the neighborhood of $2000 to gain control over my minidrives which does not seem economically worth it to me. Are there any other cheaper routes or are they likewise not worth it whether it be economically or just in general?
  • Dan LynchDan Lynch Posts: 472
    To control 12 Minidrives with London Architect, you're going to need 12 serial ports. Using the MIDI ports to loop multiple Minidrives together isn't supported with London Architect due to hardware limitations. The hardware just wasn't designed with the idea of passing realtime control of multiple devices through the serial port of one device. When the Minidrive hardware was originally designed, the idea of doing a MIDI sysex dump of the programs on multiple Minidrives through the serial port of a single device was a pretty cutting edge concept.

    The least expensive way that I know of to control 12 Minidrives with London Architect will be a Moxa NPort 5610-16 which gives you 16 serial ports for $945. You can get ethernet from FOH to wherever the Minidrives live using cable, wifi, whatever.

    Dan
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